(Defunct)Restless - B

AN: Finally decided on the name. I'm trying to whip up some cover art, but having some difficulties deciding what exactly I want to show since the 'world' for this one is so freaking massive. Nothing like shooting yourself in the foot!

Also, Restless has had quite a few delays. It occurred to me while trying to write that I world-built everything but forgot the MC's civilization, like an idiot.

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I jolted awake, nightmarish monsters with too many limbs chasing me from my sleep as I tried and failed to get away. I sprang from a nice, comfy bed in my panic, falling onto the floor with a painful thump arcing up my shoulder. 

I groaned, twisting around to look about the place. I was in a dull gray room, with ornate-looking swirls and symbols done in a slightly darker gray. The design of the walls reminded me of a fire, twisting and twirling chaotically and yet with a beautiful resonance to it. Ruby and gold highlights overlaid the walls as brackets and arches, seemingly as much for aesthetic as structural support.

The entire place reeked of sterilization and chemicals as if whoever cleaned it wanted to scorch the nose of all who tried to breathe. Lanterns and candles sat all around me, lighting up the place in flickering flares of fire. It creeped me out. The growing sense of unease accelerated several times as my brain finally caught up.

Where am I? Why is it so cold here? What happened? L-last thing I remember was that pod. Waking up in it. Trapped. Cold. Nowhere to go-

I forced myself to slow down, thinking back over my minuscule memories. Right, breathe. Just breathe. In, two, three, four. It took a while to calm down. I distracted myself by taking in more details of the room. Up in the dull gray corner sat a rather large screen, angled directly at me. Or maybe not a screen. I could see right through it, two brackets on either side of the see-through thing.

In the opposite corner, right above the door, hung a camera staring right at me. A red light blinked creepily on the corner of the camera. My lungs started to ache once more. Were they watching me? Why were they-

The sharp clicking of boots rang through the closed door. I tried to scramble back, my skin slipping on the floor as I fell back and hit my head lightly on the bar of the bed.

As I was stunned by the pain, the door slid to the side, allowing a man to walk into the room. He was covered in a scarlet mantle, the fabric seeming to shimmer and shine in the fire as if he was wreathed in it. The mantle covered dark maroon robes that dropped below the man’s knees. A waistcloth clung around his, well, waist, made out of the same shiny scarlet material.

Five lanterns dangled from a belt holding the waistcloth. Each of them were lit with blood-red flames, making the guy a walking beacon of light as they shined on the shiny waistcloth. It almost hurt to look at, as if the flames were some holy vestige. I averted my eyes from the fire.

 A hood covered most of his face, cloaking it in shadows. A black mask covered from nose and ears down, dangling down over his throat and disappearing under his robe. The mask seemed to absorb light, making it seem as if there wasn’t anything below the hood to begin with. 

Even the shadows cloaking the top side of his face seemed to assist in making it seem as though it was purely a void wearing clothes. It brought all the more attention to two hazel eyes, making them seem to glow in the darkness of his face.

I flinched back as he took a step towards me. His footsteps paused, and a gentle voice called out in that alien language that the group had spoken. The pure alienness of the language destroyed any comfort I got from his tone. “—- ——- —- ——— —.”

I tried to speak, my voice coming out crooked and haltingly. “W-where am I?”

The man paused, and I got the feeling he was frowning though I couldn’t grasp any details under the hood to really tell. He backed away, raising his palms placatingly as he pointed towards the bed. “— —— — — ——.”

Stupid alien language. Does he want me to lay back down?

I forced myself to my feet, feeling chills race through my body as I stared at the warm blankets covering the bed. I froze for a moment, wondering if this was right, before following the weirdly dressed man’s instructions and moving to the bed. Its promised warmth was too good to pass up.

He smiled, maybe? I couldn’t see anything of his face, the dangling fire seeming to help the shadows cover the person. Whatever he did, he did it politely to me before walking around the room to a lantern. 

From the depths of his robe, the man pulled out a flask of some kind. He bowed his head, muttering quietly to himself what sounded like a prayer, and refilled one of the lanterns. The flame inside grew in strength as the man messed with it, turning a striking deep red color. Just like the ones at his waist. 

It was at that moment I realized a weird sight. The fire stopped moving chaotically as if to burn the world. Instead, it started to dance to an unheard tune, flickering and shimmering calmly the same as the ones at the man’s waist.

The man repeated the process with each of the lanterns as the temperature in the room drew to a comforting warmth. Gone was the cold, only soothing warmth left in the room like a crackling fireplace in the midst of winter. I don’t know how I knew such a sensation considering my memories were- erm, misplaced, but I did. 

Even the overpowering scent of sterilization faded, shifting to some other scent. It smelled a bit of incense, but also of a soothing heat. It was hard to place it exactly. Once he was done with his weird ritual at each of the lanterns, the man nodded his hood and left the room with his hands clasped before him, gently holding… prayer beads. That seemed like the right words.

Several moments later, a familiar-looking face peeked in from the doorway. Morgan, out of her helmet but still in her lithe silver combat armor, stepped into the room with a giant grin on her face. “Hey there, kid! How’re you doing?”

It took some effort to get my voice out, my tongue not willing to work with me. “Where a-am I?”

“In the medical bay aboard the RVV Triton. How much do you remember?” The pretty woman asked me as she moved over to my side. I flinched back, burrowing down into the blankets. She froze for a moment, a look passing through her eyes before she backed off and leaned against the wall, Though she did nod her head to the side of my bed.

I looked over and spotted a canteen on a redwood nightstand. The wood had a flaky, almost plasticky shine to it as if it wasn't real.

I reached over and grabbed the canteen, hearing liquid slosh around. I groaned as I felt my throat pinch in thirst. I coughed several times before I was able to speak again. “Waking u-up?”

I took a drink of the… water? It had an odd taste to it though, so maybe not water. I had a feeling water wasn’t supposed to taste of anything.

Morgan’s smile dipped into a frown before it was back to the smile. Not the smile she approached me with, but that strained one from back in the metal hallway. “That’s okay, kid…

Is it?

“Right!” The woman slapped her hands together. “Your name! You don’t remember it, and we couldn’t find any records before the voidship we found you on- ahem, became inaccessible. We can’t very well just call you boy, so you get to pick!”

“Pick my name?” I asked in confusion.

Morgan smiled broadly, pulling a device from her pocket. It looked like metal sticks, though as she pulled them apart a see-through screen popped up like the weird device in the corner of the room. “I’ve got a massive database of names here from all over Slarin space, if you want to take a look.”

I reached a trembling hand out, taking one of the metal sticks. Surprisingly, the other side floated freely just across from it without dropping. I hesitantly dragged a finger across the hologram, the flickering lights sliding down to reveal even more names.

I spent a long time looking through the list, none of them feeling right. The entire time, Morgan sat patiently by my side with a calm smile on her face. The atmosphere, aside from the soothing crackling of flames, was mostly quiet. “W-what about this one?”

“Jasper? Jasper… Jasper… Ja-sper~.” The woman’s face broke out into another big smile. “Sounds nice! So, you want to go with Jasper?”

It felt wrong somehow, picking my own name. “Is it okay for me to just-”

“Of course it is! It's a common operating procedure for people in your situation. And hey, you can always change it if you remember later! So, Jasper it is?” She arched an eyebrow.

I shifted uncomfortably on the medical cot and handed the device back. “I guess.”

“Great! I’ll write it down in the logs.” Morgan took the thing back, shifting and tapping around on the weird screen. What a relief! I was worried you’d be a bit more loose in the head considering the kind of accident you were in, but everything’s going to be okay now. Okay?”

Why’s she saying okay so much? No, wait, what accident? What is she talking about? And what’s with that weird look in her eyes? ”An accident?” I asked, pulling several blankets tighter around myself as I shivered. My voice sounded small. Weak. I didn’t like it.

She froze, her expression seeming to crack for a moment. Then she reached behind her back, pulling out the fox stuffed animal I had in my hands upon waking up. “Don’t worry about that for now, okay? We’re going to get you somewhere nice and safe. Get you with a loving family back in Slarin space, okay?”

She’s still saying okay a lot. And why does she look so sad? I had so many things I wanted to ask. They all jumbled up in my mind, begging to be spoken into being. And yet, before my mind could really process anything, I found myself taking the fox stuffed animal from her, its fur feeling comfortable in my grip as I pulled it close to my chest. “O-okay.”

Morgan paused, her hands twitching, and strung her hands together. “Hey, wanna see something cool?”

”Sure.” My grip tightened on the fox stuffed animal, briefly wishing I was anywhere but here. No, not just anywhere. Anywhere warm with lots of room.

Morgan grabbed the weird stick device from me, rapidly clicking around on it for several moments. After a bit of time, she pointed toward the small screen in the corner of the room.

The screen lit up and turned solid, revealing a spectacle of small dots scattered across it. In the distance, rapidly fading, a bright star glowed as if to valiantly push back the eternal darkness. It was difficult to make out, but it looked like several planets were floating around it.

“That’s a live feed from the back of the voidship. It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?” Morgan asked.

I stared at the view for several more minutes, taking in the sights of the massive bodies. “Where- where are we?”

“We are heading towards the edge of the K-46 exosystem to shift into Umbra. Then we’ll be headed for the Slarin Republic.” Morgan tapped on her holographic pad, changing the image to that of several highlighted stars on a small-scale galactic map.

So many new words. So much new information. My mind ached as I tried to keep up with her. “Slarin Republic?”

”Ah, right. The Slarin Republic is the seat of humanity in the galaxy. Our home amongst the stars, however small it may be now.” Morgan had a sad look in her eyes that rapidly vanished. “We’ll get you settled once we get back.”

What was a Republic? I glanced at the lady before looking back down at the warm blankets on my bed. I didn’t want to disturb her more than I already was. I held my questions in. She was already helping me so much-

“I can feel your confusion. Feel free to ask away, ki- Jasper,” Morgan said.

It felt awkward responding to the n- my new name. “I don’t want to take any of your time…“

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got nothing else to do on the voidship for a while. Ask away.” She made herself comfortable, grabbing a chair on the other side of the room and dragging it over as if to prove her point.

I rubbed a hand over the fox’s head, finding some solace in its soft fabric. “Who was that scary guy?”

”That guy?” She asked.

”He was wearing a red robe. Poured something into the lanterns.”

”Must be one of the-“ Her face twisted in concentration, “-clergymen? I think that’s the right word. I don’t keep up with the religious folk too much, so I don’t know who all is about the ship, sorry. And sorry if he scared you. You, uh, woke up quicker than we were expecting.”

I paused for a moment, my hand grasping the fox’s paw lightly. Every time she spoke, she mentioned even more things I didn’t understand, yet felt like I should. It confused me, not knowing and feeling I should know. 

My head brimmed with questions, and my hesitation stopped as I asked away. Thankfully, Morgan never stopped answering till I grew tired and weary.