As Kael heard that woman's voice his breath became hitched.
His lips became trembled as a single word slipped out—with a fragile and broken voice.
"Mother…"
With those words he turned towards the source of the voice, Kael's mind was already in a turmoil due to the Cloud Touching Mountain and the now the world around him warping with every heartbeat.
A moment ago, he had stood in a snowy valley like a landscape where a snowy blanket was placed onto a mountain where the sky was greyish with falling snow. But now…
Greyish Mist had engulfed everything.
In the blink of an eye, the world had become a land of fog. Thick, endless, and dreamlike.
Yet Kael didn't hesitate in front of the mist; just like a long lost child was chasing after her mother, he ran—straight toward the voice and got swallowed by the mist because deep in his soul, he knew.
It was his mother's voice.
It was a gentle voice filled with warmth. It was a voice that he could never forget and now it was Impossible to hear and right now it was the real voice of her mother. That very voice was echoing throughout the mist like the lullaby he used to listen to every night before falling in the deep embrace which kept him warm in the cold night and fell asleep peacefully.
As he was rushing into the mist a flash fell on his eyes which made him stunt and then he saw through the swirling haze.
As his eyes became clear he saw a small figure sitting in a chair near by a window—his tiny shoulders were shaking. His cheeks were stained with tears. It was a child.
It was kael himself.
All of a sudden, lightning flashed in the sky, illuminating through the glass window and casting a glow on the face of young Kael. It emitted a silver gleam onto the face yet instead of getting happy by flashing light in the sky the young Kael was weeping—with a sorrowful expression as if he had lost something.
CRACKK-KA-BOOM!
However, the eyes of Kaelvern were fixed not on the young Kael but on the figure who was standing in front of his younger self, because it was her.
It was his mother, Saptaliya Stormborn.
She was the most beautiful and loving woman he would ever see.
Currently she was wearing a white gown—plain in form and yet it had an extraordinary presence. She was Adorned with delicate, understated jewels that shimmered faintly in the mist, she looked like a figure carved from memory and wind. She was the same as he remembered her as if Time had not touched her. Untouchable to time. The way she always appeared in his dreams.
His heart was thumping, with a single glance of his mother ready to break at any time.
Thump-thump… thump-thump…
She opened her arms, taking the young Kael into an embrace with a soft smile on her face.
With her gentle and warm voice she whispered in the ears of young Kael "Don't cry, little Kaeli, mommy is her and you must remember… you are—"
Whoooosh…
He remembered this moment in his life.
He was six at that time. He had taken a small little chick from a nest in the tree, but eventually it grew large and transformed into a fully grown adult bird. Ultimately, it perished because of an ugly crow which pursued the cute bird and hunted it down, he was only able to protect the body of the little bird to bury it—this marked the first encounter with death in his life; which filled him with a grief of losing someone, a sorrow from losing someone he cherished. He had wept for hours. But she... she had held him through it all.
As Kael emerged from his recollection, he attempted to grasp his mother and embrace with his wailing eyes but he remained motionless; his legs were glued to the ground as if the his lower part of his body was paralyzed. However, he didn't stop there he yelled on top of his lungs at the highest pitch possible, "Mom! Mum! It's me, Kaeli! Your little Kaeli mommy please look at me "Turn around and look at me!" HAAAAAAAHHH!
It didn't work, for some reason, she was unable to hear him or there was no sound of him that could reach her. The only thing was able to move was his only hand and his upper body. His eyes were still welling with tears.
He yearned to reach towards her with his extended fingers, just to touch her.
She was just half a meter away.
He tipped forward, and the moment he was in the air he extended his fingers toward her; however, the instant it made contact with her it passed through it and transformed him, her, and everything into a swirling mist.
With that dream broke apart.
And she disappears like mist in the wind.
Kaelvren stood again at the entrance of the mountain. Isolated. in stillness. A step ahead before the illusion gripped him—nearly as if the memory had propelled him onward.
And Kaelvren stood once more unto the snowy blanket of the mountain. Alone. Soaked into the sea of silence. He was just one step ahead of his previous position before he got swallowed into the dream-like illusion—almost as if he was seeing his own memory in a third perspective.
His heart was still thumping with pain. His throat was on fire. Eyes resembling stormy clouds which were weeping with sorrow.
But he didn't stop.
"So It seems… this is my true trial huh for sure it is a Trial Of Misery…. hehehe," he murmured with a grin, laughter on his tear-stained face.
And with that Kaelvren took another heavy step forward into the greyish mist regardless of what was going to happen next to him. He fed himself to the greyish mist.
With a swoosh he stepped into the fog and vanished within it without a trace.
This chapter is very special to me.
The gray mist you saw was inspired by Lord of the Mysteries—a masterpiece that deeply influenced me and my writing.
This chapter is my humble tribute to it.
To the world of mysticism, secrets, and madness.
To Klein, to the Fool, to the gray fog that watches all.
Thank you, guys. I truly love it. Lotm