***
Cold. Cold the like
of which Tom had never felt, cold the like which he suspected few (if any)
humans had ever experienced. If icebergs
gained sentience, Tom could now sympathize with them. The darkness had not abated either, and
silence reigned supreme. That lack of
stimuli and the extreme chill worked together to make it seem like an eternity
had passed. It might have. Tom had no way of knowing. He could have remained unconscious for quite
some time, or none at all. Regardless,
without anything by which to gauge the passage of time, it dragged on.
Given the lack of any communication from his assailants, he
hoped they’d perished upon the destruction of the chambers, the void serving anathema
to their existence. As he drifted, he
had to admit the vast nothingness didn’t appear to have benign intentions
towards him either. Numerous times since
awakening, he had felt as if something in the darkness had nipped at him, and
in still other times he’d had to refocus his mind after catching himself losing
track of his thoughts.
In those times, he had felt icy jabs through his mind, the
chill lingering and feeling like an invasive force. Each instance had grown harder to drive back,
but the emptiness that accompanied each subsequent return to himself remained
the more disconcerting factor, as did the increasing ease with which his mind
lost focus. He couldn’t afford that--the
last time he’d snapped back, he’d realized he could no longer remember the name
of the dog he’d owned as a child, even though he could remember the golden
retriever’s antics quite vividly.
Since the last bout, he’d kept his attention directly on one
of the few lights breaking the darkness, watching as it grew almost
imperceptibly larger as he approached.
He’d tried to will himself there faster, but unlike within the
previously constructed space, it had no effect here. Tom had ended up resorting to sort-of
swimming through the emptiness, achieving at best only a languid pace. Still, the speck of life had at least
resolved itself as another lighted space similar to the one Tom had destroyed.
Somehow, Tom managed to reach it without further incident,
though it had no readily apparent means of entry. Unlike the asymmetrical shape of the previous
chamber, the one he now found himself at appeared as a perfect sphere, and
through its surface, he could see an elaborate network of stairways and
passageways. He worked his way around
the circumference of the globe, pressing and tapping at it all the while, but
it remained impervious to his ministrations.
He caught his mind drifting again just as he spotted a moving figure
within, the first such he’d seen since reaching this outpost. The figure looked up at the increased
intensity of Tom’s blows upon the sphere, then launched itself off the
stairwell on which it walked and to Tom’s position.
It cocked its head as it regarded Tom and Tom regarded it in
turn. It appeared the complete
antithesis of the shadowy forms he’d previously interacted with. Instead of a being comprised of darkness,
this one radiated a brilliant light, and Tom thought he could even make out the
vaguest hint of wings behind the figure.
As he watched, it placed its palm against the inner portion of the globe
and motioned for Tom to place his overtop, which he did without hesitation. The figure’s eyes (a brilliant green)
widened, and the surface rippled as it reached through and pulled Tom within,
gently bringing them to rest on the flat surface at the base of the stairwell
Tom had glimpsed.
Warmth instantly flooded into Tom, and with it, a bout of
coughing that left him feeling exhausted.
He looked over his form, and saw darkness clinging to it, but even as he
watched, it seemed to flow off and trickle away. His rescuer gathered up the voidstuff and
cast it back towards the wall and out back where it had come from.
“Thanks.”
“No need for thanks.
It was the right thing to do.”
“Well your kindness is a welcome change from the manners of
my previous hosts.”
“The Netherones, yes.
They are not exactly known for their generosity.”
“I hope you are.”
“I can assure you that we stand opposed to them. Generosity, however, does have limits.”
“Great, so what do you want to get me what I want?”
“You misinterpret. If
we could return you to--well, you--we would.
However, the Netherones did not deceive when they stated your body could
no longer accept your return.”
“You seem awfully well-informed. Or is that what that palm thing was? Some sort of instant communication?”
“Indeed. Your actions
do you credit. Most like yourself who
find themselves here succumb to insanity or simply pass on in sheer awe.”
“I had a purpose.”
“So have others, but it did not save them.”
“I’m hardly saved.”
“There may yet be recompense for your reclamations.”
“I thought you guys said I can’t go back home.”
“We said your body had passed. Whether or not we can do anything to aid in
your egress back to your world depends largely on how you fared traversing the
Ink.” The figure extended its palms to Tom’s face. “If I may?”
Tom nodded, and the glowing entity wrapped its fingers
around Tom’s head. A pleasant tingling
ran through him as images from his life including his recent experiences
replayed themselves in his mind. Every
now and then, the images froze or blurred as if corrupted, but almost as soon
as the process had started, the figure removed its hands and stepped back.
“You have lost some of yourself, but not nearly enough to
become something outside of your world.”
“Meaning what, exactly?”
“We can return you, and will try to do so closest to where
you are most comfortable. However, we
cannot guarantee what happens thereafter, barring that you will live once more.”
“Is everyone here incapable of giving a straight answer?”
“You can return to your own world. That is as much of an answer as we can give. Should the uncertainty be unacceptable, you
are more than welcome to stay here. It
appears you have quite the aptitude for how things work here.”
“And Lisa?”
“We witnessed you saving her. She is safe.”
“I meant--”
“I know. We cannot
predict what will happen between the two of you if you choose to return. We can only say you can return home, and that
she is also back there.”
“Then I guess I’ve got to take that offer. I can’t say it’s been fun, but it’s certainly
been interesting here. That said, I can’t
just leave Lisa.”
“We wouldn’t try to convince you otherwise. Goodbye, Thomas Dabber.”
With that, a number of other forms materialized, each extending
their arms towards Tom. Glowing filaments
extended from each, and wrapped around him, forming a cocoon of light with him
in the center. He found a giddiness
rising within him, which quickly progressed to a sense of euphoria and an unbearable
energy rushing through his limbs.
Light brighter than even that of the cocoon burst forth, and
Tom shot straight up from the reclined position in which he found himself,
taking a deep gasp of air that smelled medicinal in nature. As the world returned to more natural shades
of light, he could see he rested in a hospital room, which explained the
odor.
***
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