Anonymous-cat: Thanks for the review! Good questions! Only the writers can reveal the answers to us, so stay tuned! Yup, it seems Erik has a bit of the Vampire Syndrome as well. Keep up with the RR!
Written by Delilah Draken (pen name same)
Slow, so terribly slow, his mind returns to the present. Had he wished to remain in these long gong places his soul cherishes beyond belief? Is there even a touch of reality in what he dreams about? He doesn't ask. There is no need to.
Warning claxons echo in the narrow halls of his room, reverberate on the metal sheets protecting the three men from most of its noise. Here behind the doors of the ancient gatekeeper he watches the south wall of his home vanish in a thousand silver sparks dancing between the cell and an open hallway that leads nowhere. Watches as others like him walk across the thresholds of their confinement only to follow the orders of screeching voices that cannot be silenced.
One of these men stops in his journey past the open cells and looks at him, at him sitting inside a strange thing that looks a bit too much like one of those carrier shuttles they use to bring them to this colony. Smiles like he sees a long lost friend and waits, grows impatient as there seems no visible reaction and begins to knock against the barrier.
"Come on, Phantom. Dinner's getting older and you promised to kill Sevkljis for me today. You know how I get when I have to wait for my blood."
Dear old Cyrus, always looking for his next meal, Erik thinks fondly. Were it not for the fact that the skeletal thin man suffered from the Vampire Syndrome, an illness created due to an overabundance of genetic manipulations in the populace of Lursa Maior, the gentle soul would have never arrived here. Such a shame that the government's only answer to such hereditary deceases is nothing but a life behind the bars of a cage. Such a terrible shame.
The boy seems a bit disturbed by all that has happened, the snow haired man is still not awake enough to be of much help, so he decides to follow Cyrus' advice. A good meal is in order. Something to eat and a bit bloodshed.
"Phantom?" the boy asks with a slight tremor in his voice. He can't understand what the kid is afraid of.
"Cyrus is a bit obsessed with Precolonial Poetry and believes I'm the rebirth of some ghost. Nothing to be afraid of, really," he answers as he shoves the two newcomers out of the gatekeeper.
"By the way, what's your name?"
Written by Anakin McFly (same pen name)
Light. Erik feels it, feels the warm sunlight bathing his body as he slowly opens his eyes. He's in a vast field of green; miles and miles of endless turf dotted with flowers that stretches as far as the eye can see, all the way to the horizon where the grass meets the clear blue sky. Unseen birds twitter in the background, occasionally filling the morning air with a burst of birdsong the sound of which Erik only knows from the stories Princess tells him.
"Erik!"
The boy turns instinctively towards the voice. Princess runs towards him, laughing merrily. He's never seen her so happy before.
"Erik! I knew you'd come," she says. His sister smiles lovingly at him, and Erik slowly returns the smile. Everything will be all right now, he tells himself. Everything will be all right.
Gently, Princess helps him get to his feet. She puts his small hand in hers, and the two of them run off through the grass together with joyful abandon in a paradise of their own, free for the moment from the evil clutches of the System…
They reach a tree and sit under it in its shade, their backs to its trunk. Princess looks at him, and suddenly her eyes turn troubled.
"Erik, you've got to help me," she says quietly, almost in a whisper. "They're taking me away, do you understand? They want to use me. You have to stop them. Promise me you'll stop them."
Erik nods slightly as he stares at her sister, her red hair blowing lightly in the breeze, framing a face that no longer radiated with the happiness it had just a moment ago. The sudden sadness scared him. He didn't want to see Princess like that.
"I promise," he says sincerely, and the smile returns to her face. She puts an arm around him, drawing him closer to her.
A violent jolt shakes his body, and the paradise suddenly vanishes.
He's in his bedroom, lying on his bed in darkness. Erik's eyes dart around, as he tries to get his bearings. What was he doing here?
He remembered going past the Black Door, remembered seeing the men in coats…
Princess…
Erik leaps out of bed and rushes down the corridor, the sound of his footsteps muted by the carpeted floor. The Black Door looms up ominously before him, foreboding as always.
Heart pounding, he raises his finger to touch it like he did before… but this time, the Door does not open. Erik beats his fists on it, screaming.
"Princess!"
Someone comes up behind him and touches his shoulder. Erik jumps in fright, then calms slightly as he sees his guardian.
"What are you doing out of bed at this hour?" she asks, as though nothing has happened.
The boy looks wildly at her. "They've taken Princess inside… they're doing things to her… I've got to save her, I've got to…" Erik stops, gasping for breath.
His guardian smiles condescendingly at him and shakes her head slowly. "Nonsense, Erik. You've just been dreaming again. You'd better go back to bed."
"No! She's still in there!" Erik pounds on the Door again. "Princess!"
"Erik…" His guardian grabs him firmly by the shoulders and leads him back to his bedroom, picking him completely off the ground when he continues to protest, yelling down the corridor for his sister.
His bedroom door slams shut as his guardian dumps him in the room. Erik yanks at the door handle, but it doesn't budge. He's locked in.
He's never been locked in before.