What Was Missing

Eleven: -Lily-

...dark...

...So... dark... I think... it's bedtime...

...so... dark...

...must be... night...

...

It's so dark...

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...what? Oh...

I feel more awake, now. It's odd: I'm pretty sure almost no time has passed, but at the same time, it feels like an eternity. I heard the screams, I opened my eyes, and I felt the pain in my leg. The needle-cord was forced in; I was whisked off to Elsewhere, just like I wanted to be. Even if that wasn't how I planned to enter. But now... now what? This can't be it. The cold darkness can't be everything there is.

Everything's black, just like after my jump. So cold, so... still. So silent, the frigid air not moving with the slightest breeze. Nothing. Stiff, like the world is paused.

I try to move, but I'm frozen in place like a puppet without strings. I can't see my hands, I can't feel my arms, I can't sense anything. So still-

Suddenly, it's not. It's continues to be black, but not unmoving.

It's begun.

A black, writhing tentacle is wriggling out of the floor, and though I try to move back, I remain glued in place. It snakes closer and closer to me, ever so agonizingly slowly, and I can only silently wheeze, a sorry excuse for a scream. No... Suddenly, it bursts forward into my chest.

A piercing shriek flies out of my mouth. My head flings back, and I feel utter pain, just like I did after the needle, but this time, instead of going black, everything goes white. Then green, oh so beautiful green. I'm finally in bliss. But... can that really be the Iss?

The rough, tall trees that are becoming visible to my adjusting eyes are pumped with life, their vines like veins of ichor. The plants, both high and low, have the lushest green hue that I have ever seen in my life. I'm in a sort of jungle, I realize, and the trunks sway slightly as if acknowledging my thoughts.

The sky is a soothing blue that calms the mind, and the few white clouds are slowly wandering around in the whispering breeze. The Iss must be paradise. Can it really be?

I test the ground, doubtful, and notice that my legs up to my ankles are covered in leaves entangled on crimson vines. The dirt below seems sturdy, though. It's surprisingly soft beneath my bare feet, but yet hard and trustworthy as a road. Wait. Bare feet?

I raise my foot into the air and discover that, yes, my foot is shoeless. Pale like the moon, but in this world, not so... dislikable. Wherever I am now, I feel as if I... belong here. This is what I've lived for. I, for once, fit in.

"With what?"

I turn around, but there's no one there.

Could it have been my imagination? My hyperactive mind? I don't think so. It seemed too... real.

"...You only fit in because there's... no one else, no other... human... to compare with."

My eyes widen as I realize that it's not my usual inner voice. What I've heard in the past was a low-pitched hum, an annoying buzz to dampen my mood. This is different. That was a faint, girl-like whisper, a considering, thoughtful voice. In my head.

I slowly back away, inching towards the opening in the clearing, but stop. What does it matter? Whatever's stalking me probably already knows the way around this place. If I leave, it'll be just like one of those movies where someone runs into the woods to escape their prey. And dies shortly after.

I sigh, and reach out to a nearby vine, one of the endless ones hanging down from high above. Fingering it, I trace little circles into the green flesh. Smooth, intricate, delicate. Like human skin. Looking up into the sky, I see the trees extend up for hundreds of feet. What have I gotten myself into? I shouldn't have come. I stare into the clouds above, and whisper hoarsely to the air.

"How could I have... Oh, where am I?"

"You're here, of course!"

Immediately, I whip around. The first two words were in my head, but the rest came from the foliage behind me. As I finally see the source, my mouth drops open.

A scaly creature, about an adult's height while it stands on all fours, is staring at me with an odd expression on its face. It takes me a moment to realize it might be a smile. She- I think it's a female- has reddish-pink scales, four-toed claws, and two limbs that end in spikes on her back.

She's oddly graceful; a sleek body with armored plating on the belly, with strong looking back and fore-legs, and a backwards-facing nose-spike. Horns on each side of her jaw face me, looking quite ominous, and similar ones are posed higher up on her head. In between the two spikes on each side is an odd-looking fin, possibly to channel hearing, finishing off the whole creature. As I mentioned earlier, I like to look at eyes. Well, hers are the cream of the crop. She has scalene eye sockets, embroidered with smaller scales for eyelids. Eye-ridges, instead of eyebrows, surround her beautiful purple irises, and a thin, reptilian pupil sits in the middle, widening and thinning.

The long-snouted creature, seeming bored with me already, crouches down to a dog-like sitting position. Glancing at me and relaxing her legs, she raises her head to get a good look at my face.

"Well?" she pipes up. "Aren't you going to say something? The last group definitely did!" At that point, I notice the collar. She has a ring-like apparatus secured around her neck, and it glows a faint blue whenever she speaks. Is that some sort of translation device? Must be.

"Hello?" She's cocked her head, and is starting to frown. "Are you a... different kind? Do you have no language?" I fall out of my stupor, and nod. "Yes... Yes, actually, I do..." I'm unable to continue, lost in those eyes again. So beautiful... so different. She glances backwards, and yells into the cluster of shrubbery. "She's like the first group!" Finally, I'm able to move again. "Come on, Kant," the thing shouts, "She's like the others!"

Finally, to my right, a more male-looking creature comes out of the foliage. He has similar features, a dragon with stumps instead of wings, and has a collar as well. His scales are green, however, reflecting in the morning sun.

"Hello, there." He's standing in front of me, serious and stern as a king, and I feel the urge to bow. I don't, however. They probably have very different customs than at home. "As far as we know, you're human like the first group. We could be called 'disabled dragons'." He grins. "I'd like to be called by my real name, though. I'm Kantar, and this is Oralina." The she dragon, Oralina, grins shyly and nods. Kantar looks grim, lets out a puff of air, and stares me in the eye. "We're supposed to bring you to your demise... To them."

I take a step backwards, immediately weary, but the creature remains in place. "This time, though, we're not going to listen to Them. We're here to warn you. You have to leave. We didn't know what They would do to the first group, so we obeyed. But now we won't. It was... too much. Go, run, and never look back."

I take a few more steps, stumbling south, but before I turn and run, I look at the male creature. "What did they do to them?" I whisper. The first group had to be the first Iss explorers.

He glances to the side, and mumbles a response.

"Worse... worse that you could imagine."

With that, he dashes off into the trees in a leaping sprint. Oralina looks over to him with longing, and, giving me a sorry glance, dashes off to follow.

Well, what now? What am I supposed to do? I run after them, determined. Things can't get much worse, I think to myself.

Well, where else am I to go? "Go, run, and never look back" he says, and "Worse than you could ever imagine." What kind of warning is that?

Bare and silent feet crushing the plants below me, I dash into the distance ahead. It's hard to keep up, but I can. I need to find my parents, or at least find out what happened to them.

It's the least I can do.