The Face Of Darkness (Out Of The Abyss Book: 1)

The Safe House

"Ohhh.... Mannnn...," Chromus moaned, slowly waking up. "Boy do I feel sick! My heads felling like adsleudge hmmah is pondin my face.." He slurred, before drifting back into unconsciousness.

When Nahaten and Chromus had entered the safe room, they had found themselves in lobby D5, where Nahaten saw Ivran. Ivran wore the long green robes with gold on them, signifying that he was a Master Mage. He also wore the long white and red tassels on his sleeves signifying that he was a medic as well.

Ivran, seeing that Chromus was in a magical coma, lead Nahaten into the medical room, where Chromus was now laying, occasionally mumbling incoherent words, tossing and turning, and even almost sleepwalking.

"will he be okay, Ivran?" Nahaten wandered addressing the man in the green robes. "He just needs to take this medicine." Ivran held up a syringe full of a dark liquid. "Then he will be alert enough to start thinking rationally. If we do a double dose, then he will be back to normal, aside from a pounding headache." Ivran replied.

Holding up what looked like blue cherries, Ivran continued "These will disperse his headache." He then produced a dark green jar from his seemingly endless medicine bag. "This will make it so that Chromus won't be able to taste anything for the next 30 minuets. Any other questions?" Ivran asked.

"Uhmm... How are we going to get Chromus to wake up so we can give him the medicine? I mean... It might be a while before he wakes up." Nahaten said.

"I have even thought of that!" Ivran exclaimed. "Where was that again?.. Is this it? no.. where is it! Ah, there it is." Ivran muttered to himself before lifting out a short clear glass jar, full of blue glowing crystals.

"These crystals," He said, "are an oxygen eliminator. When they are blue, that shows there is no oxygen. When they are red, they are turning oxygen into an extremely corrosive magical liquid. This liquid is what makes the crystals grow. However, when oxygen comes in contact with this liquid, it releases a toxin that triggers the nerves to send a signal of extreme pain, even though it doesn't do anything to the body. The pain is so extreme, it could even wake up a corpse!" Ivran chuckled.

"Sooo... These crystals will hurt Chromus, but it won't hurt him?" Nahaten asked confused. "Exactly. You understood it better then I thought you would!" Ivran exclaimed.

"Lets get started, shall we?" Ivran asked. Without waiting for an answer, he pulled out what looked like a tube, but was filled with spider webbing-like wires. Ivran muttered something under his breath, and the wires in the tube started glowing. Ivran strapped it to his head, so that it would cover his mouth and nose. "You may want to step back... when you're alert, the smell is a lot stronger. I only have one of these masks." Ivran said in a muffled voice. Nahaten promptly went to the other side of the room.

Ivran slowly unscrewed the lid from the bottle. From the top to the bottom, the crystals slowly turned red, occasionally popping.

Even from across the room, Nahaten felt pain, almost like a bunch of needles pricking every part of his body. It was similar to having his foot fall asleep, and then walking on it. Except this was all over his entire body. He could not even imagine what Chromus was going through.

Chromus stirred, then bolted up screaming and screeching. He threw the blankets off and rushed towards the door before Ivran could move.

Only a moment later, Chromus stopped in his tracks. "Where am I?" Chromus slightly slurred. "Come sit down. You need to take some medicine." Ivran said kindly.

"Who's the guy wearing the green bedspread," Chromus said suspiciously. "And how did we get in here. Where is this place, anyways." "You're in Safehouse A-5, room 11." Ivran replied, matter-of-factly. "Thank you very much." Chromus grumbled. "Chromus, Just sit down, please." Nahaten pleaded. Still looking suspiciously at Ivran, He returned to the bed he was previously occupying.

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As Stregan Fester paced in his room, he worried about what Master Phenhust would do to him. He looked over his small, humble, but cozy room. He looked at the thread-bare rug, on the highly chipped wood floor. He looked at the dusty curtains, soot covered pot-bellied stove, before his eyes finally rested on the bed. He looked at the moth-eaten quilt his Grand Mother had made. He saw every lump in the bed, which, when he had gotten to Master Phenhust's cottage, had hated. But now, he worried he would never sleep in it again. He quickly stepped over to the flimsy door. As Stregan put his ear to the wood-worm eaten door, he could he Phenhust muttering spells to himself, while quickly flipping pages. 

Suddenly, Master Phenhust strode over to the door to Stregan's room. He pushed on the flimsy door, forgetting for a second that the door opened the other way. He remembered, too late, as the old door broke, sending wood-worms and other bugs making their residence there, flying. It landed with a crash, sending dust and spiderwebs billowing around the room. Stregan began saying his speech which he had recited almost all night. "Master, I do apologise for having failed you a..." "Be quiet." Phenhust interrupted. "Now listen to me, we don't have much time."