Faceless.

Fathom.

            Abel's body drifted down, down, down, in the freezing waters of the emerald lake. His eyes were closed, and he was thinking intently and deeply. How was that voice so powerful? Is he really that much better than me? He's clearly the strongest. He's the one I have to break. But how can I break someone that can be that powerful? Hmmm. I think I've figured it out. He's strong. But he can't decide when he's strong. A new voice can't control it. I know I couldn't when I first made the transition. That's it. That's how I'll do it. I'll blow him away. I can't take this loss. Not after I've waited for so long. Not after I've trained myself so hard. This can not happen a second time. Or I'll be the one that ends up broken.

                          That was Abel's last thought before he limply bounced against the bottom of the lake he'd just dropped into. He closed his eyes to rest and recover, as he laid out on the cold floor of the depths of his loss, and humiliation.

                      The new friends, had made their way into the stormy city Abel had resided in for the last two years of his existence in Thought. They explored it, hoping to find another voice, but coming out empty-handed. Their search was incredibly tiresome in that every corner, ever alley, every street looked majorly the same. The city was basically a maze draped over by a vicious thunder storm.  

                       For some reason, they all had felt tired for the first since they arrived in Thought. Natalie turned to Gwen and asked her," Do you think maybe we should find a house to sleep in? I mean, we're in a city, and the weather is pretty bad." Gwen nodded to her, and held a dry expression.

                       "Sure." She spoke softly,and Natalie chalked it up to her still being shaken from the experience from earlier. So, with that, they had all made their way to the nicest looking house they could find in the area. Though, it was still horribly and unequivocally darkly furnished, and painted, it would do. The house had one bedroom, the only thing in it  being a bed with the sheets turned out as if someone had woken up from them and then never bothered to remake them, and a bible opened to up to Genesis 4:8. Christopher claimed this room, originally, but Natalie asked for it. Out of some odd stroke of kindness, he decided to give it to her after a bit of a debate. "I was the one who kicked that freak's ass, I think I need the most rest."

                     "But I'm a little girl, I need rest to grow!"

                     "Whatever." He waved it off as nothing and gave it to her. He made his way downstairs, and popped out the recliner in the living room, while Gwen had lain herself out on the couch, lying on her side, already asleep.  

                            Since when have I been the kind of guy to give up his bed to some whiny kid? Is this what it feels like to be 'friends' with someone?  His friends on the outside weren't really that important to him. But for some reason, he felt closer to these two new faces than he did his old familar friends. He wasn't sure if he liked the feeling or not.

                           The next morning, he awoke with Natalie asleep sitting up, her head angled down, against the edge of the left side of the recliner he'd been sleeping in. He pushed the recliner back in, and stood up, to see Gwen just now waking as well. He lightly pushed on Natalie's shoulder, asking her in a sort of hateful tone. "Why did you come down from that room? You wanted it so damn bad, and now you come down here to sleep on the floor?" She blinked a few times and wiped her eyes with her forearm.

                      "I, uhm, got scared. I had some really bad nightmares in that room. About a snake, that was whispering in my ear, and telling me lots of bad things. Really bad."  He put his palm over his face and drug it down slowly to express his dissapointment in her maturity. "Whatever, kid."

                     She looked at him, with pleading eyes. "I'm sorry, Chris." He sat down on the floor next to her. "It's fine. It's not a big deal. Just forget I was even angry about it. You're a lot younger than I am. I uh, understand." 

                          Oh great. Now I understand things. Since when have I ever understood anyone? I don't even understand myself sometimes. What the hell is happening to me?  Since when have I ever cared this much about anyone or anything?