Chapter Nine

Meyna opened her eyes to find herself floating in a place she had never been before. There was an endless black void covered with small white lights. The more she looked at them the more she realized that they were stars, accompanied with that of floating chunks of rock that slowly moved along their way. There was no land, no sea, nothing.

Where was she?

Looking around she saw a strange large ball ahead, with rings around it circling in a slow rotation. It was strange yet at the same time interesting.

Where… where am I…? Meyna thought as she looked at the unfamiliar place. Though she didn't know where she was, Meyna couldn't help but feel oddly relaxed in this strange alien place. As she remained there floating in that endless void she tried to figure out how it was that she ended up in such a place. I remember the Colony was being attacked by Telethia, and that a cloaked man called to me. He seemed to be able to control the Telethia, but how? My brother and Rei showed up and we fought him and then… an image flashed in her mind of the attack and her bother using his own body as a shield to protect Meyna, being struck into a wall and impaled. Meyna gasped as she recalled it, the feelings of anxiety, fear, and anger, but with the coming of that white light all faded to darkness. That's right, Grithiff, protected me from the Telethia Donnis when it struck but… her hands grasped the side of her head as she shook her head in frustration. Why can't I remember anything after that? No matter how hard I try and remember it won't come to me! Why? Why can't I remember? Did I… did I die? Is that why I can't remember?

Another image then came this time it looked as if she was seeing through the eyes of someone else, someone fighting and even killing the Telethia. What… what is that? What am I seeing? Even with her eyes open she could still it the images in her mind's eye, through the eyes of another person fighting the cloaked man with some type of blade and striking at his head revealing feathers of white.

That man, he attacked me and the others at the Colony, is he… part High Entia? Why would he attack Homs or even those of his own people? What does he want from me?

"The more questions you ask, the fewer answers you will get."

Meyna stilled when hearing that voice, it was a woman's voice, sounded similar to her own, yet somehow different but she couldn't tell as to how. Did that mean she did not die?

Standing up, and expecting to be greeted with the surprise of meeting solid ground. What was this?

"If you wish to know the cause, the reason, all you must do is walk forwards, walk on a path of your own choosing and learn what it is you do not know."

"Who's there?" she called out, her voice echoing out around her. Looking around she tried to find the source of the voice. "Hello?"

"In what you seek cannot be found here, the longer you stay the more pain there will be for you in the future." Meyna continued to look trying to pinpoint the location of the voice. "Like before with your other home and the one before that…"

"What are you talking about?" Meyna asked. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am."

Meyna spotted the person then, standing amoung that of the strange floating rocks. With the rocks that floated past she saw the woman, wearing strange black armor and having hair as white as freshly fallen snow. Her back was to Meyna, merely standing there, not looking towards her, as if trying to avoid Meyna's line of site.

Meyna tried to get close, she ran to the woman, but when she had as the rocks moved the woman had vanished from there.

"You need to leave, before the Other wakes up…"

"The Other...?" Meyna turned to look again for the woman, but was suddenly greeted with a pair of hands wrapped tightly around her neck which lifted Meyna into the air strangling her with killer intent. It was another woman, but this one didn't seem to be wearing anything, and what's more, with such a strong grip clutching at Meyna's throat, it caused her vision to blur due to the lack of oxygen, making her unable to see this new woman's face.

"Let me in!" this new woman demanded.

Meyna grasped the woman's wrists feeling just how ice cold her skin was, like that of a corpse. She could hear the woman's laughter before everything went dark, her whole body feeling numb, and yet she opened her eyes to find herself within the Clinic.

Her throat still burned as if that woman was right there still holding her throat, she rubbed the skin and looked around her room. Moonlight streamed in from the top window casting a blueish glow to the dark room.

"Was that a dream?" she said to herself as she sat along the edge of the bed with a frown before her hand went and checked the back of her neck and felt nothing out of the ordinary. She let out a sigh of relief; Linada hadn't used the cylinder this time that was good. But looking down at herself she found that the clothes that she was wearing were like the one she wore before while Linada had examined her. Strange, why am I wearing this? Did I get placed here just to be safe? "Grithiff, I hope you're okay…" she went to the door and stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that the glass door, which would normally open automatically was left open, as if the power had been turned off, she came to even more confusion when she realized that all the lights were off. "What's going on?"

She left the room with caution, something about all of this was not right. Everything was far too quiet, too quiet and too dark.

"Where is everyone?" she asked herself when she looked into a number of the rooms only to find them all empty. It was almost as if she had been left completely alone in a place which should have been filled with people. She paused when hearing a child's laughter, looking down the end of the hallway near the main entrance of the Clinic stood the child, a little girl.

A little girl that looked like a young version of her.

The child then ran off, giggling as if playing a game leaving Meyna confused. She went after the girl unsure as to why it was just them in this place. Reaching the main entrance Meyna couldn't see the little girl anymore, but she could hear her laughter which echoed over the walls of the empty Clinic.

She went to the left, where another hallway lay, rooms on each side everything was dark except for one room, down near the far end where a light flickered with an ominous glow. The hairs on Meyna's body began to rise as her heart rate increased and her breathing turned shallow. She could feel ill intent coming from that hallway.

It became even more aperient when she saw what looked to be red drag marks which led into the room with the flickering light. Kneeling down Meyna examined more closely, but she knew right away.

Blood… did someone get injured or… her eyes went to the room where the blood-trail ended, her uneasy feeling skyrocketed as she slowly crept closer to the room. The laughter returned causing her breath to come short. Part of her mind was screaming, telling Meyna to turn around and leave, but her body wouldn't listen. There was something in that room she had to see with her own eyes.

Reaching the room, the lights flickered even more, when the light came fully on it blinded Meyna for a moment since her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. When her vision cleared she was witnessed to the horror of something that nearly made her fall to her knees. She backed away until her body leaned against the wall.

Inside the room were two people, one child and the other an adult Homs man. The man was lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood as the child stood over the body watching in silence. The child looked to be wearing some kind of black body suite and armor, hair completely white before turning to look at Meyna with glowing red eyes covered in blood and holding an unnatural smile.

Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes went wide. The child that was standing there in front of the body was herself. The bloodlust in her younger-self's eyes were frightening. The child version of her lunged at Meyna with some type of weapon with killer intent.

Meyna bolted upright in the bed that she thought she had left, looking around; she saw that the hallway lights were on. Her heart pounding as a cold sweat went down her skin. She felt out of breath like she had run a thousand miles. She looked at her shaking hands as Meyna then clasped her hands tightly closed.

What was that? She thought as she wrapped her arms around herself from the sudden chill she had. A dream within a dream, no it was more like a nightmare. That was me… a younger version of me but how I looked and that man… what kind of nightmare was that?

Instantly her body tensed up, as her breathing once again became shallow as her hands reached around up to the back of her neck and felt the cylinder of the needle which was currently embedded in the back of her neck. She couldn't help but feel a small amount of panic run through her as she tried to pull it out, but since the end of the needle was too long for Meyna to pull out on her own she wouldn't be able to remove it successfully. With panicked breath she tried to remove it anyhow, wanting it gone no matter what, but with her body feeling numb and tired she didn't have the strength to do it.

"Mey-Mey what are you doing?" Ethon gasped in horrid shock when he saw Meyna trying to pull out the needle from her neck. "That not safe Mey-Mey could get hurt!"

"Ethon… help me pull this out…" she said through gasping breaths her vision slightly blurred from the pain.

Ethon looked at her with slight concern. "Lina be mad at Ethon and Mey-Mey if Ethon do this…"

"Please… I can't take this… please Ethon…"

With a sigh the Nopon spoke. "Alright, Ethon help." he waddled up to the bed and jumped on top unfolding his larger hands he went to remove the needle from Meyna's neck.

"Ethon!" Igholt's voice suddenly snapped, causing the two to jump as the High Entia entered the room looking rather displeased at them both as he folded his arms across his chest. "What are you doing?"

"Iggy Mey-Mey want needle out. Needle hurt too much."

Igholt's angry expression then changed to a worried frown. "Is that true Meyna?"

Meyna nodded. "It does, I don't know why but it really hurts this time."

Closing the distance, Igholt moved more of Meyna's hair out of the way to look at the black mechanical devise on the back of her neck. "This doesn't seem right…" he muttered softly to himself. "I can understand the pain when it's first put in, but it shouldn't…" he trailed off and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to remove it okay? Try to stay relaxed."

Meyna took calming breaths but it did little to help with the horrible pain she felt from the back of her neck that ran throughout her whole body. She felt a pair of large soft hands grasp her's and looked to find Ethon holding them. "Squeeze as much as Mey-Mey wants, Ethon help Iggy with needle."

Igholt gave the Nopon an arch stare before gently wrapping his arm around Meyna's shoulders and leaned himself in close to Meyna, his lips nearly brushing the top of her head as he spoke softly to her. "I'll make it as fast and painless as possible."

Meyna braced herself, grasping Ethon's large soft fluffy hands tightly and closed her eyes; she hissed a slight breath as Igholt moved it around slightly as if trying to find the cause of the issue, but when nothing was found the man's grip tightened along her arm as his other arm then quickly pulled out the needle, Meyna let out a strangled cry as she felt the sudden urge to pass out and vomit at the same time, the nerves along her spine screamed causing her whole body to go tense and spasum from the pain. Tears fell from her eyes as she let out broken breaths.

"It's alright Meyna," Igholt said softly as he pressed her back to his chest, rocking his body from side to side to calm her. "It's over now, it's okay."

"Mey-Mey did great!" Ethon said with encouragement as he danced from foot to foot. "No more tears, Mey-Mey brave!"

She offered the small bouncing creature a thankful smile. "Thanks Ethon, really."

Igholt looked to Ethon. "Can you leave us for a bit?"

"But Ethon want to stay to make Mey-Mey happy, Iggy will make Mey-Mey sad."

The man gave the creature a rather offended look. "Ethon you have three seconds to revise your statement before I turn you into one of the kid's balls and kick you out of this room."

"Ah… Ethon didn't mean it like that! Ethon don't want Mey-Mey to cry again."

Igholt narrowed his purple eyes on the Nopon before shaking his head. "Regardless, I need to speak to Meyna alone for a moment. It won't take long; when I'm done you can spend time with her."

"Hmph, fine Ethon will go, but make Mey-Mey cry and Ethon will get angry!"

"You do that…" he said with dry humor as Ethon left the room leaving the two alone. Igholt eyed Meyna for a moment. "I apologize if I was too rough when removing it, is your body feeling alright?"

Meyna felt a little bit better as she straightened her spine and slowly tilted her head from side to side to stretch out her neck. "I… think I'm okay." Only to wince in pain and grasped her neck. "Ow… mostly anyway."

"Does your body still feel numb?" he asked as he examined the back of her neck, she made a sound telling him no which was a good. "From what I can see there's no external damage, or that of internal from the port. Though just to be safe…" he turned to the computer near him typed a few keys and out came a small scanner from the wall. "Stay still for a moment," he said as he scanned the back of her neck. "Everything seems to be in order."

"I hate that thing…" she muttered in a bitter tone before looking to Igholt. "Why do I need to always get that needle anyway? Just because I have a bit more Ether in my body then a normal Homs, will it really harm me if I don't get it removed that way?"

Igholt moved away to return the scanner to its proper place before taking the needle and the large container it was attached too and then moved it towards the door. "Meyna we've been over this many times before. If we don't remove the Ether it can cause a lot of physical damage to your body. And the same goes for your mental state…"

Meyna looked away knowing what he meant, there were holes in her memory, things she couldn't recall about her childhood before and even after the attack from the Telethia in Colony 4. She would try to remember on her own only to suddenly come down with a heavy fever and be bedridden for over two days, since then she stopped trying to force herself to remember.

Igholt and Linada had determined it was because of the Ether in her body and that extracting was the best liable option to deal with it. However she was pretty sure it wasn't the only reason, but no one would talk to her about it.

Not even Grithiff.

"But I still get bad dreams because of it…"

"But those are just dreams, they can't hurt you." when she made no response back Igholt placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. "We just don't want anything bad to happen to you, your blackouts are scary enough. We don't want you to forget who you are."

"I know," she said softly as she placed her hand over his in thank you. "I just wish there was another way then this, technology has advanced and many Colonies like that of 10 and 6 have turned into massive cities. You'd think after all this time, after three hundred years we would have something that would make this process a lot easier."

"You're starting to sound like Linada," he said jokingly. "But the case being, you're the first Homs to deal with such an issue, at least that we know of, and though this may not be the best approach it's the only one we have for now until something better comes."

"I hope it's soon."

He ruffled her hair slightly. "Same here, now then get some rest, you'll be getting some visitors tomorrow and you should be well rested for it." he then headed to the door and was about to pull the container unit out of the room.

"Igholt?"

He looked back at her. "Yes?"

With a worried look she asked. "Is my brother okay?"

"Meyna why else would I say about sleep? Your brother is one of those visitors. Even after that massive injury he doesn't know the meaning of bedrest. Perhaps it's hereditary?" he then laughed slightly when seeing the unamused look on her face. "Don't worry I'm joking, Grithiff is resting soundly, and his injuries are healing nicely thanks to the Ether medical supplies and the healers. He will be fine, probably in a bad mood, but fine, you'll see him tomorrow morning I promise. Now get some sleep."

This seemed to relieve her to some degree. So he's alright, that's good. But… I thought with that injury he might die and blacked out after that… and then there's that strange dream…

"Meyna?"

She looked to Igholt who was still by the door. "Yes?"

"Sleep," he commanded.

She smiled at his tone. "Okay, I get it. I'll go to sleep now, Igholt?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you,"

He smiled in response before saying. "Good night Meyna," and then left the room with the cylinder and it's container as Ethon waddled into the room.

Igholt was part way to the back room when he saw Grithiff emerge from the room that the Homs man was resting in, gripping his side. "What are you doing up? You should be resting right now, even with the Ether energy that we gave you, that deep a wound could still reopen if you're not careful."

Grithiff was leaning against the wall for support as he held on to his side as he looked at the High Entia with a worried expression. "I heard Meyna's scream,"

Igholt frowned as the Homs man tried to walk past. "How did you know it was Meyna?"

He gave the High Entia a narrowed stare. "She's my sister; I know that scream anywhere."

The High Entia had to give him that. "Meyna's better now, and she's gone back to sleep and as should you. Meyna would feel even worse if she saw you right now."

Grithiff shook his head trying to deny the man's words. "But she screamed, why would she do that if she wasn't in pain?" Igholt grabbed his arm to stop him from going any further then he already had.

"Leave her be Grithiff." He said.

"How can I leave her when she's like this?" he demanded as he tugged off the man's arm.

With a sigh he showed him. "It's because of this." Igholt indicated by holding up the needle and showing it to the man. "The needle was slightly bent from the sheer force of Linada's arm when trying to get the cylinder in the back of Meyna's neck. Because of this it kept hitting against a central nervous system a long her spinal column that leads to the brain. If I hadn't removed it then it would have caused her even more pain."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Igholt clarified. "So I will say this now, go back to bed before I get someone to tie you to it. You can't be wandering around the Clinic in the middle of the night…" he walked past Grithiff only to pause and add. "And by the way, she mentioned about bad dreams," he looked at the Homs man over his shoulder with a slight narrowed gaze. "It could be a sign that she's finally remembering after all this time, and when she does she'll be looking to you for those answers. I'd suggest you prepare yourself for when that day comes for it won't be pretty."