He tumbled through the black, tossed by the lightless depths beneath what must surely be a stormy sea, yet which way to swim? No direction seemed correct so he picked one, striking out and hoping. When the noise finally registered, he realized he'd been hearing it all along, for what had seemed like forever. A steady beep, beep, beep, never wavering in tone, always steady, forever sounding off since the dawn of time.
But where? Where was it coming from? He turned himself this way and that, looking for the source of the noise. Finally he found it, right there behind him. The droid. It was black, black as obsidian and it was coming for him. He turned and ran down the stark white corridor. He had to get away from it. Had to get away from the noise. He kept looking back over his shoulder and each time he saw it, the black droid, never moving, always following. He ran harder, faster, but the end of the hallway was still so far away. He looked into the rooms as he ran past; each one was filled with people. People just staring.
But what were they staring at? He approached the people. They were surrounding... something. That something was making an incessant beeping noise. Beep, beep, beep. Constant. There was a faint murmur from the vast crowd as he pushed through trying to see what they were staring at. He strained hard to listen to the words. "I can't be sure," one person said. "The chances are slim," said another.
"What aren't you sure about?" the big man asked the crowd around him. "What chances are you talking about?"
A young, dark-skinned woman with raven black hair turned to him. She was beautiful and her eyes were deep pools of dark brown. "Beep," she said when her mouth opened.
"What?"
Her mouth stayed open. Beep, beep, beep. She started moving toward him. He tried to move past her, but there, behind her. A man.. a big man. Broad shoulders, thick chest and arms. He wore the darkest blue armor. He knew this man. The warrior removed the midnight blue helm and to his horror, the face was black.
No, not black... it was... void. There was nothing. A familiar voice beside him said, "It's you. It always has been you."
He looked down to see a beautiful red-haired woman. Somehow, he should know her. He strained to think who she might be, and the lack of remembering was distressing, although he didn't know why.
Then she shoved him.
He tumbled through the air, falling faster and faster. He wildly grasped for the branches and vines, trying to slow his fall. The birds swarming the air around screamed at him. Beep, beep, beep, they called in a steady, machine like tune.
The vines reached out and caught him, wrapping themselves around his wrists, arms, ankles, legs. Spikes from the vines penetrated the skin of his arms and other vines slithered like snakes up his torso and around his head. He closed his mouth as they tried to force their way into his body. Vines found their way into his nostrils and finally forced his teeth apart. He choked and gagged. He couldn't breathe, yet he took deep breathes at the same time.
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The big man sat bolt upright and looked around him. He was lying on a bed in what appeared to be some sort of sterilized room, possibly a medical room of sorts. Next to him was a machine, it was beeping steadily as lines across the display face jumped up and down in time. He recognized that it was monitoring his heart.
He looked down and saw the many wires stuck to his body, and sticking into his body. There was something in his mouth. He reached up and slid a tube out of his throat and did the same for the tubes in his nose before reaching down and removing the antiquated IV lines from his arms.
As he pulled the patches from his chest, the machine next to him suddenly went into a steady tone.
A woman came running in just seconds later. She was a dark-skinned woman with black hair pulled back tight into a bun and beautiful eyes. Her worried look turned to relief when she saw he was sitting up. "You need to leave those on for right now," she said with a smile, which turned out to be as beautiful as her eyes.
She crossed the room and eased him back down onto the bed. He tried to struggle against her for a moment, but felt weak. For some reason that felt... wrong.
"Don't fight, please," the woman said. "Besides, you're not going anywhere for a while with that leg."
He looked down and for the first time saw that it was immobilized, wrapped in some sort of white plaster and gauze, or so it appeared. He opened his mouth to speak, and a croak came out.
She poured him a glass of water and held it for him as he took a sip. "Easy now."
He finished the sip and tried again. "Who are you?" the big man asked.
She smiled. "I'm your nurse, Jael Thracen. A better question though, would be, 'Who are you?'"
"My name is..." he began and paused. He looked around the room for a moment, finally settling his gaze on the reflection in the mirror across the room. He saw the close cropped dark hair and then fingered the scar running down over the left eye and across the cheek bone. He just kept staring.
"I'm sorry, what is your name?" she prodded politely.
"I'm... not really sure."
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