"You can put her on that bed of leaves," the old man says while gesturing towards a pile of leaves in the far corner of the hole. Kai obliges and gently places the limp and cold Guen onto the pile. The old man then examines her, checking several pressure points and listening to her chest as Kai stands behind, helpless in anxious anticipation. " How long has she been unconscious boy?"
"I'm not sure, we were both unconscious for a while I don't even completely remember how I got into this forest."
"Do you remember what happened to her?"
" Forgive me if this sounds crazy, but it is all I remember, a group of-of people tried to hurt us, and then I felt something I…"
"Go on boy"
" I felt something take over me...I've been having these visions. A great beast comes to me in my dreams and visions. He said he would lead me to a great shaman in these woods...and here you are." as Kai spoke the old man stepped towards him with an unreadable expression.
Now just a few inches from Kai's face the man spoke " and what form does this beast take?"
" Well it changes, but black, black smoke."
" What happened after the feeling"
" I blacked out, and then- and then she was there lying on the grounds. Like this." Kai looked over at Guen sprawled on old leaves, with guilt leaking through his frayed spirit.
" And what happened to the other men?"
" Gone, all of them, except for their clothes, I didn't know what to do I just ran and ran and then my body stopped. Next thing I knew I was lying on a stone platform under a tree."
" The old man looked away and muttered "The Stone Table" to himself. Then he paced around his hole in contemplative silence for several minutes and then began walking to several plants plucking leaves and picking flowers from them. Then he pulverized them with a mortar and pestle into a powder and placed it on some leaves in the middle of the hut.
�� Will this heal her?" Kai asks, breaking the silence.
" There is nothing to be healed, her spirit is lost in another world. I just need to be guided back."
" Another world!?"
" You talk like you have never seen it, but the spirit that did this to her lives inside of you. It brings you there while you sleep. It does puzzle me though, it has been a long time since spirits toiled in the minds of mortals." The old man then took the leaves and powder and whispered something and then blew them into the face of Guen. Nothing happened. " She will need time to find her body again, I hope she finds it the next day, I'm not sure how long her body can take it. Keep an eye on her, I have some errands to run, no matter what you hear stay inside here." And with the warning he left, he left a very confused and anxious Kai alone with his thoughts and a material symbol of things he doesn't understand, Guen.
He sat by her bed of leaves, almost on the brink of starvation. He had pushed his body to a limit and then some. He was so tired, but he needed to see Guen was okay. He felt so guilty, so scared of this thing that was real. A power was using him, but he didn't know for what. For several hours he sat in half-consciousness beside her trying to comprehend how his life turned from the extravagant wedding to this in just a couple of days. How one wrong decision could ruin everything. His entire world view crashing down, spirits, and different worlds. He was on the run from a mysterious military. He's responsible for the disappearance or death of a dozen soldiers, he might be responsible if Guen dies. He began to sob thinking of these things, he sobbed for a long time and then fell asleep to the sounds of his own helpless whimpering, he was helpless to do anything.