Restless - Chapter 10

“Gah!” I sprung awake, gasping for air as I felt the cold pangs of death radiating throughout my body. My brain felt as if it was a maelstrom tearing at the edges of my skull with brutal intent.

My hands shot up, blocking out a blinding light as my memory came back to me in one scrambled mess-

I froze entirely, feeling the flesh underneath my hand. I carefully traced my chin to the top of my face, feeling the gaunt features and high cheekbones. I glanced down, barely able to see as my eyes tried and failed to adjust to the blinding light.

I was back to myself. Back to my body. Gone was the muscle-bound frame with severe injuries. Frail limbs and a runner’s build had replaced it once more. I was me… or had I always been myself? I was Jasper there too? My head hurt trying to pierce all that together.

”Ah, good, you’re finally up.” A voice said from my side, barely audible over the churning and chugging of machinery.

My eyes immediately snapped open as I took in my situation. I was on a cot pressed up against some rumbling machinery. My eyes glazed over the bulk of metal, not understanding what it was or what it did. It was undoubtedly important though as a bearded man in a mechanic's getup worked on it.

It looked like I was in an engine room, one decked out with machines I didn’t recognize. I did recognize the mass array of candles and lanterns illuminating the place alongside fluorescent light bulbs. And the ever-familiar flame and sun motifs covered almost everything. I was back in the republic. Where though-

”You there, kid?” The bearded man asked me as he leaned up from whatever he was doing atop the machine.

”W-who are you? Where am I?” My voice- my voice was back to its usual self. It was crazy how much better I felt just hearing my own soft voice and not the much deeper tones that- that other Jasper used.

“Before that, will you hand me the Echo Wrench off that table over there?” The man asked casually as smoke started to billow up from where he worked on the machine.

I looked over, spotting the device he mentioned. I hurriedly got up to grab it, tripping and falling to the floor as my mind struggled to grasp that I was back to my original body. I moved slower, carefully picked up the weird wrench-looking device, and carried it back to the man. “This one?”

” That's the one.” The man bent over, grabbing it from my hands as he moved quickly. In a span of moments, the mechanic fixed whatever was smoking and started to patch the machine back up. “So, you’re Jasper?”

”Who’s asking?” He knew me. I checked him over as I tried to pierce together whether or not I’d seen him before. 

“Chief Engineer Borthax Yor. And, formally, welcome aboard the Dawn’s Glory.” The engineer hopped off the rumbling machine he had been working on, dipping into a slight bow.

”Borthax?” My mouth muttered as my mind tried to piece together what he was saying. Welcome aboard the Dawn’s Glory? Was I on a Voidship? I'd be the envy of countless back on Voth Prime for getting off the ocean planet- and yet, I wanted nothing more than to return home.

The engineer scratched at his beard, uncaring as he rubbed grease into it. “Unfortunately so. My mother hated me, you see.”

”What? No- sorry.” I shook my head, trying to straighten out my thoughts. “What am I doing here?” 

Chief Engineer Yor gave me a side-eye. “Honestly? Not too sure. They just tossed you in here. Supposed to go get Sentinel Candus once you woke up.”

”And who are they?” I asked. I was really starting to get fed up with not knowing anything. Especially since I thought I died. Who was this Sentinel Candus anyway? The woman in white? 

Sentinel though… as in the rank above Herald? Heralds already had the power of judge, jury, and executioner in the Republic. They acted as the planetary guardians, legates, and countless other high-ranking positions throughout the Republic. A sentinel was ranked just above them.

”Gloomguard.” The guy took his tools and set them back on the work table. I followed a few steps behind him. “Really didn’t tell you anything, did they?”

“No… how am I here, anyway? The last thing I remember was bleeding out in the middle of an abandoned street?” I remember a burst of warmth just before losing consciousness. Did someone come to save me?

The engineer sighed deeply. “Look, I’m really not the person to ask all this stuff… I’ll go get the Sentinel. Stay here and don’t touch anything unless you want to die a terrible death. The machines here are… sensitive.”

Right. I just came from death’s door. I’d rather not return so soon. “I’m not- I’m not a hostage right? Or under arrest?”

“No?” The guy tilted his head as he scratched his beard in thought. “I don’t think so, at least. This would be the last place anyone would want to keep a prisoner considering the machinery kept here…” 

I went silent as he opened the door and left me in the room. I may not be a prisoner, but the door was flanked by an entire group of guards. They wore the same black and purple armor that the guys who snatched me from Voth Prime had on. Gloomguard, maybe? I caught the eye of one of them. The guard nodded to me before the door could reclose, seemingly friendly.

Not a prisoner… right, like I’d believe that. Kidnapped from my home world, thrown into a crazy space with zombies moving about, and then locked in a guarded room. Should I try to escape? Escaping from a Sentinel would make me a traitor to the Republic though…

I looked around the room, checking for alternative routes out of here other than the heavily guarded door. Just like a cell, it seemed to have only one way out. At least, one visible to me. Probably for the best.

I closed my eyes tightly for a second, bowing my head onto my hands. What about Moll and Clyde? If I got out, maybe they did too? The two of them were definitely more valuable than me, especially considering their abilities. No way they- they died to that Grave Knight... Clyde had been in a bad state though, and Moll...

Right, I said I wanted to be brave? This was my chance to prove I could change. I took a deep breath, forcing air into my lungs. I opened my eyes and headed for the door. If I wasn’t a prisoner, then they’d let me leave right? 

Just as I made up my mind and headed for the door, an uncomfortable sensation settled on my skin. It was like a slow chill seeping through me. I pushed on, approaching closer and closer to the door as the feeling intensified. My entire body fluctuated between cold and hot,  causing a queasy sensation.

I stretched out a hand for the door-

“By the Pyre!” I flinched back, tripping as my leg seemed to fall out from beneath me. I hit the ground hard, trying to brace myself the best I could. There was an issue though.

My hand- it was gone. The entire limb disappeared as if it wasn't there. And yet I could still feel it. I tensed my fingers, feeling my muscles react in a phantom sensation. My entire focus dropped to my hand as it slowly seemed to fade back into being. I blinked, and it was back as if it never left.

I looked down at myself. It wasn’t just my hand. My entire body seemed to flicker in and out. It was like my very existence was unstable. My legs disappeared, coming back moments later as my other arm vanished before flickering back. 

Even as my body flickered, I could still feel everything. While the parts of my body were gone, they felt so, so very cold. As if stuffed into a crypod once more. I still seemed to have control of my limbs even with them gone. My arm faded, though I could still flex and move the limb around.

Invisibility? I tried to stagger back to my feet, failing horribly as my leg disappeared below me. With my limb gone, I collapsed to the ground, struggling to move around as my body betrayed me. Not invisibility. My body was disappearing at a rapid rate.

I tried to focus on my limbs, seemingly finding some success as my entire body reformed back to how it all should be… for a few moments. A deep sense of exhaustion slammed me as the phasing grew worse. Before, I could still somewhat move around. Now though? Now the phasing grew worse with each passing moment as if my very existence was at stake. 

“Argh!” I tried to scream for help, though I couldn’t get a single word out through my throat as it turned icy cold.

The door opened as two figures stepped into the room. I tried to twist around in a bid to see who it was, though before I could get much further I felt a hand grab me- only for it to grow through my shoulder as it phased out. The feeling of someone else's warm hand going through my body felt extremely weird, though I was too focused on trying to breathe to pay much attention.

A woman’s voice called from just above me. “Help me get him to the anchor.”

The gruff voice of Borthax replied. “Right. What’s-”

My entire head went cold. My vision blacked out as my senses entirely cut out for several long, terrifying moments. No- not cut out. I stared into an endless void, one lacking any light or sound. In the distance, the void shifted. An even darker shape seemed to react to my gaze, curling around itself to-

I got flash-banged as my eyes seemed to return to reality, quickly followed by the rest of my body. Once my senses returned, I realized that the two had successfully moved me back up onto the bed. I lay there, roughly panting as my eyes sagged in exhaustion.

“He’s stabilizing.” The woman said. 

I glanced up as a cough wracked my body. It was the same woman in white from before. Sentinel Candus? Just as the last time, not a hint of her skin could be seen under the thick clothing. The two fires burning right where her eyes would be seemed to be crinkled in concern.

I coughed several times as I felt my body start to warm back up. “What- what happened?”

The woman sighed deeply. “Yor? Give us the room?”

“Right… got other stuff that needs fixing. Call me if you need anything, ma’am.” The mechanic was quick to leave me with the woman. He saluted her briefly before making his way out the door. Should I be saluting her too? She was technically higher ranked than a legate… then again, she was also my captor.

“This isn’t how I wanted to do this… originally, you should’ve woken up in a comfortable bed in a nice room, not down here surrounded by machinery. Waking as a Herald is supposed to be a joyous occasion.” She shook her head sharply, causing the bolts of fabric covering her to flop around. 

“What- what’s happening to me?” I asked the woman. “Where was I? W-what happened to the people with me?”

“Hmm… What you just went through is what we call the Nightmare. It's a dimension of doom and gloom where shattered creation meets impossible chaos. Not everyone can enter it, and even fewer survive the first time, but those that can? We awaken as Heralds.”

“What about the people?” Clyde and Moll… that entire city was in a different dimension? 

Sentinel Candus took a seat at the edge of the bed. She sighed deeply as the fires acting as her eye thinned to a line. “It’s best if you think about the Nightmare as a dream… a very realistic dream, but a dream nonetheless. Everything in there–the people, places, and creatures–only exists as long as you're dreaming. As soon as you wake up though?”

The Nightmare… What a fitting name. A dimension where nothing was real, and yet everything felt real. Moll and Clyde had felt real. The pain had felt real. The shocks of death had felt real-

I squeezed my eyes shut, pushing all of that to the back of my mind. I could figure it out later. Something still didn’t add up. “I failed the trial though. I bled out there-” 

“You’re still breathing, so you must’ve passed. Whatever the pass condition was, you met it.” She sadly shook her head. “Better than can be said for most. Only fifty of the nearly hundred thousand we picked up got past it this time.”

A sense of horror welled up in me. “They’re all- they’re all dead?”

“Not all… most.” The flames that acted as her eyes drooped harshly before springing up into crescents. “You lived though.”

“Did I?” I waved a hand to the door. I’d nearly blinked out of existence- or at least, that's what it felt like as the all-encompassing cold took over my body. “What- what happened to me?” 

She went silent for a moment. “What do you know about Heralds?”

Where was she going with this- wait, no. There was apparently plenty about Heralds that was kept out of the public eye. For instance, no one had ever talked about the Nightmare on the radio. “They have powers. Like Waverider back on Voth… right?”

“Yes. Every Herald has a power.” She laughed lightly. “It could be anything. Waverider… I think his is to control water? Most Heralds keep their powers close to their chest as a safety precaution. Whatever you see of their power is what they want you to see.”

Safety from what? Villains? What even were Villains if we all had to go through the same Nightmare? Ugh- so many questions, so little time. And does that mean I’ve awoken a power? I’m supposedly a Herald now, right? I don’t feel any different though- at least, not close to this machine. I felt very different when I went for the door. “So?”

The woman shook her head. “I’m getting there… surviving the Nightmare doesn’t just grant a Power. It also grants a Flaw. Flaws are kept even quieter by Heralds. Not even family usually knows what exactly the Flaw is.”

“S-so… I’m flawed?” I finally saw where Sentinel Candus was going with this. It was an uncomfortable realization.

The cloth covering her body twitched as she shifted side to side. “The Gloomguard realized it a couple of days ago, probably back when you beat the Nightmare… When I drop you off, the eggheads at the training center will help you figure it all out, but for now, I’m calling it Dimensional Instability.”

“Dimensional Instability?” That sounded… horrifying. So I was literally phasing out of reality? My stomach churned as a sudden bolt of nausea hit me.

“Just stick next to the Reality Anchor.” She motioned to the machine that was still chugging along. “And you’ll be fine. We’re still a few weeks out from the drop-off.”

A knock came from the door. A moment later, one of the guards stepped in. “Another was awoken, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” The woman stood up, turning for the door. “Herald Jasper, there is a lot more to learn. The Republic has set up training centers for new Heralds such as yourself, which is where we are headed. Until then, your first mission as acting Herald is to try and figure out what power you’ve been Graced with.”

Great... I watched the woman leave as I settled back onto the cot. Where do I even start?

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AN: The next arc is going to be a lot of information quickly. If, at any point, you feel it's too info-dumpy, let me know? I really don't want it to feel like a slog to read through, so I'll try and rewrite it to be more interesting.