Time Warp

Ciphioria 89

"So you got stuck here too..." A voice that had lost all courage spoke from the corner of the room Dream was in. It sounded like it belonged to a young girl, but it sounded so broken. He hesitated before responding, rubbing his sore wrists.

"How did you get here?" He inquired, staring into the one corner of the room that was not lit. He could faintly make out the dainty figure of the girl, curled up in a little ball. He heard the rustle of fabric as the shape moved a little.

"I wanted what I could not get." Her tone was one of brokenness, the kind you get after crying for a long time and then getting that pit in your stomach. As if to confirm it, the girl sniffled. "What about you? What did you do?"

"I- I don't know." Dream sat up and dangled his feet over the edge of the chair, still trying to wrap his mind around what had just happened. "I was with my friends and then I felt like my body was on fire... then I don't remember anything after that."

"So you don't know what's wrong with you?" Her voice was edged with anger, sadness, hurt, and anguish. It was almost as if her words were sharp daggers. 

As much as he hated to admit it, Dream knew exactly what was wrong with him. He didn't belong in the code, at least not completely. Him sitting in this chair, in a strange room, in a world he had never even heard of, was proof enough that he was a glitch, despite George's insistence otherwise. 

"I know exactly what's wrong with me," He conceded quietly. 

As he spoke the light brightened just enough to illuminate the girl enough for him to finally see her. She was clothed in black, gold lines tracing the outlines. Her hair was cropped short and out of her face. Her eyes were filled with sadness, their jade green pools empty of any happiness.

"I suppose I should show you around what I can only describe as our prison." 

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Dust and rocks pelted Grian's exposed skin as he slowly came to. The last thing he remembered was pushing the button on the command cube. Narrowing his eyes against the constant gale, Grian glanced around his surroundings. Pearl lay in an unconscious lump on the ground next to him, her chest rising and falling. Everywhere else was a stormy gray, the light source of the environment undefinable. Occasionally thunder roared across the environment, but no lightning preceded it. 

Massive chasms wormed their way jaggedly through the barren surface of this planet, and when Grian got the nerves to look down them, he could not see the bottom of them.

No sooner had he managed to stand up, then came a spasm through his whole body. It felt like someone had shaken himself from the nerves to the skin. It faded as quickly as it came, but it left him stunned. 

Pearl let out a yelp and leaped up from where she lay and glanced down with a crazy look in her eyes. Her eyes had dimmed ever so slightly during the short time they had been there.

"So this is what a corrupted world looks like?" She shivered, drawing her arms tight around herself.

"Yeah..." Grian instantly worried for his sister and how she might be faring in all of this. 

"Some light would be nice," Pearl muttered to herself, not expecting Grian to her.

"You're right." He focused on his builders orb, he just wanted to summon it. It was significantly harder than he expected, it letting out crackles and blue sparks, like a stubborn fire refusing to light. After a boost of energy from his mind, the orb finally formed itself in his hand, stuttering in and out of existence. 

"It looks very unstable," Pearl remarked as Grian willed it to become brighter and to hover out in front of them. What it revealed was not much more than they had already seen in the strange glowing environment, however, there was a slightly more uniform rock formation. Almost as if it was unnatural.