Defying Terror

Chapter XXIII

August 16th, 2030, 12:18 am

The gray rain spins in the howling wind over the ocean. The window to the balcony is smashed all over the floor, and the railing has crumbled into the sea. I recognize this room in the Castle, even through the darkness. Torn notes swirl throughout the Emperor's study in a tornado, and my soaked t-shirt sticks to my chest. My bones are cold.

Something feels wrong. This isn't my world. A feeling of turmoil floods over me. I can sense the tension in this dimension I have found myself in.

In this new state, however, I feel... strong. Unnaturally so. The situation I am in doesn't scare me in this form. This is nothing like when I was on the run from the Imperial Guard. I feel distant, yet... here.

A strange conundrum.

A dark mass stands in the light of the storm through the window. I can tell by its shape that it is, in fact, human. Or is it? The evil rush that hit me moments ago tells me to stand back and allow this unknown figure to introduce itself. Appearance and true colors are two different things.

"And there he is. Slater Tross, in the flesh, once again. I thought I'd seen the last of you." I hear metal sliding against metal. The dark mass grows at the hand.

"Who even are you?" I ask, trying to back up.

"Don't play dumb. After all you've done, all the chances you've been given, I should have never let you live past last week."

"I don't know what I did."

"Let me refresh your memory, then." The extension on the shadow jolts forward, and the storm dies into silence. As I fall to my knees, the M glows teal on the figure towering over me.

My newfound strength disappears and I lay in bed, staring at the mattress above my head. The only radiance in the bunk room comes from the hallway, seeping in from under the closed door. Snores erupt from throughout the space, all around me. I must be the only one who is awake.

I roll onto my side and look at the red numbers gleaming from the alarm clock. It's just past midnight, and I have a long night ahead of me. This is the second time I have woken up tonight already. I don't know what it is that is keeping me from falling asleep. Last night I slept like a rock because I just moved into a new room and everyone was quiet. There is no noise tonight, too, but something is prying my eyes open and keeping my blood running quickly.

This is the third weird dream I've had since I've been here. Someone, a shadowy person, speaks to me or threatens me. All three of them have had something to do with the Medo. None of the voices were the same, but they were all men with taunting or intimidating words, something like "you shouldn't be here" or "I should have killed you." And right before I wake up, they always do.

I don't know what the world has in store for me. For now, I'm stuck trying to conform to the Imperial Guard system like I never thought I would have to. But then, there's the Medo, who I know is out there, watching me. Rodney Roarke knows where I am, and I don't know if he approves. Needless to say, I never want to encounter him ever again. I don't know the extent of his capabilities, and I don't think I want to.

The first two dreams I had was Tuesday night, the day I met CJ. The initial half of the night was spent in Hopewell, the capital of Sever, in the dead of night. I was running with some black mists under the orange streetlights as a snow drifted onto my nose from the dark sky above. We were laughing until the lights ceased to exist in the night, and the void enveloped us. I can still hear their accented cries for help as their lives were cut short, right before mine was.