The SEED of SHOCK {Story © Grimes - Art © Loc 96}
The crushing vine of fear took root in his heart. Slowly his fingers unclenched and the cold crystal
dropped to the ground with a soundless thud.It lay there quietly in the brown grass as dead and as
useless as the creature it killed. The thin skin round Skael’s mouth tensed exposing his gums in a
grinding grimace. His still materializing hand rose to comfort a puzzling face to a new awareness he
held lightly in his left hand. For an instant too minuscule to record Skael wondered: “Had his effort
been worth it?” But the thought was unpleasant and quickly lost amidst other lesser concerns. He
began to concentrate ... concentrate ... concentrate...His skin grew hot.
His eyes could not focus on
the naked wall before him. Slowly it diminished. And reasserted itself in a new, unfamiliar pattern. It
was now too late to succumb to fear. As the new plane overcame the old, Skael saw before him jagged
towers of stone and metal against the backdrop of a sickly beautiful, blue sky.
