"I found one more," Kevin exclaimed getting up from the ground. And as everyone who was searching for some blood stains on the road, hurried towards him.
"This was where we found the dead body." One of David's teammates exclaimed, recalling that position.
"Are they strong?" Anna asked as Kevin tried reading the memories again. He pressed his fingers again on the road, and he nodded as blur memories started forming inside his head.
"Will you manage to get inside?" Kyra asked, worried if the stains weren't not enough to pull him inside the trance.
"Her memories are deeply rooted here," Kevin mumbled sighing out loud, "Very painful to add."
"Let's give it a try!" He then suggested, determinately looking at them.
This was his fourth trial to push himself inside the trance. In the last three trials, though he could read the memories, they weren't strong enough to pull him inside the trance. More importantly, since they were nearing the time of death, almost crossing 20 hours since the soul got trapped, Kyra worried about the probability of winning this mission.
Just 3 more hours at max, and the soul would get dissipated inside that culprit. That thought made her sigh out loud.
"Alright, let's hope for the best!" Kevin took a few deep breaths and rubbed his palms, his fingertips heating up at the friction.
"Do you have a body potion?" Kyra asked, she was worried about him and others easily sensed it.
Checking his pocket, Kevin nodded before turning around to do his job. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and touched the stained area again. Pressing his fingers harder, Kevin tried connecting with his inner mind. Within a few seconds, he heard cries and sounds of low groans of that culprit. Those sounds soon turned into vivid visions of that monster gobbling the girl's flesh.
Kevin winced, his eyes tightly shut as those memories made him feel heavy. His fingers trembled, his body giving up as his head throbbed in mental instability. The scene was just too much to withstand even though he was seeing it for the third time.
"Leave me! Please!" The girl begged, struggling under the Wendigo's grip as it pushed her to the ground. Her head fell back, her body giving up as the monster dined her flesh, and Kevin's hands started trembling witnessing that scene. His mind tried to disconnect from the memory, but he restrained himself.
He heard her cries submerging with the sounds of gobbling of flesh. And he soon saw her hands fall down in defeat against the monster's shoulder. She stopped struggling as she took her last breath. The culprit conceded she was dead, and it stopped feeding on her stomach. Its eyes glowed, a vivid blueish aura reflecting out of its skin, as it smelled her.
Realizing what it was up to, Kevin's eyes started burning as tears strained his eyelids. He felt a strong urge to stop it, to hinder no more harm to the dead girl, and instantly, he fell to the ground with a thud.
His body lay on the road, while his inner self got transferred inside that memory. He looked at his translucent self, his hands immediately reaching his pocket that had a potion.
He sighed when he felt it, and then looked around the empty highway. He glanced at his watch at was still ticking to 9, and sighed again. According to the death reports, their forensic team guessed the time of death was around 21 hours past 10 minutes, and he just needed to wait a few more minutes to witness those horrid scenes again.
While on the highway.
"He succeeded!!" Kyra happily exclaimed as Kevin fell to the ground. A few of David's teammates helped his body lay straight, while others nervously sighed in unison. In a few more minutes, they would be fighting against a monster who could eat souls, fighting a survival game mostly!
"Let me brief out the plan once again," Anna said and everyone nodded though they were already well explained about the steps.
"I will be reading his thoughts, while you guys would get ready with the weapons. Once we near the scene, Kyra will spell out a body transform potion into him and help him get a body inside the memory." Anna continued as everyone nodded, "The moment he manages to grab a hold of it," Looking at Kyra, she continued, "She would open a portal between the memory trance and the real world. The culprit would be pushed out and you guys need to weaken it, but not kill it!"
"Am I clear?" Everyone nodded preparing their minds. That was only the first part of the whole mission, the next part was something they didn't need to worry about as per Kyra's earlier order. And they were sickly worried about their own tasks! Fighting up against such a giant monster, which loved both flesh and souls! Ahh, they didn't wish to be its treat!!
"You should start now!" Kyra mumbled pressing Anna's arm, who nodded with a sigh.
Anna tried taking a few deep breaths, and later forced her mind to wipe out all the thoughts of other people. She had been trained, well trained to focus on reading the mind of a single person. Thanks to her hour-long sessions with the culprits in different cases, where their thoughts served her the clues!
Squatting beside Kevin's body, she placed a hand on his forehead and closed her eyes. His mind was nervous, so badly that she could feel his neurons throbbing inside. Somewhere, deeper inside she found his thoughts connected with his inner self, they were of strong sensations, and she immediately could read them.
"Everything is calm for now!" She mumbled as she read his mind, his newly forming thoughts inside that trance.
Kyra sighed in relief and then looked at David who nodded back in response.
"Guys, come on! Let's spread around and be ready in our positions!" He clapped running to the other side where Kyra had asked them to be at stand-by! It was around a meter away from her Chakra, and just a few inches from where Kevin was laying.
His team was divided into two halves! The first half would hide in the forest and attack the Wendigo in their wolf forms. While the other half would guard around with Kyra's weapons. According to Kyra's idea, if both the parties attacked the culprit simultaneously, she was sure it would lose its strength! And, they just wished it to succeed without them being sacrificed!
A few minutes passed by, almost 20 minutes and everyone waited silently for Kevin to encounter the culprit.
"The girl is here! She had stopped the car!!" Anna loudly exclaimed as Kevin's mind started wobbling in panic.
Kyra who was discussing something with David immediately rushed to her side. So did David after ordering a few of his teammates to hide in the forest, while others stood on guard with their weapons.
"The tunnel had formed," Anna continued reading his mind, as Kevin stood there inside the trance, patiently allowing his thoughts to take over him. He just wished Anna could receive them easily, and more rapidly now that the monster was about to show up!
A minute later, as the girl drove inside the tunnel, he swiftly followed the car. Unlike the dark road, the tunnel was weirdly lit with some dim light and he couldn't understand how. Standing a meter away from the car, at the entrance of the tunnel, he heard the sound of something crashing over the car. Immediately, he could see the golden eyes of the wendigo, followed by its whole body as its skin reflected a blue smoke.
"The Wendigo is here!" Anna in the outside world exclaimed reading his thoughts. The werewolf pack nervously gulped, while Kyra hurriedly took out a bottle with the 'Fema Corporis' potion, the one that could provide Kevin a body inside the trance.
"It It broke inside the car!!" Anna mumbled, her worries raising up simultaneously with Kevin's tensed thoughts.
And, Kyra immediately squatted down on the other side of Kevin's body, ready to pour the 'Fema Corporis' potion into his mouth.
While inside the trance!
Kevin held his breath as he saw the girl being pushed out of the car. Her body was later dragged to the edge of the road. She moved back, crawling behind as the creature hovered over her.
'Ask Kyra to get ready!!' He nervously thought and Anna conveyed the message. And Kyra was already in her position to help him!
Kevin then focused on controlling his emotions, but he couldn't as he saw the girl crying out, her flesh turning into a meal for the creature.
"Ahh, his thoughts are fluctuating!!" Anna groaned as her mind felt dizzy with pressure. His thoughts were getting strong with rage and she couldn't handle reading them.
But soon Kevin tried staying calm, he took deep breaths and looked away from that scene to distract himself. Just her cries were tormenting him and he didn't wish to disconnect with Anna, just because of his worked-up emotions.
"I I am better!" Anna mumbled as she felt Kyra's hand over hers on Kevin's head. That girl needed to stay strong and she hoped for the heavens to give her strength, to each one of them!
A minute later, as Kevin heard no sounds, he looked at the girl. His eyes soon started tearing up as the scene he last wished to witness, started numbing his brain. He saw the girl's soul, that white smoke getting devoured by that soul eater, and he got lost in that moment.
"I am unable to read anything!!" Anna panicked as his mind stopped working, nothing was getting processed at that moment.
"Come on, Kevin! You can't lose at this moment!" She mumbled pressing her palm harder on his forehead. They needed him to focus on the mission instead of the girl's pain and her wavering emotions!
But Kevin couldn't process anything. His eyes stared at the scene, his mind blanking out as witnessed that heart-breaking scene again. His emotions broke out and he just couldn't think anything nor could he help Anna!
"Come on, Dammit!" Anna grumbled, tears running down her cheeks as she felt they were losing him.
He needed to combat his emotions, or else they would fail this mission miserably!