Mega Worm Apocalypse

TWENTY SIX

The boy was resting. He'd been fighting to escape his mental prison for so long, he'd learned well enough that exhaustion was dangerous. It lead to despair.

And despair...he hated to remember it...

Rest was the key to continuing the fight... 

Because despair lead to surrender.

And the boy refused to surrender.

He wanted his old life back. A life he could barely remember. He'd had a name of his own, once - a name he couldn't quite recall. A family. Friends. A body. A physical presence in the world. More than anything, he wanted to feel something - feel his limbs moving, the air fill his lungs.  Feel his feet on firm ground. Feel the comfort if his own bed.

He lay in the dark, the ground cold and hard. He would rest for now. And when he woke he would fight again. He would try to find a way out this mental prison.

And even if he failed - again - at least he had the comfort in knowing his efforts would annoy the worm.

He waited, expecting to feel the parasite's attention. The worm that had taken over his mind would often turn its attention to the boy - pained and annoyed that the boy still hadn't given up. And he wouldn't give up. Not ever. There was something satisfying in knowing that much - knowing how it exhausted the worm.

But the parasite didn't turn its attention to the boy. Not right now. That was unusual. Most nights - if night existed inside a mental projection - when the boy collapsed from exhaustion, the worm would wait and watch, wanting to be sure the boy was at last asleep. But not this night. Too busy doing whatever awful things it and it's Whole did outside in the world the boy used to know. And so the boy slept.

But not for long.

Because no sooner did his eyes close than a hand closed gently on his shoulder. Well, not really a hand. A presence - it nudged him as gently as a hand would have had he had control of his body to feel it. And when he opened his eyes, the presence kneeled beside him.

A girl.

"You're Franklin," she said, the name from a lifetime ago thrumming through him as sure as if she'd plucked a string from his heart.

He nodded, slowly. "Who are you?" 

"I think you know."

He did. He knew exactly. 

He reached out and hugged her, holding her tight in case she disappeared - the mind played tricks after all - and she hugged him back. He had dreamt of her, and the other girl - they'd been in his mind for months. Ever since the sabers - since the Silver Queen.....

"You're Kayla," he said. He didn't need her to confirm it. He'd never met her, or the unicorn girl, but he knew them as sure as he knew his own family. They were the same, him and them. They'd all been trapped inside the Whole.

And oh, how the Whole hated them.

"How did you find me?" He said. "How did you escape."

Kayla smiled. "I've done more than escape. I've started the war."

"What?" He didn't understand. "H-how?"