Three lightboxes hovered overhead, attached to a ceiling fan. Light emitted from their jagged forms, crisscrossing and layered. The fan itself just spun and spun, silent as Viole stared up at it. I guess I'm in Ludina. Viole didn't think he would awake before they were there – they probably have that timed out.
Viole sat up in the bed and took a look around. The room was small. Cramped. Every inch of the floor was covered in crates, barrels and scraps of metal that littered the floor, the counter along the wall and were piled up in the corners. The bed itself lay squeezed by it all. Viole seemed to be sleeping in a storage room of all places. How am I supposed to get out of here? He wondered. If I walk I'll step on something.
"You're awake I see."
The boy, Ruard, stood in front of it. Arms folded and leaning against the doorway.
"I take it that Jiggu is not with us."
"Nope. He went back onto his assignment."
At least there's something to be happy about.
"So, how do I get out of here anyway?"
Ruard just shrugged at that, "You're a Wavecontroller, aren't you? Just blast your way through."
I don't think that's – "No!"
The yell reverberated across the room, seeming to shake the blades of the fans and jar Viole where he sat on the bed. The next moment a balding, heavyset man hurried into the room. The whitening hair that jutted to either side of his head shivered as he moved. "Don't. Touch. Anything." He emphasized with his hands.
Viole just looked past him to Ruard.
The boy answered his unasked question. He slung an arm around the man's shoulders, "This is Dr. Lasco, inventor extraordinaire." He said that last bit by gesturing with his free hand – sweeping across the air.
Dr. Lasco was not amused.
He shrugged off the arm, stepped back and then lifted his nose into the air as he spoke, "Well, I wouldn't quite put it that way, but it's true, isn't it? It's true. Anyways, this is all very delicate equipment. I'll clear the way for you, yes, yes, that will do nicely."
Lasco hustled into the room – bending down and scooping up all that crossed his path. Viole suspected there was some sort of method to his madness. There were times he would hover in front of a counter or pry a lid off a crate to drop off the pieces of metal and wood. There were several cans of paint and some brushes as well. All in all, Viole didn't know what to make of it.
As Lasco scurried about the cluttered room Viole watched as Ruard raised a single hand, before sliding two fingers together; the movement was slight – if he was not looking he would have missed it.
But then Lasco howled. He clutched his back and started looking around wildly. From behind his back Ruard gave Viole a wink. To be honest, the boy was caught off guard. A prank? He had never seen it but - well, he had heard of them before.
Eventually his gaze settled on the two of them. For a moment, Viole thought the man was going to (rightfully) accuse them of harassing him, but he just sighed and headed to the doorway. "The way is clear now. Follow me."
As Lasco went ahead Viole trailed behind - hissing a whisper at the other boy.
"What did you do?"
"I'm a telekinetic," he said - waving a hand at a nearby potted plant, sitting in the corner of the hallway. It hovered up in the air, gong, and went back down when he lowered his hand. "I made a chill crawl up his spine - like ice water being poured down his shirt."
Viole understood but did not understand, "Why?"
He snorted a smile.
"Because I could."
...
When they reached the end of the hallway Viole found himself in a whole new world.
On the ceiling, around a spinning fan, hung crisscrossed lines of multicolored flags. Bright colors seemed to be the theme of the room as the walls, too, had vivid abstract designs and geometric shapes. And Viole could tell why that potted plant was in the back, the room had an abundance of greenery. Creeping vines clung to the walls and plants rowed the aisles.
But all of this paled to the actual contents of the store.
A flock of wooden birds circled above, right below the fan, and were painted in vibrant reds, blues, and assembled themselves on stone ledges, and an odd contraption circled the room, it moved on top these tracks - blowing up smoke and making a high-pitched whistling sound. Viole stared at it, bending down to brush his fingers against.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
Viole straightened up from where he was bent over. Dr. Lasco stood behind him. He had moved out from behind the front counter where he had watched the two of them enter in from the hallway. The smile he wore now seemed all the greater due to how grim his face had seemed moments ago.
Viole's eyes honed back onto the moving vehicle. "Yes," he admitted, "but what is it?"
"A train. Have you've never seen one before?"
"No," Then he breathed the next words out, "Never heard of it either."
"Well, a real train is huge. People board them as passengers to go from place to place."
"I see." And Viole did. Back then, he been stuck in the Cave for a long, long time, but once coming to the Floor of Test he came to appreciate just how big the world is. He could see the value in a train for speedy travel, in fact…
He almost asks Does the Tower have trains? before remembering that he's not supposed to even hint at the fact he's an Irregular, so instead he says, "What's the most famous train?"
For some reason, he scrunches his face up in pain at that, "Just some test for those Regular folks. Anyway," he switches topics before the boy could question him further, he turned around and swept a hand over the entire room. "What do you think of all the toys?"
"So, they are toys."
"Indeed, indeed. I made them myself you see. You are standing in Dr. Lasco's Magical Emporium! For all your toy and game needs."
A eagerness came over Viole then, and for a moment, a brief moment, he was Baam again. He took a step forward and opened his mouth but before he could speak a voice cut in.
"Who's really a fraud doctor."
And that eagerness vanished. Viole turned to look at where Ruard casually leaned against the wall, gazing at them both with bored eyes. The yawn only cinched it.
Lasco sputtered at him, "What do you mean by that?"
"You're not a healer or a professor so you have no right to call yourself a doctor. You're a fraud."
"I don't claim to be a licensed doctor. It's for the kids."
"Do we look like kids?"
He closed his mouth at that, a snap, shut. Viole can see his face turn red – a slow filtering in of color. He wondered what the man wanted to say, but only for a moment. Ruard stepped further into the brightly painted store heading towards the front door. He turned around, back against the wood.
"Remember to put on the mask."
Viole reached up to his forehead to feel the dragoncat mask still in place. He whirled around to look at Lasco, but the toymaker just looked back. He had … he had seen Viole's true face when FUG clearly wanted to hide it. Who was this man? What was his connection to FUG?
"Let's go."
Viole only looked at the man for a beat longer, before sliding down the mask and heading towards the door. A/N: So, I've restarted this for the last month or two on another site,but I decided to post some chapters here too (at least until the new arc). Consider it a Christmas gift. If you want to read what I've posted so far you can just Google "Spacebattles - In the Dark (Tower of God fanfic)." Should be the first hit. Please note that if you want to comment you must have a account.
Happy Holidays!