Drone

29 The Door Ahead.

The two Drones marched away from the compound. Their journey would last at least fifteen miles before reaching the Relgar-Pit border. As they trekked towards the barren outskirts of Soutfel, Vidder regularly cleared his throat loudly, occasionally spitting blood and mucus on the dirt. In the distance, Niklas could see the first of the hills that stood between them and Pit Forest.

Despite his churning gut, he felt relieved that this was over. He would become a Drone again. He would finally have answers to some of his questions. Why was he being given a second chance? Why was the Arbiter interested in him, a random half-caste Drone? He would be with Edgar again. With these answers, new opportunities would come. Maybe he could join the Raiders. Maybe, as a Raider, he would be sent as reconnaissance back into Relgar. Perhaps he could visit the compound?

No. Niklas shook his head. That line of thinking was dangerous. He could never return to Soutfel.

"The door behind you isn't closed yet. But do you really want to forfeit the door ahead?"

Why did that man's words haunt him?

Niklas trudged along, ignoring the words of the pagan seer until he almost ran right into an actual door. He yelped in surprise as he jumped away. A door with no walls stood before him. Standing alone in the field, it barred his way. With large oak posts bordering the thick wood door, it stood open.

"What is it?" Vidder asked.

"Do you see it?"

"See what?"

"The door!"

Vidder looked at Niklas for a moment before realization seemed to dawn on him. "Niklas, we have been gone for too long. You haven't stabilized on med in over a month."

"So? I've been feeling better lately."

"If a Drone goes without med, he becomes weak again. If we don't take it, we get sick, and our bodies start to shut down."

"Is that what's been happening to me?"

He nodded. "I took my last dose last week, and I feel my insides ripping themselves apart. I'm amazed you can even stand going empty for almost a month."

The post of the door in front of Niklas began glowing yellow with unknown runes.

"What about the door?"

"Hallucinations are a side effect of running on empty," Vidder explained. "There is no door."

Niklas nodded and stepped forward.

A gentle and intelligent gust of wind hit him in the face, catching him off guard, and he stepped back. He looked behind and back at Soutfel and saw another door behind him at the edge of the field. That one was much smaller with a black polished wooden frame.

"The door behind you isn't closed yet. But do you really want to forfeit the door ahead?"

Why would Niklas be having med withdrawals, which made him see precisely what a Kel seer prophet said? Maybe his mind was putting things together from memory?

The same runes that glowed on Pit Forest's doorway burned on the door back to Soutfel, but they shined with a gentle green-white hue.

Should he put any merit in a seer of Kel? Would he confuse the scientific effects of chemicals with omens of faith?

What was he thinking? He had already made his choice.

"But do you really want to forfeit the door ahead?"

"No," Niklas said.

"What?" Vidder asked.

"I said no," Niklas repeated.