Chapter II- Ice-Covered Remains

His skeleton didn't change. He had discarded it long ago, no longer caring for the feel of being encumbered by the hollow weight. There was no point to it. So he drifted through the empty halls, the ruins of his prison, every now and again checking to see if there was any change to the bones he might one day return to. There never was. Nothing did. The perpetual freeze of time and ice served only to let him drift farther away from reality and feeling…not that he felt much anyway…

It was somewhat comforting, being no more than a ghost. You weren't burdened with the weight of a body….

He drifted, upside-down, through the halls. It had once been comical, moving around at odd angles. The comedy had worn thin long ago. The only interest he had now was the leaps science was making outside of his isolated world. The first time he learned how very far it had come was in 1987, when there was a routine flight to Bucharest that flew close over where he was.

They were called planes. Another leap in science! Now people could fly with even less effort than he had! No one considered it a sin to do what only angels and demons were meant to anymore. Even more stunning, most of them held no trace of the dark superstitions that the villagers had once. They believed, lived solely on, what science provided them with. They no longer trusted to God to save them, but believed that He helped those who helped themselves, and so made great leaps in all forms of science. The buzz of minds flowing with knowledge was overwhelming, so he settled on one, the pilot.

The man's name had been Erik Galveston. He was thinking of how long it would be before he could go home to see little Amanda and his wife Christine. Should find a desk job. He thought as he maneuvered the plane. He sorted through the information. Over a hundred years had passed since anything of interest had come to pass, since his overwhelming failure.

He let it all fade out again. The horrible thing about his current state was that you couldn't sleep, couldn't shut anything off. You could, if you were skilled enough, shut out sound and go dormant for a time, but you could still see everything, and never block out the constant wave of impressions on your senses from around you.

It was a scream that brought him out of his thoughts and the darkness of his mind. Not a physical scream, but something from a mind and a young, luscious heart beating frantically above him. A scream for help, and a mind thinking, pleading for someone to help her, that her parachute wouldn't open. Curious for the first time in an eternity, he reached up and brushed against her mind gently. She was a young thing indeed, but strong of mind and heart, fiercely fighting, thinking of some way to save herself. Feeling unlike himself, he brought a gale up to meet her almost without thinking about it, then drifted up to inspect the pack that seemed to be giving her trouble. A strap was stuck in the release mechanism. He tugged it, letting it out. A great deal of fabric came out of the pack, and for a moment he thought he had done more harm than help, but it billowed out above her and nearly halted her descent completely.

He marveled at it as he drifted back into himself, noting more people and boxes descending to his home in similar chutes, drifting down from heaven itself. It amazed him so much that he laughed, feeling comfortable with the fact that no one could hear him. But as he drifted, he saw the woman's eyes widen and he know, somehow, she had heard him.

He couldn't help but wonder about this girl who had come to his home. She touched the ground, and it was as if a wall had snapped up between them. He could no longer hear her thoughts, only her heart, which was slowing to a less frantic pace.

They were ten people in all, with quite a bit of equipment sent down in similar parachutes as the girl's. They landed on his very doorstep, bringing all of it inside. One of the men, tall with short brown hair and eyeglasses, walked up to the girl as she unhooked her pack. Her father, he knew after peaking into his mind. Though he could not read her, she made her emotions plain enough. She was excited. She told the others she wanted to look around the castle, to see what there was. He became eager. Perhaps this would be an interesting visit. If nothing else, it would serve as some entertainment…or food.