There's... A Voice Inside My Head?
Chapter One
Ruwalk was walking through the corridors one lovely morning when he heard the voice of a young girl calling his name. He could not establish the direction from which the sound was coming and so he stood there circling - looking rather foolish as he spun around searching for the owner of the nagging voice.
"Ruwalk... what the hell are you doing?" Alfeegi sighed.
Ruwalk turned in shock to meet the cross glance of the white dragon officer. He laughed nervously for a second but Alfeegi was not amused. Ruwalk gulped. The only thing worse than a shrieking Alfeegi was an Alfeegi that was too infuriated to scream.
Not wanting to further anger the clearly exceedingly pissed off man before him, Ruwalk simply responded, "Didn't you hear it? I heard this nagging little girl calling my name but I couldn't tell what direction it was coming from."
"I heard nothing," Alfeegi insisted to him in his cold rage.
"NAGGING!?! HOW DARE YOU RUWALK!"
Ruwalk jumped at the sheer volume the little girl had achieved but Alfeegi appeared unfazed. "Didn't you hear that? She was screaming her lungs out there..."
"I can scream much louder than that, Ruwalk."
"I don't hear a thing," Alfeegi told him again.
"B-but--," Ruwalk began a protest but had nothing to say so he sighed heavily. "But I can hear her..."
"Well I can't. Ruwalk, I suggest you go down to the medical center and seek some attention. If you haven't checked in with them by the time I'm done discussing this new report from Kai-stern with the Lord, I'll personally hunt you down and lock you away in a psych ward."
Alfeegi left. Ruwalk took a deep breath and relaxed the icy chills out of his system. He hated it when Alfeegi was this angry.
Afraid that the dragon officer of white would do much worse to him than promised if he did not follow orders, Ruwalk quickly reported to the medical center downstairs. He had been quickly directed to a cozy little room of to the side where he sat in an overstuffed chair answering questions for a young woman who he had at least assumed was a psychologist.
"When and where did you hear this voice?"
"About a half an hour ago in the corridor upstairs," Ruwalk answered as he rested his head on his hand.
"And Alfeegi was with you at this time, is that right?" the skinny red-haired woman asked, looking at him over the rim of her green glasses.
"Yes."
"He did not here the voice, is that correct?"
"That's correct."
"Well, Ruwalk, I believe you'll be needing a week or so off. If the voice continues, I'll need to see you again," the woman quickly wrote a note and then sealed it with a red stamp. "Take this to the Lord for me, will you?" she smiled softly at him.
He stood up, took the letter from her, and left. He was nervous about all of this-- terribly nervous. God how he wanted to know what the note said...
Just before he opened the door to the Lord's office, he came up with an idea. He decided that since the letter was sealed with a stamp rather than wax, that he could read it and then reseal it. Cautiously, he lifted the little sticker and opened the letter.
"Reading other people's letters is very rude." Ruwalk spun around in a heart-pounding fear only to find his Lord smiling at him. "That letter is for me, isn't it?"
"I'm sorry, my Lord," Ruwalk responded sheepishly as he thrust forth the hand that clutched the letter. "If it makes things any better, I didn't read it yet."
"I know," Lykouleon nodded as he skimmed over the letter. It was then that Alfeegi appeared at his right.
"Ruwalk, I thought I told you to go down to the medical center!" Alfeegi yelled. Ruwalk sighed inwardly - Alfeegi was screaming again, which meant he was back to his normal self.
"They sent me here with the letter," Ruwalk responded.
"They say you're crazy Ruwalk," Lykouleon laughed a bit, skeptically re-reading the letter. "They say one of three things is wrong with you..."
"One of those theories must be 'too much stress' if they told me to take a week off," Ruwalk said, though he meant only to think it.
"Indeed. The other two are schizophrenia and multiple personality disorder."
Ruwalk bowed his head in shame. Alfeegi growled angrily as he thought of all the extra time Ruwalk would have to plan escapes for the Lord during his week of vacation.
"You know, I never did believe in psychology. I find it all rather foolish," Lykouleon crumpled up the letter and tossed it into a nearby wastebasket. "Take the week off but don't bother going back to them if it continues."
"But Lord Lykouleon--!" Alfeegi was fully prepared to protest.
"In all the year's I've known him, I've never seen Ruwalk act like a schizophrenic or a little girl. If it's not stress then it's nothing. Ignore it."
"Thanks Lykouleon," Ruwalk gave him a wide smile before leaving for his own quarters.
"Lykouleon, there's something wrong with Rath," Kai-stern said as he came to meet up with the white officer and the Lord.
"What now?" Alfeegi groaned.
"Indeed, what's wrong now?" Lykouleon asked in a much more pleasant tone than Alfeegi had used.
"He claims he hears a nagging little girl calling his name," Kai-stern mumbled, afraid that neither would believe him. Ruwalk, who was halfway down the hall at this point, turned at Kai-stern's words and headed back.
"Another employee hears voices," Alfeegi rolled his eyes and scratched the back of his head. He was going into another one of his horrifying stages again.
"Kai-stern, take me to Rath, will you?" Lykouleon requested, hoping he could solicit more information from the dragon knight of fire than the psychologist had gotten from Ruwalk.
"May I come with you, my Lord?" Ruwalk asked.
"Certainly. Let's go."