A Tale from the Dark Dimension

Chapter 11: Justin

Justin thought he knew what it was to panic when Xavier passed out in his arms, but when she woke back up a second later the look in her eyes was different. Her eyes were glazed over, and they almost had a darker look to them. However, the thing that scared him the most was hearing someone else's voice come out of her mouth.

"Xavier?" he asked, her body still in his arms. She shoved him off of her, looked around and said, "So...you are the ones who invaded my realm and slaughtered my children," it wasn't her voice. It sounded raspy and echoey, almost hollow and dark just like her expression.

"Who are you?" Cade asked. He knew it wasn't Xavier and Justin knew it wasn't her either, but he couldn't bring himself to speak. He was afraid his friend was gone, lost to whatever this being was that used her as a host.

"Ah, Cade Myers. You are the one who is still connected to me, like this one," the voice said, referring to itself.

"That wasn't the question Casper," Gale said.

"How about we meet? Face to face. No bloodshed. Just a chat," Cade suggested. Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, everyone except for Sam. He wondered why that was, but figured that now wasn't the time.

"I accept your proposal. I look forward to meeting you in person," she turned to Sam, "All of you," before seemingly leaving Xavier's body. He only believed this because she fell forward and he caught her again, making sure she didn't get any more injured than she needed to. She shook her head, slowly waking up.

"Anyone wanna tell me what kind of Exorcist shit that was?" Gale asked, trying to lighten the mood with a joke. But his question wasn't entirely made to be humorous.

"What in the hell was that?" Justin asked.

"I don't know. I felt like my body wasn't my own, like my body wasn't my own. I felt like a puppet," she said, nearly to the point of tears.

"Justin, take her back to her room and watch her. The rest of us will meet this being," Rucker suggested.

"No. I want to meet whatever that was. I want to see it for myself," Xavier demanded. No one seemed to object to her wishes. It was at that point what Justin realized he still had his arms wrapped around her. He blushed slightly at the closeness before letting her rest herself on the holo table. He picked up her crutches and handed them to her.

"Where the hell are we supposed to go to meet this thing," Frost asked as they made their way down the hall.

"We can use the training sphere as a meeting place," Ace suggested.

"And how would we even meet this being?" John asked.

"I can open a portal," Cade said. No one raised any objections but there was a tense feeling amongst the group. They didn't know what to expect with this, so everyone was on guard.

Finally they reached the training sphere. At the very front of the pack were Cade, Sam, Rucker, and Ace. Behind them were Justin, John, and Xavier followed by Cole, Artemis, Frost, and Gale, all powered on and ready to fight if need be. Cade stepped forward and opened a portal, and a terrifying creature stood ready to meet them.