Page 34 of Visions & Shadows

I nod while closing my eyes.

“There’s a place not far from Earth called Vaalbara, where a race called immortalis lives. They’re waiting for one of their own to return. She’s been gone for far too long and is very important to them. Once she returns, there won’t be any time for celebrations. She’ll have to prepare for training in combat and learn the ways of her people.”

“Hold on.” My head darts up, and I frown at him. “After all those years of being gone, this poor girl gets combat training for a welcome home present?” I poke at his chest. “You, my friend, suck at telling stories.”

His chest shakes as he chuckles.

“Be patient,” he mutters. “It gets better. After her vigorous training she becomes the best of all the trainees. Then, the whole village throws a huge celebration for her return. Happy now, you little story killer?”

“Yeah, that’s much better.” I smile as I snuggle against him, feeling much better after the incident with Robert.

Chapter 6

Jane / Alchera

Standing in a foreign city, people are screaming all around me in a language I don’t understand. Everyone is panicking, running with no real direction, rushing to find a safe place.

I can feel their hopelessness, their utter dread.

As I glance around me in total shock, I see dead faces, some burned beyond recognition, while a cloud of ash hangs thick in the air.

Intense panic spreads through me as I take in the destroyed buildings and the gaping holes in the roads. It looks like a bomb hit the area.

Is it a terrorist attack?

I suck in a breath of ash and start to cough, my lungs burning from the heat in the air.

A stench of rotten eggs fills the air, and above me, dark, threatening clouds gather – a mass of swirling blackness, where the edges are tainted dark red, blending into the brightest yellow.

The heavens seem to be on fire.

A horrifying fear floods my body when I realize I’m standing in the middle of a volcanic eruption.

Tears burn in my eyes as the ground shakes beneath my feet.

Suddenly, something slams hard into my chest. I fly backward from the force of whatever hits me, and I drop to the ground.

My chest feels as if it’s being ripped open.

“Alchera! No!” I hear a man shout, and then someone falls over me. I’m just about to make out his face…

“Jane!” I’m shaken so hard by Ryan that it rips me out of the dream.

I shoot upright in bed while coughing as if I’m still inhaling ash, the ache in my chest lessening by the second.

Loud music is blaring through the house from the party, and I blink a couple of times to get rid of the haziness of the nightmare.

Ryan’s face starts to come into focus, and then I register the worried expression in his eyes.

“It was only a dream,” I say to put him at ease.

I rub my eyes, my head spinning from the intense nightmare that felt way too real.

“What did you dream?” he asks.

When I duck my head low, resting my forehead against his chest, his fingers brush over my cheek before slipping behind my neck.

Not wanting to talk about it, I mutter, “It was nothing.”

---