Journal #42 - Continued
I was thrown forward head over feet a few times before my body hit the darkness. At the time I didn't know what to expect, though I had a faint concern that it was the actual 'space' I had seen outside of so many flume trips before. Though that worry didn't pan out, it wasn't far off.
The substance is hard to describe. One moment it was mildly warm, the next slightly frosty. It felt like it was in a constant state of shifting, going from semi-solid to partially-liquid like in an instant. My body was engulfed by it and at several points I could feel various temperatures and resistances rolling across it.
I shivered at the unnatural feeling and tried to get a bearing for where I was. I couldn't really see in this murk but I also realized that I couldn't breath either. Panic briefly rose up before another comprehension dawned; my body didn't seem to require oxygen anymore.
That, more than anything else, just about confirmed what Saint Dane had once taunted me with a couple of territories ago, stating that the Travelers were nothing more than illusions. Right then and there I can honestly say I believed him.
I had lost any need of hunger, thirst, weariness, and now air. I truly wasn't human.
Not the best thing to realize and understand about yourself, especially in the middle of existence. Essentially the substance I was in turned out to be the dimensional matter that kept the eleven territories of Halla separated from one another. It had been broken down in the 'Convergence' from a constant solid barrier into this fluctuating state of weakness.
The fact that it was still trying to reform into its original state would later help me understand that the battle for Halla was still underway, that things weren't over despite our... really my own, failures.
But I didn't know any of that yet. As I said, I couldn't see in this gunk. It was only by pure chance that in my flailing efforts to get moving my Traveler Ring got close enough for me to see the ten symbols etched around the stone in the middle were glowing brightly.
I knew the stone would glow whenever I was near a flume, but the symbols? What the heck? I wondered if it was another change in Halla, but tried to follow it anyway. If the same effect was taking place here that usually happened with the ring, I just might be getting out of this murk and perhaps find a way back to what the territory's had melded into.
As it happens, I was able to push-swim my way forward for a few hours using my ring like a compass to guide me. It's a good thing I couldn't get fatigued because I'm pretty sure I should have been feeling exhausted from non-stop motion by the time I was done.
The shine from my ring grew enough that even a foot away I could see it in the darkness around me. Soon enough my hands broke free into open air, but before my head could reach I felt something grab onto them and yank me forward sharply.
I yelped in surprise at both the unexpected movement and the sudden numbness that shot down both hands straight into my shoulders. When my body cleared the substance I was dropped to the ground- and not softly either, thank you very much.
Who, or whatever it was, paced around behind me before I could get a good look at them. I couldn't really get a good look at anything after all that time in the dark, and it was pretty bright where I had turned up. I squinted and turned my head around to follow the thing to pull me out- I couldn't be sure if it was human or not because the moment contact was made my fingers lost all sensitivity.
I got a glimpse of dark gray boots on a dark gray rocky surface. Well, that rules out klees or quigs. I hoped it was a human. I didn't get the chance to find out as whoever it was came back and touched my head. Just one touch, that's all it was, and I was out like a light.
---
I woke up some time later. My eyelids felt like they weighed ten tonnes apiece, so its a wonder I was able to crack one open at all. I was in a dark hut resting on a cot. That information wasn't really helpful. The mystery figure to yank me out stepped back into the otherwise empty hut with their arms behind the back. The lighting wasn't good enough to make out what they looked like or wore.
"Awake at last." the voice was definitely male. Rough and grating, as though it wasn't used often except for shouting, yet spoken in a soft tone that felt just as unnatural to my ears as the substance I had been floating through for the last few hours.
He leaned down and pressed a hand to my still numb right shoulder. A jolt of electricity shot through my entire body from the point of contact and I jumped off the cot, a yelp of pain escaping. The man stood back up straight and gestured for me to walk out ahead of him.
Fine by me. I somewhat spasmodically stepped out of the hut and paused just outside the doorway at the sight around me. Dark gray stretched out as far as I could see in every direction, including up. We seemed to be underground, yet despite that transparent pale blue stars stretched across the ceiling and in some places, even the floor itself!
I felt a low jab in my middle back and jumped forward again with another jolt of electricity. For the first time I got a good look at the man who had pulled me out here.
His features seemed to be carved out of the very rock beneath our feet. His pale silver and transparent hair was long enough to reach his shoulders, while his eyes glowed with a thousand microscopic pinpricks of light that I was sure would be stars, mild blue mixed among the white as though his eyes themselves were mimicking space.
His clothing was jagged and dark gray as well, a flowing robe held open above a suit like those I had seen the Life-light inhabitants wear, yet the runes of the ten normal territory's were etched into it in unique patterns, each glowing vibrantly.
"I know what you wonder. I have no name, but it is I that you owe your life to." he said in the same voice as before. I took a step back as his voice woke me up out of the stupor I had entered looking his form over. "Welcome to the truth behind Halla. Welcome to Eionia."
/pause Journal #42
