Rockstones Scene 5: Separation

 The cold air hit Ethan hard. He groaned and opened his eyes. His vision was blurred and wasn’t clearing up anytime soon. His hearing was also dulled like he was underwater. He may be, although if he was in a mariner area like Highliken territory, his body would have adapted by now.

Ethan wondered how long he had been trapped in this area. He assumed it was a training facility. That’s what he heard rumors about where the vords put their captives. Was he a vordish captive? The face wasn’t a vord or an angel. Perhaps it was a heavenly host? Hosts generally did the bidding of either side, whichever it felt like it was to follow.

Ethan didn’t quite understand how the process worked. His father Gruem taught him about it. His father would always read him books like Guardian of Plots, Elemental Storage, and Deserted Treasures of Mungrath. He remembered them being read to him at night. In school, Ethan knew all the classics and got good grades in literature because of that. Perhaps that was why the Highliks hired him to be their soldier. Ethan pushed that memory aside. They might be listening to his thoughts.

A buzz was heard under the one pillow that Ethan was laying on. Instantly he was able to see and hear properly. He recognize the gray bed which floated five feet above the white glossy and reflective floor which projected the glimmering lights made of glowing golden specks.

The room was made of glass. Glass by his sides and in front of him. Behind him was a solid wall made of stiff vlug material. Ethan saw he was one of about a dozen rooms that spanned adjacent to him. Another set of rooms was about twenty feet in front of his room or really an area at this point. Anybody could see what he was doing. Including that muscular man with a bunch of scanners stuck to his fingers.

The man saw that Ethan was awake, smiled, and seemed a bit happy, then he lifted his index finger and put it to the door. The room beeped like it did when Ethan had his senses restored. The man walked into the room.

“Urunk knows your here, there’s no use hiding,” the man said.

“Oh, you brut, I can make a public escape. More news for the press,” Ethan snapped.

“I’m Lithen Stokel, Dorem Hundo’s assistant,” the guy said. He then quickly ran over to Ethan and grabbed him by the arm, cutting off blood circulation. “Filth!” he spat.

Ethan said nothing. It was no use doing anything now anyways. Here and anywhere he went was highly secure. If he was going to escape, and needed to be done through more creative methods.

Ethan let Lithen drag him out of the room, and the chamber of these glass sections. He was brought through a dark area with obsidian sidewalks. Guards dressed in blue and orange surrounded the area. Every so often a flash occurred and a vord appeared in dark smoke. Sometimes the vords would stare at Ethan, other times they would talk to the guards, either way, they didn’t stay for more than twenty seconds.

After ten minutes of swimming, Lithen stopped. He said nothing and stood still. Ethan noticed five guards standing side by side in an open area that was surrounded by a yellow bubble of air.

“This area is secured,” one guard said. He was holding a brown handle that had a vertical slit from its bottom and top. Ethan knew all too well what was inside that slit. Rockstone crystals. Simply a pinch of these tiny crystals was enough to power an explosion. They were used to form fields around different objects, for example, that handle, when tilted in the right way, would harness energy to form a three-by-six-inch blade of energy.

Lithen held up his hand, apparently showing his senses. “By the Lord's orders.”

The guards laughed. “Which lord do you serve?”

Lithen growled. He clenched his fist, a ray of orange light formed around his knuckles. The light turned to mist, which was directed at the talking guard's face.

The guard didn’t flinch. “Lord Urunk is recreating. Long live the Darksmith!” Lithen seemed to hesitate. The mist separated and disintegrated into the water. For a moment, Ethan thought that Lithen would be attacked. Instead, Lithen pushed him to the ground. Ethan felt an additional force push him to the side, he groaned hopelessly in pain as he felt his body falling from a high place.

___

It took some time for Jared to get used to the light. He saw Greg and Charlotte ahead of him. He couldn’t tell how far away they were because there was nothing to measure distance with. It was simply … white nothingness.

Jared ran to Greg, whatever running was. He couldn’t see his body, but as he thought of going to Greg, the action simply … happened. “What’s happening Greg?” he yelled. Also, same thing, he didn’t have a mouth but was able to make a voice. “What’s going on, where’s my body? Why are these vords attacking us?”

“Relax,” Greg said. “we’re safe now. Concentrate on getting to where we need to, then you’ll get answers.”

Jared took a deep breath. That wasn’t going to do right now. Wait? He was in this sparkwitz state and wait?

“You’ve never used sparkwitz before?” Charlotte said. “When you entered the Nic-Nac area I thought you were certainly a keeper.”

Jared shook his head. “I mean, maybe I was. I don’t remember much about what happened to me a year ago.”

“That was when I first found you,” Greg said. He turned to Charlotte. “He must’ve been sent by Urunk.”

“I’m alive only because Urunk sent these vords. He must be desperate.”

“You mean he’s been overthrown?” Greg asked.

“Must be,” Charlotte said. She pressed her fingers to her forehead. “Think of something -”

“Urunk knows where you are,” Jared suddenly had the urge to say it. It was happening again, one of those times when he wasn’t in control. Some sort of evil vordish force was speaking and thinking for him. Jared’s vision started to black out. He saw hellish red creatures with spikes on their bakes and yellow fangs. “Mungrath has a foolish plan indeed.”

“Quick!” Jared heard Charlotte yell. Jared felt Charlotte grab his arm. How did that happen if he didn’t have a body? The voices pounded through Jared’s head.

“He’s in Sombayneya.” “He’ll meet death.” “Exploit processing now. Termination is underway.”

The voices of the vords.

Jared felt a pound on his chest. He heard muffled voices and another pound. A force pushed through his stomach, and went through his throat, making him have a coughing fit for a good thirty seconds before he vomited on the sandy floor.

Jared rolled over to catch his breath. He opened his eyes to see Charlotte standing alongside another woman in white. Her gray hair run down her back, braided in artistic knots that resembled a straw basket.

The woman held out her pinky to him. Jared knew what to do. He put out his hand and felt himself floating in the air. His body is titled into position, and his feet planet in the ground. His nausea and stomach pain was relieved.

“We’ve found our way,” Charlotte said. She put her back to Jared, looking at the scenery ahead. It appeared to be a village with small straw houses that surrounded a large tower made of white glass with iron frames. White and blue decorations were dotted around the gaps between the windows. The rest of the village was surrounded by a wooden wall. Most beautiful of all was the sight of cloaked men and women, dressed in white, floating and flying around the houses and the one tower in the center.

“Sombayneya,” Greg said. “Angel outpost and Intellik research center.”