Galaxy of Hyperion: Mystic Heir

Chapter Six: Frozen in Time

The sun climbed over the horizon the following morning with a sense of uncertainty, and Jay was hardly sure if she really wanted to face the day if the sky wasn't even prepared for her presence. She had to practically pry herself free of the covers within her bed at the hotel near Nadia, and her legs were unsteady and shaky beneath her. Even before she had seen Arian, Jay was filled with uncertainty, and all she wanted to do was backpedal as far away from the remains of the city as possible. It wasn't as if she was going there by choice; Jay had only suggested it because they were out of damn leads on how to get Lana to allow them into the City of Steel. 

If Lana had connections to Lyloc, maybe there would be something of note in the last place that Lyloc's forces had fought before everything fell apart. Jay loathed the idea of returning to the area more than she could ever hope to describe, but she went anyways. Her feet shuffled along the floor as she went through her morning routine within the hotel room, and her stomach was firmly knotted at the core of her body. Even before leaving the building, she felt as if going to Nadia was going to make her feel sick. Just to confirm this, a headache pounded at the edges of her mind, leaving her nauseous before she got anywhere near her destination for the day's informational search. 

When Jay did finally leave her room, it was to walk into the hallway. Arian wasn't out there yet, but it only took him a handful of minutes to arrive. He smiled sheepishly as soon as he realized that he had taken longer than she had, and she let out a small huff at his actions. It did nothing to calm the way her skull seemed to be slamming against the rest of her body, but it was a small distraction, and Jay wanted to be distracted for as much of the following day as humanly possible. The last thing she wanted to deal with involving Nadia was the past, and she knew that it would pester her mercilessly if she didn't try to block it out. 

But was that even an option for her? She and Arian had come to the remains of Nadia because they were searching for information, and they couldn't just ignore that need if she decided that she wanted to back out. Arian was counting on her, and they had a duty to fulfill. Jay knew that she couldn't keep running away from the past forever, but she wanted to try more desperately than she could ever hope to describe. If she ran from the past, she didn't have to think about how sick it made her to think about. She couldn't let the guilt and grief sink in if she never stopped moving, and she could block it out at least slightly by distracting herself when she felt as if she was slipping into one of her worse days. 

The hotel's doors loomed ominously in Jay's peripheral vision the entire time she and Arian were eating breakfast. She wasn't hungry in the slightest, and she only grabbed food from the hotel's morning buffet because she knew that she was going to need the energy. In truth, she felt as if anything she ate was only going to make her feel sick, but Lyloc's wishes didn't care all that much what she thought or felt. There was work to be done, and Jay always took care of her duties before allowing personal reservations to get in the way. If she broke that rule to herself, she knew that she would fall apart. 

It was a while after Arian had finished eating and they had left the hotel behind when the silence that covered the two was broken. Arian had shoved his hands in his pockets, walking a few feet away from Jay to give her as much space as possible. She was thankful for such, as the brightness of his yellow hair was already making her headache worse. Everything seemed to be covered in dark fog in the back of her mind, a hazy cycle of images that constantly spun with angry ferocity, but his hair was the only thing that seemed to be in color properly. Looking at him for too long only made her feel as if she was going to be sick all over again. 

"Are you okay?" Arian eventually asked, and Jay tried to hide the way that she jumped at his words. She hadn't been expecting to hear him speak, but she was prepared when he continued. "You've been so quiet ever since we arrived in this area, and I'm starting to get worried about you."