Chapter 12

Kevin nearly released his hold on the others as the darkness buffeted him. Darkness with a capital "D" indeed.  It felt almost alive as it struck out, trying to stop them. It had control of a strong, good person, and would not give him up without a fierce battle.  Well, they'd give it a battle.  The Darkness wouldn't give up easily, though.  It continued to come at them, tempting them to just leave and not get themselves hurt.

There was a flicker of a familiar presence up ahead.  Suddenly the journey was over and Kevin found himself standing in a mist that swirled around him like a living fog.  It looked so dense it seemed he could touch it.  He wiggled his fingers through it and found it... cold.

"What is it?" Nick asked.

"It's the astral plane," Howie explained. "Just a featureless land where everything fades into the horizon.  But the cold mist, that's the Darkness taking control."

Kevin clenched his fist, a flicker of anger igniting in his chest.  Going after Brian had made this a very personal battle.  He turned to Howie. "So how do we find Brian?  We can't waste any more time."

Howie tilted his head. "You sense that yearning?  That's Brian."

Kevin could sense it, and wondered at the feeling.  Why would Brian feel that way?  Yearning for what?  Answers?  Guidance?  Rescue?

"Over there." Nick pointed diagonal to the right.

"We follow that," Howie remarked, "and that should lead us to him.  But with the Darkness fighting for control, the trip won't be easy.  Be on your toes."

Leave things to the imagination, why don't you?  Nonetheless, Kevin followed Zanell and Howie through the shapeless world.  In this strange place, there was no sun, no sky, and no landmarks to give a sense of direction.

Eventually, Kevin found himself aware of a subtle pull.  He looked around, but as usual, there was nothing but the shapeless landscape around him.  Which started him wondering - were they even going the right way?  There were no paths, no signs to tell them if they were even going in a straight line.  They could even be going in circles for all they knew.  He wondered how sure Zanell and Howie were as they led the group... yet they didn't falter.  The sense of uncertainty continued to grow with each step until finally Kevin stopped moving altogether.

It was at least another yard before the others realized he wasn't following.

"Kevin, why did you stop?" AJ asked.

"I... we... I don't think we're going the right way. I mean what if this is the way into a trap? Maybe we should stop and come up with a plan or-"

"I feel it too," Zanell said, looking warily around. "Doubt. But it doesn't feel... natural. It's not coming from inside me."

"I agree with Kev," Nick said, licking his lips nervously. "Can't we try some other direction?"

"No," Howie replied, looking at each of them. "This doubt we feel may be strong, but the yearning is stronger.  I can't explain it, but I just know that's Brian."

"I agree with Howie," Zanell said, taking a deep breath. "But keep a sharp eye out."

Kevin sighed.  Howie had yet to steer them wrong, so he forced his feet to continue. The doubt still pulled at him, but the memory of Brian's anger on the ship spurred Kevin on.  That unnatural anger had to go, and he wasn't going to allow doubt to stop him.

Suddenly, a dark shape loomed out of the mist.  A large tree, bare and black, its bony branches long and reaching, as though warning them away.  Howie turned right to sidestep the tree. A crackling rumble began to fill the air.  Kevin looked around for the source, then turned back at Howie's shout of surprise.  He had fallen, his foot caught by a tree root.

"That wasn't there before," Howie murmured, turning to look at the root.

Kevin followed Howie's gaze, and either his eyes were playing tricks on him, or the root was sinking back into the ground.  Impossible.

Nick suddenly shouted a warning.  But it came too late as Kevin was sent flying, landing hard meters away.  What in the world?  He sat up with a groan, throbbing pain coursing through him.  That had hurt.  But what had hit him?  He looked up at the others and saw, to his shock, that the tree was moving.  There was no denying that one, not with branches whipping every which way at everyone.

Nick jumped over a limb that swiped at his feet. "I told you we should have turned around!"

"How could this possibly be the way to Brian?" AJ demanded. "We've got a giant tree blocking the way that clearly doesn't want us to go by, so we must've taken a wrong turn!"

"We can't take a wrong turn here!" Howie called. "There are no wrong turns to take!"

"Are you positive about that, Howie?" Kevin asked before dodging another branch that nearly took his head off.

"Maybe we should go back," Nick offered.

"We can't go back," Zanell affirmed. "We have to keep going.  Doubt is just blocking our way."

"Doubt?  The tree's blocking our way, Zanell!"

"The tree is doubt," Zanell slowly remarked as she began to back away from the tree. "So maybe if we got rid of the tree, our doubt would go away."

"How do you know that?" Kevin asked.

"It's a feeling," she replied. "Think about it, what's the strongest emotion you feel?  For me, it's not fear, worry or anger, even though they're present.  It's..."

"Doubt," Kevin finished quietly, realizing she was right.  Doubt was the strongest emotion here.  The worry for Brian, anger at what had happened, they were still there and strong, but doubt as to what to do was strongest.

"We have to destroy the tree," the princess reaffirmed.

"And how are we supposed to do that?" AJ demanded. "We can't get close to it, even if we wanted to."

Suddenly a pure ringing filled the air.  As it grew, it brought with it a feeling of hope, one that had been fading. The ringing seemed to be all over, yet emanating from above.  Kevin raised his eyes and saw an object fall through the air and land at Zanell's feet, imbedding itself into the ground.  It was a sword.  A sword made of pure silvery blue energy.

"Psychic energy," Howie murmured. "Incredible.  Where did it come from?"

The ringing stopped, but the hope remained as Zanell tugged the weapon from the ground.  It seemed to pulse with the hope and faith missing from this darkened world.

"Beautiful."

Kevin nodded at Zanell's wonder-filled whisper.

"It seems out of place," AJ commented as Zanell took a test swing.

"It is," she affirmed. "I think... I think it's meant to be used to defeat the tree. And in this place, I can only imagine it coming from one source."

"Brian?" Nick asked tentatively, hopefully.

Zanell smiled. "Yes. It has to be." She stepped closer to the tree, which stirred at her movement.  It had stilled when the sword arrived.

"Push away your doubt," she instructed. "I think the tree is feeding on it, strengthening what it broadcasts.  Think about victory, and how we'll celebrate when we get Brian home."

It was hard to do. Kevin knew that even if they did rescue Brian, there was a lot the group needed to resolve. Still, the fact that some small part of Brian wanted to be rescued gave him a glimmer of hope. He clung to it, stepping forward to help battle the tree.  Despite the fact that they were in the astral plane, the pain Kevin felt from the flailing, whipping branches was real. It took every bit of effort from the five of them just to stand their ground.  It wasn't an easy battle, but Zanell kept swinging her sword and finally got in close enough to stab at the heart of the tree.  An unearthly shriek filled the air, and then the tree split in two and crashed to the ground.

Nick took a deep breath and said, "Are we going to have to do this the whole way?"

"I'd place a bet on that," AJ muttered.

"There will be other obstacles in the way, that's certain," Zanell said. "But I don't think we'll have the tree again.  We know how to defeat that one."

"While it wasn't the hardest we've ever faced," Nick commented, "I'd certainly appreciate not fighting it again."

Kevin agreed.  His side still ached from that first hard whomp of the tree branch, along with all the other scrapes and bruises acquired during the fray.  But it left him to wonder.  Things would certainly only get harder after this.  What could they expect next that would try to hold them back?  And what of Brian?  If that sword truly had been a gift from him, how could he have done that?  Even so, more assistance like that would help greatly.

Zanell urged them on toward the yearning, still positive it was Brian, the sword tight in her grip.  Kevin caught a brief look on Nick's face that said he wanted to protest again, but he put his arm around Nick's shoulder and offered a smile.  He gave half of one in return, then they followed after the others.

"We did everything we could.  I'm sorry."

Kevin froze in surprise.  That memory...

If the day hadn't brought such bad news, Brian might have thought the sunset beautiful. But it only served as a reminder of a little angel no longer here to see it. Technically, Sammi wasn't even his niece by blood; she was Leighanne's stepbrother's baby girl.  But Brian had loved that little gray-eyed brunette with his whole heart, like a surrogate daughter, almost.  If only he hadn't hesitated in his decision, Sammi might still be here.  Those people would have been safe.

"So many innocent people..." Brian crushed the can in his fist, and ignored the small spatter of remaining soda on his arm.  His ears still rang from their screams, their cries of help. Keeping his gaze on the treetops as he stood on the second floor balcony of his brother-in-law's house, he spoke. "We could've stopped this from ever happening.  I could have stopped it."

"We couldn't have known this was going to happen, Brian," Nick tried. "We can't see the future."

Brian stiffened. Nick, you just don't get it, do you? "We still could have stopped it!" he snapped, whirling around. "Don't you get it, Nick?  All those people got hurt!  Sammi's dead because I hesitated!  She was my responsibility, and if Matt doesn't forgive me, I won't blame him."

"But Matt doesn't know about the superhero bit-" AJ began.

Thick heads, I swear! "He knows it was my responsibility to watch Sammi!  And now his little girl is dead because of my mistake!"

Kevin spoke up in a soft, controlled voice. "I guess this means that we need to work that much harder against Zator."

Wha-? Brian's eyes moved to his cousin sitting in the corner. "We train harder; we get better," Kevin continued, "less prone to mistakes and hesitation where there shouldn't be any."

More training.  Fewer mistakes... less hesitation.  How could he have been so blind to ignore such an obvious option?

Brian had taken Kevin's suggestion to heart.  After Sammi's funeral was over, he had thrown himself into training to better himself and the group.  Day by day, they strengthened, and Brian's hope had grown.  Two years later Zator kidnapped Leighanne, Baylee, Kristin, Aaron and Angel.

That must be why Brian had thrown himself into the fights after I left; to prevent the mistakes of the past from repeating themselves.  But they hadn't been strong enough with four.  He clenched his fist.  He wasn't going to make them go through that again.

"Kevin, you all right?"

The others had paused and were watching him with worry.

"That memory... Did you see it?"

They shook their heads.

"What memory are you talking about?" Howie asked.

After a moment's hesitation, Kevin shared what he had just witnessed. "It was the day Brian's niece Sammi had died.  He felt awful, blaming himself.  You remember?"

"Yeah," Nick recalled. "He felt he could have done better, but it wasn't his fault alone.  We all had opportunity - not long, but we still could have gotten her out of there."

"Could we really?" Howie asked. "That attack had been well planned."

"Even so," Kevin continued, "Brian blamed himself, so I suggested we train harder.  Brian really took it to heart and worked harder than ever."

"It was just like that after you left," AJ noted quietly. "He threw himself into harder training."

"I doubt he'll be feeling pretty good when we find him here," Nick commented. "If Bri is remembering that day, there's got to be a reason.  We can show him he shouldn't be feeling guilty.  Matt wasn't angry at him at all."

"Guilt sounds like another step we may have to fight," Zanell remarked. "Let's keep going."

The friends continued on, on guard for more obstacles.  As they journeyed, Kevin's thoughts once again drifted back to the sword in Zanell's hand.  Howie had said it was psychic energy.  That didn't make any sense.  He was the psychic one, not Brian.  But Howie had said that their abilities work differently here.  Maybe that was Brian's new ability.  It would be something to talk about after they got back.

It wasn't long before they encountered more obstacles.  A sudden sandstorm arose, taking what visibility they had.  Soon, all sense of direction was lost.  But suddenly Howie created a shield around them, blocking them from the storm, like a bubble of calm in the midst of confusion.  As Howie was a naturally calm person, that made complete sense.  Nick discovered that he could slice through illusions meant to turn them away, lead them down wrong paths.  AJ was able to blast through a wall blocking the way.

Kevin's ability still had to be tested.  He had no idea what he could do here.  Did he still have super strength like Power Lord did back in the physical plane?

"Look!"  AJ pointed.

They followed his finger and saw, a large, round citadel made of black stone.  This was it; the moment of rescue was close at hand.   Would they find Brian being tortured, as in Kevin's dreams?  Or did something worse await them?  But Brian's gifts during the journey - Zanell's sword, Nick's shield, the spark of light during the sandstorm to bring them back on course, surely those meant that Brian was still free.  Kevin prayed it would be so.  The immense iron gates loomed before them.

"So how do we plan to get in?" Nick asked. "Knock?"

Howie shrugged, and had only reached out and touched the gates when they opened with a loud creak.  They froze, waiting.

When nothing happened, there was a collective sigh of relief.

"Let's go, then," Nick said, stepping forward. "We've wasted enough time."

Kevin nodded.  Indeed they had.  There were still misgivings rolling around inside, but he couldn't let that stop him.  He had come for Brian, and wasn't leaving without him.