Thane looked around confused and scared, in Al truth he had never witnessed anything as he did now, he was sure he was still alive, the continuous stabbing of his lungs was a clear reminder of that but in the grey hue of the forest with trees and vines all surrounding him, he felt everything slower yet he could move as fast as he could if he wasn't tied.
Kayden was a few places away from Thane but he looked as though convulsed in pain, as though he did his best to resist something, Thane wasn't sure if this was the Blood Vine's doing or not but he knew this wouldn't end so well.
Before I could draw in my next breath, time had returned to its normal speed, the immense pain returned making me grit my teeth in pain but I looked once more and Kayden wasn't there.
"Phew" I heard an unfamiliar voice thunder just above me.
"That took a lot longer than I expected, well it's been thousands of years since I did something like this" The voice came from Kayden's lips but they weren't his.
Images of Lyda flashed through my mind as Thane mouthed the words, "No".
He didn't want to believe it, that Kayden had become a victim to the Blood Vine, for some reason the grip on the vines loosened greatly, allowing me to skip out, I fell to the ground with a thud, and my bones creaked from the sudden impact.
"You monster" Thane screamed without a second thought at Kayden, "Give him back now" he continued.
"Take mine, just leave that fool alone" his voice faltered a bit, "I beg you, please" Kayden crumpled to the ground with both knees.
"Aahh, it seems we have a misunderstanding, descendant of mine" the voice came from Kayden once more, "In about the business of saving you lot and not killing".
The forest shuddered under the weight of his words, "What are you?" The forest mumbled under its breath as though scared to raise its voice a tempo higher.
But Thane looked even more confused than ever, he looked towards the Kayden flying up in the sky and then just realized that flying wasn't something he could do, he heard the shivering of the forest as it shook in fear of what stood above him.
"Kayden?" Thane whispered under his breath, he knew that wasn't him but he had to be sure.
"He's not here, asleep but he'll be back with you shortly my descendant," the voice said as though excited.
"Who are you?" Thane barely managed to whisper but it seemed the winds had carried his words to Kayden's ear for his chucked a bit.
"I am an existence that exists beyond your comprehension, beyond the four realms, I stand at the highest, although you are my Descendant, you may not hear my true name but" he paused as lightning stretched out across the horizon in a thousand directions.
"My descendants call me, Indra"
As those words were said, Thane was not ready for the streaks of lightning bolts that shit down from the heavens in all directions, luckily none of them hit him or even came close but he could feel the tremors of each strike, the devastation that followed after, with just the mention of the name they the descendants had given him, it had wreaked havoc in the mountains.
But more important was how shocked Thane was, he could never forget that name, the name that had been carved into his soul from childbirth, there wasn't a man born of a woman who didn't know the name, it was the name they worshiped, praised and burned incense to, that same god stood here in all its majesty.
Thane could do nothing but bow his head in respect, he still felt the shaking from the forest, he could taste its fear, its imminent death and it pleased him, never in this life had he imagined that he would be saved by a god.
"But why" he swallowed his words, unsure of how to present them, "would you save such people like us" he says carefully.
"Because he was going to die and I had taken quite a liking to him, I can't let this hit die here, I have plans for this body of his" The Thunder god smiled deeply.
"Although the power I'm able to bring out is but a drop of water compared to what I possess" Indra stated, "But it should be enough to get rid of a plant".
Then with a flick of Kayden's hand, Thane realized he was hovering in the air, right next to Kayden, and more importantly, all his injuries had simply vanished, gone like they never existed and so eas his tiredness and fatigue.
"Take care of the boy while you journey South, I won't be able to intervene as I have again," Indra said without looking at Thane, then Thane was standing again on his feet, and before him stood the river he had so desperately wanted to reach, the problem was that he was on the other side.
Thane realized he had just been completely healed and teleported twice in less than two heartbeats, he sat down for a moment in shock and watched Kayden floating in the air above the forest, Thane could do nothing but watch and be glad he had survived.
The clouds descended even lower towards Kayden, wrapping themselves around him, thunder rolled ceaselessly across the sky, and lightning wrapped itself around the body of Kayden, Thane couldn't take his eyes off the beauty and inexplicable power being displayed in front of him.
He saw Kayden lift his right hand up above his head, then drop it gently with one word that escaped his lips, that one word could be felt across the mountains, down the hills, in the water, the realm shook lightly at the sound of that word.
"Fall"
A bright blue light blinded the sky immediately, what Thane witnessed next was enough to make him him kneel on his feet as he watched with a slacker jaw, he witnessed the true essence of power, unstoppable, undeniable, devastating, and most of all.
"Beautiful" the words escaped Thane's lips as he watched a rain of lightning, strike down at the forest, it didn't matter what the Blood Vine was or what it could do, it was irrelevant before absolute power.
The forest quickly became a crater, not a single vegetation had survived, but the lightning kept raining down ceaselessly, as though this amount of power meant nothing it Indra, if anything he looked indifferent, unbothered, at some point he even stifled a yawn as the land beneath him gradually became a pool of melted sand and molten glass.
But Thane had felt different, he wanted power like this, the power to be free, to do as he wished, to not be held back by limitations or the force of nature itself.
Kayden suddenly appeared before him, "My time is up" Indra grinned at Thane.
"I like the greed in your eyes boy, make it to the next realm if you can, do it alone if you think you're that capable " Indra spoke softly to Thane, "What you saw was not absolutely strength, barely a trickle of it, I'll be watching you," Indra said before the light left Kayden's body causing him to fall.
Thane moved quickly and caught Kayden as he still lay unconscious in his arms, the words of Indra still rang in his ears.