The Split

Chapter 44

Undetermined

It took several seconds for me to realize that I was safe. The fight or flight response my brain had manufactured in the adrenaline rush side effect of my torture, lingered, simplifying my thoughts to nothing more than mere observations as I waited for the fog of adrenaline to clear. I could feel both Sun and John faintly in the corners of my thoughts. All I could sense was a mixture of concern and anger as they waited for me to approach them.

I eventually did, making contact with only the faintest of efforts. We communicated back and forth with full strings of thought and impressions. They both checked on my mental well being before we relayed anything else. For the first instance since being summoned out of time, I had felt the grip of true fear and they had felt it too. The suffering the Being had callously put me through shook me to my core.

When I had said I would take no more part in the violence, I had meant it, but the traumatic experience I was just forced through had changed my mind. In the Green Hallways the Being was all powerful. It could manipulate my body entirely, and with it's control over time it could have made my agony last as long as it desired. My two companions did all they could to reassure me, and I was able to take some comfort in their words. Soon I pushed the unpleasant memory to the back of my thoughts and we discussed the results of our experiment on our way to the Green Hallways earlier, and how we should proceed.

"Well, talk can only get us so far, are you two ready to try this again?" John asked, he was clearly eager to try again.

We both agreed and met in the center of the space. After forming a thread between all three of us, we pushed our way to different corners like we had before. Unbidden thoughts of my torture in the throne room leapt to the forefront of my consciousness, and I felt my connection to Sun and John dissipate. We met back in the center and I could feel concern and confusion as they examined me inquiringly. I assured them it was just a lapse in focus, and insisted we try again.

Two more times we tried, and both times I lost my grip on the other two. I apologized profusely, knowing that both of them disliked this arrangement as much as I did.

"It's alright," John said gently, "We'll figure this out during our next stop. With your permission I would like to examine your thoughts more up close. Maybe I can see what's going on and we can correct the problem."

I agreed and felt him move from his usual place to the center of my thoughts not far from my own area of perception. We were speeding up, and I prepared myself for whatever was coming next. I didn't have to wait long, and soon felt myself to squeeze into a new body.

The mind of its owner was surprised at the sudden visit, but did not seem to fight it. Even on first impression the differences between this new set of thoughts and Geoff seemed vast.

This vessel was quite intelligent, his memories and observations all neatly arranged. He appeared to have his emotions completely under control and retained a level head. But even for his stoicism, I could sense the familiar taste of fear somewhere in the back of his mind. He gave it no thought, focusing on the present with the clarity Cyrus had. This was the brain of a man who had been desensitized to danger, this was the brain of a professional soldier.

I continued to feel around the new space as I slipped into control of his body. The man was slender, his heartbeat and breath were at a measured pace. He was shorter than I had been, but only by a few inches. I felt heat on my fingers and looked down to see a lit cigarette slowly burning its way down towards my hand. I was happy to see it, I raised it to my lips and took a couple of long drags. The warm smoke filled my lungs as I held it in. When I exhaled, I felt the numbing tingle of the nicotine buzzing through my thoughts. The body I was in felt a much lesser effect of this. It was clear he was a smoker, his habit didn't do as much for him as it did for me after what felt like days of not smoking.