Of Good & Evil

X. From Within

Weak. Was he still alive? It seemed so. Was he all in one piece? He couldn't quite tell. He knew he was in pain. He had been injured somehow, but he couldn't really remember the details. He hadn't opened his eyes yet, but he knew he wasn't in his own bed. He scrunched his eyebrows down, trying to remember how he had gotten here. Without having any luck remembering any of the details, he tried opening his eyes. His eyelids flickered as he struggled to open them.

His eyes slowly adjusted to the lights in the room. After a few moments of his eyes trying to adjust, he saw the inside of the infirmary. Now that his senses were returning to him, he could hear the beeping of the machines monitoring him. It felt like his whole body hurt.

Suddenly, his memory started flooding back. Fighting the group from Phantom Diamonds, having the upper hand, beating up that kid, then a few seconds later, being blasted away by a huge wave of energy with his feet, encased in ice, stuck to the ground. He remembered trying to summon up any power he had left to get out of the way, and then his powers suddenly taking over his body. He remembered his body had started acting on its own, then a few seconds later, he was running from the base, exhausted and beaten. He couldn't remember how he had gotten back, but somehow, he was back.

Wisp rolled toward the edge of the gurney and prepared to stand. He knew it was going to hurt. Placing one foot delicately on the floor, he slowly swung his body around so that he was sitting on the bed, his legs dangling, barely touching the floor. He shifted his weight forward and moved into an upright position. As soon as he applied weight to his legs, he felt a considerable amount of pain, but it was manageable.

He made his way toward the door and walked through the doorway, leaning on the frame. He observed the rest of the dome and decided he needed to let the master know what was going on. Heading down the hallway, he wondered what the master's reaction would be, knowing he had failed the mission. As soon as he thought about that, a flicker of fear slashed across his chest.

He began trying to rationalize. Maybe he would be lenient, seeing as he was beaten so badly. Maybe he would give him a little leniency, seeing as he was outnumbered. A little hope replaced part of the fear. He thought that would make it better, but now he was a bundle of mixed emotion.

He entered the main dome, taking note of the vastness of it. Four curved ramps lead up to a platform in the center of the room where a number of hologram screens were displayed around a large, circular panel of buttons surrounding the entire platform. He immediately noticed Vox and Axis standing next to the master. They were talking, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. Still worried about what might happen, he walked up the ramp toward the group.

When he arrived at the top, he weakly said, "Master..." speaking to the leader of their guild, his back to Wisp.

Vox and Axis stopped talking and looked past the master at Wisp. There was nothing in their eyes that might let Wisp know what was going to happen. The master, covered in a large, red cloak with black glyphs encircling the wrists, hood, and waist of his cloak, turned to look at him. His eyes were faintly glowing that unusual red hue they always were.

Much to the surprise of Wisp, the master leaned forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, saying, "I'm so very glad you made it, my boy."

"It was close," Vox said coolly, a slight smirk gracing his face as he straightened the purple tie of his otherwise black suit, "If Axis hadn't jumped in to save you, I don't think you would have made it." Vox motioned to Axis, standing next to him, with a flick of his white hair.

"How'd you even get beaten so bad, man?" Axis said, almost laughing, "I mean, I was about to dig you a grave instead of bringin' you back it was so bad." This time, he didn't refrain. He threw his head back and let out a loud laugh, his huge muscles reacting to each breath he took.