In between - Ch. 3 Awakening

I awoke once more in a fetal position pondering the events that I had just endured. Where they real? They had to be, else they would not have been so vivid. Also, the pain was too intense to imagine as was the joy I felt inside the orb. I took a deep breath to check if I could breathe since I remembered my ribs being crushed. To my relief, breathing was easy. I checked my skin, hair and cloths of evidence of my ordeal I knew I endured, but found nothing. My body was working fine. I could hear, move, see, feel, and yes talk. Being consumed with my thoughts I had failed to realize my surroundings and they startled me when I noticed where I appeared to be.

I was inside a capsule that resembled a bubble. There was just enough room to stand up and take a step in any direction before hitting a wall. The walls were clear and provided a view, my first view, of my new home. I could see a sea of blue and other capsules in the distance. The capsules ranged in size, but their size matched the size of their inhabitant. Most of what I saw inside the capsules where human beings but every now and then I could catch one for a second or two before it left my line of sight that contained something not human at all. I looked everywhere and all I saw were capsules, in front of me, behind me, below, left, right, and above me. In every direction as far as I could see there were capsules in the never-ending sea of blue.

While taking in the sights and assessing my situation a man passed by my inclosure very close, and I could tell he was swimming upwards. Was I really underwater? I didn't have time to ponder the thought as the answer became evident. Water started to enter my capsule! The water slowly filled my confining space and I desperately looked for an exit. I kicked, punched, scratched, and ran into the walls in order to make an opening, but all of my attempts were futile since the walls were not budging. Eventually only the roof held some air. I swam up and prepared to take my last breath. Inhaling deeply I sank back down and continued my search for an exit. The walls became soft after the capsule was full of water. It seemed to me that I might be able to tear open a spot to escape. I hastily pulled and tugged at the wall, eventually, it gave way.

I started my accent immediately thinking I had spent too much energy escaping to be able to swim to the surface. As I swam I noticed other people in the same peculiar situation I was in moments ago. Feeling sorry for them I continued to the surface. My energy was leaving me and I still could not even see the surface. My hope was diminishing and fear of drowning was replacing it. My lungs begged for air and I fought the desire to inhale whatever was available. Finally, I could see the signs of feet paddling, and air bubbles as splashes captured the air for a few seconds before it ascended and escaped the water's grasp! I was close but still far away. My lungs disobeyed me and made me convulse involuntarily! I held my mouth shut though, while praying I didn't lose control over my nose. As I reached some one's feet, I caved in and let a bit of water inter my nose, instantly causing me to cough, releasing what air I did have in my lungs! I panicked and pulled at the person's upper thigh thrusting my self upwards just making it out of the water as death's door was closing!

I coughed hysterically, gasping for air, and was thankful for the people who were helping me stay afloat since my body only cared about getting air into it at the time. After a minute or two I thanked the person helping me and realized they were a her! I blushed a little knowing now that I had perhaps touched a woman in that particular vicinity for the first time. She released me, allowing me to swim to shore.

As we swam neither of us spoke. I suppose we were both in shock from what was going on. People were still surfacing making me think of how many didn't make the accent as I remembered there were many capsules below mine. I looked over to the only person who I had at least some contact with since all of these strange events in my life and noticed something odd about her. She swam in the same direction as me a couple of feet to my left. We were both using the freestyle method to transport us and when our hands it the water it made a splash. The odd thing was that when her arm hit the water the splash it made was longer than her arm. I quickly dismissed this as far greater things where on my mind.

Where was I?
Why would I wake up underwater in a capsule?
Was my dream real?
Did I die in that Hospital?
Who was the woman and man next to my hospital bed?
Who was the hooded Voice?
What was that Orb in my dream, if my dream was real?
What caused that incredible joy I experienced?

So many questions and I had no idea how to answer any of them.

After the short swim to the shore, we both collapsed on the ground. There were people everywhere! The whole shore was littered with them! I guessed there had to be a hundred or so people at least. As I looked around, I saw some of them consumed with fear, anger, confusion, and uncertainty. Obviously, I was not alone in the what-the-hell-is-going-on department. They were all scattered about the shore asking questions to one another. Some started fights with others and some just sat down with their legs drawn up to their chest while slowly rocking back and forth with a soulless stare on their face. I looked over to my female companion thankful that she hadn't left me yet and blushed a little remembering that I had grabbed her upper inner thigh.

"So hey, I'd like to thank you for your help," immediately she interrupted me.

"Shut up," she seethed!

"Look I'm sorry if I have disrespected you in any way but, I really," again I was interrupted.

"Shut up I say! Kormerigon you're not! Touch me you have!" Panic and anger laced her words!

What? Kormerigon? Maybe we got off to a bad start I thought. I coughed and cleared my throat.

"Ah hem. Hello, my name is Vahn Steelheart." I said as I reached out offering a handshake.

She looked at me confused, "Baaannnn Steeeaalhhheeert.......Ban Stealheert. You name strange"

I drew my hand back to myself, "Close enough, and your name?"

"Valithia Paestaloetlee"

Valithia Paesta...What the hell kinda name is that I thought, "I mean no offense but I'll probably never remember your name. Mind if I just call you Val?"

"NO! Kormerigon name great honor. Only Valithia Paestaloetlee is okay."
After a long pause, "Valithia.... is okay."
She then pointed at the ground, "where you think?"

"I don't know. Actually I was going to ask you the same thing but from the looks of it we are not the only people confused."

Suddenly one of the many strangers surrounding us came up and asked me a question, while looking like he had lost his mind.

"Quickly, what was the last thing you can remember?" he said in a shaky voice.

Even though the man seemed at the edge of insanity he seemed to be on to something important.

"Before or after the weird stuff started happening to me?" I asked.

"Before."

"Last thing would be laying in a hospital bed falling asleep be," I stopped since he interrupted me.

"Oh my God! I knew it! Oh my God! Oh my God!" he repeated as he stammered off.

"Coo.. Coo" Val said as she pointed to her head and twirled her finger.

"Ha.. Ha, he might have a few screws missing, but I don't know if he is far off from the truth. What is the last thing that you remember Valithia?"

"No! Kormerigon shame! Me no like remember. I no remember Kormerigon shame so me stay good Kormerigon."

I held my hands up as if under arrest, "Oh, sorry. I just........ I just wanted to know if your last memory had anything to do with."

"Look," Valithia said, interrupting me as she pointed up the hill behind me.

I turned and noticed a man who looked confident in himself at the top of the hill. He had dark brown hair that was untamed as it dangled all over the place. His beard was large and hung down well into his chest. His cloths were well crafted and looked to be made by hand instead of by a machine. They hugged his five foot six-inch form perfectly, and produced a picture of a man who had wisdom as well as money. His shirt had no stains visible anywhere which produced a perfect white. His pants and shoes looked like a dark brown, however, neither his shirt, pants, or shoes were modern, instead, they reminded me of Roman times.

Behind him was an overly large man who dwarfed him. He had a smile plastered on his face that stretched to each ear giving me view of his sparkling teeth. His size was built from fat, not muscle, and he wore something similar to a monks robe. The robe was light brown and covered him from head to toe. It looked large even for him since the sleeves hung past his hands that he had crossed in front of his chest. From his body language and position, it seemed as if he was the smaller man's helper.

"Hello everyone, my name is Cert and I would like to welcome you."

Everyone stopped what they were doing and listened to his voice. To me, it seemed unnaturally loud and carried authority with it.

"I would imagine you all have a lot of things happening to you that you don't understand."

I looked around and was surprised at how mesmerized everyone seemed to be by Cert's voice

"If you look behind you, you will notice that the water that nearly took your lives is now gone."

We all turned in unison, and to our astonishment the lake had indeed been replaced by lifeless sand. This, of course, caused panic in a few, and confused some even more, including me.

"If I could have you attention please."Cert's voice commanded us. "You all have a choice to make. You can come up here, and I will do my best to answer all of your questions, or you can leave. If you choose to leave I suggest you go in a northerly direction", as he talks he points into the sunset. "Also, you will want to leave now so that you can make it to town before nightfall. I won't force anything on you, however, I highly suggest that you stay, but the choice IS yours."

The crowd started to stir while chaos began to overtake the situation again. I turned to ask Valithia what she wanted to do but she wasn't beside me anymore. For some reason I worried about her. Even though we had just met, I felt indebted to her. I hastily searched the bustling crowd for her, and found her already making her way up to Cert. As I raced to catch up with her I noticed a few people headed towards the "alleged town". Could I trust this Cert person? I guessed for now, I had no choice. Catching up with Valithia caused me to lose my breath.

"Ditching me already?" I said in between heaves for air

"Friends we are not, ditch you I can not."

"No need to be so harsh." I put my hands behind my head to help me catch my breath.

"So anyway....... do you think this Cert guy is trustworthy?" I asked

"I know not, but threat he is not."

"I guess your right or he wouldn't let them leave." I said while pointing to the group of twenty or so headed towards the so-called "town".

I followed Valithia while taking in my surroundings. The once blue lake was now somehow transformed into a sandpit which blended in with the beach sand that slowly converted into a thick tall grass that we were now walking through, uphill. To my right was a thick wooded area with the sunset behind the tree line. The twenty or so people were slowly vanishing into the towering trees. Their branches entwined to form a thick canopy while their roots danced in and out of the ground like a serpent frozen in time. I would bet that their journey through these woods would be tiresome. To my left and behind me beyond the now missing lake was a grassy plain with rolling hills, spotted with the same type of trees here and there. The grass that we were walking through was waist-high, dark green, and surprisingly hard to walk through. It reminded me of bamboo, short bamboo.

We continued our accent towards Cert as I watched the last few, of the group of twenty, disappear into the forest. I turned to look at Cert up top the hill and watched him point beyond the crescent every now and then when someone walked up to him.

"So what do you think about the guy behind Cert?" I asked.

"The fat one?" Valithia asked.

"Yea."

"Strange is he. Aura, strong aura I feel. Good or bad I know not."

"Aura? What do you mean you can feel his aura?"

"You can not feel fat one's aura?" she asked bewildered.

"No, why would I? I'm not a psychic."

"Strange thing you are. All Kormerigon's feel auras. Perhaps talk to Cert first, we should."

There's that Kormerigon word again. Must be some type of Tribal name I thought.

We reached the crescent of the hill and I took in the sights while Valithia spoke with Cert. I now knew where Cert kept pointing, it was his house. I was relieved to see that it looked like a normal mansion. There were three stories, with the first and second stories having a wrap around deck. Each deck had an assortment of chairs and tables with a few ornamental items here and there. The house was made out of wood that had a deep, dark, red color to it. From the distance it looked like the windows were tinted, but that was probably just because it was dark inside the house. The windows on the third floor had flower pots hanging from them, however, I could not see any flowers. The yard was well manicured with the grass cut short and every bush trimmed into different shapes. The dominant feature in his yard where the many fenced in areas, and within each area there were different types of animals. Each type of animal had their own fence. There were many different species, all of which I had never seen before, and each area seemed to have a worker stationed there to keep an eye on things.

The first animal that I took note of was the first one we walked past as we continued, now downhill, to Cert's house. There were six of them inside the fence, and out of the six, they were all different colors: blue, green, white, brown, yellow, and red. They were very flat creatures that laid on the ground and moved much like a manta ray would swim in water. Their bodies where oval and about the size of a basketball flattened out. They had a pair of eyes that sat atop their flat bodies, and it seemed as if they could turn them 360 degrees enabling them to see all around them. I saw a worker release some small rodent like animals into their area. As they saw their food move through the grass they moved with deadly speed and precision to their targets. They didn't fight for who got which rodent, instead, it seemed like they all knew which rodent was theirs. Once they reached their target they wrapped their bodies around their victim's body like a piece of cloth. This event was timed with the death squeal of the rodent as its life slipped away.

I heard Valithia muttering a verse mourning the death of the rodents. "May the Life Mother provide peace for the fallen and nourishment for those that stand," she said as she looked at the ground with eyes full of suffering.

I turned my attention to our destination and the line of people in front going past many fenced in areas. One in particular caught my attention as the animal it contained was a truly ferocious Beast. The Beast was the size of an elephant but had the muscular build and body of a lion. It had no fur that I could see, instead it just had dark green skin with black stripes spotted around its body. Coming out of the Beast's forehead where you would think horns might go where two pieces of flesh that extended from its head to about halfway down its back. They were thin and acted as if they were paper blowing in the wind but I assumed it was more muscles making them move instead of the wind. Its body showed that it was a killing machine with its giant claws and the pure muscle bulging through its skin.

The Beast was at one end of its cage like area and began charging toward the other side which had us "newcomers" lined up walking towards Cert's house. As it got rather close to the edge it let out a terrible roar startling me and especially those that were close to it. With its mouth open I could see two extraordinarily large fangs protruding from its mouth. As it roared, flaps of some kind, sprang out around its neck and vibrated violently causing it to look extremely angry and even more dangerous. It was truly a Beast to be feared that was clearly pissed off at the people walking past it.

As I admired the Beast's ferocity I saw Cert's companion walk past us and shortly after him Cert passed us. They seemed to be headed towards the Beast's area in order to calm it down. Cert's companion moved quickly for his massive girth while Cert casually walk forward. Even though neither of them were running, they moved inhumanly fast across the ground. Cert's companion reached the Beast first and had slowed his movements down. He stepped into the fenced area as the workers that were trying to calm the Beast down, backed away from the area pulling the somewhat dispersed crowd away as well. The companion walk with authority and without fear towards the Beast as he pulled his robe off revealing his pants that hung loosely from his waste.

What I had mistaken for fat was obviously muscle which quivered as he punched his hands together while he walked forward. His already massive body grew even larger to rival the Beast's. The Beast turned and noticed the intruder to its domain and was clearly unhappy, thus, it took a deep breath and charged at its target while roaring loudly with its flaps shaking wildly around its neck. I truly did not expect what happened next. The companion let out his own roar, however, the beast's roar was the equivalent of a kitten when compared to his. It was ear-numbingly loud causing the ground to trembled with fear beneath my feet. The grass bent over as the air escaped his mouth and traveled towards the now cowering Beast. Even though I was a good distance away from him, it still made me stumble backwards with shock. Even the Beasts skin seemed to ripple as the companion's roar trampled across its body.

Cert however, just continued to casually walk towards his house and as he past the Beast's area he waved for those standing in astonishment to continue on towards his house.

I did not realize that Valithia had crouched down behind me as if hiding from something evil and thus caused me to trip over her as I slowly backed up.

"Shit!" I said as I crashed onto the ground.

"Oh, you okay?" she managed through giggles.

"Yeah, you sound very concerned. Well, its only pain I guess," I said while rubbing the side of my bum and getting into a sitting position.

"I'll help you up. I'm really sorry," she said through a smirk.

"Ya.. Ya, let's just get to the house before something else happens."

About five minutes later we approached the house side by side. The porch was more elegant than I thought when I saw it from afar. The handrail had images of detailed people who were clearly hand carved by a master. The porch itself had what seemed like a mural painted on it. The scene was that of a great war between humans and a single creature who was clearly meant to be the "evil one" in the picture. His eyes were red and his body was completely black. He had teeth protruding from his mouth and a long wolf like tail. On the human side there were two figures that seemed to be important. The two humans leading the charge towards the black figure. They both had a golden aura around them while light shined from the sky upon them. Even though it was a picture portraying war, it was indeed beautiful.

The doorway was being held open by some servants as we made our way into Cert's house. His house was enormous and the first room amplified the size the house. There were four doors that I could see and a very large staircase that lead up to the second story which was encompassed by a walkway that wrapped around the room leading to more doors. Straight up was a giant calendar that hung from the roof to about the second floor. It had many pieces of glass that simmered as the candles' light radiated through the glass. there were two windows in the room which were located on either side of the doorway we just walked through. The windows seemed to be the only form of light since there were no electronic devices, such as lamps, in this room.

We continued into the house and we were led into the room to our left. This room I assumed to be his library since there were books lining the walls and shelves. There were even places to sit making me realize why he chose this room to talk to us. Very few seats where left since me and Valithia were close to the last people to arrive. I let her have the last seat as I stood behind her. We were about halfway back from where Cert was going to give us his speech. The room was noisy as we all waited for him to begin.

"Hello everyone! This, as I'm sure you all have figured out, is my house. As he began to talk the room quieted down. "First thing first, I would like to welcome you! Welcome you to your new home. Welcome to Terra! Now I know most of you have seen weird things, and have also, experienced some weird things that you do not understand. I also know, that most of you have a memory that in someway involves death so I am sure, that the first question that most of you want to ask me is, "Are we dead?" The answer is...maybe. One thing is for certain though. All of ours souls have separated from our living bodies!"
******
Another step completed. Reminding me, of my limited time.