Blood and Thunder

Chapter 1 - Portal To Another World

The darkness slowly faded and colour filled his vision once more.

"That's it. Breathe. Good boy." His mother's kind face came into focus. Her calming voice slowed his racing heart. "Concentrate on the plant."

His mother scooped up some soil from a nearby plant pot. A seedling started to raise in her palm, small grains of soil rolled off of the leaves.

She spoke to him about the process like she had done many times before, but still he listened and watched. The stem grew and soon a bud formed, a few moments later, yellow petals bloomed. His mother smiled as the flower grew more.

His mother's eyes matched the colour of the leaves. He looked into them and saw concern.

"I'm okay." He looked at her as she crouched next to him on the floor. "I had another vision didn't I?"

He knew the answer. But he needed her to tell him that it was going to be okay.

"Yes. The third one this week." She gently placed the plant into one of the empty pots that she kept around the house. "You were shouting for Rosia again. I don't know what happened and I'm not going to push you for answers, but you know what you saw isn't set in stone. It is only one of many possible paths of the future. There is still plenty of time to change it." She smiled and gently brushed his brown hair from his eyes. "Now why don't you go freshen yourself up ready for lunch?"

Alex gently got up off of the floor. His body ached and he was sweating like he had just gone for a run.

He walked up stairs and into the bathroom. He concentrated on the taps and they turned, allowing time for the water to run as he got undressed. The bath was cool on the bottoms of his feet as he climbed in. But soon the warmth of the water spread throughout the whole room. The hot water shot out of the shower head, hitting his bare skin. He could feel the water slowly cleansing his skin. Just standing there for a moment, he enjoyed the heat and relaxing sensation of the water droplets hitting and bouncing off him again. The warmth helped calm his aching body.

Visions often made him sweat a lot, and even when he didn't sweat, he still felt grim. He took a soap ball and rolled it around in his hand until it transformed into foam. Gently he washed his body until he felt like himself again.

Stepping out of the shower he looked at himself in the big mirror placed opposite the bath and shower. His hair stuck to his face, the highlights in his hair shone in the sunlight beamed through the window above the sink. The drips from his wet hair ran down his forehead to his dark eyebrows and down his nose. He wiped it off with the back of his hand, they always tickled him as they ran down his nose. Grabbing a towel he placed it over his head and started to dry his hair. He took another and wrapped it around his waist.

He looked at his full length reflection in the mirror and tried to flex his muscles to see if he gained anymore. But his arms were just as skinny as always. The little he did have was mainly from carrying piles of books from his father's study, up the stairs and to his room. Often he sat in his room reading for days, only leaving for the bathroom and food. He loved reading, and he loved a variety of books. When he read, it was like taking a holiday from reality and just like a holiday, he was often sad to return. Reading made everything bearable, he could escape when he wanted, and return when he needed.

He slept very little due to visions these days anyway. There were more while he slept and he wanted to minimise the amount he had, so he spent a lot of the night reading and learning new things. He spent time trying to research a way to limit the amount he had, and hoping there was even a possibility of getting rid of them altogether. But he doubted it, he was having more recently and it was draining him.