The Unending Storm

One more step. Now one more step. Another step, and one more step. Isaac could not do anything save repeat this phrase in his head. Heavy rain, hail, winds of unimaginable speed collided with his stubborn body with force enough to send him flying, but It would not happen this time, he was prepared. Knee-deep in snow, in a tattered robe, a mask of carbon fiber, and an insulated, skin tight bodysuit, Isaac trudged on. Despite the cold, which penetrated every inch of his armor, and the state of his bruised and battered body, he could not help but feel heroic as he moved ever so slowly forward.

The light became visible to him now, amidst the darkness of black clouds, there was, deep in the center, a peaceful eye. I can see it now!, thought Isaac. Lightning flashed all around him, so often that the rumbles of thunder melded into one continuous noise. It really doesn’t want me to get there, though, doesn’t it? Isaac clenched his teeth, he felt as if his organs were frozen solid. Despite this, he grinned under his mask at the thought of defying the power of this storm. You're going to have to do a lot better than this to stop me.

Isaac reached his hand out towards the eye, he was closer now than he had ever been before. What he had tried to do his entire life seemed to finally be within his grasp. The wind felt razor sharp to his fingers, even through his suit. It didn’t matter though, because no one else was going to do what he could. With all the might that surged within him, Isaac increased his speed, he thought about the day the clouds rolled in, and it made him angry, and he increased his speed. He thought about the mines and the caverns and all the monsters deep in the bowels of the earth, and he increased his speed. Isaacs grin was replaced with what can only be described as ferocity, this storm was his entire life, it was all he could live for and he hated it, he wanted revenge, he wanted the storm to experience for itself everything that it did to him and his old life. There was no satisfaction to be had here though, it was only a storm, and whether it raged on or died down, it cared not. This enraged Isaac even more, and he increased his speed.

Isaac was now moving through the snow at an astonishing pace, his hair was all but frozen solid, and ice had formed under his mask, he could barely see through the lenses. Isaac no longer heeded the wishes of his muscles to slow down, he pushed on through the icy wind, coming ever closer to the light at the center. He could see it in detail now, he gazed in awe of a massive field, peaceful and green, bright and warm, with one very large tree in the center. That tree...there’s something about that tree.

WHOOSH! A tremendous gust of wind crashed into Isaac, knocking him over. This was no time to be lost in thought, and Isaac knew it. He struggled to get to his feet as the wind swirled around him, whipping by at rapidly increasing speeds, his robe wrapped around him, and tugged him so hard it ripped to shreds. Isaac could feel the hand of dread itself tighten around his heart with it’s icy grip.

No...not now, this shouldn’t be happening now! Red lightning struck the ground a few feet from him, sending a shroud of heat and vapor racing towards him. It has to be…an Influx! Isaac gasped and scrambled through the snow as fast as he possibly could, but the wind was too strong, it tore him from his stance and threw him across the building snow, he was buried, weak, tired, hopeless, but there was no choice, he must get up, else die by the hand of the storm. Not going to happen. Isaac rose from the ice and snow, and moved forward once again, blasts of lightning striking all around him, opening cracks of red to the black clouds above. Large balls of ice slammed into the ground around him like cannon fire, and the sound of the wind drowned out even his own heaving, the ice on his lenses formed thick, the cold blistered his face and he could no longer see at all. The cold became so intense that he felt entirely numb, he could hardly move his arms any more, but his legs would not stop, for if they did, he would die, and that simply could not happen. Isaac no longer thought at this moment, he merely moved forward, in darkness, completely senseless, through the storm.

Isaac awoke to the softness of grass and warm soil under him. He lay face down, unable to move anything but his head, which he lifted to see before him the great tree at the center. It hit him then, that this was perhaps the first time since the clouds came, that Isaac had seen anything that he considered to be truly beautiful. The leaves were not green, like the rest of the field, but red and gold and orange, and they fell to the ground, creating a bed of color around the base. He felt he would have cried if only there were tears in his eyes to spare. With this, his eyes felt heavy, and the ground was so warm...I have to get up…. and Isaac gave in once again to darkness.

The veil of darkness parted to show Isaac a little girl laying down by a tree, a great big tree in the middle of a field. She looked to be in a school uniform, and as the weeks went by, she would come to the tree each day. She befriended the animals that lived there, and her best friend of all was a crow, with red eyes. Her encounters with this crow were not fleeting, it seemed to be comfortable around her, and would not startle if she approached it. She would often speak to the crow about all sorts of things, and the crow would speak back. One day, as the girl sat by the tree, with her friend the crow, a storm rolled in, and a few drops of rain quickly became a downpour.

“Oh no!” Cried the girl

The crow seemed confused. “What is it?”

“It’s raining! My book is going to get wet!”

The crow looked down at the girl to see her holding her book closely, shielding it from the rain, “It does not have to rain here, would you prefer that it doesn’t?

The girl smiled, “That would be wonderful!”

The crow looked to the sky, and the rain stopped, and the clouds parted, they formed a large circle around the tree, but would not move beyond. “Then no storms will come here”

The girl was amazed at what the crow could do, but did not ask him how.

More time went by, days, weeks, and one time the girl did not come back. The crow missed his friend, and he was sure that she missed hers. Years went by, and then the girl returned to the tree, older now, but this time she was crying.

“Why are you upset?” Asked the crow, “aren’t you glad to see me again?”

The girl rubbed her red eyes, “I’m sad because I won’t get to see you”

The crow tilted his head, “you haven’t been feeling well, have you? Is that why you haven’t seen me?”

The girl nodded, “My father says I’m ill, and that we’re going away so that I can get better”

“I understand” said the crow, “I would heal you if only I could”

The girl smiled through her tears at the crow and placed a small heart shaped locket at the base of the great tree. “Here, I made this for you and your tree, take good care of it so that I can come back and see it again”

“I will”

The girl sat by the tree, and looked sad once again, and the crow fluttered down to the ground and told her, “I know that you are afraid you will not come back here. I will be with you, your heart locket will beat in this tree, just as your own does.”

The girl looked somberly at the crow “but what if it stops?”

“Then I will make you a storm, except for here, so that you can find your way back”

Isaac awoke from his sleep. He could feel his body again, his limbs listened to him, and despite hurting, he could get up. That dream. It was so... It didn’t feel like a dream to him, however, more like a memory, but not his own. He had so many questions, but he was so tired he could hardly think straight, he knew that he had to get to that tree though. Her locket….she must have died….that is no ordinary crow…. Isaac limped his way to the tree in the center. It’s branches sprawled out, reaching far, and breaking the light coming through the leaves. The trunk was old and twisted, yet cozy. He walked through the bed of leaves, hearing the crunching and breaking of sticks under his feet. He knelt down by the base of the tree, where he found a small hole. Isaac knew what lay here, he reached into the hole and pulled from it a small, rusted, heart shaped locket. I have to put an end to this somehow. Isaac looked at the locket that he held in the palm of his hand. Never in all his life did he consider what would actually have been here at the eye of the storm. Nor did he ever believe that one day he would get there himself. So this is it. A locket, a girl, and a crow. And the Unending Storm. That damn crow.

“You are not the one I am waiting for” cried a voice from behind.

Isaac turned, startled, to see the crow with red eyes, sitting on a low branch behind him.