Blazing with an unprecedented amount of energy, a pillar of lightning struck the ground right before Barimer.

He stood transfixed for a moment.

Then he ran.

The shockwave caused his ears to ring. Rumbling noises surrounded him from all sides and he felt his breath quicken, his muscles push, and his legs put out all the energy they had dormant in them.

But on the inside he knew, there was no escape. Not when the elements of nature were after him.

He rolled his eyes upwards, all the while running. The clouds were circling. The eye was opening. The worst was about to transpire.

"Goodness, what wrong did I do!" He mumbled with limited breath, knowing it would only strain his lungs if he screamed it out loud. And what good was it when the clouds could mete out judgement anyway? No God would answer to him.

Who would come to his aid in this hour of need?

There was no one. Not a single soul for miles.

The fact scared him. To die rather than be a sacrifice. He could have served a greater purpose. He could have appeased the elements. Why did he have to fall victim to their wrath?

All answers were within reach. Too close. So...very...close.

But it wasn't something that the elements wanted him to find. Maybe he was not worthy.

The prospects of the truth had maddened him. It was hard not to salivate in the face of knowledge. Knowledge to who they were. What greater purpose they served.

Another lightning strike fell to his right side a few tens of feet away. He saw fragments of rock burst out of the earth. The deafening blow of compressed air almost burst his ears. Two successive blows in such a short interval could not be rivalled by his sensitive audio receptors.

"Stop...STOP!" he at last screamed.

The clouds roared. He felt the eye glare at him. A dark mass of unknown matter, swirling maliciously. He could feel it penetrate him. The dark halo above him had nothing but ill will for his near future. It was blacker than anything else, any object he could wrap his hands around. It was a mobile beast embodied by darkness itself.

The environment around him had become the most nightmarish landscape he could have ever dreamt of. The air was uncomfortably cool, humid, with an acrid edge to it. It was never bright in this world. But he never imagined it could be any darker.

The wind picked up. His feet were burning now. His fathoms grew shorter. Barimer was close. Close to his end. He knew it. But, he wasn't going to give up easily. He knew he had a purpose. He had finally realised what it was. He wasn't the hero. He was the guide. The person who would lay it out for the one who shall liberate their kind.

The earth was cracking. The land was turning black. He could see a faint orange glow emanate from the fissures and even more as they extended into wide cracks.

The liquid fire.

The winds were now fast behind his back. He momentarily glanced behind him.

"HELL NO!"

A twister was after him. A gigantic whirlpool of gargantuan suction capability. The trunk of the elephantine avatar borne of the winds.

He had to do it. He had to do it now.

"I, Barimer the Visionary shall show you the path to deliverance!" His eyes turned a neon green, and energy exploded from all around him, surrounding him in a powerful enclosure. A transparent orb buzzing with electricity.

He took the object out of his cloak. "Heed none other than who is worthy. Worthy more than me." He sighed. "I wasn't enough."

The object he commanded it to, seemed to react to his words. It burst out of his orb and descended. Down... down...down.

No.

It was the other way round. He was being pulled up. The twister had finally caught up to him. He was now ascending the path of doom.

He smirked. Never would he allow his body to be tainted by the elements.

With one final farewell, he released everything inside him. The orb diminished him to a point, and then, the dark gave way to light, and for once, The Malformed Realm glowed as bright as day.

A day he knew existed, somewhere beyond. Somewhere far, far away.