I Survived Them (Under Reconstruction)

Behind the Mask

"Miss You" Belongs to Blink-182 (It isn't an oldie, but it fits...sorta)

~ The Revamp ~

The nightmare I loathed returned to me while I slept. I remembered every detail just as it was earlier. Bones lay strewn across every inch of blackened soil. The streaks of red and green blood made it difficult to support a proper footing. The vividness made the scene feel all too real.
As it happened before, my opponent, who resembled Nahkt, but could never have been him, charged me and sentenced the both of us to a fight until death. From the night before, I knew how this battle would end, and so it did. A swirl of emotions consumed me as I drove my blade into his flesh. Even in this false reality, I could not shrug off the feelings of guilt and pain. It made me truly feel like the monster.
In this world, maybe I was...

...........

In my half-conscious mentality, I sat straight up and rubbed my weary eyes to shake away the effects of the melatonin in my brain. A few seconds passed before my vision began to clear. I kicked my blanket away and turned around to look outside of the cell. A dark shadow lay several feet away, watching my every movement.
I blinked several times, and I recognized the stalker. It was Nahkt, sitting down against the wall. In surprise, I jumped and inhaled sharply. After, I picked up a nearby bowl of water and threw it at the bars surrounding me in this cage. The liquid flew everywhere, and the dish created a reverberating rattle as it collided with the solid surface.
'You're a creep!!' I yelled.
Despite my apparent annoyance, he chuckled lightly. In fact, I felt him grinning behind that mask of his.
He sat up and folded his hands. 'I was only waiting for you to wake. I haven't been here long.'
'If you scare me like that again, I might just die of a heart attack...' I muttered. 'What are you doing here anyway?'
His hand grabbed a nearby object on the floor and pulled it close to his side. His fingernails clicked on the ground, and I believe I could even sense uneasiness.
'Your patience has paid off,' he stated. His sentence was devoid of emotion.
My eyebrows drew together to demonstrate my confusion, but I knew this was a reference to yesterday.
Nahkt stood and unlocked the door to the cell. My eyes remained trained on the fabric case clasped under his arm. He entered; I stood up and approached him. He offered the article to me, which I took with an outstretched reach. The material felt smooth and velvety, but it contained something cold and metal. I unwrapped it like a child opening a present on Christmas. With the cloth removed, a Bio-Mask lay in the palms of my hands.
My eyes grew large. 'Y-You made this?? Was it hard for you to—?'
He cut me off. 'Don't worry. It was hardly a problem.'
I was too bewildered to answer. I stood there gawking like an idiot as I marveled over the beauty of the mask. I rubbed my thumbs across the smooth surface and gripped it tightly. I never wanted to let it go.
It was much different than Nahkt's. For one, the helmet was much smaller in size. Several curved knobs of horns decorated the top. The defined curves from the cheekbones and sleek eye holes gave the mask a feminine appearance. Lastly, several portions on the forehead and edges were decorated with an intricate design, one I had seen engraved throughout the interior of the ship.
Nahkt pulled me out of my trance. 'Are you going to try it on?'
I shook my head and looked up at him. 'Oh, right.'
I turned it around and raised it to my face. A hypnotizing red light illuminated from the interior as I brought it close. I pressed it against my skin; it immediately attached following an airy hiss.
'Woah, that'll take some getting used to.'
This was far more extraordinary than any mask one would wear on Halloween. The eye sockets aligned perfectly with my line of vision. Every detail appeared sharper and more vivid, like looking through a filter.
Nahkt observed my reaction. 'You like?'
'Like it? Nahkt, I love it! This is so cool!'