Kobold Life

Chapter 6: A New Name

I regained awareness surrounded by darkness. Despite having experienced this once already, this time the darkness felt colder, more suffocating. Whereas before it felt as though the darkness was merely a lack of surroundings, now it felt like an intenseness blotting out the rest of the world. I could see no walls, yet somehow, I still felt claustrophobic, as if I was surrounded on all sides only inches out of my reach. It probably had something to do with the heavy ragged sounding breathing which emanated from just above me. I tried to look up attempting to see the source of the noise, but my head wouldn't turn, and the darkness was too thick and shrouded it from my sight.

The only thing I could see was myself, though not even much of it. I was in a laying though it was not the one I had fallen asleep in. It felt as though my back was at an angle as if I was resting against something that I couldn't feel behind me. What I could see of my body had the same strange semi-ethereal state I saw before, my human body and kobold body seemed to project onto each other strangely as they alternated in and out of focus. I wanted to call out to the voice again, the one that had spoken to me the last time I was here, but as I attempted to speak, the words came out garbled and slurred, as if I were speaking through a mouth full of gum.

The heavy breathing drew to a close at the sound, setting the darkness into silence, interrupted only by the thumping of my heart. No there was another sound, something distant, something rhythmic, coming from outside me, but I couldn't quite make out what it was. It sounded, foreign, yet familiar, something I had no doubt heard countless times, but it was too natural, I could barely hear it, due to my heartbeat. It was as if they were timed perfectly to mask the short but shrill noise.

My thoughts were interrupted as I felt the air stir around me. The sound of a sharp intake of breath gradually devolved into a monstrous yawn. I still could see no walls, but I could sense them as the sound reverberated through the invisible room in which I and this creature resided.

Then the sky exploded with color, a giant nebula of blues, greens, pinks, and purple decorating a distinctly glassy surface. The orb was at least 10 ft wide, and floated overhead strangely, despite its glistening radiance it didn't seem to illuminate anything else, in fact, the rest of the room somehow felt darker for its presence. It wasn't until it blinked that I realized the pattern I saw before me was no nebula, but some aberrant iris in the largest eye I had ever seen, one that at the moment stared directly at me.

I felt the need to run, to escape, I could hear my heart pounding, as I struggled to force myself to move to escape whatever creature was so gargantuan that its eye alone was twice my human height, but my body refused to move. The distant sound grew closer,

"beep...beep...beep"

The eye continued to stare at me as I struggled to no avail.

"Beep, Beep, Beep"

Then a new noise drowned out everything. An unintelligible garbled cacophony of voices, that seemed to be unleashing every syllable known to man, and at least a hundred which weren't all at once. It boomed over everything else and felt it the sounds piercing me to my core. For several seconds it continued somehow fluctuating in intensity and cadence despite its impossible complexity, enough to sound almost like words. Still, if there was any meaning to these sounds it was lost on me in the panic that their intensity provided. I felt my body beginning to shake, the first movement I had made since I arrived before finally I felt a hand on my arm. It was cold, and its grip was iron, as I felt a sharp pinch into my forearm, as I lurched forward.

My eyes opened to the sight of the modest room Tabaxi had left me in previously. The Leosel had migrated further down resting its head on my stomach and body coiled over my legs. My sudden movement seemed to wake it as well, as it quickly seemed on edge, baring its teeth in my direction in a threatening manner. Then as our shock subsided, she tilted her head to the side quizzically, as if wondering why I had so abruptly awakened her.