A Thousand Levels to You

Chapter 1 (Thomasy)

Content Warning: This story contains themes that some audiences may find disturbing.

A murky droplet dripped from the mold-infested pipe running the length of the steel ceiling. Cold against Thomasy's cheek, the drop slid down across his skin. He shivered, stirring from his familiar nightmares. On instinct, his tongue slithered past his dry, scabbed lips and sought after the moldy water, absorbing it like a dried out sponge. The metallic taste startled him awake.

"Oh, good Architect." He said, head drooping into his frigid, shaky hands. "It never ends."

Memories of that night loomed over him. Woven through the fabric of his unrelenting nightmares, they were always the same. Ever watching, gawking at him from the tight shadowy depths that engulfed him in his cell.

An unshakable weight pressed against his chest, festering beneath his skin. He was guilty. Guilty of the cardinal sin.

Back that night, three months ago, everything had been as it always was. He tossed and turned in his bed - even then sleep never came easily. Aroused from his dreams, he glanced over at Theron with a warm, faint smile. His brother's broad chest rose and fell with each rhythmic breath. Tranquil normalcy coated the room like a thin sheet of glass preserving a precious photograph.

It shattered a moment later.

Heavy footsteps sounded from outside the bedroom door. Thin shadows crept across the floor, stretched long by the dim hallway light.Three rapid knocks pound, rattling the door on its hinges. The wood bent and cracked beneath the assaulting pressure. Thomasy shot straight up, the crackling in his ears sent shivers racing down his sweat coated spine.

Across the room, Theron leaped from his bed and rushed towards Thomasy, his finger pressed firmly against his lips in a shushing gesture. His eyes darted between Thomasy and the quivering door. He nodded, offering an expression of feigned reassurance.

Thomasy saw straight through it.

He crept along the bed, behind Theron, and shoved himself into the corner where his mattress met the wall. There was nowhere else to go. No place else to hide.

Cold steel against his damp back, Thomasy willed himself to pass through the wall like heat transferring through metal. Yet, he remained, trapped in the fracturing photograph. Breath faint, his entire body vibrated with mortified anticipation.

In his cell, Thomasy took a breath. He rose to his feet and wiped the sleep from his eyes. Tension surged through his legs, forcing him to pace. Movement gave him the sense that he was at least doing something which, as his memories relentlessly reminded him, was better than whenever he'd done nothing.

Three shadow figures formed in the corner - each shifting like turbulent water. Figments of his memory, he knew they weren't real. He did. But they were his only company, the final string pulled taut connecting him to whatever bits of sanity he had left.

Three knocks beat again against the crackling wood of his bedroom door as the memory of that night swallowed Thomasy once more.

It fell. Thud. Against the floor.

Four Peacekeepers cloaked in shadows stepped into the room. No weapons had been drawn but they moved with a composed authority. Slow and precise. Menacing. The closest Peacekeeper lunged for Theron, taking him by the shoulder. Theron shrugged off the Peacekeeper's hand and pivoted, positioning himself directly in front of Thomasy. Knees bent, he stood on the tips of his toes, ready to pounce.

The first towering Peacekeeper turned towards Thomasy, still cowering on the bed. His soulless gaze, with all the weight of a council sentencing, pinned Thomasy against the wall, forcing the breath from his lungs.