For the next couple of days, I rarely had time to sit around. Constant training took up most of my time, and my entire body was sore when I went to sleep. I constantly practiced all I knew, and at the end of every day I was with my car in the underground track, doing every kind of driving I could think of. Three days of constant work and improvement, and I was confident.
I was ready for the Stagea.
As soon as I explained to my caretakers that I was ready, they both had odd looks on their faces. They asked if they could come with me when I left, and go with me, and I of course agreed that they could come with me, realizing that maybe my caretakers were tired of this place, like I was. During lunch, I received a letter. It was in a blank envelope, and only was a short message, a map going to a place called the Barely There Room, and a small bronze disk engraved with a silhouette image of me, with my wings spread.
At 1600 hours, you will go to the Barely There Room. You will bring whatever belongings will fit in your transport, and your caretakers if they request it. Do not be late.
After loading my few most prized creations, and all my tools into a crate that was placed in my wagon, along with food and supplies to set up a nice camp, and first aid, I dropped the envelope in my glove box, Claire, Brenda and I buckled into the car and drove towards a section of the wall of my workshop marked on the map. I was thinking of how to get through the wall when I picked up the metal disk to see if it would give me any clues. As soon as my claws had gripped the bronze, it became warm, and the wall section became a garage door. I waved the disk like a magic wand, and to my surprise, the garage door opened, allowing access to a wide but dark corridor. We were all curious, but cautious, and I flicked on the high intensity lights that cut through the dark and illuminated the corner ahead.
"Here we go, I guess."
I put the car in gear and we were off, flying around the corners, speedometer climbing, pushed to the limit, as we didnt know how long the tunnel was. About an hour later of driving through the pitch black, becoming anxious as the clock ticked ever closer to 1600 hours, then suddenly, we were in a bright white room, with shapeless masses of solid color floating through the air, disappearing only to reappear halfway across the room. The cieling was insanely high, and the walls werent a solid shape, shifting, getting closer and then farther away, angular and straight then becoming organic and curvy, like it was alive, never solid. The only stable things in the room were us in the car, and a small chair with a small and pale elderly man sitting in it, holding a bronze object similar to mine, but instead of a disk, it was a small drinking cup. Everytime he sipped from it, the room became more active for a few seconds, then calmed down. The liquid inside never seemed to end, and he calmly observed as I parked my car, got out, and approached him.
I noticed that his bronze object was engraved with something similar to mine, but with tentacles attached to his back instead of wings and a tail.
"Is there something you have come here for, child? The Stagea perhaps?" It was then that I realized with a start that I had been staring at him, and I quickly composed myself before speaking.
"I am trying to complete the Stagea, yes, and I received a letter today that told me to go here, is this the Barely There Room? How do I start the first Stage?"
"Yes, this is that room, and I was like you, but I have ascended, I am not a man, I am not a creature, I am the first Stage, the Stage of Mind. It has been too long, enough talk, time for the fun part."
Seeing the expression of his face as he put his cup on a small table and stood, I felt a crushing fear, but I was distracted from my fear when I heard something whistle through the air towards my hand where it hung at my side. Instinctively my hand caught it and held it, and realizing it was the disk, I gave a small wave and a nervous smile to Brenda, who had thrown it out the open driver side window.
The old man had started radiating with power, and massive tentacles burst from his back like the engraving on the cup, only they were not tentacles of light, but of flesh. The room, much like its occupant, became agitated, and the floating shapes descended to the floor, and became representations of people I had seen in my dreams, the parents I would never meet again, the woman who abducted me, the woman who put a syringe at my neck, even Claire and Brenda, each one connected to a tentacle like a puppet, rushed me to attack and I took action before I could break down and go insane.
I rushed the old man, which surprised him, and just that made a few of the illusions wobble around the edges a bit. Each one I saw, I cut its tentacle by slashing it with my disk like a blade, and I at one point even threw it, and it came back like a boomerang. It took hours, but with each apparition I cut that disappeared, the old man seemed less powerful, and I could feel something in my mind changing, becoming sturdier, more resilient. I will forever remember the man's face when he saw he had no more illusions, but I will remember the feelimg of his own attack even more.
It was not an attack of the body like his illusions, but an attack of the mind. He was ruthless, a vast and ancient presence slamming into my mind, and I could feel him, which sent shivers down my spine. I used all my effort to push him out, and I eventually pushed him out, like how too much pressure bursts a baloon. The sheer force of my mental retaliation nearly knocked him out, and with a weak voice, I heard him say desperately, "I submit! You have passed the Stage of Mind, leave me in peace, strong one. Just remember, never forget what anchors you to your sanity, and never forget those who made you who you are."
It was after these words, that he disappeared, the room stabilized and turned into the inside of an empty warehouse, with no entrances or exits, just the car, unchanged from when we arrived, and a note on the floor. I picked up the note, got in the car with a bewildered Claire and Brenda, and we read the note to see what it said.
You seem to have passed the first Stage. Good for you. Use the bronze disk to transport yourself to the coordinates written on the backside, and there will be a hotel room waiting for you, show the disk to get in.
Seeing the coordinates, I touched the disk to where they were written, read the coordinates aloud as suggested by Claire, there was an abrupt movement and a flash of light, and we were parked in front of an empty lot. I started the car, and drove into the lot, confused as to why the lot was empty, but as soon as the car was fully into the lot, it became very much not empty and a posh hotel was suddenly somehow sitting there in front of us. I parked the car again, and we entered the hotel.
The front desk attendant asked to see my token, and I held out my disk. The attendant gave us the keycard to our room, and there we found not a hotel room, not a suite, and not an apartment, but my living spaces, exactly as I had left them. I let Claire and Brenda use the guest rooms, while I went to my bedroom. I don't know about the others, but I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow.
