Descent into the Abyss

Chapter 6

           "Marcus! Wake up!" The voice of Kou echoed faintly, barely reaching the unconsciousness of his host.

          As his body shifted and a grumble left his lips, Marcus once again stared into the darkness, this time littered with the pinpoints of starlight. A cloud, devoid of any true shape, drifted across the night sky, bringing Marcus one step closer to the forefront of his mind.

          "Marcus, are you okay?" Kou quickly asked his host and friend, but Marcus only raised his hand to the sky, staring at the silhouette.

         "I---" Marcus' hand fell to his head, gripping his forehead as his eyes clenched tightly, a gasp leaving his mouth.

          "What's wrong?" Kou inquired, pausing as Marcus's mind began to reply before suddenly halting and his body tensing, another gasp escaping his mouth.

          "I--- I can't... It hurts so much. What's happening to me, Kou?" Marcus whimpered, tears beginning to swell in his eyes.

          "Can you not mentally communicate at all?" Kou asked as Marcus lifted a hand and gripped the side of the container, attempting to lift himself.

           His grip suddenly released and his body slouched back against the metal interior, pain consuming him as tears freely streamed down his face. A shaking head replied to Kou's question, whereas his hand clenched into a fist and slammed into the side of his crypt.

          "Why? Why now?" Marcus asked out loud, his hand falling from his face and his eyes begging the heavens.

          "I'll take that as a 'no'."

          "I don't understand, Kou. What's changed?" Marcus begged, but to no avail.

          "Are you alright, Marcus, honestly?" Kou asked as Marcus tried once more to lift himself.

          "Besides being almost paralyzed every time I try to reply mentally? Yeah, just peachy."

          Kou waited in silence as his host managed to rise to a sitting position, looking through his eyes to witness the flattened surroundings.

          "How could this happen? How could everything just be... gone?" Marcus asked, straining to see anything in the distance.

          "I'm at a loss, myself, Marcus. I never thought that the Gates were capable of this destructive force, but I feel that Vaelone wouldn't have equipped the device with a power meant to eradicate an entire planet. At least, not with the raw power to turn your world into this barren, flattened, wasteland. The Gates were meant to reshape the worlds they inhabited, not destroy them, so perhaps there is something else left."

          "But, there's nothing within sight... so that's what? Twenty? Thirty miles?" Marcus muttered to himself, looking in every possible direction, while stopping briefly to gaze at the only standing structure.

         "Marcus, are you truly alright? I'm not doubting your word, but between what happened before you entered the stasis chamber, and afterward... I worry for you."

         The gore and vomit-coated figure paused in his rotation, hearing the concern in his ally's words, before beginning to lean over the side to pull himself free from his confines. As he managed to scoot back and adjust his weight, he began to tilt himself over the side, trying to make up for his numb legs.

         "Marcus?!" Kou cried out as the center of weight shifted and Marcus's body plummeted to the ground, an ash cloud swirling around and consuming the groaning figure.