Void Cast

To Embark

  The blue waste the creature left in it's wake formed a dense fog around Mars. It filled his nose and mouth as he was trudging on. The strange pollution gave him an oddly itchy feeling on his face and hands, at first. Then, suddenly his eyes started burning and he felt a tickle in his nose and throat as if he had to sneeze and cough at the same time. He tried to cry out in pain, but his throat began to close up. Then, he foolishly took off running, waving his arms madly in front of him to clear the sludge out of his path. 

  Mars was coughing violently, stumbling forward with bleary, tear-filled eyes. He felt like he had been slathered with a putrid poison. He struggled for air while desperately trying to imagine a cooling oasis soothing his blight. He could almost hear the babbling waterfall and feel the soft pull of the current if he focused hard enough. He pictured flowering trees of every kind all around, petals of every color in the spectrum of light covering the land on either side of the pool of water. He wished the air would smell faintly like the sweetest of perfumes. 

  He opened his eyes, and it was. All was how he had projected and he almost let out a sob of relief. Quickly, Mars submerged himself completely and attempted to scrub off the residue with his hands. The blue plasma-like substance seemed to only be thickening into a sticky, green tar that refused to be removed. Mars burst out of the water and crawled onto the bank, kicking petals into the water as he did. 

  He panted heavily, removed his grey cloak that felt like it weighed a thousand pounds when wet and he looked at his reflection in the pool, horrified. His skin was covered with a rigid, deep green moldavite armor. The heavy vibration made him feel dizzy. He almost turned away until he noticed the flower petals in the pool had drifted into the center and he felt a chill run through his back when he saw they had formed two words.

  "Free Me."

  He shook his head and looked around in a panic, for a second. He was alone. He looked back at the water and all he saw was his reflection, this time. Not a single flower petal floated on the surface. Mars groaned and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He didn't really know if he was awake or asleep anymore. 

  Mars' reflection gazed back at him with a stern, thoughtful set to his mouth and a grim gleam in his eyes. He knew what he had to do. First, stop pretending he wasn't Under right now. He felt almost melancholy watching the beautiful scenery he had created in his mind melt away into the pitch darkness that truly surrounded him until all that remained was the pool of water. His armor started to crumble apart at the edges. Second, remember what he slipped Under for.

  He found the golden rope in his hands, running his fingers over the beautifully woven strings. It trailed into the center of the pool. 

  "How much farther?" He breathed, feeling his determination withering slightly with doubt. 

  The rope hummed with his question. What was left of the moldavite armor weighed him down and he dropped to his knees, bringing his face closer to the surface of the water. He felt sick from the power of it. 

  His face looked twisted in fear. He double-taked and his expression looked ill, instead.

  "I feel like I'm going insane," He panted, as he felt like he was being pulled even closer to the pool. 

  "You are getting closer," The voice seemed stronger now. Perhaps, invigorated by the hope of rescue. "Don't turn back, now."

  His determination sparked with a new fire. He stoked it with the realization that he could help someone who had delved too deeply, like himself. In doing so, he had delved deeper than anyone he had heard of in his regular life. 

  Not that anyone had even mentioned the idea of crossing thresholds and dimensions in his day to day life in Terra. At least, out loud, anyway. Only the younger generations were brave or dim-witted enough to speak of their travels outside the boundaries of Terra, openly. The elders were very wise to keep their mouths shut tight about matters of the Drift with anyone who didn't already know. But Mars had listened in on a meeting or two, as a beggar child on the streets. 

  The stories of their voyages into the Great Unknown were the only things that gave him the will to go on when his belly was aching from emptiness, and when his orphan heart was lacking love. They were his tether in the dark. 

  He felt a tug from the rope and submerged himself half-way. A jitter shook him to the core. He had a flashback of that dream where he was trapped under the ice. He swallowed that fear and took a deep, steadying beath. And then, let himself be pulled underwater.

  He allowed himself to drift, the rope pulling him slowly farther and farther down. He floated for a long time before he saw an altar carved out of a deep purple coral reef that was teeming with life. When he saw what rested on it as if it were it's pedestal, he swam toward it eagerly. 

 It glinted in the light emanating from the rope -the silver and gold glove from that dream in the crystal cave. Something about it beckoned to him, all the way down to his core. Was this the reason he had come? He wondered quietly to himself. Part of him decided that this voice was just his own imagination, the nega-version of himself taunting him for his reckless behavior. That really, deep down, it had never been about saving anyone, some half-assed answer to his hero's complex. It was always about this glove, right in front of him. He was almost touching it.

  "TRAP!"

   The voice shrieked in wild protest, and the rope wrenched him violently backwards. He was reeled out of the pool onto the opposite side, gasping desperately for air.

  He had been so quickly and easily disillusioned by the strange, hypnotizing relic. He had fallen right into it's lure, seemlessly. It all had made so much sense. A chill ran down his back, recalling the odd, comforting embrace - the surety that the spell had given him. Reality settled on him, now. And he grew frustrated at himself that he was fooled by his own dreams. His subconscious was being used to toy with him. 

  Mars pondered if it was the darker side of himself that was causing this, or some malign entity out there, orchestrating his demise.