Unreal Dimensions: Cage Of Illusions

9.1: Lead To Destruction

                                                I could feel us drowning in the silence, in the eerie serenity. The water rose above our necks long before we could feel it. Having no floor beneath our feet to regain control of ourselves is mesmerising sometimes. The slow discreet ringing of the bubbles filling up our ears, depriving us of its use, is just to show that it is almost the end.

Analysing the situation takes up the entirety of the time of resolving it. It's too late when the sounds return. We struggle to get to the surface. The blurry water would allow the sun to pass through it just so that it might shine on our stretching fingers. It's the glimpse of hope just to remind us that we have a chance, a fighting chance.

Every muscle in our body strives in one direction. Our legs cycle, kick the thick water around it in an attempt to survive.

Just when we're almost there, when our wet fingers are about to feel the wind above the surface, our body gives in. It whispers to us – 'You can't go any further'. Lying still, we float in the vast ocean that turns and tosses us slowly. Then one moment, we'll blissfully accept it and that's when we're really gone. Yet we would die for just a taste of what it would have been like to have made it.

Hope is just an illusion, born of our own survival instincts. It's another reason to hold on a bit longer. It does help but only if we want it to. Like all illusions, sooner or later it'll be taken away from us. We will be broken then, distraught.

But that wasn't the point, was it?

It doesn't matter whether the hope was true or just an illusion. What matters is what we make out of it. It's okay to chase something imaginary with pure intentions, but at the same time, we can't afford to be naive.

In the end, the only thing left is the memories of that hope and our choices that wielded it. That's just how it is.

In silence we stood there surrounding her, hoping that it wasn't real. Even after Dustin closed her eyes I could see her staring at me. No matter how impossible this situation seemed, it did happen. No one knew how to react better than the rest. I didn't understand how it worked in this place but her hand was growing cold.

A scratching sound on the floor behind us wasn't loud enough to notice until a tiny burst poked a small hole in it. I was tired of these surprises. I didn't even care to look. A bullet hole few steps away from Karen's feet forced me to look behind.

The bot crawled out of the little space it had made through the ground, half-damaged. Pathetically trying to aim its nozzle it shot another bullet far away from the target. Futile in its attempts, it decided to finish it in close range and advanced.

I let it come. Without leaving her hand I extended my blade slowly after wiping my cheek. I stopped mid-way when Brian intervened. Within two steps he reached the bot and swung his arm before chopping off the nozzle with his small combat knife. Dropping the knife he caught the nozzle before it hit the ground and jabbed it into the bot.

It all happened so fast. It was done, but not for him. He scraped small chunks of its innards while pulling the nozzle out. He struck it again, then retracted it. He wouldn't have ended this act if the bot didn't any longer have the shape it once did. Only a little piece of light was left in the heap of dust on which he stood.

Breathing heavily he whispered, "We should've gone...We should have just gone long ago."

He wouldn't stop saying it.

"We should've just left!" he turned around and screamed. His eyes were moist but he wouldn't let one drop fall.

He didn't receive any reply, not from us anyway. In response, the Livos started swarming us in the area. Only a few of them crawled out of the hole, the rest dropped from above one after the other. Soon there were more than we could count. These weren't broken. They charged at us while we were cornered against the wall.