Dark Mystic: Deception

11. Terror in the Caves

It was an extraordinary landscape. Everything was glowing softly in an array of colors, although the sky was a diffuse white. Seeing was not really an accurate way of describing what I was doing. Distance was meaningless. If I looked at something, I perceived it fully in all its minute details. At first, there were simple geometric shapes, but as I turned my attention to each, it would become a living thing of shifting, flowing colors in elaborate patterns. When I looked away, it would return to its soft, nearly monochromatic geometric shape. There was music, too. A symphony, exquisite beyond description, played upon instruments no human hand could ever craft. The music was coming from the living shapes. When I focused to perceive each form, I could also hear its individual song.

One of the creatures approached me. As I focused my awareness upon it, it became a thing of golden curls, blue sprays, and weaving bands of rose light. "You cannot stay here," it chimed. I was dismayed. Never had I experienced such harmony and perfection. Never had I known such peace, but even as I started to protest, I began to sink. Colors became muted, and shapes, indistinct. I seemed to grow heavier, and my senses dulled. Finally, I seemed to be floating in a thick liquid, amidst a gray and featureless expanse.

"...neurological damage...extensive tissue and organ damage...dialysis..." I knew the voice, although I could not recall the face. Was he talking about me? Somehow it seemed unimportant. I continued to drift. Time did not exist. I could recall no past, conceive of no future. There was only the drifting.

"...Willow..." I was drawn upward. The gray thinned and lightened. I reached towards the voice, but slipped on nothingness, and plunged deeper into darkness.

"Willow..." I drifted upwards. There was light around me. "Willow, awaken..." I touched my body, but I couldn't make it move. He called my name again and I tried to answer, but nothing would work. Exhausted, the grayness engulfed me.

The Krristed captain stood before my father. "We require the minerals to repair our vessel," he stated coolly. My father's cervical sensory filaments rippled with annoyance.

"I will not permit you to land on the planet," he stated flatly.

"If you would provide us with the minerals, we would make the repairs and leave this system." The black and silver of the Krristed's fur accentuated his lean and muscular form. His green eyes shown like emeralds. I could not understand why my father was being so rude.

"You were warned not to enter this system," my father stated stubbornly.

"We had no choice. This is the only planet within range, where the minerals are available at the surface." The sides of the captain's muzzle curled slightly revealing long white teeth. His patience was beginning to fail.

"That is not my concern. If you attempt to land on the planet, I will destroy you," my father stated.

"You leave me no choice," the Krristed said turning on his small feet and striding towards the shuttle that looked like an egg on a small step pyramid. The images faded and I returned to the gray expanse.

I relived being held prisoner by the terrorists. The pain of my severed finger haunted me. Worse, was watching Kiva be raped then shot. She was lying dead before me, my hands covered with blood. I wanted to scream, I wanted to awaken, but I could do neither.

"...Willow." I rose towards the voice. I had been watching the exchange between Krristed captain and my father, but this time, as the captain turned away, he became Vailas. I looked down at myself. Soft, silver fur covered my body. My slender seven fingered hands ended in small, flat nails. In accordance with my thoughts, my cervical sensory tendrils reached out in front of me like a collection of fine silver tentacles. Then, dreading what was to come, but unable to stop myself, I ran into the cave occupied by the three primitive humans, and died again at their savage hands.