Condemnation and Salvation

((This was inspired by something I've been writing with a friend. I hope you enjoy it. ))

Chapter 1: Answers


Insane? Am I insane? Have I gone mad? Off the bend? Crazy? There's too many thoughts in my head. Too many possibilities. Too many equations. Not enough space. I need more room. Need more... She had to get out of her head. But the nothing that was all around her was almost too much to bear, even more so than the crazy thoughts that continually racked her brain. The woman sat in the middle of a dark room, so dark in fact, it was difficult to see where the floor ended, and the wall began. And so she had sat for well over a week, simply rocking her fragile body. Backward and then forward, sometimes slow, sometimes with an increasing pace, a feeling of urgency racing through her body. It hadn't always been so. The woman hadn't always been so confused. So... crazy. There had been a time in her life when she'd been normal, and quite happy to do as she pleased. She'd had children, a mate, a home. But none of that mattered now. Not when she first entered the room, and not now, a week later as she sat in the same position rocking back and forth, back and forth, repeating the same thing over and over again. "Mask... Mask... Mask..." The only word uttered from her lips, the only sound heard within the room, the only important thought within her mind. "Mask.."

-|One Week Prior|-

Jayden shuddered lightly as she walked through the desecrated town. The empty streets, completely void of life, did much to put her already frayed nerves on edge, but still she continued to move, continued her journey. She had to, if she was ever going to find out what had happened to her, and what all the changes meant. There was a man, one that wasn’t even mentioned in any of the research she’d done, one that was only whispered about, that could help her. But it wasn’t even known if he was truth or myth. There was always some basis of truth to all urban legends though, maybe this was one of those times. It had to be, or else there was no hope for the young girl.

She turned a corner, quietly reaching for the small handgun she’d only recently acquired, and looked around. One of her eyebrows rose questioningly as she peered down the street to the single lit sign. The first, and only form of life within the much since evacuated city; it was her only hope. Moving quickly before she lost her nerve, the young woman made her way down the street, to the single building with the single light, and sign that read “Answers and More.” She reached up, trepidation flashing through her cobalt eyes, and pushed open the door.

“Jayden... I’ve been waiting for you...”

-|The Present|-

A howl emanated from within the dark room, echoing throughout the hallway and into the surrounding streets as the girl jumped up from her spot on the floor, her bones creaking nosily. She lurched forward as she started shaking, the one word usually a whisper on her lips now a screaming rave of anguish and pain. “Mask! MASK!” She called over and over again, her small hands balling into fists as she approached the wall and began beating into it. She didn’t have much strength, having not moved for a week, but the force of her anguish was enough to cause the structure to tremble.

Just as quickly as it began, the woman’s tyrant was over, her nerves calmed, her body spent as she sank to her knees, holding her head within her hands, cradling it softly. And there she stayed, continually repeating the same word over and over, condemned to suffer for saving a single being...

-|One Week Ago|-
Jayden’s eyes widened as she looked around the small room she’d walked into on the corner of the abandoned city. It looked normal, save for the incredibly surreal things that were held inside. In the middle of the room sat a single cheap chair, a metal one that folded up, which was the only piece of furniture within the confines of the place. Everywhere else she looked, though, seemed to be captivating things, things she’d never thought she’d see in all her life. One entire wall was naught but shelves, and each shelf held numerous glass balls that seemed to hover over the pathetic looking piece of wood. But it wasn’t the balls that captivated her so, it was the things within them. One held a unicorn, a real, live, miniature unicorn. Oh how amazing that was! Another held an old, medieval dragon, and another still held a Chinese dragon. “Amazing...” She whispered softly to herself as she turned and looked at the wall opposite the shelves. Upon this wall, ... Though wall wasn’t really the correct term. It was as if the wall had simply disappeared, revealing a deep expanse of tiny marbles. And within the marbles? ... Galaxies. “But how can a galaxy be so very small? And why would it be here?” She asked herself quietly as she continued to look around.

“Didn’t you ever see Men in Black? Galaxies don’t have to be huge in order to be real. They just have to be. Besides, those aren’t their actual size. They’re just portals to said galaxy. As for why they’re here... You ask too many questions.”

Jayden jerked around at the voice, her hand jerking out and accidentally smashing into numerous marbles, sending them careening throughout the empty space. “Oh no! I’m sorry!” She called out as she started to reach for one, intending on stopping it, but almost as soon as she did, a hand, a very cold, clammy hand with fingers as long and slender as a skeleton’s, reached out, moving faster than Jayden’s eyes could track, and yanked her hand away. “I wouldn’t.” Came the subtle whisper in her ear. The girl froze as she felt the fingers on her wrist tighten slowly, and then release her. They felt weak, but oh no... The power within that grasp was almost enough to bring her to her knees.

“I... I... I...” She began to stammer as she turned, her eyes finally falling to rest on the man she’d been searching so very long for. “It’s impolite to touch someone else's marbles, you know.” He grinned wickedly, though Jayden couldn’t see him behind the mask he wore. It was a strange mask indeed, with a wide, grinning face, and hollowed out eyes. The cheek structure of the mask was very high, giving the man a strange, other worldly look about him, which was correct in assumptions. For all intents and purposes, he was other worldly, he was every worldly. He was everything. And still... He was nothing.

Jayden couldn’t help but stare as she looked at the man, her cobalt eyes roaming over his face for a moment before moving down to the rest of him. He was dressed.... It was difficult to say exactly how he was dressed. His clothes seemed to be from an era long ago, and yet, they seemed perfectly in style. Almost as if they were constantly changing to the eye, but in a non noticeable way. It was quite curious, and she might have pressed the matter, had she not come to see him on a matter of such importance.

“I didn’t meant to touch your.. marbles, or anything else of yours for that ma...” She was briskly cut off, though as the masked man brushed past her, humming a strange tune, and began to rearrange the scattered marble like structures. “It doesn’t matter, child. No harm no foul, or bird as I like to say.” He turned back to her, his head tilted the slightest forty-five angle she’d ever seen, and swept his arm long and wide, revealing a set of incredibly sharp nails. “Allow me an introduction before you set on why you’ve come. I am... I’m known by many a name, though at the moment I’m simply ‘Bones.’ At your service.” He smiled, or so she assumed he did under his strange mask, as he reached for her hand. His touch was like ice against her skin, causing the girl to shudder lightly. She tried to pull her hand away, but his grip was more a vice than anything else. She couldn’t even move her fingers, let alone jerk her hand away from him. Though it was so strange to her, his hand seemed to be holding hers as gently as one would a palm of petals!

“Wh.. What? Ho.. How are you...” He once again cut her off with a slight wave of his free hand as he turned and practically drug her into an adjoining room that she hadn’t known was there to begin with. This room was much simpler than the previous. It was sparsely furnished with a simple cot, rocking chair, and an oriental rug that looked as if it was made for the first emperor of China, and possibly even older.

“I already know why you’re here, Jayden Sydel, of the Adirondacks. And before you ask, no. I’m not a spy, and I’m not following you, and good lord no, I haven’t brought you in here to have my way with you, though...” He seems to fall into a moment of deep thought with his head tilted to the side as he gazes at the adjourning wall. “No no, musn’t. Not the best of ideas on... No no, I won’t be having my way with you.” He looked at her, his mask flashing a dazzling smile as he let go of her hand and turned to stare at her, everything knowing in his gaze as he indicated to the far wall where only moments before a plain wall had stood, now a roaring fireplace sat. The flames danced happily as they took their slow time licking at the logs within the hearth. “Let’s see what the fire tells us, shall we my Mystery Jade?”

-|The Present|-

A swift knock sounded on Jayden’s door, though there was no response from the female as she continued to rock in her spot, her eyes glazed over. Her bottom lip trembled softly as her voice, now horse from so long with no food or water continued to try and speak the single word over and over again. A man entered the room carrying a tray with a strange cup filled with an even stranger silvery liquid on top. He smiled as he walked over to her, his kind, fatherly face lighting with a smile as he idly patted the woman’s head. “You’ve moved since last I brought you your tonic, Miss. It’s a good sign I think, though the Master isn’t all that sure. He’s slightly worried still. Or so I believe him to be. He doesn’t talk to me much anymore, not since he became split.” At the man’s words Jayden slowly lifted her head, her eyes not showing any sign of recognition to the man, though her hands lifted slowly, grasping onto the ends of his long golden robes. “Ahh, you wish to stand today? Might that be it?” He asked while his eyes lit with wonder and awe. But instead of standing, she simply sagged into him, causing the tall, slender man’s hands to drop to support her weight. “Come now, Miss. We musn’t do this again. It isn’t healthy for you.” He groaned as he looked at the tray, silently thankful that it had decided to float along on its own, instead of spilling to the ground. A spell of Bones’ no doubt.

“Alright, upsy daisy.” He whispered as he picked Jayden up. The way he handled her, cradling her in his arms, was as if she weighed less than a feather. In the corner of the room a bed appeared out of the shadows, which the man quietly laid Jayden onto, and then smiled down at her. “See now Miss? All you need is a bit of rest.” With that he fetched the tray and brought it over, forcing Jayden’s head up so that he could slip the liquid down her throat. “A concoction of Bones’ ya’know. He says it’s going to help you get well, help you get out of your head. I do hope so, there’s oh so much I wish to say to you.” The man smiled softly as he kissed her brow and then took the tray and cup, making his way out of the room silently.

“Did she take it?” The whisper from right outside the door had the man jumping out of his skin almost. “Ack! Bones, you frighten me so!” The masked man chuckled darkly as he reached out, clasping his hand on the cheek of the other male. His eyes, should anyone be able to see them, held a soft tender look, as one would look upon a lover, or a mate. “You’re easily frightened, dear friend.” He chuckled a bit as he shook his head and then gazed at the door to the room. Bones looked at the man, his features hard and determined. “I’m going in there tomorrow... Tomorrow we’ll make the journey out of her mind, out of her past... And into the present.”