The void beckoned Pomni as she stared into it. Warm white light washing over her.
She wasn't falling, but she certainly wasn't floating either. She was in constant motion and yet standing completely still. She was terrified and yet in complete bliss. The void was safe. The void was a monster. The void was...
"How did it go?"
Pomni stood from her office chair, removing the VR headset. The real world spun around her for a moment before finally coming into focus. Bland colors and the buzz of office lights contrasting the bright and loud world of the Digital Circus.
The real world suddenly seemed so... dull.
"There are several glitches that need to be fixed" she didn't turn towards the voice as she jotted down a few things on a blanket piece of notebook paper. "Items glitching through the floors and walls; characters popping in and out of the screen... Oh, and that weird eyeball guy..."
"Caine."
"Yeah, whatever. His voice keeps glitching. Have (%^$# re-record some of his lines."
Pomni didn't have to turn to tell that the voice behind her was rolling its eyes. "Seriously? Again? This is the fifth time!"
"Well, if you don't want to do it again, make sure it's done right this ti..."
Pomni screamed as she lay in her bed. Well, bed was a bad word for it. The blanket was built into the red block-like structure, making it the same hard plastic as everything else in the digital circus.
"Holy &*^%, what was that?" she asked the dark room, jumping to her feet. If she hadn't known any better, she would have thought it was a dream... but that was impossible. None of them had to sleep here... Heck, none of them COULD sleep here. So what was that.
The door slammed open and she jumped as Ragatha entered the room, eyes wide.
"Pomni, what happened!?"
Jax peaked from behind the rag doll. "*&%$ it, I was betting on you abstracting. Nice going kid, now I owe Zooble."
Speak of the devil, the mitch match group of polygons peaked at Pomni from behind Ragatha. "Told you. She's not THAT far gone yet."
"What happened?" Ragatha asked again, entering the room. She opened her mouth to say something else, but then shut it.
"I... I think I had a dream."
They all stared at her for a moment...
And then began to laugh.
"Ah, that's a good one kid!" Jax said, smacking her on the back. "A dream! Now that's something I haven't had since..." He paused for a moment, and then shook his head. "So, you just pullin' our leg?"
"No, I swear! I had this weird dream... er... nightmare? I don't know. I was in this... Office... Thing."
"What?" Ragatha asked. "Like, the one you saw in the exit."
"I don't... I don't know... I can't... can't remember..."
"Called it!" Jax cried, heading for the door. "She's just fibbing."
"I am not! I swear, it was real!"
"Well then" he turned. "You're losing it. So, which is it, kid?"
Pomni froze, unsure. Was she really losing it? Now that she thought of it, all of that might have been something she just made up....
"Thought so! Now, whatcha say we all take a little hike around the grounds? Feel the fresh air?" he said, somewhat sarcastically.
"Not a chance, later *^&$#$" Zooble answered, ducking from Jax's grasp and making their way back down the hall.
"I bet that would do you some good, Pomni" Ragatha offered an arm, which Pomni took.
It had to be nothing.
Right?
