Chapter 259: Storm.

Lieve was surprised by the lack of reaction from Lee. In fact, she didn’t recognize her own behavior and didn’t know why she was trying to fight with him all the time, but the guy kept pissing her off with his calmness. She even hurt him, but he shook it off as it wasn’t a big deal."So varnhollows are the only creatures in the Hollow reach, right?" Lee asked, "If I catch one with any with a spark ... wait. Do they differ in any way? I mean, are there multiple subspecies that can ignite different types of sparks?"

"Sigh ... no." Lieve said, "On the rare occasion when they ignite a spark, its always a spatial one. But you can’t find a varnhollow on the surface. In fact, you can’t find anything up here apart from wind, storms and ... death."

"So I have to get in somehow ..." Lee pondered out loud.

"Didn’t you hear me? You can’t! You’ll die!" She was getting worked up again. Once again the guy was ignoring her and it drove her mad, "The whole world is strictly guarded. Do you think you’re the only one who had come here to try out his luck? Every day tens of people arrive illegally only to meet their deaths. Of course, most die during the storms, but those who make it to the hubs are fed to varnhollows. That is the law."

"Interesting." Lee said, "So there’s some kind of official immigration system ..."

"You idiot! Forget about it!" She cursed, "You have a better chance cutting a spatial spark out of me than getting one from a varnhollow! You! Will! Die!"

After she shouted the last part, Lee’s expression finally changed, and Lieve could enjoy a moment of victory. Turns out she misunderstood him again.

"You are spatial elemental master?" He sounded pleasantly surprised, "Why didn’t you say so?"

"You never asked!" She barked back, "And what does it have to do with anything?!"

"You know, I go back and forth with the idea of freeing you." Lee said with a shallow laugh, shaking his head, "Unfortunately I’ve got this feeling that I have to do it. It even kind of pisses me off."

"What makes you think you can do it in the first place?" Lieve snorted.

"Well, there are four reasons." Lee said, grinning back at her. Then he raised his fist, and lifted four fingers, one at a time, saying, "First, second, third, and fourth!"

With each word, a swirl of elemental particles appeared above the corresponding finger – first blue, then yellow, then red, and finally a greenish, translucent glow.

Lieve’s jaw dropped at the sight of someone controlling four different elements, especially with such ease. But then, the tips of Lee’s fingers burst with a soft, wet pop – like crushed berries.

"Ouch! Fuck!" Lee cursed, and a piece of cloth appeared in his other hand. He hid the bloodied fingers in it with a pained expression, and mumbled, "Moron! Just how stupid am I ...!"

Clearly he was complaining to himself about own foolish action, but Lieve was still trying to process what she saw.

"Idiot! Why would you do that!" She said, nearly shouting in exasperation.

"Probably an instinctive impulse of showing off to a girl." Lee calmly said, still upset at himself.

"No, I mean – why would you absorb four beast sparks?! You’re going to die!" Lieve said.

"And you’re gonna live forever?" Lee theatrically snorted, "Alright, enough! Now calm down and focus on your breathing. Tomorrow is going to be a big day – we’ll get you out of those shackles!"

Lieve stared at Lee in disbelief as he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. The young man’s face was bloodied as was his hand, but he acted as if he hadn’t noticed it.

What she didn’t know was that Lee’s feet hurt a thousand times more. When he saved her right from under the steamrunner, from the overuse of two different elemental energies at the same time they ruptured, but instead of having a rest and healing up, he carried her for tens of miles to get away from that spot.

Lee couldn’t explain it to himself, but he had a feeling that he shouldn’t stay there. There wasn’t anything that allowed him to foretell that something terrifying was about to happen, but for some reason he felt it was the best to depart as soon as possible.

It was in the middle of the night when Lee found out why when a fierce gust of wind forced him to open his eyes. It was dark, and only the flashes of lighting between the clouds occasionally illuminated the surroundings, and from the chaotic swirls of sand around them it was obvious a heavy storm was approaching.

Noticing Lieve was also awake, he asked, "Is it going to rain? Do we need to hide?"

"It’s too late to hide. We’re done." She said, and for a change didn’t flare up. Her voice was calm, even grave.

"Huh ... are the storms that dangerous here?" Lee asked.

"Not dangerous – deadly." Lieve said.

"Fuck! Two people told me to watch out for spatial storms ... I kind of forgot about it." Lee said, getting up, and looking around, "What’s the deadly part?"

"Hollowreach is a very unique world. The spatial element is in abundance here, and because of that clashes with the others, but only on the surface. There are very few water particles, and even less fire, and the wind ones conflict with spatial, creating disturbances that ... how to simplify ... swallow contents of a particular area and spew out in another."

"So we can suddenly find ourselves at another side of the world?" Lee asked.

"No, not us. Parts of us. And not at the other side of the world, but few yards away." Lieve said, then sighed and forced a smile, "It was nice meeting you. I know you’re a good person, sorry I gave you a hard time ..."

"Is there a way to predict where the swallowing is about to happen?" Lee asked, ignoring the last part.

She was taken aback by the lack of reaction, but attributed it to Lee’s ignorance.

She said, "Yes, there’s a brief moment when one can notice spatial distortions before ..."

"Alright!" Lee interrupted her, and decisively got up.

Then, with words Sorry about this! picked her up and threw over his shoulder, and darted into the night, towards the direction they arrived from. The storm was coming from there, and his guess was that the highest chances to survive were in passing right through it.

Lee wasn’t as conceited to think he had the ability to outrun wind, and he had no clue how wide the storm was. Thus running away or to the side weren’t reasonable options.

’There!’ Under the flash of lighting he potted a strange phenomenon right in front of him.

For a brief moment a spot, a place around the size of a small bush looked different. Nothing was visibly there, but it contrasted the rest of the world, like a ripple in reality. It was as if Lee’s eyes were watering, but only when he looked directly at that spot.

He darted to the side, narrowly avoiding it, and then dashed past two more similar distortions hovering five feet above the ground.

Lieve didn’t say anything, and Lee would’ve forgotten about her if her head wasn’t constantly bumping on his butt.

’Deal with it!’ Lee inwardly laughed, and increased his speed. This wasn’t a good situation for someone to find themselves in.

Lee was probably the first person in history to beg Heavens to increase the amount of lightning, and preferably make the flashes to become permanent objects of light. Otherwise it was impossible to see anything in the pitch black darkness, and Lee refused to stop and light up a torch – it felt like any delay could become lethal.

Over the next dozen breaths or so, Lee stepped into few of the distortions. Either they were still in the process of accumulating spatial energy, or their nature didn’t allow to tear a person apart instantly, so he wasn’t badly hurt. They did hit like a sledgehammer, though.

Touching or stepping into one didn’t feel like an attack – there was no force to push against and no obvious impact. It only had the aftereffect – the flesh hurt and bled, seemingly without a reason. The damage was at the cellular level, tearing cells apart from within.