DESOLATION

3, Lukis I - Cold Cold Cold

Cold. The first thing that comes to me is a chilling cold. I sit up quickly, some chain pulling on my neck, I tug at it. I hear a crack, but I cannot tell from what until my neck falls sideways limply, a cold fear sinking into my body. My fingers crack and fall in the same manner as I move them to touch my face, my neck. I try to let out a shriek, something to show my horror at what has happened, but I cannot. I let myself fall limply to the ground, my whole chest feeling like it sags down as I do, not thinking about if it actually could be or not.

I hear a low chuckle, a snicker. I try to turn my head to the noise, my skin seems to itch. My neck no longer feels limp as I go to face the sound, seeing a head of dark hair. Charley, I try to say, my voice catching in my throat and my head falling limply to the ground.

C R A C K

I try to breath to calm myself, it comes out as weak weazing instead. I start to cough, a thick liquid oozes from my throat and out of my lips. Its so thick I start to choke, it causes me to cough harder. The laughter starts again, but its not just charley, its something terrible. I try to lift myself up to try to figure out where its coming from, but my bones seem to crumble and fall, my muscles weak.  I continue to weeze and cough until finally I feel stregnth surge into my body, the coughing continues but the weezing stops. I feel a gaseous liquid leave my mouth and splatter on the ground as I sit on my hands and knees. My head hangs as I catch my breath. 

“Lukis…” Charlies deep voice echoes off the walls, the other things in here stop cackling, a chilling quiet. I’ve never felt a chill from his warm voice before, but now is a first. Despite how cold I am I can feel the frozeness of his voice, the ice in his soul. May hero save me, a chant I now say over and over in my head as I fold my legs underneath me and set my head gently on the ground, a prayer. 

“He cannot save you.” Charlies voice sents a shiver down my spine. I close my eyes, breathing calmly, my robe is no longer on me, my arms exposed to the air of the cell. Everyone in the village has the same tattoo on their elbow, a sign of hero. A great adventurer, one with eyes of pearlecent white and great power in his bones. They say he created our life, our world. He wanders for a soul he values most, he is yet to find one.

“This is destined, I was given a vision by The great one.” his voice is so certain. It makes my soul as cold as my body. “What do you mean.” My voice is hoarse, a gas comes forth from my throat, a bright magenta. “A plague, E.W.P. I was destined to create it, I saw it Lukis I saw it.” He sounds crazed. This is not the Charlie I know. He seems different in a way I cannot name. 

“What have you done with Charlie, you are not him.” My voice comes out much more powerful than I feel, I go to stand, the chains pull me down. With strength I cannot fathom of how I had ripped it out of the ground, standing up straight and staring at Charlie. It is him, nothing looks to be wrong with him. Except for a surgical mask and gloves, his expression is not readable. 

“Luke, Luke, Luke.” He says it like I am a small child, unknowing, “This is who I have been all along, it is who I have been destined to be!” He throws his hands up in the air, his eyes manic. I take a step back, hitting a wall immediately. I had not noticed how small the cell had been before, nor the piercing pain that is engulfing my whole body in flames, cutting out the cold. I fall to my knees, the bone shatters, more pain shoots through my body.

“Good, just how intended and to script.” He mumbles, a lever clicks, a door opens, a prick in my back, my eyes heavy. I try to grab Charlie, I must punish him for this, Hero had not intended this.

Black,

My vision is black.

I cannot see,

Or I am sleeping.

But if I was sleeping I would not see another with me.