I trod along as the shifting sands beneath my shoes made it difficult to make any progress though it was hard to tell if I had made any. I glanced back in the direction I was coming from, the small pile of groceries long out of sight. I looked forward and continued forward.
According to my watch, I had been walking for five hours but the sun was still high in the sky as if it was stuck there with no signs of shifting. It was an analog watch with a brown leather band and a silver face. A birthday gift from my husband when we had just started dating. It was one of my favorites and I wore it almost everywhere. My dry eyes prickled as I looked at the face of the watch, pausing my steps as the situation I was in started sinking in. The adrenaline had long worn off and the only sound was the howling of the wind all around. I was alone with my thoughts.
I wondered if they were okay. My husband, my best friend, my love, my other half. How did this disaster find him, was it only localized in the location I was in, or was it worldwide? In my heart, I hoped it was localized, that Hanes and my little boy Kane would be safe and secure away from those monsters. I felt my heart wrenched with longing remembering the feel of Kane grabbing a handful of my hair as if begging me to stay. I wish I had caved, kicked my shoes off, and gone back to hug my little love to my chest. If only I had a premonition, a bit of warning that everything could go so drastically wrong in just one hour.
As my heart and mind settled in on my son, a burning started to settle in my heart that at first just felt emotional but the longer I stood there and the longer I dwelled on the feelings of love and longing for my child, the hotter it got until it passed the threshold of acid reflux and was a radiating pain. A pain that felt like it bled down into my lower abdomen and the intensity increased in that area until it fed back up to my heart. The pain was so intense that I dropped to my knees, my face twisted in anguish as I clutched at my chest. When the pain got to a flaming crescendo the image in my head of my son Kane was the only thing I could hold on to like an anchor. Then just as quickly as it started it felt like something inside imploded with a resounding thump.
The pain recessed and I could breathe easier. I felt like even my skin was breathing, the feeling so real I had to shake off the ludicrous thought, there's no way my skin is breathing. But when I took another breath the feeling came again, it was like a full body inhale. Something had changed inside me, something intrinsic, something fundamental.
"What the hell?!" I muttered in confusion. What is this feeling? This almost magical force? As if I had gained another energy source aside from the air in my lungs and the blood in my veins.
"Is this Mana?" I whispered incredulously.
I turned to the side to grab the umbrella I had dropped when the pain gripped me. Freezing in fear for the second time that day.