The Project

Cade Shows His Skill

"You heard me, persuasion is a very good skill to have and hone. It's far more useful than mere force. Unless that's all you hold my dear? Such a pity, I thought you'd be quite a diversion. Ah well.."

What is he talking about??

"Now Miss..."

Cade's voice jolted me out of my thoughts as I realized we were no longer in front of the Mickey statue. Somehow we were in the middle of a huge cavern, with a jagged gash of a river about sixty feet down, serving as a divider between myself and him. The cavern walls are solid with no apparent exit.

How did we get here? What's going on?? How could there be no holes in the walls??

I was scared. I think I had a right to that emotion as the river below looked shallow and full of rocks. I had no idea what Cade's powers were, only that I was in extreme peril.

"...as you can see, I have a unique skill set my lovely Miss...what is your name darling? It's quite slipped my mind."

"I never gave it to you."

I said that through gritted teeth. The ledge I was one was about three feet in width and slick with a slimy residue I could only assume came from the water below. I was gritting my teeth to keep from screaming in terror. Also, there was a very odd sensation occurring in my neck. A crawling feeling almost.

"Oh tsk tsk this will not do. I must know your name if I'm to defeat you."

"Alright, my names Arista. And you won't defeat me or whatever you're talking about. I won't be beaten by a.."

"A name as lovely as the face that accompanies it. I'll try not to do too much damage to your pretty self, but as you refused to accompany me I'm afraid I have no choice but to knock you out and take you with me. Apologies Arista, but duty calls."

How one human could have that much sarcasm inside and not bust was beyond me.

"Ha! I took you out with a pebble Cade, or have you forgotten the blood coming out of your head? So go ahead, try for me. You'll be black and blue before you know it."

"Such confidence. But you must know something before our tiff ensues. This environment you're in is a little...special. I suppose you'll understand eventually. Shall we?"

Special? What does he mean by...

Suddenly he's right next to me, seeming to simply just appear there. Startled, I swing at him but only make contact with the wall. It hurts like hell, but upon examining my fingers they don't even appear to be bruised.

Weird. Now where is that little imp?

A manic laugh erupts as he appears over the space above the river, simply floating as if it's the most normal thing in the world.

"How did you..?"

"Move? Oh my dear I thought you'd understand. Perhaps you are just pretty..."

I'm fuming. How dare he be so condescending?!? Not all of us can freaking levitate! He speaks again.

"Now, have you had enough? Or must we tire ourselves further?"

"I'm not tired, and I'll hit you yet!"

His laugh is grating as it rings out again, and suddenly the crawling sensation in my neck pulses, then settles back into its rhythm. I'm jolted as we are no longer in the cavern. We seem to be in a large, almost never ending field.

Okay. Think Ris..how did he do that? What does it have to do with the feeling in my throat?

"Catch me if you can!"

Cade calls out, taking off at a mild jog. Now there's now way I was going to let pretty boy outrun me, and I did still have to catch him. So I took off. As I ran through the field though, something began to alarm me. While the ground below me was supposedly soft earth, it didn't feel like that at all to my feet. In fact it felt rock hard. I didn't have much time to ponder this as suddenly I slam into something hard and tall.

What the hell...

I look up and clutch my forehead as it seems to have taken much of the blow.

Where did this tree come from??

Now this wasn't just me being a clutz. Believe me when I say there were no trees in this field. It seemed to have materialized in front of me in a nano-second. I took off again, ignoring the pain and kept chasing Cade. Finally I was within feet of him, and I could hear his breathing which was beginning to become a bit sporadic and light. I laughed inwardly, knowing in just a few more seconds I could grab the bastard and get some answers.
-to be continued, maybe tonight or maybe tomorrow.