Chapter 37 - The Price of Life

                                    

                                          
Something was coming for her. 
   Alie heard its piercing cry not with her ears, but with her soul. Even having never seen it, she knew what it was: a hunter; a killer. Something designed to find her no matter where she tried to hide. 
   A soul-seeker. 
   It was because she'd cheated death, she knew, that it pursued her. Because her friends had cared enough about her to bring her back to life, powers beyond their understanding now chased after her, trying to reclaim her soul. 
   She hadn't completed her trial. So in the seeker's eyes, she'd failed it. 
   And now it sought to punish her. 
   Or, at least, that's what she feared. It was also possible that it meant to drag her back and make her finish the trial she'd started. 
   Which meant, either way, she'd wind up dead. 
   She ran for the life she barely clung to, trying to push through the dregs of unconsciousness that trapped her. She had to wake up. She only had to wake up, just once, and she'd escape. 
   Escape eluded her. 
   On and on she ran, through the thick fog of the coma that kept her asleep. She knew it couldn't keep her trapped forever. Not if she clawed her way back to the land of the living. 
   She just had it make it there before she got caught. 
   Out of the darkness, a sudden light appeared. It glowed a dull gold, barely piercing through the heavy film of sleep. But she felt its warmth calling to her soul. She knew it could lead her to freedom. 
   She chased after it with all her might. Death would not have her, today. Not if she could help it. 
   She followed the light, on and on and on. 
   She just prayed she'd reach it in time not to be lost to her sleep forever.