Now that Marvin and Liam had returned, the prison was calm but also under intense watch from more blue skin men. All the prisoners' morale dropped further, because this was the first time they got closers to escape but all failed.
Inside there was two blue skin men dragging a man, before opening cell and threw then inside. The man was Aiden who was twisting and turning. He felt dread, confused inside.
No…No…Don't give up!
Aiden eyes fluttered open, beforehand he was feeling calm, smooth all over until he saw that, he deep inside bright blue water...? His arms flailed, trying to swim up for air but, as he panicked breathing out hard…it ran out.
"Help! Help!"
During his calls, for help he sl9wly stopped as he was bo longer feeling, out of breath choking on water, he looked around, then down at him self.
What he saw made his eyes widen briefly, it was only nothing but darkness at the bottom. He had doubt, he was alive…?
'What's happening?'
In that moment, his body was suddenly pulled by a strong suction forced down Before he could react.
He tried to pull against it, but it was no use as his surroundings changed. He gazed around, to see he was on a cold gray smooth tilied ground.
Aiden slowly stood up his head twisting, turning examine around, he needed to see where he was and what happening, after that injection.
'Something's not right… what did that doctor Lucian really do to me?' He wondered.
However, he was also suspicious about Lucian the way he spoke, he seemed to be the leader of Marvin and Liam. Thought he looked weaker than them his presence carried, what can be said a dark person.
Beside, he has a serious matter ahead.
"I should be dead… so what the hell is this? A zone? A containment unit? A trap?"
This looked like a different contrast, to the otherside world and zones. As all was around him is white world viod of, anything almost like a galaxy.
The only place he could match, it to was the Phantom Dimension…?
He decided to walk, explore around…Before he could walk or call out for anyone he heard a voice.
Come to me…
Aiden ears perked up, he heard a voice in his mind and outside. "Hello!"
Come to me.
He frowned frowned didn't know what was happening nor who's voice nor it came from, but that voice was the only source of something in this place. Even when he didn't feel, any malice in it.
What are these voices? Is this a hunted zone? Made for torture?
He walked forward, a whole while later, still there no nothing but whiteness, thought during his walk it felt like days passaed, when it was a couple minutes.
At that moment, as he was about to stop there was suddenly something blocking out the white ahead, it was black as it became closer running at him with a smile was a small…kid?
Aiden took a few step back, reason. He questioned. 'Why the hell is a kid here?'
Especially, in this place that looked filled of nothing…this is who he encountered.
The kid stopped, indront him locking eyes.
Hi…" He said.
His gaze scanned Aiden up and down he had a glint in his eyes, he also looked like he knew him or reminiscent about him.
"It's good to see you ag…" the kid said before stopping himself.
Aiden eyebrows perked up, interested why they stopped. "Good…I don't think this is any good I don't know where I am." He said turning a full circle.
"Walk with me." The small kid said his voice sounded milking softy.
Aiden looked deeply at the kid, didn't believe that he could just now into this kid without a reason.
He frowned but his hand homered above the kids own, before he could pull back the kid grabbed him and pulled him forward, after a couple feet everything around him changed.
He never had been around kid, before nor talked to someone so young, so he didn't know what he could have for him. Thought the kid looked, like someone way to happy, interested in him to be here.
While, the kid wasn't someone in himself to have been around, someone in a long time, it had been quite lonely even with his, creation friends.
As Aiden, and rhe kid walked a couple feet around him changed like he's entering another zone.
When his surroundings changed, he looked around in awe in was in a different area. A meandering stream of clear water. Smooth, dark stones, shaped by the gentle flow of water.
The land is covered by a sea of crimson flora, an otherworldly expanse of grass and vegetation that thrives in bold hues of red, magenta, and violet. Patches of golden and purple plants peek through the dense undergrowth. The jagged rock formations that rise from the ground.
With all these weird changes around him, Aiden really wanted answers. "How am I here? What is happening?… Am I dead?"
The kid didn't answer but he did follow him over, a natural stone bridge that arched over a water stream.
The kid hopped onto the bridge lege "So… what do you think about being an Exodite? Must be intense, right?"
Aiden wanted to his own questions answer first, but he felt the need to answer. "I wanted this—I thought it would bring me purpose. But now that I'm here… it's more than I can handle. I'm not sure if it's worth it anymore."
The kid turned to Aiden he looked sad of, his answer. "Giving up already? That's a shame. You haven't even begun to see the endless possibilities that come with being an Exodite…how the Zone shifts and bends to your ideas, offering paths only the bold dare to walk to earn something. There's so much more out there, more than you can imagine. But I guess if you're afraid of the unknown, then maybe you were never meant to explore it in the first place."
Aiden looked, beyond the bridge, the earth stretches toward towering cliffs and sharp peaks. Wisps of white clouds drift across the horizon.
He thought of what back to him really is searching for he remembered he questioned what is worth is it that he looming for. From all he saw, on this journey he on is nothing but pain and suffering all Exodites seemed to gain.
'I wish this journey were easier. I want to do more… but I can't seem to find anything worth moving forward for. All I see are the shocks and burdens this power brings me. It was supposed to mean something… but it's only turned into something dark.' He reflected.
Beside his own goal, Mira and Riven had there own and it looked like he was slowly them down, he never been fully own with them, nor has they.
He looked at the kid, he didn't answe but the kid spoke again. "Your life before you became an Exodite… did it matter to you? Is it something you're still trying to hold onto?"
Aiden gaze dropped briefly, some doubt in him has shattered, what he kept a hidden."It wasn't complicated. It was simple, even enjoyable... but I didn't need a journey for that. I want to feel like I'm doing something that counts, something that will leave a mark."
The kid smiled. "Do you remember, being young and dreaming of traveling all over."
Aiden shook his head, he really didn't remember anything not a spek it was almost like his memories were erased.
"There are things that are worth being connected to as an Exodite, like being both young and your older self at once. Maybe the key is finding yourself again, finding something to enjoy beyond all this... something that lifts you up from the darkness."
Aiden looked at the kid who hopped down, stepping forward, he didn't understand where could this kid mean such things. He must have felt happiness before, why would he currently be sad all the times.
I don't feel sadness nor happiness…I just do what I must doing somethings that makes me suddenly different inside…what's this kid motive.
Aiden shook his head, he followed the kid but at the same time his surroundings changed again, he was somewhere else.
He spotted a floating house crafted from weathered stone and dark wood hovering, in mid-air. A sloped roof of blackened shingles is, while twisting wooden vines frame irregular, arched windows. A massive, rune-covered door stands at the entrance, reinforced with iron bands. A bridge of floating planks forms when needed, while faint violet smoke drifts from the chimney, giving the house an ethereal, alive presence.
Aiden walked on each plank, following the kid each disappearing when not in use behind him.
"Come inside."
He walked inside with the kid, where he saw a just a normal house all most like one back in the Kaven Town.
"So what do think now…do like what you saw... do you like what you're heard."
Aiden picked a curred out toy man. "Yes and no…"
The kid smiled, where he stood up."It's good to feel that way, but the problem is you're stuck on one side, unable to move past it…"
'Why do I feel such a connection with him? Every word he says seems to strike something deep within me, something I can't quite understand.' Aiden wondered.
He finally snapped, this kid was telling a bunch of thing about himself and what to do but never about himself.
"Wait a minute…Who are you?"
The kid smirked. "Nothingg…until something is found."
"What do mean?"
"Trust me… there's so much more for you to discover, and you'll find your true strength when you learn to balance… both sides of who you are."
Aiden shook his head. "Now…I'm more confused."
The kid didn't answer, he grabbed Aiden had dragging him out the door, where instead of back outside. He saw that, he was back in the endless white world.
The kid turned to him. At the same moment, Aiden eyes widen as he saw behind the kid the world was being overpowered by a endless darkness, it even quickly covered himself.
The kid looked around panicked. "Damm he was quick to see us….that bad."
"You will meet me again… finally, Conn…" The child's voice was soft, warm, and brimming with an innocent joy. His eyes shimmered with a light that, be had never experienced before."You will find what you're been searching for so long, questioning your place, your worth."
The kid smiled, a knowing yet playful glint in his gaze. "But you will find what you're seeking… and when you do, it will open your eyes to life in ways you never imagined. It will make you see not just the world, but yourself, for all that you truly are."
As the kid finished speaking, he turned around. Speaming something under his breath.
"Word That Ends It All."
Aiden eyesbrows perked up, he was confused however, it felt final, like something ancient. The world pelt apart like paper, and Aiden vanishes into nothingness.