The Split

Chapter 34

Undetermined

Our thoughts collided into the back of a head and I fell into a heap on the floor. I was back inside of a body. I wiggled my fingers and toes, testing my range of motion. The floor felt cold on my bare skin and with relief I realized the body I was in was my own. I looked up from where I was laying and saw dozens of black drones swarming above me. Wearily, I pulled myself to my feet, as the black shapes beeped and encircled my standing form.

A burning pain cried out on my left arm and I turned to see one of the drones illuminating my left side with small red lights. A green glow caught my attention, and with shock I realized it was coming from me. I held my arms in front of my eyes to see my skin glowing in a radioactive green. The hallway around me looked different. Moving screens still covered the walls but the ceiling was high above me.

I started to walk forward, sending the cloud of drones into a panic. Half of the group broke off from the formation and zipped out of sight down the platform, while those that remained hovered nearby, observing me closely. Both John and Sun took in the scene with amazement.

I could feel their curiosity as they used my eyesight to observe the strange scene. After walking for a few minutes, I came to a large door. It opened and I walked down another platform into a large room. The room seemed identical to the one I had first spotted the large entity in just days ago. A large circular platform was in the middle of the room and the walls trailed upward for hundreds of feet before stopping at a ceiling, covered in shadow.

The drones prodded me towards the center, and I followed their direction blankly. I did not relish my time in these green halls. Everything inside me cried out in warning as I looked around. My mind raced with anticipation at the complete lack of familiarity around me. Deep inside my thoughts, I could sense John and Sun felt similar. The alien architecture and faint green glow would have been enough to make even the most hardened lifeforms shudder in fear. As I made it to the middle, I saw the black drones pull away from me. Before I could look back at them, I had blinked out of sight.

I was in the throne room. I could feel the Presence pulling at my thoughts and looked up to face the menacing creature. It sat on the edge of its chair, nearly doubled over as it looked down on me. Thousands of the black drones covered the upper air of the room like a dark cloud. In turns, they floated down to the entity. It would speak something to each of them and they would ascend once again. I could not understand any of the words it spoke, but every utterance sent shivers down my spine. It's voice sounded angry, each snarl was punctuated by a wild head shake or flick of its appendages.

I could sense its foreign expression of frustration as it sifted through my recent memories with Cyrus. It examined my thoughts with suspicion; it stumbled upon my two new occupants shocked. It fell upon John first, tearing at his memories and thoughts savagely. I could hear John cursing and threatening as he tried to push the presence away from his mind.

"Get the fuck out of here! These are my thoughts, no! NO!" he struggled and thrashed about in my head. I could feel his strain as he fought the being towards the top of my brain. Doing my best to calm him, I sent him a thought showing him that this would be easier if he didn't fight. Eventually he acknowledged my words and released his grip on his thoughts, sitting back in anger as the Being took what it wanted. The presence soon pulled out of his space and into Sun Tzu's. The old general watched in discomfort as the memories he had been programmed with were pulled in front of him at random.

"Who are these lifeforms?!" The presence's voice rang through my mind angrily.

"John and Sun," I answered with caution.

"How did they come here?!" It roared.

"I don't know," I admitted, "They just came."

I felt the being look down at my glowing green skin, "How did you access the forbidden passage Terran? Who assisted you?!"