Book One – Chapter 7

Amid the dimensional transference, a torrent of overwhelming pain enveloped Yves. The Jabarrah held the onslaught at bay for only this moment, provided Yves with but a fleeting reprieve before the mountain of destructive energies spilled over and broke through the barrier posed by the familiar into Yves’ own existence. The Vicha, feared as the harbinger of hatred, an embodiment of vengeance, was believed to inflict a torment beyond the realm of mortal understanding. And it did. Not because of exaggerated superstitions, but because it was an active conduit between dimensions. The pain Yves felt was an all-encompassing seismic upheaval that shook his consciousness. It inflicted more than physical injury; it was an unnatural, excruciating assault on Yves’ essence, the tearing apart of his very being. The Vicha bore into him and unravelled his existence, seeking the part infused within him — the gateway key to his destruction. It grasped onto Yves the same time he transformed into his mirror world form.

In the depths of this existential maelstrom, Yves clung to consciousness. He fought. He fought like he had fought the rushing energies when sealing the tunnel. In this dimension, he could fight, because he had learned to breach the limitations of his being. At his core, he clung to the fragile bit of energy that was his own, his essence, his lifeline, tainted by the foreign disturbance that was the gateway key, but still untouched by the Vicha.

The encroaching curse framed itself around this core, filling and feeding on the vessel that was Yves. The curse was the smoke, it was the poison, breaking and incorporating, swelling and overtaking what was him. But as the Vicha within him grew, so did Yves. With the pivotal moment of shifting, he harnessed the potent mirror world energy, preventing the curse from exhausting and breaking him. Fortifying his form from the core outward, making himself denser and more resilient, he turned once again into the ashen being. With his form came his voice, the horrible screeching that was his screaming.