Fantasy Vs Reality | The Withering

8: Shiver

Don't be afraid to let it all go...

~~

Pain slammed Coal hard in the chest. He could hear people yelling around him. It was hard to breathe, his neck hurt like hell, he felt his scars all opening up, his nose was bleeding, his eyes were watering. He was twitching... Something wasn't right.

His eyes snapped open as he heard the distant screaming of his name, and the blurry visions of people drastically trying to get to him. 

Confusion struck him, then panic. He began to writhe and fight off the strange figures around him. Flashes from before hit him, being pinned to the ground while the leader laughed at him and watched as they tore him apart.

Coal was weak, he couldn't breathe now. He felt himself choking and growing weaker. He saw a familiar, dark figure nearby that calmed him a little. However, his vision swam and he felt himself go limp and fall. Instead of feeling himself hit the floor, he kept going.

He kept falling... and falling... and spinning. He was going to throw up... which he did. He was still twitching... the Dream Test went wrong and he knew it. Darkness surrounded him as he continued to spin and feel horribly nauseous. He hoped to Hava this wasn't what it was like to die, because it was downright awful.

He spun for what felt like an eternity before feeling himself slam down on a semi-soft bed before springing upright and looking around wildly. He could smell the sweet scent of his love nearby, but he couldn't see her. Glancing around and sniffing, he finally spotted her.

Storm was sound asleep in a bed that was pushed up next to his. She had been holding his hand. On his other side, his eyes widened as he saw the familiar, small brown figure he had found only a few days ago. It was the strange transient. Did it work? Did she wake up? He did hear a strange voice calling out to him before... oh dear Hava.

Coal lifted his free hand up to his face and felt it. His scars were back to normal as if nothing had happened. He felt the back of his neck where the big scar was, and felt a bandage wrapped firmly around his neck. There were tubes up his nose that went down into his lungs. He had a needle in his arm as well. He took a deep breath and heard a worrying, rattling sound as he inhaled. It stung.

He was tired, and the room was dark. He laid back down and closed his eyes, and went back to sleep immediately.

*     *     *

Lights flicked on, the brightness seeped through his eyelids and Coal felt himself waking up. So much for getting more rest. His eyes slowly opened and he squinted at the brightness in the room. He felt Storm stir next to him and his head turned sharply to her.

Coal groaned as the bandages rubbed against his neck scar and it felt like it was burning. He reached a hand up to put pressure on his neck when a hand caught it. Coal looked up to see Lynx looking at him eerily. Coal stared back at her harshly and she looked away, letting go of his hand.

In a low, soft voice she said, "Jacob said not to touch your wounds. The wound is in a very dangerous area and if not taken care of properly, it could cause-"

"Alright I get it." Coal said, his voice hoarse and dry, "No touchy-touch on the neck bandages. Understood, queen."

"I thought I was your queen." came the ever so soft voice of Storm next to him.

"Sarcasm my sweet. Sarcasm." Coal replied, trying to smile. 

"Party time is over." came Jacob's ever familiar, grumpy tone, "Storm, Marcus is looking for you. Lynx, Elva got injured in the last scout mission she had, her leg has a bad scuff on it. Please check that for me."

Once everyone left, Jacob sat down on the bed Storm had previously fallen asleep on. Coal stared at him quizzically. 

After a moment of silence, Jacob finally spoke, "The Dream Test worked."

"Did it now?" Coal asked in a spiteful tone, "I suppose this is just one of the side effects yes? Or perhaps because Phase One ended so poorly?"

Jacob shook his head, "Do not give Lynx so much credit. She is good at what she does, and has no idea what we are tapping into. Waking you up like that she didn't even realize the dangers she put you in-"

"How did it put me in danger other than the head-splitting agony?" Coal asked interrupting. He wasn't going to let Lynx off so soon, not with his current state.

"That is something we will discuss later." Jacob said, "For now we need to understand what kind of energies we've even tapped into, and to know if this... stranger will awaken."

"Wait so she hasn't even woken up yet?" Coal asked, irritation lacing his words, "How do you know if- agh!"

Stabbing pain hit Coal's neck again, shooting through his injured eye. He squinted it closed and placed his hand over it. He shivered slightly. Once it partially subsided, he asked through gritted teeth, "What happened to me?"

"Your soul is tired. Exhausted even." Jacob said, examining Coal with curiosity, "It reached the point where you nearly died. Doing what you did... crossing over even once would've killed the average Neonian if it went wrong."

"I guess I'm one lucky bastard then," Coal breathed. He sat up straight and realized he could not open his injured eye, "Great so now I am half blind instead of three fourths."

"That would be one fourth, genius." Jacob rolled his eyes, "You're free to go if you can walk, I need to tend to the stranger to see if... if it all worked. Come back at 18:00 to get your bandages changed."

Without hesitation, Coal threw the blankets of the bed off and swung his legs over the edge. He was now directly facing the small, still figure in front of him. He studied her carefully and realized the oddness of her body. 

Her tail was nothing more than extra fluff on the base of her spine. A strange amount of head fluff resided on the top of her head. As the dark brown reached the tip of her hair, it seemed to fade into a lime green. She was facing away from him, but he could see the slow rise and fall of her thin frame as she breathed. Coal sighed slightly and stood up. His head pounded from the sudden change in angle, but he chose to ignore it.

Coal wobbled out of the room and out of the Med Bay where he slowly made his way to his chambers. The only thing on his mind was to get some more rest. If his "soul" was exhausted, sleeping would help right? It seemed like the only reasonable thing to do... if not the only thing he could do at the moment.

Coal opened the door to his chamber and immediately felt a shiver go through him. Images of himself standing outside of a small closet calling out someone's name echoed through his very being. He couldn't remember everything that happened, nor did he want to. As he entered his room, it flashed so bright he had to cover his opened eye. However, the flash was gone in an instant.

He was just seeing things... right? It wouldn't make sense... the ship didn't run on old electricity anymore so pulses wouldn't happen... Did this have to do with the side effects of the Dream Test?

Shivering, he stepped towards his bed in slowly. As he looked around, the door closed behind him and he began to twitch worse than before. 

He made his way over to his bed and sat down on it... maybe the shaking will stop once he lies down and just gets some rest...