Jump into the storm

The world stopped spinning enough that it felt safe to move. Cheshin was experiencing psychic overload, and he didn't know why. Nepal was facing him, posed as if in pain. This faded quickly, he noted.

Cheshin shook off the dizziness as best he could, and decided to sever the “one mind” until things settled. The “one mind” lingered and would not let go. “No time to fight it,” he said.

“What did you say?” Nepal asked.

“Sorry, hi. You are Nepal, right?”

“Yes, and I'm a little worried about my sanity right now.”

“It will pass,” Cheshin assured him. “I mean your worry will pass. I'll explain later. Really. I should not be here.”

“Yeah, I think you're right,” Nepal agreed. “You should not be here. Unless this is a nightmare, and I dreamed you up. Then, of course, you should be here, and all I need to do is wake up.”

“No, no. You're not dreaming, but we need to get out of here.”

“This guy killed all these people.”

“I know. That is why we need to get out of here before it's too late.” Nausea came again.

“This doesn't seem real to me,” Nepal started on that train of thought, again.

“OK, fine. But trust me. We don't have time for this.” Cheshin tried to think how he could convince Nepal to make the leap of trust. He did not have to believe in what was going on around him, but Cheshin felt sure he needed to get Nepal's cooperation to at least go along with it. “If this is all a dream, maybe coming with me will get you out of it? It can't hurt to try.”

This argument seemed to do the trick. Cheshin grabbed Nepal and teleported away from the hospital. His minds eye was having trouble focusing on their destination. He reached for the “one mind”. It was still there, but something was terribly wrong.

Kefen's voice exploded in his head. “STORM!”

Pain thundered through him. He lost control and almost lost consciousness. He struggled to maintain his awareness for this trip, because he had no idea what happened to a person lost it in the middle of a teleportation jump. He was caught in a psychic storm, and the dizziness never left him. It had to have been this storm that pulled him through to Nepal.

Cheshin could see Nepal's mind was swimming with random thoughts. He was passed out and dreaming. Here he was struggling to save the man's life, and all the guy could do is go to sleep. It was almost comical, and later he could laugh about it. But right now, he was in too deep to appreciate the humor.