The Dream Shifter

Chapter 102

The school was still settling from the massive earthquake that had ripped through the ground. It had specifically targeted the school and nothing else, disappearing not long after the building. Dust clouds were billowing out from the debris choking off the screams of students. There was a deep rip through the new and old sections of the school. For the moment, none of the students had anything more than minor injuries; however the collapsing ceilings and fractured structure made it unsafe to stay. Teachers were leading them out to the safety of the ground, most still not certain what was happening. They believed that a real earthquake had struck.

"Yuki Hayashi! Come out!" the voice of Demosthenes echoed through the school piercing all walls. Everyone heard the challenge and all his friends became alerted in the confusion.

Yuki had become quickly paralyzed in fear having heard Demosthenes booming through the school. 'I thought he was dead! Didn't Ayumi kill him? Is it someone else?' He tried to move his legs, but his body remained in his seat. As everyone else in his class had fled from the room Yuki sat at his desk appearing unaffected by the threat.

Saki quickly whipped around from her place, she had been standing alerted by the vibrations, when the school suffered its attack. The voice was not one that she recognized, but her mind immediately went to the one thing that she knew. 'An assassin's come for Yuki! During school?!' She looked down at Yuki seeing how frozen he was, but it made her pause getting the feeling that it was more than just fear that held him this time. It was a feeling that she could not understand, yet it left a heavy lead weight in her stomach. She rushed over to the scattered windows hoping to see the assassin through all of the chaos.

Hiroshi had taken his refuge on the floor when the earthquake hit, but was left confused with the aftermath. 'Why is someone calling out to Yuki? What's going on?!' The other students had tried to get him to leave, but it had left him stunned. Only Kazuhiro and Tatsuya stayed behind trying to pull Hiroshi up to his feet. They had refused to leave him planning to drag him out by his arms.

Yumi along with everyone else had been pulled along with the teachers. She had wanted to stay, but could not disobey the teacher. As she was swept away she could see Yuki being left behind attempting to reach out with her hand towards him. "Yuki!"

Across the school on the lower floor was Fumiko escorting students out of the school quickly. The lower floors were starting to c***k and groan from the stress of losing the central supports. When she heard Yuki's name being echoed through the halls calling him out she froze for a moment. 'Is it like before with that woman? What's going on now? They're endangering the lives of all of the students!' A couple female students bumped into her snapping her out of her momentary trance. They had been knocked out of line from the stampede. "Are you two alright?" she said offering hands out to them. A shaken cautious nod came from them as they took her offer. 'I've got to make sure everyone is safe first!'

Ayumi was acting frantic trying to wake up Yuki, still stuck to his chair. She yanked on his uniform futility until she collapsed to the ground. Tears were already starting to stream down her face from fear that he was going to die. "Yuki! Please, wake up!"

The cries of Ayumi pulled Saki back into the class. She realized what her focus had to be and ran over to the two of them. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Hiroshi and his friends dragging him away. She had expected that Yuki would have come out of his terror, but it was tightening around him. 'Yuki's what's going on? What's got you so scared?' Saki grabbed him up from his chair and carried him over her shoulder as she bent down to get Ayumi's attention.

Yuki was falling further in to the void of his fears. 'It's really him! I know it!' Hundreds of spears felt like they were being sent through him each poisoned with a limitless horror that ran through his body. The pain crawled under his skin like snakes. He tried to claw at his own body to relieve his tortured shell, but nothing moved. 'I can't beat him! I don't want to die! He's going to kill me this time!'

'Yuki…please…don't hurt anyone…you're a kind boy…show them…'

'Mother!' His mother voice was becoming distant from him. He could suddenly move his body starting to chase after the fading image. His hand stretched out pleading for her to stay with him. 'Don't leave me! I promise I won't fight! So come back to me, mother!'

'Yuki…please…don't hurt anyone…'

Yuki was running until his heart was pounding and she was still fading away from him. He collapsed in the blank empty tunnel that he found himself in. His arms and shoulders were hung over with his back bent down. 'It's all my fault! She died because of me!' Yuki tightened his fists pounding them into the ground. 'She's gone because of me! I killed her! I killed mother!' The world shattered around Yuki leaving only a black void to surround him as he went deeper away from reality.

'You're a kind boy…show them…'

'No, I'm not!' Yuki clinched his hands around his head falling further into the ground. 'I'm not kind! I only know how to hurt people!'

'You don't have to hurt anymore…'

'No?'

'I'll comfort you so you don't have to do anything anymore, Yuki.'

'Mother…' A warm glow surrounded him providing peace to his troubled mind. All of his thoughts disappeared granting him silence. He did not want to leave.

"Hurry, you guys!" Saki shouted to Kazuhiro and Tatsuya still struggling with Hiroshi. She could let them remain behind. The corner wall took Yuki from Saki as she rushed over to help them with their friend. His zoned out state was uncharacteristic of Hiroshi making Saki worry what had him so trouble. 'I can't carry them both and neither of them look that strong. Damn it, Hiroshi!' She wound up a fist even while they were still trying to drag him along the floor. However, it did not take them more than a second to catch what she was preparing for. Both dived for opposite parts of the floor as Saki whacked him hard in the face sending him through several desks. "Damn you, Hiroshi!"

"Gah! I'm sorry, Saki! I won't do it again!" Hiroshi said quickly jumping to his feet from the desk that he was laid out on. Kazuhiro and Tatsuya looked between each other embarrassed not saying a word. It took another moment for Hiroshi to become confused and nearly angry. "Wait! What's going on? I didn't do anything this time, Saki!"

"You're daydreaming in the middle of an earthquake! You're making your friends worried!"

Hearing it from Saki had made him stepped back in shock. He looked over at the two of them on the floor with relieved faces to see that he was back to normal. Hiroshi rubbed the back of his head not sure what he should say. However, it was when he turned his eyes back to Saki that made him freeze up for a moment. It felt as though she was meaning something more from her words. "W-Well I…I'm sorry, everyone!"

Kazuhiro and Tatsuya picked themselves up off the floor and joined him. They were smiling, glad to have him back. However, the building suddenly shook again making them all fall to brace themselves. It felt as though another earthquake was hitting even stronger than the one before. Ceiling tiles began to fall down on desks with lights popping. The floor began to develop cracks even as far as away as they were from the center of the damage. There was not much holding the building together once the second earthquake came to an end.

"Yuki!" Saki shouted as she looked over to check on him with the building settling again. She was caught off guard by a wave that pulsed out of him. There was only a second to react when she looked over at Ayumi for a confirmation before the entire floor disappeared underneath them. A moment hung for them before they realized they were going to fall and all fears of death came rushing into their minds. Races of thoughts passed through everyone's mind trying to understand what happened. However, the time never came and they all looked around at each other to find themselves slowly descending to the ground.

"Ayumi? What's going on?" yelled Saki across the air in the near zero gravity she floated in. Hiroshi and his friends were holding on to each other trying to remain calm.

Ayumi looked over at Saki narrowly as though she was considering her action. "His power's activated and his field is removing everything within its radius. So there's no longer a building to support us, but it seems he's placed into it a low gravity law as well." She came to a graceful landing in the grass of his field while his friends fell over, not prepared. The earth suddenly began to shake once more, but this time it was coming from Yuki. Stone and earth pierced through the field surrounding Yuki before falling against each other in a rough pyramid. The ground still shook though as Ayumi realized that he was not stopping. "Get out of here everyone!"

Saki did not know what was going on, but trusted Ayumi's words enough to flee. However, Hiroshi was still confused as was his friends leaving them stuck where they stood. Ayumi raced over to them as even larger stones rose up from the earth to cover on top. Layers upon layers were being summoned to encase Yuki with them losing ground fast. "You three got to run now!" shouted Ayumi in a demanding voice that they had never heard before. They blinked for a moment before acknowledging her command and sprinted away. It was just in time as the earth underneath them was torn violently away with larger blocks of stone.

Slowly the earth stopped shaking allowing the dust to finally settle. Once it was finished a massive pile of rock and earth nearly half as tall as the school was stood where Yuki had landed. Most of the students were across the street keeping their distance from where only a part of their school still stood, a hemisphere cut out of the building barely larger than the stone that surrounded him. Saki and Ayumi ran up to the edge. It appeared that the school and earth were almost merged together with how closely they were to each other.

Saki pounded on the stone trying to reach Yuki buried inside. "Yuki! Can you hear me?! We'll get you out!" Ayumi grabbed Saki's shoulder with her hand pulling back her attention. "Ayumi, what's going on? Can you do anything?"

"This is of his own doing, Saki." Ayumi thought back to the time that she was first training him. She had seen this defense used by him before. It was difficult for her to c***k his defense even focused. 'I don't know if I can't break this.'

Saki turned around facing her, with Hiroshi unknown to her joining them. "You can use your power to cancel this, right?! That how it works, right?"

There was a pause in Ayumi's words, not the quick reply they were expecting. "It's different this time. Normally, Yuki's field stretches out to its usual length. However, it's barely larger than mine right now. He's subconsciously focused his field into a smaller area to strengthen it. His field strength is already unnaturally high, like this he's made the perfect defense. I'm not strong enough to cancel this."