Chapter 1: Splashdown

Darkness surrounded Nathan, as he floated weightless in the void. He could feel it clinging to him, smothering him.

A part of his mind welcomed this feeling, somehow perceiving it as a loving embrace, a comforting sensation. But his conscious mind began to fight and resist this thought, eventually overcoming it entirely and in doing so; Nathan awoke.

His senses told him he was submerged in something, and was slowly drifting down, yet he noticed through accident that he could breathe in this strange liquid that surrounded him. To call it a liquid, was not entirely accurate.

The substance seemed to have properties similar to kinetic sand, if Nathan made any sudden movements the substance would resist him proportionally, but if Nathan made slow, flowing movements the substance behaved more akin to a liquid.

Glancing around, Nathan could make out the figures of a few dozen limp humanoid forms of varying sizes and shapes, all of which were slowly drifting down further into the abyss below.

He could only see around fifty or sixty feet, before a darkness completely obscured his vision but up until that point he could see as clearly as one could in a low lit nightclub. Glancing up, he could see what looked to be the faintest traces of light, presumably the surface and a way out.

Carefully, Nathan began to half climb, half swim through the substance making sure to take long, slow deliberate swings with his arms in a hybrid of a rock climb and a breaststroke.

Upon reaching the surface, he found some kind of tight elastic-like substance running over the top. A substance that when he attempted to reach his hand through would simply stretch around the hand, like rubber or latex, rather than allow his hand through to the surface.

On his way up here, he had seen a few individuals attempt to force their way through the film, only to be flung back down with force with particularly unlucky ones being flung back so hard that the substance formed a solid behind them with which they cracked their heads on, falling limp and joining the others on their slow descent down. Deciding not to join their ranks, Nathan remained cautious, and slow in his approach to attempting to find a way out of the substance.

Eventually he managed to create a small tear in the film, by slowly pushing up and away with both of his hands. When the tear was made, he stuck his thumbs into the hole and with a steady and equal application of force managed to tear a gap wide enough to put his upper body through.

When his head emerged from the surface, he began to sputter, a blackish substance ejecting out with each cough. Eventually Nathan managed to gulp down air, and take in his surroundings.

He was in a sunken recess circular recess in the center of a larger circular room. Around the edge of this recess was an elevated platform that lay just above the liquid's level, and behind him was a strange tree trunk thick mass of disturbingly fleshy looking wires that grew up and into a large bulbous orb that hung in the center of the room above this recessed pool.

Slowly making his way over to the lip of the recess, and clambering up onto it with a degree of difficulty as the pool seemed to cling onto him as he attempted to break free. Tumbling onto his back, and sprawling out to catch his breath from the effort he could now more clearly make out the room itself.

The Orb was not just supported by the bundle of fleshy wires below it, but also above it there was a bundle though this one flared out and separated into individual bundles that then flowed into the ceiling in various directions.

It was here that Nathan noticed that despite the lack of any sign of lighting he could see incredibly well, easily being able to make out the detailing on the walls which a part of him wished he couldn't.

The reason for this desire to not see, was that the walls appeared to be distinctly, organic in appearance, not quite slimy but fleshy with most regions being partially covered with a ivory like mesh. In four corners of the room there was a slight protrusion from the wall that ran all the way from one side to the other across the ceiling and going around a small bundle of flesh wires that came out of the ceiling and into the orb.

These protrusions were completely covered in a solid covering of this bony material, and Nathan could tell that these were probably the load bearing structures of the room implying there was likely something heavy above him, this could either be more structure or potentially he was presently under ground.

After his first survey, he remained lying on his back trying to work out just what was going on.

A part of his mind wanted to panic, to scream for help, but Nathan knew that it was unlikely to get him anywhere and would just be a waste of energy and time.

Resolved in this, he decided he needed more information, and he was unlikely to be able to get more information remaining lying on the ground here, so he began to sit up. Upon doing so, a small tremor ran through the ground, followed by a deep thudding noise that seemed to come from the room.

Glancing around, as subsequent tremors and thuds rang out, he saw the Orb begin to twitch in sync with the phenomena. Cautiously backing away, and searching for an exit that he would not find, the twitching began to pick up in pace, the resulting tremors and thunderous sound causing Nathan to fall to his hands and knees to retain any semblance of stability.

Just as Nathan considered attempting to yank at the organic wires around him, the twitching stabilised into rhythmic, slow beats.

The tremors resided completely, leaving the room with nothing but a rhythmic, soft and low thump every thirty seconds or so.

Nathan waited a few seconds before standing on somewhat unsteady feet. What he saw, he could only describe as beautiful.

The bulbous orb was now lit up with fractal patterns that danced and played around its surface, emitting a soft bioluminescent pink. The light began to slowly trickle its way through the various wires that exited out the top of the orb, eventually finding the ceiling and causing it too to slowly light up with a soft but paler pink light that bathed the room.

In the new found hue, the room took on a distinctly less, creepy vibe though it was still heavily giving off Giger vibes to Nathan.

As Nathan began to search the room in the new light, he heard a voice echo all around him. It was disjointed, and almost seemed to be a choir of voices rather than just one. Initially he couldn't make out the words, the sounds all overlapped and caused him to grimace with the sudden onslaught of sound on his senses. But eventually they began to fall into sync, and Nathan could make out what was said.

"Master!" The voices were distinctly excited, and bordered on the edge of child-like and somehow animalistic.

Nathan glanced around trying to find what it was that was talking to him, eventually striding around the circular room to get a look on the other side of the orb. When he did so, Nathan heard a cacophony of playful laughter, then "Master, Beside, We."

Nathan froze, and glanced at the orb. Somehow sensing his gaze, the orb let out two quick beats and the sense of acknowledgement, and eagerness that was not his own washed over Nathan.

Completely out of his depth, and now at a complete loss that not even his overdeveloped sense of logic that had got him thus far without panicking could rationalise, Nathan walked over to a wall and slid down it cupping his face in his hands and laughing at the incredulity of the situation.

Naturally his first instinct at this juncture was to pinch himself, which he did and it hurt so he concluded that either this was an incredibly lucid dream, or more than likely this was somehow real.

It was also at this point, specifically after he had cupped his face, that Nathan noticed something odd. On either side of his face, roughly where the cheekbone would be was an elevated ridge that ran all the way up and towards the top of his head, tapering out shortly before reaching his scalp.

Moreover, his cheeks were distinctly not as chubby as he remembered them, and now glancing over his body he noticed a few more things had changed.

Firstly, he was distinctly skinnier than he remembered himself being and secondly he was not wearing any clothing he ever remembered possessing. Instead a leathery sleeveless robe hugged his form tightly, the rear of the garment extended down to just above the back of the knee, with the front part terminating at the waist.

Underneath this robe, he wore what he'd best describe as a tight fitting sports shirt that sharply terminated at his wrists and hips. It was heavier than one would expect, but not so that you would notice it immediately.

Glancing at it on his arms Nathan could see that the material was strangely thick despite its tight fit, and on closer inspection he made out that it was composed of layers of a distinctly hoarse material woven together, with the exception of the layer that had direct contact with his skin.

On his legs, there was again similarly form fitting trousers, though there was a little more space than his shirt gave but not much. Once again they were made from a tight fitting layered weave of material that gave the external texture a rough feel to it.

Going further down, Nathan saw that on his feet were two distinctly military looking boots, spit polished to a tee and laces tied with seemingly geometric precision so much so that the loops on both shoes looked identical.

A few minutes passed with Nathan checking his new far more macular form over, somehow the exercise brought a degree of calm to his rather frazzled mind.

When his inspection was over, he had managed to muster enough courage, or more likely curiocity to ask the creature he shared this space with a few questions.

"Where the fuck am I?" Nathan asked, a degree of incongruous mirth in his voice.