To Be Proud: Revamped

Chapter 43: Aerial Trouble

~Thwok~

Pure, pitch black darkness welcomed me as I woke up once again in the void. I stood up, familiarizing myself with the bright white outline of my body as I got on to my feet. Looking around the empty space, I felt numb despite the nonnecessity that feeling posed in the deep abyss. Something was wrong, shifted in a way, but I couldn't make out what it was to save my life. There was something else in the void with me...waiting...

Crackling erupted beside me, and upon spinning around I was able to see the disturbance within the space. A floating sphere of sorts, one that phased in and out of the empty void, sparked and sputtered with weird symbols flying from it. It made strange distorted sounds, zipping about as it did so. I tried to reach out to it, but it avoided me and started floating away from me at a rapid pace. Instinctively, I decided to try and chase it down.

It didn't take long before something large and yellow appeared in front of me, preventing me from progressing further. Coming to a complete stop, I stared up at the barricade that stood before me. After a moment I realized that it was a door, just a regular door, and upon opening it I was face to face with the strange orb once more. It zoomed off in one direction, and in a flash I made a dash to try and follow it.

No matter how fast I ran, the ball of green matter still seemed to fly off faster than I could run. It weaved through red boxes that formed in front of me, and with ease I was able to avoid the incoming obstacles. Where am I even going, I asked myself, and where is this thing taking me? I opened another set of doors to chase the orb, and in front of me spawned a golden guardrail of sorts. The matter floated over and down past the railing, and without a second thought I propelled myself over it in an attempt to maintain pursuit.

I ran, jumped, slid, hopped, and rolled past the red blocks as they formed and tried to get in my way. No matter how much they slowed me down, I made sure to keep the flickering green light in my sights at all times. Opening another set of doors, I continued the chase as I dodged the red barriers and passed through golden archways. As I ran I could feel myself getting dizzy, losing my balance as if the ground was shifting, but I ignored the feeling as I saw myself getting closer to the orb.

A bright blue staircase appeared in front of me as I ran through another archway. It peered down into a deep stairwell, leading up to a large golden door. As the orb floated down towards the door, I grabbed on to the railing and slid down it to catch up with the green light. Running to the door, I stopped as the bundle of numbers and symbols phased into it. Opening the door, I ran into the space and turned to slam the door shut. The last thing I saw was a flash of pink before the sound of a loud door clicking shut rang out.

And then I woke up. I wasn't in the hotel, but rather I was standing in a location that I wasn't too familiar with. My hands were pressed against a large wooden door, holding it closed and shutting out most of the light. Pulling away from the door, I slowly felt the feeling of confusion start to overwhelm me. Where was I? How did I get here? What led me here? Where do I go from here? Here, here, here...

The sound of light groaning distracted me from my thoughts, pulling me back into reality. Turning away from the door, I was faced with a long hallway that stretched bland and thin. Taking a deep breath, I decided to trust my curiosity and quietly followed the cracked tiles and stained walls. The groaning continued, now accompanied by the quiet clicking of my claws, and I tensed as the prior of the two became much clearer. What I was hearing wasn't groaning: it was panic.

I turned a corner in the dark maze, and my eyes were caught on a semi-thick line of pure yellow stretching across the floor to the wall and reaching the ceiling, all the way from the door on the other end of the hall. As I hesitantly walked towards the illuminated room, I took a look at the name plates on the other closed doors on both sides of the hall. There were nine closed doors in total: Ventus, Stratos, Cumulos, Cirros, Avis, Nimbus, Nubis, Caelum, and Volatus. I thought for a moment, wondering what each of the names meant and who they might've belonged to. Heading to the light-flooded room, I looked at the name on the tag before peeking inside: Aero.