Chapter 5 - Life. The unexpected

  Dear unexpected guest,

  We do hope you have had an exquisite night, as you seem to have inhaled some of our most esteemed product. It is rather wistful that we have yet to meet and exchange greetings properly, but I assure you that the time for such pleasantries has yet to come. As both me and my associate have duties that need attending, we are sadly unable to attend to your needs at this time of day. Taking in mind the possible side-effects, we would advice you to head over to a nearby water source and divulge in its liquid riches. We would like to express our greatest desire to engage in conversation on the topic of sudden visit and its consequences at a later date.

  Yours faithfully,

  Rick Stone and Archibald Leister

  ..

  Staring intently at the note, previously stuck to his forehead with some Scotch tape, Elliot tried to focus and read the seemingly endless letter. He had never, in all his years of attending school and university, seen such awful handwriting. Random strokes and crazy outbursts of ink filled the page, making it even harder for him to read, especially in his current state of confusion and disarray.

  “What happend last night? And what is this note?”

  he wondered out loud. After sitting up straight, holding his head with his hands, he slowly started to recall what had ocurred the previous night. The sudden realisation that the owner of the mysterious voice was not 20 feet away, his rushed entrance and the drug fumes that had hit him. He almost regretted not doing many drugs in the past, as his head felt like a couple of bulldozers had had a party on top of him.

  “Fuck me, my head hurts!”

  Thinking out loud, he continued his tirade.

  “Slap me with a scone and a broom, what did I inhale?!”

  Drowsily standing up, he reached for the table next to him, only to find his arms could not reach. Elliot had already not been feeling very well and this falling-addition only increased his sickness. Standing up again, now even more slowly, he stumbled out of the tent and into the noisy outside world. While all around him people were walking about, conversing and generally not having a bad day, Elliot showed the world the insides of his stomach. With a loud belch, he graced the world with an unsightly view, one that could not be forgotten easily.

  Stepping over the green bits and pieces of his previous meals, he made his way towards the only body of water that he knew of, the giant lake the village was located next to. For some reason it did not occur to him once that he could have just asked any bypasser for some water, he just decided to follow the letter’s advice.

  What he did not expect, was a completely packed shore. All around the lake, people were gathered, looking at the giant black spire in the middle. Loud, enthusiastic yelling, paired with hushed whispering, created a strange atmosphere that completely flew over Elliot’s head. Pushing away all that dared stand in front of him, keeping him from the sweet water, he reached the shore faster than he’d expected. In his rush to make it to his liquid salvation, he tumbled and dove right into the lake.

  Splashing about, he resurfaced after frantically waving his arms around. Wildly looking around, he noticed several people swimming towards the middle, trying to touch the spire. In his frenzied state, half awake and still a bit under the influence of the infamous ‘Master Kush’, he justified their behavior as one, trying to overcome his attempt to drink some water. How and why, he could later not remember, nor did he want to.

  Having rhetorized that this was the case, he shot through the water, using his (best?) swimming techniques. Onlookers could clearly tell this man was not completely clear-minded, as he displayed what only could be described as water-flailing, whilst moving forward slowly.

  It felt like it had only take a few second when he finally reached the spire. Sadly, when Elliot went up to the imposing giant, he could not remember why he had swum all the way over there. Neither could he recall why he even wanted to go into the water, the only thing on his mind at that point, was his fatigue. Swimming uncontrollably for over fifteen minutes really took its toll. He decided to follow the other swimmers in their behavior of resting against the pillar. They, for some odd reason, seemed to float perfectly still, not moving an inch.

  Weird.

  Oh well, he was very tired and the spire offered the promise of some rest. Reaching out his hand towards the spire, he had nothing on his mind but leaning.

  ..

  What?

  What is happening? What are these thoughts?

  Now fully awake, Elliot’s mind worked overtime as he tried to figure out what was going on. Slowly but surely, his mind connected the dots and he exclaimed:

  “You are kidding me, that stoner guy actually did get supernatural powers from the spire! I mean, yes, I did hope this would be real, but come on.”

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  You have selected option ‘yes’.

  Calibration will now commence.

  Wait, what?

  No, no, no, wait up.

  “I misspoke, don’t mind what I just said!”

  He frantically belted out, but to no avail.

  Everything turned black.

  ..

  Like, really black.

  Super black.

  No light black.

  Elliot payed great attention to the words filling his mind, but for some reason, his body could not move, rendering him unable to speak. Thinking back at his earlier encounter, the words he thought he had spoken, were actually just in his mind. Overcome by this strange realisation, he could do nothing but wait. For what, he did not know.

  Sadly, he did not have to wait long to find out what would follow. Intense pain. Incredible pain, to lenghts he had never felt before, or could ever have imagined. What flashed before his mind’s eye, was an image of a giant hand, splitting his body into countless parts with a massive axe. After that, multiple scenario’s flew by, all containing some form of him being split up into different parts, all accompanied by excruciating pain.

  Darkness.

  A void of nothing.

  It could not even be attributed with the color black.

  The only thing in sight, was the absence of everything.

  Then, from the darkness, a light.

  A shiver.

  ..

  “Dude”

  No. Please, no. Not this again. I’m done.

  Another flash of light.

  “Dude, can you hear me?”

  “No, leave me be.”

  After another flash of light, Elliot’s vision was filled with waves of light. As he opened his eyes, he quickly eyed his surroundings, those being the inside of the tent that now felt oddly familiar.

  “Not this again..”

  Two heads popped into his field of vision and he sighed, recognizing their owners.

  “Dude, welcome back.”

  “Yeah yeah, I’m awake. Why am I here?”

  Grinning, the still well-dressed man threw his hands up, before enthusiastically exclaiming:

  “You touched the stone, man! You passed out, so you got a good power as well, dude!”

  Wait what?

  “What are you saying? I don’t follow.”

  Now, the scruffy man joined in.

  “It appears, old chap, that you have been granted a strong power as well. We have observed that only those with extraordinary gifts have received an accompanied surge of overwhelming pain and despair.”

  Startled by the sudden, seemingly crazy, information, Elliot sat straight up. Confused and lost, his face showed a look of turmoil.

  “I have no idea what is happening right now. Who are you people? Why am I here and what is up with those fucking spires?!”

  *

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