In the days following my session at the vortigaunt sanctum, I found myself in an unusual state of contentment early on.
I did not anticipate settling in so quickly after unlocking the memory of not only seeing my parents again but also their tragic ends as they sent me away to spare me their fate. I remember becoming very quiet and distant those next few days after that meeting, but I managed to work through it after going out on scouting assignments outside the town in search of resources and dissidents should I come across any. I believe it was those times away from the town that allowed me to think it all out.
It was so strange seeing and hearing my parents' voices again after so many years of forgetting them, yet at the same time, it felt like I never did because I suppose I technically didn't. It must have been necessary at the time for my toddler self to put her tragedy way into the back of her traumatized subconscious to survive and perfect her skills and discipline, but now was the time to remember. As shocking and sad as it was to remember the tragedy that began my life as a loner all over again, I was ultimately grateful and sought to reclaim more.
While not an everyday occurrence, I would return to the sanctum with the ambition to learn more about the vortessence and how to channel and prosper in it, particularly in my aim to reclaim more hidden memories through it. The vortigaunts were gracious and guided me as much as they could, though without more of that antlion larval extract, which was a highly valuable substance that could only be obtained deep within antlion nests, there was only so much they could do in aiding me on retrieving any more memories as clean and cuttingly as they did the other night. Fetching for more was a perilous feat, even for vortigaunts, which often involved deadly confrontations with giant antlions called guardians. I didn't hold it against them for wishing to avoid such tussles for the time being.
Nevertheless, it was likely the wise thing that I took my new endeavour in strides. I was now on the cusp of something truly extraordinary; this vortigaunt practice revealed to me things that I had only dreamed about obtaining. Investing more of myself into learning the vortessence was now a vital goal if I wished to uncover more of my past, but it was best that I remained patient. I had to be thankful to have the memory of my mother and father restored to me.
Their distraught yet hopeful smiles now brought me warmth and renewal rather than despair. I couldn't be sure if they truly had a plan for me when forcing me away before I could get consumed by the darkness that consumed them, but I now had a greater motivation to prosper. They told me that our people would begin again with me, I could not afford to let them down now. I was going to make them proud.
A couple of weeks had passed since my first meeting in the vortigaunt sanctum, and I was already getting to know the outlands by heart.
Initially, I took on these scouting missions on foot, but I could never cover as much ground as I wanted to in a day, so I felt that it was required to recruit some wildlife to help me in my reconnaissance. Among the many ruined and abandoned industrial sites scattered around the coast southwest of Red Bay, there were also some abandoned farmlands where semi-domesticated livestock had since persisted in solitude, though not completely removed from the Combine's gaze, as I had the misfortune of witnessing on a particular intersection in City Three.
While in these ruined locations, I came across a small herd of large grazers that the humans called 'horses'. They were tall muscular beasts that came in an assortment of colours in their fur along with lovely flowing manes and tails. While I found them to be beautiful creatures, I would be lying if I said I hadn't seen faces just like theirs back in my universe―faces that were attached to considerably smaller, bipedal bodies. I don't believe many of such a race were too common in Lylat―perhaps more abundant in another neighbouring star system―but the sight of these faces was far more familiar than they were alien, and I was unsure of how to feel about that. I imagined humans felt much the same way when seeing me.
Regardless, I had formed an affectionate bond with a young mare that had a blonde mane, tail, and a primarily white fur coat with massive brown splotches across her body and muzzle. She was not the largest in her herd, but there was a plucky spirit about her, and I wished to help her embrace it by exploring the land with me. With a little simple telepathy, I assured her family that we would not get into too much trouble, to which many of them reciprocated and channelled the sensation that this young mare had been a little pest in their flanks for a while and needed to burn some spare energy.
I named my new friend Dahlia after the flower of the same name which her coat and mane heavily reminded me of. We had spent several days scouring the outlands in pursuit of resources and trinkets that I would have thought useful, ranging from many things like wild herbs for cooking, or neglected materials in old buildings. I found enjoyment in these scavenging quests; they were perfect for whenever I desired solitude, and I got to be more acquainted with my new friend.
One day, after about a week of going on periodic outings together salvaging supplies, I took Dahlia a little farther out from our usual pillaging grounds and galloped to an old refinery plant towards the hills further down southwest. Riding Dahlia was a little rough at first a result of her often rambunctious behaviour and for how, but I had ridden ThornTails that pranced harder and faster than her, so it didn't take long for us to better understand each other, thus cementing a more trusting bond.
We arrived at the desired destination a little while before noon, where a moderate but densely packed facility resided near the coast: an abandoned refinery. Its metal towers and complex network of rusting pips sat rusting in the sun, though the low-hanging clouds were numerous and fluffy, creating deep and expansive shadows that slowly crawled along the earth. Deliah whinnied a little as she slowed to an idle atop a hill overlooking the lot that led to it, which was spotted with large industrial vehicles that also lay in neglect.
"Hmm, a scrapper's paradise," I mused, a little bit of that vortigaunt manner of speaking rubbing off on me. "What do you think, Dahlia? There doesn't appear to be anything too suspicious down there."
Dahlia knickered as her hind legs danced a little restlessly. She was an inherently anxious mare, but it was typically more so out of excitement than anything else. One of the things I cherish most about being a telepath is my ability to communicate with animals. While most were not "functionally" as smart as say a more sapient species with more complicated brains would be, they often gave back what you gave them with some time and persistence.
This made it easier to resonate with Dahlia, allowing me to know her limits while also enabling her to understand my needs all while without speaking to each other. The only reason why I did was so that she could hear my voice, which did appear to help ease her nervousness when arriving at a new area like now. Fortunately, Dahlia seemed willing to approach that abandoned facility, though with good caution. I ran my hand through her mane tentatively to let her know we would do just that.
"All right," I told her. "We'll take it slow. There looks like a few good pastures around the premises. Would you like to graze a little while I explore inside that place?"
Dahlia snorted as veered her body around in place, welcoming the idea of new grass to munch on. Grass, apparently, tasted different the farther you travelled, or that's generally what Dahlia suggested to me. "Brilliant," I smiled, nudging her to move onward by gently squeezing my knees against the side of her stomach, which prompted her to trot downward towards our destination.
While I made our arrival here sound appealing to my equine companion, I was about as cautious as she was once we entered the compound.
When being told of this place by one of the salvaging teams back in Red Bay, I was also informed that this was a rebel outpost not too long ago, but communications with it were cut after it got shelled. As a strategy to flush out or eliminate groups of pesky dissidents, the Combine often launched pods containing headcrabs to bombard specific areas suspected of rebel activity. Me and Dahlia passed by one of these aforementioned pods embedded in a large crater in the ground; there was a circular opening exposed in the back, revealed by three large fins that looked like they would cover up the opening when dropped.
Dahlia's ears flicked as we passed it, sensitive to the eeriness that permeated this place and she wasn't alone in that. I looked around this place as Dahlia's hooves began beating across the old asphalt lot on our way to the main facility. I was able to spot a couple more identical pods wedged inside one of the walls of the buildings, looking like they crashed at a very high speed, and a few large craters could be seen in some of the surrounding roofs, where more pods could undoubtedly be found underneath them.
While I did not pick up any suspicious telepathic pings within the area, I still had to remain on alert. The fields of overgrown grass outside this place of interest (and potential danger) were the perfect place to leave Dahlia. Her safety was as important to me as my own.
I eventually climbed off my friend and landed in the grass, making sure not to get my sandalled feet caught in the stirrups like I often did several times before. The ruined farmland I found Dahlia's herd in also had an abandoned stock of riding saddles, which I outfitted onto my horse friend along with large empty satchels fastened to it for storing my potential findings.
"All right, Dahlia, you eat in peace. You must be hungry after that long run, right?"
Dahlia whinnied complacently before craning her long neck towards me and began nipping at my hair affectionately. She never failed to make me giggle whenever she did this. "Easy there, girl; I like you a lot too," I said, trying to reclaim some of my personal space, though I abandoned that quickly once we began exchanging a few nuzzles.
I parted from her as she began to graze on some lush green growth as I made my way to this little old refinery, drawing my hunting shotgun, which had been slung around my shoulder by its strap. While I did have my staff with me, I had learned to appreciate guns a little more for their efficiency when it came to dealing with dangerous bests―especially these mechanical Earth guns. A few members of the Limpiadores had been giving me some lessons on how to care for and operate these explosive weapons, and I was admittedly a little eager to try them out in the wild. And besides, headcrabs were mentioned to be in this area; I was partial to killing them quickly.
The sound of the metal walls and elaborated suspended pipework groaned ominously the deeper I ventured into its confines, though Dahlia was still in view, grazing a few hundred yards away. I maintained my view of her for as long as I could before my path took me farther into the old industrial complex. I had no possible way of knowing what was waiting for me inside these ruins.
Being that this place had been found out by the Combine, none of the rebels from Red Bay, or even the Limpiadores, were particularly willing to investigate the aftermath of the shelling.
The attack happened some months ago, so the telepathic stench of death had faded away entirely at this point, which made it even worse when I stumbled across human skeletons lying around both outside in the elements and within the corridors of the facility. I had suspected that headcrabs were the most likely culprits here given the relative lack of evidence that a gunfight occurred within the premises. Should these former people have been turned into zombies before dying, I had hoped that their comrades who had not fallen prey to the cranial parasites quickly put them out of their misery before fleeing the site.
Putting the morbidness of this place aside, I continued exploring this decrepit facility. Being that this was primarily a scouting trip, I wasn't keen on conducting a large salvaging operation. I was going to take whatever I found to be of particular interest, but only as much as I could carry. Doctor Mofuni had not yet given me a list of things for me to fetch for this place, as what resided here was still rather unknown to the denizens of Red Bay. I was confident that I would likely return to this place real soon, and hopefully with a much bigger salvaging party―both for withdrawing more materials and for company, for this place was quite creepy to be alone in.
I had been exploring this refinery for almost an hour at this point and was nearly about to wrap up my findings until I happened upon what must have been the admins' building. Once inside, I came across the most abundant amount of evidence yet to confirm that this was indeed a former rebel outpost. There were stacked wooden crates that were strapped with yellow stickers that stated such, a large trunk of various guns and ammunitions, and large maps of the surrounding region―some appearing to be taken straight from old pre-war copies and crude hand drawn ones on massive sheets of paper along the walls.
Red Bay could always use more guns and ammunition, making this a rather perky find, so I continued exploring further up the floors of the building. I had not been able to detect a single sign of a headcrab or any other creature or person since arriving here, so my guard had been rather low as I explored having shotgun slung over my shoulder. I couldn't say that I was let down by the lack of hostile inhabitants, but my festering anticipation had not met a satisfying payoff yet. I was about to find out momentarily that, as it turned out, I didn't even need to voice my truly trivial gripes to jinx myself horrendously.
This building was three stories tall, and the first two had office spaces that spurred little interest. I presumed that the third floor held executive offices for the overseers of this facility, which tugged at my curiosity at least for the sake of studying more pre-war relics if any remained. Once up the flight of metal stairs, there was one door at the other end of the hall, which was the first in a series of offices that continued further down left.
Without heeding much caution, I approached the door and opened it, and what I found inside made the blood in my veins freeze. A tall, pale human man with black tapered flattop hair was standing in front of a long, shattered window that overlooked much of the intricate piping network that ran around the facility with his back turned to me, wearing what looked to be a blue business suit and black dress shoes. He continued looking out in unnerving silence with his hands behind his back, though it was obvious he noticed me. I came to the ghastly conclusion rather quickly that he had been waiting for me here ever since I crashed my Cloud Runner.
Time felt like it had stopped as he slowly turned his head to glance back at me, and the sight of those rings of bright blue pinning me down made every single nerve-ending all over my body erupt into a wave of tension the likes I had never felt before. It was one that prey often experienced once realised they had been spotted by a predator. I had encountered many predatory beasts in my life, but this one was something else entirely, and I knew I was no match for him.
"Hmmmm…" he cooed with unsettling calmness, wearing a fiendish smile as he slowly turned around to fully face me. "Welcome…Ms…Randorn," he greeted, sounding as unsettling as his smile looked. "A pleasure it is to finally make your…acquaintance…"
When I felt like time had stopped just then, I realised rather quickly that it truly did. The whole room and the world outside began to dissolve into nothingness with each step this entity took towards me before everything faded into blackness. I could not manage so much as a gasp before I was removed from the world entirely.
The blackness relented just enough to where I was able to see my body and not much else, save for a series of slow-moving streaks of white that sailed past me on all sides, including the floorless floor beneath my feet.
I could move, but it was like wading through thick molasses. Even if I could escape from these confineless confines, where would I even flee to? I was no longer in a realm that allowed me autonomy, I was overtly certain of that much. Wherever I was taken to now was this entity's domain, one that held nothing, yet commanded everything.
The crisp sounds of the entity's footsteps indicated that he was still approaching me from the front at the same pace, though I could see nothing until the bright blue rings of his eyes appeared in the darkness, moments before his full form manifested again before me. His narrow face was gaunt and wrinkly and wore a smirk that made my spine tremble. He might have had the appearance of a human, but I knew with every fibre of my being that he was not so. He was something truly sinister, which forced me to ask the most important question that perhaps had ever come to my mind.
"What are you…?" I asked faintly, my voice trembling at the sight of this tall, otherworldly entity that loomed over me, clearly savouring my distress in his presence―enhanced by the fact that his thoughts were completely inaccessible to me.
"Perhaps…a more…i-mportant question would be; why wait…this…long?" he offered, speaking with stuttering pauses while somewhat avoiding the question as he began to slowly pace around me. "Please…do not interpret my remissness as a point of avoidance, Ms Randorn. I am presently amid a great manner of affairs. Many preparations are currently underway, and I am to make sure they are…unfurling as planned."
His slithery voice was so uncomfortable to hear, barely able to mask his unsettling nature. I felt an insatiable desire within him; a desire for me; but nothing in the way one might interoperate. He had the unending fixed gaze, the pace, and the hunger of a predator, but this was a different kind of predator, hunting a different kind of prey. I was left clueless as to what it was he aimed to prey on; I had no idea how to handle or approach him because there was nothing else like him, and it was clear that he delighted in my floundering.
The entity in snappy business attire had completed a full lap around my immobile person, fading in and out of the void around us, but his tickled expression drastically fell once he stopped just before me. "Though…r-regrettably…I am under strict obligations to ensure that such preparations proceed without…interference…" he then slowly turned his head, meeting my eyes with his own as they flashed with unsettling ponderation.
"You must…u-understand, that, my employers tolerate only a finite number of deficiencies within their operations. You…Ms Randorn…have proven to be a potential hazard…a-and are now looked upon with great…m-mistrust. As amusing as it would be to allow you to persist uninhibited…I, unfortunately, have been dispatched to enforce…corrective…actions? Hmm?"
A dramatic shift in my unconfining confinements suddenly blasted across this voided everything. I had somehow realised that I had been transported. To the insensitive, nothing appeared to have changed―this was still very much a void―but somehow a far more walled-off one where walls were not needed. It seemed darker here, blacker than the richest umbra of the largest gas giant.
I could no longer see any of the limbs on my body, let alone my own nose. The suited entity was the only thing that he permitted me to see. His bodily pigments shimmered between overlapping contrasts that made his form seem even more of an illusion than it had been moments ago, though the rings of his irises remained the same burning light blue that appeared hot enough to brand me if given the opportunity.
"Of course, one convicted of a probable contravention is certainly entitled to a certain…appeal…" the entity continued modestly, holding his hands up to his chest as he pressed his fingertips together. "Although…quite…dubious in your innate traits, there are those who see the potential in them. If given the chance, I am…confident, that there are those who are willing to pitch a great many offers for your services. The conduction of review is required before such possibilities can be entertained, but there is plenty of…room for…h-hope…for you…"
His human-resembling form flashed into an array of colours before returning to his more contemporary appearance as his arms slowly fell to his sides. "I-In the meantime, however, I have lobbied to…preserve you, for as long as it will take to make such considerations worth establishing. You will be…conveyed…somewhere you can do no possible harm. And where no harm can come to you…"
The darkness nestling me on all sides seemed to cushion me even tighter as a rectangle of white light appeared right behind the entity, silhouetting his finger, yet his scary eyes persisted in being the brightest things in my limited vision. "Until…we meet…again…Ms Randorn…"
The entity gave me one last smirk before turning around and slowly strolling straight through the rectangle of light, where it then closed up just behind him, leaving me behind alone and removed from all realities for all the eternities should that be so.
SUBJECT: KRYSTAL
STATUS: DETAINED
FURTHER EVALUATION PENDING