The Budding Metalinguist

I

The impact never came.

Lillian no longer felt solid ground beneath her feet; instead, she began to hear a gentle whooshing sound, accompanied by air whipping past her face, as if she was falling from a great height. She was dimly aware that her arms and legs were still flailing, but, despite all her grasping, she caught only empty air.

She worked up the courage to open her eyes, glimpsing only a peek of the surrounding area before she realized two things- first, she was, in fact, falling; and second, she was about to hit the ground. There was nothing she could do about it; she was falling face-first into the center of an arena-like structure, and she could only hope she would survive.

She hit the ground with a loud whumping noise. The impact had been painless; her body tingled where it had hit the smooth, cold stone of the arena floor. She began to wonder if she was unconscious. Or dead.

Rolling over, Lillian pulled herself into a seated position and then began to stand up, but her ankle twisted under her weight and she collapsed back to the ground. "Alive and conscious," she muttered under her breath. She stood up shakily and began to look around.

She appeared to be in the center of a relatively circular arena, with various stone walkways branching out from the edges. Other walkways crisscrossed the sky above her, but she wasn't sure exactly how far up they continued, for the stone was shrouded in fog thick enough that she couldn't see more than half a mile in any direction. Everything was made of the same smooth, sleek, light gray stone. Lillian cocked her head, trying to remember where she'd seen it before.

A whooshing sound caused her to look up again. Something was falling out of the air, and would land on top of her in several seconds. She scuttled hurriedly out of the way, toward the edge of the arena, and watched the object fall.

Beanie- for Beanie it was- landed gracefully, bending his knees to absorb the impact and straightening up. He glanced around the arena for a few seconds before his eyes locked onto Lillian, who cursed under her breath. Though she was wearing a gray sweatshirt, her distinctive hair made her clearly visible. He began to walk towards her. Lillian stiffened.

He stopped several paces from her, his amethyst eyes boring into hers. She froze, not daring to move.

Beanie placed his hand on his chin, as if deciding what to say.

"If I wanted to kill you, I could have done it earlier."

Lillian didn't move.

"I was standing behind you. I could have done anything I wanted."

"Who are you?" she choked out. The words sounded much feebler than his, and barely made it past her lips.

"I know the DIAO, and, by extension, you, call me Beanie," he began. "Am I right?"

She nodded imperceptibly.

"I'm Dakota Kern."

Lillian cocked her head. "You? You're a professor?" she managed.

"What?" he snapped.

"Nothing, I just wasn't expecting..."

"I have a degree," he replied. "And a very high efficacy."

Lillian tried to respond, but she found herself unable to speak. The professor's eyes were drawn to her lips as she closed them.

"I am not going to hurt you. If I had wanted to, I would have already," he repeated. "You don't have to be so terrified of me. You can call me Dakota, and you can talk if you want."

"If you aren't going to hurt me," she began slowly, "then why did you try to meet me? Why did you come to my door? Why did you bring me here... wherever here is..." She trailed off.