"Water Torture" Part 5
By Ruby
"What's wrong with him? Why won't Cye wake up?" Mia asked. She hovered worriedly over his unmoving form lying on the living room couch. They had reappeared in their subarmor in front of her while Mia was trying to do something other than run worst-case scenarios through her mind, nearly scaring her half to death.
"We honestly don't know," Sage replied. Kento had placed Cye down on the cushions and tried to wake him up, yet nothing seemed to work. "He's fine, physically, and there are no injuries."
"And what about mentally?" Mia tenderly placed her hand on the sleeping boy's forehead, puzzling at how cold and damp it felt. That was odd, his hair was also drenched but the rest of him was perfectly dry. "What happened to him?"
He looked to her with somber eyes. "The only ones that would know is Cye and whoever did this to him."
***
Pitch black.
It was like an ocean so far and deep that no light would ever reach in. At its liquid core a figure sat on the non-existent floor, surrounded by emptiness. With knees curled and arms folded, Cye stared off into that void, just thinking. He thought in amazement how he could have arrived at such a place, so full of nothing.
Then he wondered how would he be able to escape, and if that were even a possibility.
"Hello?" he called. Well, at least he could talk now.
Wait a second… he could talk! He touched his forehead, finding it dry. He could *touch*. Move! He could move! Those realizations alone caused Cye to stand up and nearly whoop at his newfound freedom.
But then the same question remained as it did before. Where was he? What was this place?
Looking around and seeing no landmarks or anything at all, he picked a direction and began walking (walking!) towards it.
***
Sage sat contemplating across the room from where Cye was resting. He felt uneasy about the sense of darkness that was now almost broadcasting off of him. While the others had accepted that there was nothing they could do, he would try to find out what was causing it by using the armor's link.
Sage closed his eyes.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
He needed to relax.
Imagine a light.
Follow it.
A growing peace filtered into him as he meditated. Slowly, he felt himself ready to figure out what was that dark sensation… Sage pictured his search as a long hall with many doors. Each door was unique, and within one of those doors would be the answer.
In this place he mentally walked, waiting for one that would catch his notice. For a while, nothing did. Then he came upon two doors, the first a light blue…
'Cye,' he realized.
…and one that was so nightmarishly twisted and warped that it looked as if something had tried to escape. It was the second one that he approached.
"What are you?" he asked out loud, not expecting a response. Carefully, he reached out with his hand and touched the contorted frame.
A tendril brushed by Sage's mind, soft as a caress, and startling him. What was that? Searching, the image he got was a shadow… like a phantom… With a deafening shot, the odd door shifted and cracked. On the bottom was a sliver of an opening that he hadn't seen before, but now was suddenly obvious.
Something didn't just *try*… it succeeded.
Hand still touching the door, he gasped and drew it back. One of the jagged edges of the barrier had sliced a bleeding cut into his palm. It wasn't deep, but it still hurt. He watched the tiny points of red blossom like some strange flower then ran together and dripped off.
Then the hallway plunged into darkness.
Oh, how the absence of light makes one immediately think of the worst possible things… and the warrior was no exception. It was, after all, human nature to find comfort in the day, and to avoid dark alleyways during the night. Though, the things that frightened an average mortal were usually all in their imaginations. But this time…
Sage breathed hard in the silence, trying to beat down the instinctive fear shooting through his soul. His body was safe back at the mansion--warm, free and fine. He was meditating and this was not real, only symbolic of true things…
Something cold circled his legs, locking him in place. What was the symbolism of *that*?
'Move!' he shouted to himself, desperately hitting the unseen attacker. His punches made contact to no avail as the ooze continued to trap him. It moved and felt like liquid yet was unbreakable. The thing created a thick bubble around him that was slowly closing in like a balloon losing air or the lid of a coffin…
'…a taste of things to come…' it was barely above a whisper, but he could hear the anxious tone. Hear its hunger.
He shuddered, but only slightly. Crunched in a tight fetal position, he could barely move as the sides pressed on him. A slimy vine of darkness seeped across his ears and face. When you are scared, you can't struggle, and you cannot see... What do even rabbits do when faced with their certain doom?
Sage couldn't help it. He screamed.
*
"Sage? Sage?!" Mia yelled as she grasped the Ronin's shoulders, almost violently trying to wake him. The others, also dropping what they were doing had come running at Sage's cry. "Damn it, you *are not* going to disappear too!"
'I'm sorry, my friend, but…' She drew her hand back. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed in everyone's ears as Mia slapped him hard on the face.
Sage's fight for his life stopped, and he opened his eyes. She paled at the depths of fear that were reflected in them.
"Mia?" he finally gasped, collapsing into her grip. He trembled then stilled, relieved to be back in his self. "Oh God."
*
"We need Kayura's help. Who's going to the Nether Realm? Ryo?" Mia had asked. When Sage calmed down he had explained--in detail--what had cause him to cry out like that. Afterwards, Mia had gently ordered him to rest in his room, and he did so without much protest.
"I'll go," Rowen volunteered. "Ryo and the others should stay here in case something comes up. Isn't that right?"
She nodded. "I'm coming with you, then."
"What? Mia-"
"No buts. There's nothing for me to do here, and if I stay and something does happen then I'll just get in the way. I want to find out what's causing this to Cye and attacked Sage, too." She tilted her head. "Besides… you still haven't totally forgiven Kayura for accidentally knocking you out the last time she visited us."
He threw her a sulking look. "… Not my fault that she thought I might've been a demon."
"You were the one who jumped from the roof and landed in front of her when she appeared."
"It was an accident!"
"So was the bump on your head."
Ten minutes later, Rowen and Mia stood in the backyard of the mansion, ready leave for the Nether Realm. As he concentrated on his Kanji ball, the evening sun shone on the marble-sized token, causing it to glow a warm blue.
Mia hoped that the journey wouldn't take too long, she was really worried about Cye. Why would anyone want to do that to him? And what about the other Ronins, were they also in danger? It almost seemed that Sage was going to vanish as Cye had did… She wished someone would give her the answers.
"So… how do we get there?" she asked Rowen as he continued to grip the crystal.
"Well, the Warlords said all we had to do was think hard about where one of us needed to go. If they… hear us… then the crystal would make a--"
Without warning, a column of light struck the earth like a thunderbolt. The two stumbled back as the shape of an enormous doorway slowly faded into sight and the glow grayed out.
"--Gateway?" Rowen finished off, brushing his locks away from his eyes and blinking at the spots the sudden brilliance left in his vision. Those giant red doors in front of them swung open with a loud thud, revealing an alien landscape. Mia stared.
"I guess we should step in?" she murmured, feeling dwarfed by the monumental frames. Rowen nodded.
"Let's go."
The first step is always the hardest; Mia was reminded of when she placed her foot down past the borderline. A familiar blast of wind swept by, almost as if it were trying to keep her out of the mysterious land. Turning her head towards Rowen she saw him unhindered and unaffected by his element. He looked ready to laugh at her efforts, but politely held it.
Jerk, she thought while not meaning it.
She took another step, feeling the air dwindle greatly and making it easier. The howl turned into a soft breeze by the next, and then fading in another… quickly, she and Rowen walked into the Nether Realm.
*
'I can't help Cye, can I?'
Sage was sitting on his bed with legs crossed and eyes down in thought. He was curiously looking at his left hand. It couldn't be… yet it was. There was a newly healed, crescent-shaped cut running from the base of his thumb and leading across to his pinky. Gingerly, he touched it with the other hand, then winced as the thin membrane broke and it began bleeding once more.
Reaching over to the drawer next to the bed he grabbed a tissue and began dabbing at his palm. Eventually, the trickle stopped and was wiped away. It wasn't like any injury he'd had before--instead of one smooth cut, the skin was broken on different points in a pattern; a very unusual yet familiar pattern.
After studying the wound for a while, he realized that it looked like a bite.
Sage flashed to the voice he had heard--what he thought he'd heard--in his vision. It was etched in his mind midst the darkness, the fear, and the sensation of being trapped by death.
*…a taste of things to come…*
But, then, it had already arrived for Cye...
He shivered, genuinely afraid.
End of Part 5
By Ruby
"What's wrong with him? Why won't Cye wake up?" Mia asked. She hovered worriedly over his unmoving form lying on the living room couch. They had reappeared in their subarmor in front of her while Mia was trying to do something other than run worst-case scenarios through her mind, nearly scaring her half to death.
"We honestly don't know," Sage replied. Kento had placed Cye down on the cushions and tried to wake him up, yet nothing seemed to work. "He's fine, physically, and there are no injuries."
"And what about mentally?" Mia tenderly placed her hand on the sleeping boy's forehead, puzzling at how cold and damp it felt. That was odd, his hair was also drenched but the rest of him was perfectly dry. "What happened to him?"
He looked to her with somber eyes. "The only ones that would know is Cye and whoever did this to him."
***
Pitch black.
It was like an ocean so far and deep that no light would ever reach in. At its liquid core a figure sat on the non-existent floor, surrounded by emptiness. With knees curled and arms folded, Cye stared off into that void, just thinking. He thought in amazement how he could have arrived at such a place, so full of nothing.
Then he wondered how would he be able to escape, and if that were even a possibility.
"Hello?" he called. Well, at least he could talk now.
Wait a second… he could talk! He touched his forehead, finding it dry. He could *touch*. Move! He could move! Those realizations alone caused Cye to stand up and nearly whoop at his newfound freedom.
But then the same question remained as it did before. Where was he? What was this place?
Looking around and seeing no landmarks or anything at all, he picked a direction and began walking (walking!) towards it.
***
Sage sat contemplating across the room from where Cye was resting. He felt uneasy about the sense of darkness that was now almost broadcasting off of him. While the others had accepted that there was nothing they could do, he would try to find out what was causing it by using the armor's link.
Sage closed his eyes.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
He needed to relax.
Imagine a light.
Follow it.
A growing peace filtered into him as he meditated. Slowly, he felt himself ready to figure out what was that dark sensation… Sage pictured his search as a long hall with many doors. Each door was unique, and within one of those doors would be the answer.
In this place he mentally walked, waiting for one that would catch his notice. For a while, nothing did. Then he came upon two doors, the first a light blue…
'Cye,' he realized.
…and one that was so nightmarishly twisted and warped that it looked as if something had tried to escape. It was the second one that he approached.
"What are you?" he asked out loud, not expecting a response. Carefully, he reached out with his hand and touched the contorted frame.
A tendril brushed by Sage's mind, soft as a caress, and startling him. What was that? Searching, the image he got was a shadow… like a phantom… With a deafening shot, the odd door shifted and cracked. On the bottom was a sliver of an opening that he hadn't seen before, but now was suddenly obvious.
Something didn't just *try*… it succeeded.
Hand still touching the door, he gasped and drew it back. One of the jagged edges of the barrier had sliced a bleeding cut into his palm. It wasn't deep, but it still hurt. He watched the tiny points of red blossom like some strange flower then ran together and dripped off.
Then the hallway plunged into darkness.
Oh, how the absence of light makes one immediately think of the worst possible things… and the warrior was no exception. It was, after all, human nature to find comfort in the day, and to avoid dark alleyways during the night. Though, the things that frightened an average mortal were usually all in their imaginations. But this time…
Sage breathed hard in the silence, trying to beat down the instinctive fear shooting through his soul. His body was safe back at the mansion--warm, free and fine. He was meditating and this was not real, only symbolic of true things…
Something cold circled his legs, locking him in place. What was the symbolism of *that*?
'Move!' he shouted to himself, desperately hitting the unseen attacker. His punches made contact to no avail as the ooze continued to trap him. It moved and felt like liquid yet was unbreakable. The thing created a thick bubble around him that was slowly closing in like a balloon losing air or the lid of a coffin…
'…a taste of things to come…' it was barely above a whisper, but he could hear the anxious tone. Hear its hunger.
He shuddered, but only slightly. Crunched in a tight fetal position, he could barely move as the sides pressed on him. A slimy vine of darkness seeped across his ears and face. When you are scared, you can't struggle, and you cannot see... What do even rabbits do when faced with their certain doom?
Sage couldn't help it. He screamed.
*
"Sage? Sage?!" Mia yelled as she grasped the Ronin's shoulders, almost violently trying to wake him. The others, also dropping what they were doing had come running at Sage's cry. "Damn it, you *are not* going to disappear too!"
'I'm sorry, my friend, but…' She drew her hand back. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed in everyone's ears as Mia slapped him hard on the face.
Sage's fight for his life stopped, and he opened his eyes. She paled at the depths of fear that were reflected in them.
"Mia?" he finally gasped, collapsing into her grip. He trembled then stilled, relieved to be back in his self. "Oh God."
*
"We need Kayura's help. Who's going to the Nether Realm? Ryo?" Mia had asked. When Sage calmed down he had explained--in detail--what had cause him to cry out like that. Afterwards, Mia had gently ordered him to rest in his room, and he did so without much protest.
"I'll go," Rowen volunteered. "Ryo and the others should stay here in case something comes up. Isn't that right?"
She nodded. "I'm coming with you, then."
"What? Mia-"
"No buts. There's nothing for me to do here, and if I stay and something does happen then I'll just get in the way. I want to find out what's causing this to Cye and attacked Sage, too." She tilted her head. "Besides… you still haven't totally forgiven Kayura for accidentally knocking you out the last time she visited us."
He threw her a sulking look. "… Not my fault that she thought I might've been a demon."
"You were the one who jumped from the roof and landed in front of her when she appeared."
"It was an accident!"
"So was the bump on your head."
Ten minutes later, Rowen and Mia stood in the backyard of the mansion, ready leave for the Nether Realm. As he concentrated on his Kanji ball, the evening sun shone on the marble-sized token, causing it to glow a warm blue.
Mia hoped that the journey wouldn't take too long, she was really worried about Cye. Why would anyone want to do that to him? And what about the other Ronins, were they also in danger? It almost seemed that Sage was going to vanish as Cye had did… She wished someone would give her the answers.
"So… how do we get there?" she asked Rowen as he continued to grip the crystal.
"Well, the Warlords said all we had to do was think hard about where one of us needed to go. If they… hear us… then the crystal would make a--"
Without warning, a column of light struck the earth like a thunderbolt. The two stumbled back as the shape of an enormous doorway slowly faded into sight and the glow grayed out.
"--Gateway?" Rowen finished off, brushing his locks away from his eyes and blinking at the spots the sudden brilliance left in his vision. Those giant red doors in front of them swung open with a loud thud, revealing an alien landscape. Mia stared.
"I guess we should step in?" she murmured, feeling dwarfed by the monumental frames. Rowen nodded.
"Let's go."
The first step is always the hardest; Mia was reminded of when she placed her foot down past the borderline. A familiar blast of wind swept by, almost as if it were trying to keep her out of the mysterious land. Turning her head towards Rowen she saw him unhindered and unaffected by his element. He looked ready to laugh at her efforts, but politely held it.
Jerk, she thought while not meaning it.
She took another step, feeling the air dwindle greatly and making it easier. The howl turned into a soft breeze by the next, and then fading in another… quickly, she and Rowen walked into the Nether Realm.
*
'I can't help Cye, can I?'
Sage was sitting on his bed with legs crossed and eyes down in thought. He was curiously looking at his left hand. It couldn't be… yet it was. There was a newly healed, crescent-shaped cut running from the base of his thumb and leading across to his pinky. Gingerly, he touched it with the other hand, then winced as the thin membrane broke and it began bleeding once more.
Reaching over to the drawer next to the bed he grabbed a tissue and began dabbing at his palm. Eventually, the trickle stopped and was wiped away. It wasn't like any injury he'd had before--instead of one smooth cut, the skin was broken on different points in a pattern; a very unusual yet familiar pattern.
After studying the wound for a while, he realized that it looked like a bite.
Sage flashed to the voice he had heard--what he thought he'd heard--in his vision. It was etched in his mind midst the darkness, the fear, and the sensation of being trapped by death.
*…a taste of things to come…*
But, then, it had already arrived for Cye...
He shivered, genuinely afraid.
End of Part 5