Strange Awakenings

In a half-conscious penumbra between life and I have a vague sense of nearby motion, of being touched and handled, and of something constrictive being put around my neck. I almost thought I heard a voice though I hadn’t a clue what it said. And then it all goes away.

…

The next thing I was aware of is the sensation of a buffeting current and the powerful regular movements of some great creature that I was pressed up against. I was alive? What was happening? All was cold. All was black. No, wait, a light? What’s that glow? Where am I? A something smooth and scaly touches my neck followed by the prick of something sharp…and all fades away again.

…

After that comes foggy snatches of memories or…dreams? I could not tell which. A voice, lights, the sensation of floating, a stinging ache as a strange energy crackling through my body. Had they all happened at once or over a space of time? I did not know. A bottomless darkness claims me once more.

…

After that I am cognizant of a surface below me and a binding pressure all around my body. My muscles would not obey me, though even if they could I sense I would not be able to move. It is difficult to breath. The air felt thick and tasted of brine. My ears ring, my head throbs, my throat feels raw and constricted, my nostrils and nasal passages burn, and I feel sick to my stomach. Gripped with a sudden terror I scream and the muffled noise vibrates around me as if…underwater? Though no bubbles escaped in my scream. Struggling against my confusion I open my eyes to a bewildering wavering world I was not familiar with. A…room? A cave? What are those lights? What’s this haze? What are those globes? What are those tubular shafts? What are those objects? Medical instruments? Was this a hospital? Where am I? Still trying to clear both my sight and my mind I catch motion beside me. A person? No! Oh God! It’s not human! A glow that seemed to emanate from my own neck illuminates a face reminiscent a humans but with its gleaming blue-silver scales and huge coppery eyes it was equally reminiscent of a carp! It’s mouth was nearly as wide as its face with two thin catfish like barbels at the sides and a few beneath to give it the appearance of having a goatee. A flattened down fin ran down the center of the creature’s head and two more stuck out the sides of its head making it look like it had ears. Between its thin lips of the monstrosity poked a row of jagged teeth. I scream again, I feel a jab, and consciousness is stolen from me once more.

…

Again I push out of the void. I can sense time has passed though I know not how long. Voices. Voices are the first thing my dawning consciousness grasps onto. Laying still I focus on them as I let my bewildered consciousness steady itself.

“I needed a mammal.” A male voice says excitedly. “Or an air-breather at least.”

“A seal then. A turtle. An albatross. Anything else!” An exasperated woman’s voice responds. “Damn it Haali! A land-walker? A human!? Are you mad!?”

“I was tailing a ship. I thought a pod of dolphins might be following. Imagine my surprise when this fell overboard.” He says. “It was weighted down. Left for dead. I suspect it a criminal or outcast of some sort. I wasn’t going to let an opportunity like this slip through my fingers.”

“Spirits below!” The woman curses. Through the haze of my waking it still strikes me that this lady had a rich, powerful, and actually quite lovely voice. Even when cursing. “You shouldn’t even have been up there. I didn’t tell you where that portal was so you could be a damned fool. You are too reckless Haali. You are going to get yourself killed. Or worse, discovered!”

“You aren’t appreciating the significance of this Nanea. It worked!” Says the first voice in the rapturous tone of eureka. “It lives! It breathes. It survived the cold and pressure of the trip. It survived the trip through the portal. I did it! The magic worked. I actually did it!”

As I gradually come more to my senses it begins to dawn on me that the voices sounded…odd. Odd as in they weren’t sounds at all. I could make differences in tone and pitch and volume but none of it through my ears. Somehow I was clearly hearing the conversation despite the fact that the only sounds in my ear is very low droning. This had to be some nightmare yet…it felt real. But hearing without sound? Impossible. As the cobwebs clear notions of what had happened to me start to solidify. The ship. I jumped. I had done it. I was sinking, fighting for my life, and then… The memories after that were jumbled and didn’t make sense. None of this made sense. Why wasn’t I dead?

“You did it alright.” She snaps back at him. “With no thought of what comes next.”

“I didn’t think it would work so well the first try!” He says in defense. “I thought I’d lose a few before I found the right incantation.”

“Well congratulations.” Her tone drips with sarcasm. “It worked. Now what?

“Now…it stays here?”

“What!?”

“Please! You have to. There’s nowhere else.” Haali pleads. “This is the only place the Swarm won’t find it.”

“Not a chance.” She states. “Your problem, you keep it.”

“If my master realizes what I have done I will be cast out.”

“And you will have deserved it.” She says coldly. “I should go tell him now.”

“No!”

“You are impetuous Haali and that spells danger. Especially for a mage and most especially for someone like me. I ought to end you right now along with your…human.”

“I know you won’t.” He says in a tone both confident yet yielding to her authority. “Listen, once I’m done my apprenticeship I am all yours. You’re own mage on the payroll. Think about it.”

“You idiot. You promised me that already!”

“Right, I did.” He says. “This would solidify that agreement. You need me.”

“I don’t need trouble.” She says. “And I do not need you. I have old Draevys still.”

“He’s nowhere near the mage I am and you know it.”

“At least he is no fool!”

“Add another year of service then.” Haali beseeches her. “Two years! Anything! Just ask it. I will never have another chance like…”

“No.”

“Come on Nanea. I am here. I have nowhere else to turn.” He begs. “This is a major breakthrough. And on a human no less. I need to study it and…”

“No! The answer is no. That…thing is more trouble than it’s worth.” After an ominous pause she whispers. “I can feel it. No good can come of this.”

There is a long moment of silence. My heart pounds in my ears as, if I understood what was happening correctly, my fate seemed to be hanging in the balance. I wait breathless for this Haali to make his case for letting me live.

“Fine.” He says in defeat. “What do you wish to do Mistress?”

What!?

“We kill this thing, right now, and then…”

Kill me? NO! I suck in a breath from fear and feel not air but water pass through my lips. What the hell? I struggle to find myself bound up, if felt like leather like ribbons were wrapped around my whole body like a mummy. Braces along my sides kept me in place as well as denied me from turning my head. There was also something around my neck, a collar perhaps? My eyes flare open. I see a stone ceiling, but not that of a natural cave. Its construction is smooth and clearly crafted with expertise though with an arcitecture I did not recognize. There is a slight murk to the…water? Yes, water. I was definitely submerged but somehow not drowning. My rapid breathing takes and pushes out the liquid as though it were air.

“It’s moving!”

“It’s waking up. It is surprisingly resistant to the sleep toxin. I don’t know how much more I can safely increase the dosage.”

“Just kill it. Kill it now.”

“Hold on Nanea. Let’s see what it does.”

“Kill it now.” The woman’s smooth voice is suddenly as hard as tempered steel. “Or I will.”

“Nanea…”

“Enough!”

Slithering into view comes a long tapered crimson red tentacle, like that of an octopus but much larger than any I’d ever seen. Two rows of suckers ran along to bottom side of its boneless but muscular girth and the top had a mottled pattern of reds to deeper reds bordering on purple that reminded me of paisley. It was almost…beautiful. I do not have time to admire it however as it glides down to lay across my throat and begins to snake around it! My neck in the tentacles clutch it flexes and begins to tighten.

Screaming out with all of my strength I cry. “I WANT TO LIVE!!!”