What's Out There? Part 2

Chapter 13

When he arrived, there was nothing but dirt, dust, and dead trees. It was all depressing and empty, like Maxwell's soul. It looked like no one had been here for ages. "MIDNIGHT!! YOU HERE?"

"Hello?" A distant voice called. Not Midnight's voice, but maybe they could help.

Maxwell went towards where the voice came from. "Hey! I'm looking for a friend, did you see anyone come through here?"

"Hold on, your voice sounds familiar... Where are you?" The voice asked.

"...No idea." Maxwell stopped, seeing the silhouette of a tall woman who was missing an arm. Her voice seemed garbled and broken but he recognized who it was.

"Maxwell?" Blood Ruby turned in his general direction.

"Hello, did you see Midnight come through here?"

"No, I haven't seen anybody for years." She gestured to her eye, which was cracked. "She might have gotten past me. I lost my vision."

"Okay, follow me, we need to find her," Maxwell told her.

"She wouldn't be able to stand it out here, it drove me crazy." She quickly turned her head, as if she heard something. "Uh-oh."

"What?"

"I heard a portal open, the same sound as yours. Let's find Midnight before anything bad happens," Blood Ruby informed. Maxwell nodded and he kept looking. Blood Ruby kept stumbling.

"You gonna be okay?" Maxwell asked.

"I should be, I've learned to live without sight," Blood Ruby responded. As they walked, Maxwell heard the soft crunch of dust under his and Blood Ruby's feet, but then crack! Maxwell looked down and found a phone. Midnight's phone. It had a note on the inside of the case, so Maxwell opened it up and read the note.

Hey {insert your name} if you found my phone, then two things could have happened, either you stole it or I dropped it. (shame if you did steal it) If I dropped it, most likely I'm somewhere close by. Just turn on my phone and look at the lock screen to get the rest of the info. -MSJ-

"Hey, Blood Ruby, is there a big tree around here somewhere?" Maxwell clicked on the phone and found an image of a rather large, rather dead tree.

"Somewhere west I think," she answered, feeling her surroundings. They searched for the tree and found it within a matter of minutes. Maxwell led Blood Ruby to the tree and looked around and finally found her.

Midnight was asleep on the ground, her hair was cut to about her chin in length and she still had cat-like ears. Maxwell pulled a bucket full of water out of his pocket and dumped it on Midnight's face. She merely rolled over, revealing the large black spine that was stuck in her arm. Maxwell leaned over, pulled out the spine, and tossed it to the side.

"What is that?" Blood Ruby asked, inspecting the spine. Maxwell looked at her and saw that her vision seemed to have come back.

"Some kind of quill or spine, does it look to be poisonous to you?"

"No. It's not like anything I've ever seen." Blood Ruby's eye went dark again, leaving her blind. "Well, damn..."

"Is there a way to fix your vision?" Maxwell walked closer to her to see if maybe he could fix it.

"I've tried, it's been broken for a while."

"Do you know what the issue is?"

"Cracked glass and I'm pretty sure there's a wire or two loose or frayed."