Chapter Text
I gasped for air as I awoke, not being able to catch my breath for a second as I lay there motionless, not entirely understanding what was happening, I thought that I was somehow still back in my car and being flung over a cliff was just a horrible nightmare. But no, what I felt was all too real, the aching deep in my bones, the empty coldness of the pod I was in, and the lingering smell of dead fish mixed with sulfur. I was too tired to move, to think, to try and figure out a way out of here, my eyes were heavy, but I fought to keep them open. My throat was dry and sore, I wanted to scream or cry for help, but I was frozen in fear and tears began to roll down my cheeks.
“What happened to me…where am I…” I whispered, my voice was raspy.
The realization that none of this made any sense, and at best I should have been crushed in my car at the bottom of a ravine based on the last thing I remember, hadn’t hit me yet. But I don’t remember anything besides swerving off the road and waking up in this pod. I couldn’t wrap my head around the situation I was stuck in, so I decided to distract myself by looking around the room I was in. It was dark and it was hard to make out any specific details, but it seemed small, curved, and lined with at least 6 other pods. The pod to my left was empty and I didn’t want to linger on what happened to them but the pod on my right had a green woman with amphibian-like features and big yellow eyes. She had the face of a warrior and sat in the pod stone face, no emotion to be seen.
I couldn’t tell how much time had passed since I had been awake but suddenly a tall slender figure appeared in the doorway and began to move closer to a raised pool in the center of the room. It was cloaked in shadow, moving so gently and softly that it almost seemed like it was gliding across the floor with long robes behind. At that moment, my eyes darted back over to the person beside me, and we locked eyes, her mouth moved, but I couldn’t make out what she was trying to tell me.
The figure emerged from a shroud of darkness at the pool in the center of the room and I was able to make out more details of my captor. Besides the tall, slender frame, it had pale lavender skin, a large bulbous squid-like head with long tentacles sprouting out from where a mouth should be. The most unsettling feature of this creature was its milky white, pupilless eyes. Those eyes did not look at me but beyond me, somehow knowing my darkest secrets and desires, things I've never shared with anymore. I felt seen in a way that made me feel exposed, making a shiver run up my spine.
Long, spindly fingers grab something from the pool before sliding over to the person in the pod next to me. The machine hissed loudly as it opened slightly, just enough for this thing to reach inside it with its bony, xenomorph-like fingers holding whatever it picked up from the brine pool. The silence was deafening, it was so still that you could hear a pin drop and that was more terrifying than any scream could have been at that moment.
I was frozen in fear not even noticing the familiar hissing sound of the pod which opened with a jerk and the moment a small gap was opened the air that flowed in was stale and smelled heavily of decay. I closed my eyes tightly as my head spun from all the information trying to process in my brain, but I couldn’t make sense of anything that had happened to me. Tears began to roll down my cheek and I wanted to scream or yell for help, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good.
“There was no one coming to help me” I muttered through my tears.
Suddenly, an intense calming feeling washed over me, in that moment all the fear and despair that I felt deep in my bones just melted away. Time seemed to stop as the creature reached its elongated fingers towards me and the last thing I remember before fading from consciousness was its clammy fingers caressing my cheek.
~
I woke up to my pod, being violently shaken, we lurched to the left and this is how I found out we were flying. I felt intense heat all around me as the acrid smell of sulfur and burning brimstone filled the pod. I heard screaming, a crack of lightning, and the roar of a dragon before once again, blacking out.
~
The next time I opened my eyes the room was destroyed, the crimson walls pulsed with energy like it was screaming out in pain. Pods were strewn about, some dented and busted open while others were completely ripped out from their foundations and presumably flew out of the giant hole in the side of the ship. I couldn’t see any survivors and the pod that housed my neighbor was empty - I hoped for my sake they were alive somewhere on this ship.
Figuring out what happened or if any of this was even real was irrelevant if I died inside this pod, so I was determined to get out and find answers. I pushed hard on the inside of the pod in hopes of escaping and to my surprise, I heard that familiar hissing sound as the door opened. My head pounded with pain as I climbed out of the pod, landing on very squishy, flesh-like ground. I was hit with a wave of heat as I made my way from the pod to the big hole in the wall, looking outside I saw a desolate, endless hellish wasteland. A war raged below me, pools of blood and ichor littered the landscape and to break up the terrain was a long, darkly colored winding river. I could hear a cacophony of screams mixed with crackling fire, distant explosions, and a very low but constant hum of energy. The air was thick and suffocating, making it very difficult to breathe. I backed away and made my way over to the area where I saw the creature emerging from earlier.
I stood with my hands on my hips frustrated because I swore there was a door there, I walked closer and noticed a small part of the wall started to twitch and pulse. That’s disgusting, I thought to myself. I moved closer, reaching my hand out and then almost like the door could sense my presence layer by layer began to peel back, revealing the chamber beyond.
“Cool…guess I’ll just walk through the anus door, that’s normal,” I said to myself as I stepped through.
I made my way as quickly as possible to the next area and found myself outside. I tried my best to push my fear down as a huge red dragon flew past me, roaring so loud I thought my ear drums were going to burst. I was standing on a ship that was flying through hell, and I was somehow not having a total breakdown. It was a feat that I couldn’t enjoy for long since after walking a few feet, my neighbor from the pod appeared in front of me. She narrowed her eyes and pointed her very shiny sword at me. Before I could react, something connected us, I could see her memories and feel what she felt. It made whatever was in my head, whatever that thing put inside me squirm, I held my head in pain as memories flashed through my mind.
After our connection ceased, she sheathed her sword and told me I was no “thrall” which I guess was a good thing because it seemed like she wanted to work together to get off this ship. She seemed eager to move on, but she was the only person I had seen this entire time, and I was desperate for answers, my head spinning with how fast my thoughts were racing through my mind.
“Who are you? Where are we? What the fuck is happening?” I blurted out.
“Do you want to become Ghaik? Because if you do not quiet yourself, that is what is going to happen. We need purification.” She snapped at me and turned around.
“Bu-” She cut me off before I could finish, not even looking at me as she scolded me like my mother would.
“We need to go to the helm, follow me or die” And with that, she walked off towards a pile of ravenous-looking demons tearing something apart.
Up until that point, the adrenaline was keeping me from completely shutting down but when my green companion so casually strode into battle, the feeling of impending doom finally hit me, and I was hit with a sense of dread. I fell to the floor, blankly staring off into the distance, thinking to myself; this couldn’t be real, right? This was some super realistic coma dream and I'm lying in some hospital right now and not about to fight a horde of ravenous infernal beings. I had no idea what was happening or how I was supposed to make it through this because I couldn’t cast spells, swing a sword, or fire a bow and there was no way I was getting anywhere fist-fighting. But for some fucked up reason, I followed her into the fray.
But by the time I finished having my latest existential crisis and made my way over to the battle, my companion had already cut through them all, wiping off guts as I got over to her. I don’t think she noticed I wasn't there assisting her because she didn't make any comments regarding my absence and again insisted that we make our way to the helm. So, we journeyed on.
From there, we made our way into what looked like some sort of lab with 3 unconscious people lying upright on lab tables. In front was a strange console that I couldn’t understand so I decided to leave it alone and move along. As I made my way further into the room, I noticed there were more of those pods, and not all of them were empty as I noticed a muffed banging of glass and what I assume was a cry for help.
“Do you hear that? I think someone is alive in one of those pods, we should try to save them.” I began to walk over to the pod where the noise was coming from.
“We have no time to pick up stragglers” She huffed and crossed her arms.
“You’re welcome to leave lady but I’m not leaving anyone behind” I put my hands on my hips, she groaned and whispered something under her breath but said nothing else.
I made my way over to the pod, that towered over me and saw a pale, raven-haired woman inside, I gave a little smile and a wave.
“Hey, you! I’m trapped in here, get me out” She pleaded, continuing to bang on the glass of her alien prison.
“I’d love to, but I have no idea how to, any ideas?” A look of embarrassment made its way across my face.
“It has something to do with that console, I think it needs some type of key to unlock it. Please hurry. I don’t want to die in here.” She responded.
“Alright, I’ll look around for a ‘key’” She seemed to calm down as I said that and turned on my heel to search the chamber.
I noticed there were two more fleshy doors, so I picked the closest one to the pod. Once the door peeled open a small horde of little brains rushed through, although not very concerned with our presence. Inside seemed to be a continuation of the lab from the other room and as I stepped inside, I noticed a body lying on the floor, so I took a look to see if they had the key I was looking for. As I rummaged through their pockets, I found some items and two different keys: one normal-looking and one alien-looking slate. I decided this was probably the answer to my problems and made my way back over to the console. Reassuring the girl in the pod that she was going to be fine, I inserted the slate into the socket.
The console hummed with energy and much like when I connected with my green companion, I felt the console resonating with the thing inside my head as it began to squirm, I had the feeling I only needed to think what I wanted it to happen. OPEN. The pod reacted, hissing and releasing steam as the lid popped open.
“I thought that damn thing was going to be my coffin. Thank you” Before I could respond to her, our minds meshed, and I could feel her gratitude was outweighed by her weariness because I had a 'gith' with me.
“What's a ‘gith’?” She was very surprised at that response and pointed at my traveling companion.
“You keep dangerous company” Her face soured.
“She killed like, four demons so maybe being dangerous is good -I like her” I rested my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes at her.
“Fair point. Seems like the fighting isn’t over yet. Let me come with you. We can get off this ship and watch each other's backs”
It was strange to me that neither of them acknowledged that our minds were merging, giving a glimpse into one another’s thoughts and feelings.
“What's the mind connection thing about? It makes me dizzy every time" My stomach turned a little bit.
“It must be because of those parasites they put in us…that’s why we need to get off this ship as soon as possible. I’m Shadowheart by the way”
"Right, yeah of course, silly me" I was taken aback at how casually she mentioned that.
"Mind flayer tadpoles." the green one spat.
Before we departed, Shadowheart told us to give her a moment and grabbed a weird object, it looked like a Rubix cube to be completely honest, and my curiosity peaked.
"What's that?" I pointed at the small, multi-sided object in her hands before she put it away in her haversack.
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. Let's head out.”
"Yes, let's not die here." My green companion grunted and set out for the other door in the chamber, and we followed behind.
I had more questions than answers, but I think at this point, I had enough existential crisis that I just decided that this was a dream and that whatever I did didn't matter because it was all inside my head. I was in no real danger and these people I'd imagined were just manifestations of my loved ones. This reassured me for about two minutes before we finally made our way to the helm.
A war waged inside the room we entered - cambions and imps versus mind flyers. Our minds connected and the instruction to go to the transponder echoed in my mind.
"What the fuck is a transponder?" I groaned. And at that moment, information flooded into my mind, letting me know exactly where to go and what to do.
It was a mad rush from that point on, everything happening in a haze. My green friend swung her sword, the goth one flung spells and I just ran as fast as I could to reach the transponder because I had a feeling that this ship would go down soon. I let my companions clear a path for me and I made my way through the maze of monsters and OSHA violations. Finally reaching what I knew to be the transponder the mind flayer implanted into my mind, I walked up to it and reached my hands out to grab two floating tentacles but before I was able to connect them, a red dragon burst through the wall.
It roared so loudly I thought my ear drums were going to burst and vomited fire all throughout the chamber. The force sent me back a few feet and I had to use all the strength I had to get on my feet and finish what I started. Grabbing the slimy tentacles as hard as I could, I jammed them together and what happened next, I'm not too sure.
I remember being trashed all around the chamber, flying to one end and hitting my head before my vision went dark, but I was still conscious. When I opened my eyes, I was somewhere else; an endless silvery void, a shimmering sea of shifting colors- pale blues, purples and streaks of radiant gold, floating throughout were massive asteroids or possibly chunks of civilization lost to time. I was weightless, there was no gravity to hold me down, I floated aimlessly, on the cusp of being lost in the infinite.
Looming over me was an angelic figure cloaked in a bright light which blurred their features, making it impossible to see who they really were. An invasive but warm presence floods my thoughts and begins to unravel the barriers of my mind. I could feel their mind wrapped around mine like a second skin, looking for something in the deepest parts of my psyche.
I could hear their voice force their way into my thoughts, it was smooth, humanlike but there was something so alien about the way it spoke into my mind.
“YOU ARE MINE NOW. MY POWER IS YOURS, YOUR WILL BENDS TO MINE” the voice boomed and echoed throughout my mind.
In that moment, I felt a burning sensation spread through my skull then to the rest of my body, my veins were glowing violet, and my hands started to crackle with psionic energy. My body trembled as my newfound abilities surged through me, this creature’s influence now permanently woven into my being.