Transcendence Book 1: Waking Dream

One

One Year: Unknown
Planet: Unknown
Location: Unknown 

Darkness.
Blessed nothingness.
Then pain, coursing through her entire body with her splitting head as the focal point, followed by the feel of the cold, hard composite of the floor beneath her. Wild, incomprehensible and uncontrolled flashes of image and sensation roll through her accompanied by disconcertingly familiar laughter while she struggles to lift lids weighted down by what must be mountains.
Bright artificial light sends daggers into her eyes as they creep open and she jerks her head away from the source towards the floor, moaning as the pieces of her skull seem to shift, and she moves her leaden arms to cradle it while hot tears leak from once more tightly closed eyes.
"What happened?" she wonders, the slow, confused thoughts almost completely overwhelmed by continuing flashes of disjointed recollection.
"Where am I?"
You turn, arms upraised in weary, wounded triumph, the crowd chanting your- 
"Why am I on the floor?"
A tall woman with hard grey eyes in a narrow, poisonously beautiful face beneath thick brunette hair draws her hand back lightning-fast to-
"Who am I?"
You land awkwardly on the balance beam, your foot slipping off as you come down with a painful wrench, the muscles of your thigh- 
Unaware of the final thought she slips once more into the welcoming arms of oblivion, her own mad laughter following her down through the dark.

Consciousness returns in stages, and she finds the pain gone, somewhat, though her deep confusion remains as aching lavender eyes open on the dull grey of angled composite walls, broken by straight pillars, cold dark blue flooring and the indirect white lighting of concealed glow-tubes-
Something's wrong where is
-Rising slowly to her hands and knees from her prone position, head hanging, thick red-gold hair obscuring her surroundings from sight, she slowly lifts her head to get a grasp on her situation, only to start violently backwards, landing on her back with a thump an instant before her skull cracks into the floor and the world disappears for an instant in a flash of pain and white light, and she is-
Singing? Is someone singing?
-Scuttling back and away from the nightmare sitting propped up against the broken, buckled wall not a metre from where she has lain for an unknown time, when one of her hands slips in something cold and wet, and she comes to a thudding halt, vaguely registering the sensation of more wetness coating her back and arms-
Aran where's Aran I want Aran 
-Bringing her hand up, lavender eyes go wide with shock at the sight of her sticky red palm, and the world flickers before she begins to scream, head turning jerkily in any direction, the rest of her body frozen in panicked indecision-
Blood so much blood what 
-While her eyes take in the blood and the thick black viscous substance that coats the walls and floors of the wide hall-
Getoutgetoutweneedtogetout 
-Frantically wiping her hand down the dull brown material of her tunic and rising to her feet when she spots-
"Take them, the Sunstrikers; they've been waiting for you." 
-The Sunstriker gauntlets lying discarded at her feet, dull black metal almost hidden against the dark blue of the floor-
"All the power you need to protect her." 
-The sensation of the gauntlets moulding themselves around her hands and forearms as the final connection and synchronisation with her nervous system is achieved-
A hand; like your own but wrong somehow, too smooth; reaches out to grasp the Sunstrikers, only to pass through unimpeded to touch the floor 
-Her eyes flicker unwilling to the sprawled monstrosity and the wall above it, where the outline of a massive head and shoulders has been somehow imprinted-
"Run girl!" 
-A male voice roars through her mind and she is struck across the face by an invisible hand, the blow rocking her ringing head to the side, and sudden fear sinks coldly into her spine at the unknown intrusion before it is overwhelmed by terror as the large doors beyond the remains of the creature are struck from behind with enough force to buckle them and shake the entirety of the hall-
She's coming they did something to her and now she's coming to get us 
-Bright plasma flows down thin channels in the black metal of the Sunstrikers to gather at depressions in the knuckles bounded by black spikes before flowing further down and vanishing into each claw-tipped digit when the doors are struck again-
"Prepare yourself; the darkness comes." 
-She backs down the hall when she is stopped dead, seeing the first hint of something creeping through the minute gap between the deformed doors when they are struck again and she instinctively flattens herself against one wall as the twin doors, each thirty centimetres thick, are thrown violently down the hall-
Help me somebody anybody 
-Another mental presence, not superseding but assisting, the strange sensation of two bodies, two sets of nerves functioning in tandem, showing her what to do in a rush of information before the darkness and the wave of malevolent hungry faces boils out into the hall. Her hand comes up of its own volition and rips open a small pouch high on her chest to pull out an injector-
"I need you to promise me you'll be careful with this." 
-Relishing the heady rush as the cocktail flows through her veins and she drops the injector, throwing her hand out to the side, fingers spread wide as flames appear and swirl through the air before she twists and lobs the crackling, hungrily whispering orb towards the coming horrors. It explodes in a torrent of flame that goes roaring over the first wave, ash flowing through the air in its wake as the darkness is forced back by the searing wall, only to surge forward again with renewed vigour and further abominations.
She hurriedly lets loose a blast from one of the gauntlets as she turns to run that throws the closest back, black-veined grossly distorted faces howling as they land atop their following compatriots, only to be trampled when they try to rise, smoking and flaming fitfully.
She sprints down the hall, sweat dampened red-gold hair blowing back from her waxen brow, taking a right turn only to come face to face with a woman dressed in the bloody tattered remains of a white uniform with a red cross on the front breast pocket-
Nurse she's a nurse she'll know where Aran 
-Lunges at her, smooth black eyes rolling crazily, mouth splitting at the corners while black talons slide out from beneath her fingernails.
She delivers a stepping kick to the creature's stomach; feeling her body move, but not initiating the movement, a curious, but disturbingly familiar sensation; and her fist drives forward, a concentrated blast dissolving its head as it flies back through the air to land in an awkward boneless tumble while the woman with the red-gold hair goes by in a blur-
"The balcony." 
-Another sudden rush of information, this time accompanied by cruel, derisive laughter and hard grey eyes gone wide with a large inhumanly strong hand around her throat-
"Let's see what you know."
-She hooks a hand around a pillar and shoots around the corner, taking a chunk of the material with her that glows white-hot as it connects viciously with the gaping razor-toothed maw of a man dressed in a grey uniform, the molten material exploding from the back of his skull. She whirls around the creature, its head now aflame as it drops behind her while she goes streaking down the vacant hall, casting a quick glance over her shoulder to see the void rushing around the corner, blotting out solid existence and carrying the horde within itself, launching them forward with speed to overtake the terrified, confused woman-
"I am sorry, you know where you need to go." 
-The male voice fades away along with the sensation of sharing her body and she stumbles before regaining her feet, moving swiftly down the hall to swing around a right corner, buoyed on the mixture of whatever was in the strange injector and terror-fed adrenaline while inhuman sounds rise from behind her, growing closer with every instant-
What are they where am I 
-Ignoring the lift she leaps and clears the first set of stairs, shoulder slamming painfully into the angled wall before she pushes off to sprint down the short landing, vaulting up the second flight only to be driven back against the wall at the head of the stairs by the jarring impact of a roaring monstrosity clad in a black uniform. It grasps her by the wrists and pins them against the wall to either side of her while its jaw opens freakishly wide and it lunges forward to rip out her throat, the darkness encroaching at furious pace-
"Are you going to fall to the mere General of the Guard?" 
-Eyes tightly closed, she screams piercingly, and there is a soundless blast of light that drives the creature away shrieking and clawing at its scorched, ruined face-
Where are they coming from where's Aran 
­-Taking the third flight with the agonised rage-filled screams of the thing behind her ringing in her ears a small dim part of her-
"Listen." 
-That was not her registered the speed of the virulent shadows and maddened horde at her back decreasing as she turned to the fourth flight and next floor. The toe of her boot catches the top step just before she comes crashing down onto her chest, teeth coming together with a savage click while bright stars blossom before her eyes and she is scrambling first to her hands and knees then upright, the first edges of the shine brought on by the earlier shot falling away as the world begins to disappear at the head of the final landing behind her-
"Get up. I don't care how long it takes or how long you have to spend in the tanks; you'll survive, probably." 
-Passing a joining hallway she sees only undefined darkness rolling down on her from either side before two of the creatures, former gender or species indistinguishable amidst horrible mutations, come bounding around a corner further ahead, hooked talons on bestial hands and feet tearing rents from the tough composite material of the flooring-
Don't try to fight just run she's coming 
-Crying out in pain, the passing claws digging shallow bloody cuts in the flesh of her stomach as she twists to avoid them, the mouth filled with huge needle teeth spread wide in the monster's eyeless head disappearing in a blaze of golden maelstrom as she fires a combined blast from both gauntlets. Feeling a familiar prod between her shoulder-blades she whirls and a cracking explosion sounds over the descending creature's roar an instant before she is propelled further down the hall while the bestial noise behind her is cut off with a meaty crunch-
The crowd roars in appreciation as you fall to your knees before the smoking slurry that was once a living 
-Passing another hall that crosses her own she registers in her peripheral vision a tall red-skinned man in ornate armour stepping out of a lift before she is-
"-Mainly a ceremonial position when it comes to the Seer herself, but is held by only the most dedicated, most skilled-" 
-Rounding another corner and bounding up more sets of stairs, these ones gratefully empty, the darkness still swallowing the world behind her, but at a noticeably slower rate-
She knows she has to she sees everything 
-Familiar halls around her and the balcony is within reach, though what comes next almost halts her with its utter finality-
"Failure is acceptable, as are mistakes. What is unacceptable is to never make the attempt in the first place." 
-When she is halted by steely grey eyes, formerly so unforgiving, now somehow deadened as they stare out of the grey-hued face of the woman who stands before the final hallway between herself and possible freedom-
Wandering a waking dream while reaching for the light, as the day falls over into night 
-Beckoning her on with a single long, pale finger before she turns, insignia of rank and merit flashing in the bright light of the glow-tubes hidden around them, disappearing down the short hall containing-
"You'll be outfitted with an inhibitor system so this never happens again. Try it and I'll drop you with your eyes boiling in their sockets." 
-Barely giving the door on her right a glance as she trots down the short L-shaped hallway, the last effects of the injection wearing off, pain and deep fatigue returning to eat their insatiable way into her body-
Aran give me Aran 
-A throat clears itself somewhere behind her, and she whirls, the world losing colour and definition where it still exists-
"She's having paranoid delusions." 
-Forcing back the darkness eating her sight, colour and clarity returning while the being clad in a long hooded cloak torn from the void between stars steps forward and lowers its hood, leaving her staring, unbelieving, into a smooth, unlined imitation of her own face beneath the same thick mess of shaggy red-gold hair.
Empty, blazing violet eyes meet shock-dulled lavender and cold laughter rings through the hall, not directly from the being's mouth but seeming torn from the air itself in some awful parody of joy.
"And here we finally are!" it exclaims, coming forward in a sudden rush and spreading its white, somehow lifeless arms wide as the woman stumbles back in inarticulate fear, leaving the being looking disappointed, the expression exaggerated to almost grotesque extent.
"No? Nothing at all? And here I had hoped for a little conversation, some discourse, by the tits of the Matriarch maybe even just a threat or two," the face twists into a caricature of frustration.
"I mean come on, look at what I've done here!" it exclaims, face shifting with eerie speed to malevolent joy as it beckons its servants forward.
"Wh-who are y-you? Why do you l-look like me?" she asks in a trembling voice.
The being looks at her first with confusion, then with dawning wonder and amusement as it begins to chuckle.
"You're telling me you don't know? You don't remember?"
"She has a long history of mental instability," the familiar grey-eyed woman states from behind the being's shoulder.
"And who, pray tell, is responsible for much of that, I wonder?" the being asks derisively before continuing, "that much is readily apparent; how else would I be here?"
She feels the first stirrings of rage deep within her, the muscles of her arms bunching as her hands curl into fists, and the being looks curiously at her.
"You really don't remember, do you?" the concern on its face patently false as it stalks forward, the darkness creeping along behind it while the woman with the red-gold hair backs slowly away.
"Well, who am I to spoil your journey of self-exploration and realisation? I think I like the idea of you lost and confused. Yes, I like that idea very much."
Plasma goes flowing down the channels in the gauntlets and the being's eyes flicker down before violet meets lavender once more while it begins to chuckle before breaking into full-throated, bellowing laughter, throwing its arms wide.
"Come then! I've much yet to do around here in terms of redecorating!"
The first edges of red begin to creep over her sight when the male voice whispers through her mind-
"There is no fight here, only a fate worse than death. Run, and live to triumph another day." 
-The darkness rushing suddenly forward as she turns to run.

Dawn approaches, the first grey hints already visible in the star-strewn sky beyond the open doors leading to the balcony. Casting a brief glance over her shoulder, the void roars around the corner and she leaps up onto the parapet, her own jagged laughter echoing from everywhere as she surveys the endless cityscape before her. Explosions and vague screams sound from everywhere as the darkness spreads like a cancer across the city-planet.
She knows what she has to do.
There is only one thing left.

"You have been filled with stories, someone else's memories, planted to entertain the filthy rich of your world."
The voice of the Immortal's engram drips with disdain of their shared masters as it whispers through her mind carried on the wind of recollection, time slowing to a crystalline crawl while the void roars towards her back.
"Your world is not what it seems, you are living their dreams; nevertheless, if you are going to jump, it will be forever." 
Fear and anticipation fight for control of her aching mind and heart while she stands on the high parapet, red-gold hair blown back from her pale, sweaty brow by the metallic wind off the city.
"It is time to progress, to show all the worlds who you really are. Are you ready for transcendence?" 
She is transported back through time, returning to Apex, and the world stops... 

"I can't," you say breathlessly, rising painfully from your spot on the grass at the foot of Apex.
"You must," the engram orders in a hard voice, though infinitely softer than five years ago when making his first appearance in your mind.
"If you are to escape your confinement and free yourself of the shackles they placed upon you at birth, you must."
"I'm just not strong enough," you say, pleading.
The engram is on the verge of speech when he stops himself, pausing for consideration, before crossing the space between you to lay a gentle hand on your shoulder.
"You are strong enough; I know it, I have seen it. You are allowing your doubts too deep a hold on your mind. To achieve your goal, you must let go, embrace the wind and let it carry you."
"Carry me?"
"Yes," he says, and you are suddenly on a ledge high above the clearing, the landscape around Apex fading to a vague mist in the far distance.
"The elements are your allies, and will aid you when shown proper respect."
"Respect for the elements," you mutter, the first days of your tutelage returning to you.
He nods.
"Indeed. They are the stuff of life, remember. Without the elements we would be no better than the beasts in the woods and fields; shown disrespect or disregard, they will turn on the weak and strong alike."
He leads you to the edge, your toes hanging out over empty air.
"Embrace it," he says, and pushes you off.