Coming out of the transport, first thing I noticed was the high ceiling and beams of light coming down. Everything in the room seemed to glean with a marble texture. I almost thought the interior wouldn't carry the medieval theme, but the inside almost made you forget you were in space. I hope that was the point. I'm sure people spent a significant amount of time in the station. I know if I ran the place, I'd want to avoid cases of space dementia. The whole room felt calm, serene. My soul felt at peace in this room. Thats when the thought of peace, security, calm, left my body completely. Even with how well lit the room was, I didn't see her coming. I got a sudden headache. Began to black out like I had when I killed those boys. But in prison I had learned to suppress it, I tensed my muscles. Fighting the feeling, the headache tearing my brain apart now. I continued to fight it. Until it dissipated. By the time I had gotten over it. There she was, standing in front of me, half in the shadow of the marble column I was standing near. She was wearing some sort of mask, that covered her face but allowed her wavy hair come out and around it. It was bronze with a blood red visor, so dark you could not see her eyes. She was as tall as I was, about 6" 1' . I knew someone was supposed to meet me when I got off the shuttle, I expected someone from the higher ups, to give me a tour or something. I was so very wrong. She stepped closer revealing a leather jacket with the same bronze metal shimmering in the light. On her right hip a holster with a huge revolver. Her armor was engraved with flames. I couldn't take my eyes off the gun.
"The fuck you looking at?" she said. her voice would've been pretty, if it weren't for the tone. She was annoyed. Obviously didn't like the job she had been given. "Look," she continued. "I'm from Black Halo, your training starts now, come with me. The speed-lift is this way, you'll have to get used to it eventually anyways."
My expression must have told her something. She put a hand on my shoulder and said that I'd be fine. She put her hand out. I shook it. Maybe the air was just cold, but her hand felt extremely warm. Even though the leather fingerless gloves.
"I'm Veil."
"Matthias Ingersoll," I stated. right now I'm not sure why I gave her my full name. Could've been the medieval surroundings, the 'don't screw with me' attitude she had. Or maybe I was tired of hiding, figure this was as good a place as any to start being the real me. She let go of my hand and started for the other end of the huge room.
"Its over here, other end of the Courtyard." They are really pushing this medieval thing. It was growing on me though. Really was starting to feel like another world. I followed her through an archway into a round room. Doors with numbers lining it. Doors One and Two had a green light over them.
"You take Two, I'll take One." I nodded and stepped up, the door opening as I did. There was a place to put my bags below the chair. I sat down and a screen that lowered in front of me reminding me to strap myself in. As I buckled the straps around my torso the door shut and a countdown started. Over the intercom Veils voice boomed. "We are going up, Level 4A." I didn't like the sound of "Level 4A Kill-box." that flashed on the screen. I heard rumbling. The lift became hotter and hotter, and suddenly shot me up twenty stories in a matter of seconds. Thats where the pain in my lower back came in. I hadn't known about the hand holds to brace yourself.
When the lift stopped the door opened to a dimly lit cavern it seemed. It really was just a box. A few thin windows ran up the right and left walls of the square room. The windows were tinted red, what little light there was turned the darkness a pale brown. There were blood splatters all over the walls where the light hit. The dark areas I couldn't tell what was there. With a name like "Kill-box" I assumed more of the same. the feint light was shining on something in the middle of the room. As I stepped out from the lift. It turned, revolver in hand. It was Veil. Her left hand flicked and a ball of fire erupted in her hand.
"Who you were. Your parents, siblings, hopes and dreams. They end here. Today you become who you always wanted to be. This is your initiation. " Her voice echoed off the walls. I wasn't in the mood for theatrics.
"But what are we doing exactly? I'm not even sure how the guild or any-" she cut me off.
"You are here, because society has deemed you, dangerous. Here at the IMG, we see that dangerous people are people of action, people who can change things, tip the scale and get shit done. I am a dangerous person. Such as yourself. I read your file Matthias, you are hyper violent when backed into a corner. Your instinct takes over. Your mind knows what it can do. But do you?"
"I know I'm dangerous. I don't want to be, I don't want to hurt anyone." She laughed at that. I was starting to feel unsettled.
"Matthias I know what you are, lets not beat around the bush. You. Are. A. Psych."
"Don't call me that."
"Call you what? A Psych? You are a mind-fuck. Your mind is fucked! So fucked that even you don't know how or why it does what it does!"
"Don't call me that, I'm not-" cut off again, this time by the heat on my face. She had brought her hand so close I could feel my skin cooking. A few seconds of it and I had to turn away. She holstered her revolver.
"You are a Psych. They cursed you! Your parents knew what you'd become, they did it anyway, told the doctors no, we want this. We want our child to be a monster!"
"NO!" I screamed as I went to attack her. She grabbed my arm, and seared the flesh. With her other hand she punched me hard in the gut. Her gauntleted hand hit hard and I crumpled to the the floor.
"They wanted me to be, me. They didn't want me tampered with." I said through a cough.
"Really? You really think that? Explain why they pretended you were normal until it was too late, until you killed that boy, until you crippled another.They could've taken action. " She was standing over me now. Her revolver drawn. "You have a brother, he is normal. He is a Marine. Even with his combat training and years of discipline, he will never be as dangerous as you. You are a monster. You. Are. A. Psych."
"I know." I said as I struggled to get up. My hands in fists.
"Now, we are getting somewhere." She went to punch me again. This time in the face. My head once again began to burn. This time more than before. Could've been the anger. The Fear. I felt out of place, out of mind. I knew I was going to black out, and hurt her, I didn't want to hurt her. Everything started to blur, started to slow down. It was as if I could grab her hand and direct it away. A flash, and then she struck. I almost didn't know what had happened. Why had I seen it twice? She went in for another blow. Everything a blur again, My head felt like it was going to explode. Everything was even slower now. I saw her fist coming at me. I went to stop her hand. I Pushed it away and kicked her in the chest.
She was startled and stepped back. "So fast. Faster than Amye, even," I could barely think through the pain in my skull.
"Lets try something else." She said. Right before shooting me in the chest. Knocked me completely off my feet. Rubber bullets. Didn't change how much it hurt. I clutched the spot it had hit as I groaned. The slug had been big, I could feel the welt growing. 50 caliber revolver even? This gal wasn't messing around.
"Hmm," She went to shoot me again. It was like she was in water. Slowly aiming down the barrel. I rolled. She missed.
"Haven't blacked out yet?" She asked, holstering her gun. I looked at her in amazement.
"That's right, you and I are the same. I'm a Psych. Well, not exactly the same. You can't do this." She put a wall of flame between us. and calmly walked through. The fire dancing around her, staying a good four inches from her skin. "Me? I'm a Pyromancer. You? You are what is called a Farseer."
All I could do was look at her. Ive heard there were other kinds. But I never thought I'd meet one. Even in the guild.
"I, I see things, horrific things. Then, then I black out. Only this time I didn't." I always blacked out. It never failed. All the memories coming back, the things I'd done. I was a monster. Every time I had blacked out and it was like something else had done those things.
"This is the kill-box. Its dark enough in here for your mind to focus on one thing. That thing is me. They call it the kill-box because sometimes a Psych cant handle their power and there is only one way out. People die in here all the time. As you can see, they usually don't have time to clean up the place."
"You're saying I black out when there is too much to focus on?" I said as I got off the floor. It made sense. My mind would overload in a stressful situation too much happening, couldn't focus. "Right, don't worry, with training. You will get better. We still don't know your range."
"My range?"
"How far you can see into the future."
"I see into the future?"
"My god they didn't tell you anything! You are 20 years old! Your parents never told you?"
I just shook my head like a confused little boy. My head was still spinning. She knew so much about me already. I knew nothing about this person.
"A Farseer can see into the future, some of them can see really far, months or weeks. Others, see the direct future, minutes and seconds." I couldn't see her face but her body loosened. "I'm fully trained, and you just blocked a punch from me. Green as grass and already you can go toe to toe with a fully trained Merc. With time and training. Imagine what you will be able to do."
"I don't want to hurt people. I want to save people."
"Soon you will realize those are one and the same." She turned and walked out to the Lifts. Leaving me with my headache and a million thoughts surging around my mind.
I am. A Psych. I can see the direct future. Tomorrow I'm learning about weapons and what they mean for me as a Farseer. Part of me wants to go home. But I know there is nothing for me there. This needs to become my home. People like Veil can help me. So first impressions? Still figuring that out. My ribs hurt.
LOG END EARTHDATE 2218 December 30th
No comments:
Post a Comment