The faceless

My left kidney, so that's the missing part of me, a contraption made for cleansing impurities from the body's systems. Why did it target my kidney? How significant is the loss of the left one? Is the body directly connected to its spiritual counterpart somehow? Argh, it hurts to think about it, I will still carry on, I have to, I can never afford to fall apart, I just can't, no matter how much this world spins and twists us all out of shape.

"Straid? Hey, are you there?" Her face, it is so close, did I space out again? It's all getting so noisy, like bullets of rain hitting a straw-thin glass ceiling. I need to set things straight, I need to regain both bodily utility and, clarity.

"I'm here, it's just, taxing you know, I think I'm going to go to sleep.".

"Of course, don't worry about it, is it something else you need?"

"Report to Sara, tell her that I'll be able to brief her on the events tomorrow."

"I'll do that, just rest up ok?"

"Will do.". I just hope that my rest will remain dreamless.

A dark space, a flor akin to red marble, barely lighting up my surroundings, in front, there's something, large almost glimmering, alienated by its drab and oppressive surroundings, it's a golden scale of epic proportions, and beyond its motionless stature sounds a quiet roar, something grand and constant, yet calm and retracted. This scale, why is it here? Unmoving, is it awaiting something to measure? And when? It's metal, it is vibrant and warm, such an intense yet gentle warmth, something spurring up from the depths, reminiscent to memories of childhood, no not the memories specifically, it is one thing, a distinct feeling of unison, like being completed by someone, being one and the same. This is calming, yet foreboding in some sense, something unknown yet to come.

*Splash* A sound, vibrating from that unending body behind the scale, what is it? Ripples, vibrating through the dark and bottomless scape of water somewhere. There its epicenter, maybe ten meters in front of me something had disappeared beneath the tiny dark waves, what could it have been? This feeling, is there someone else here with me right now? Where? Back by the scale, there's nothing but darkness disturbing the red ground, could it be out there, in those dark waves? Maybe, wait there's someone there, walking atop the water turned away from me, with a light illuminating the ocean in front of her, is she carrying a flashlight or some extremely efficient torch? I can't tell from this distance, this feeling, it's reminiscent, something important, it is like I should know something specific, is it who she is? I don't think I've ever seen her before in my life, I must reach out I must.... *Splash*

Water, everywhere, where? What's up? What's down? This cold, pressing its way into my nostrils and forcing its way down my throat, filling my lungs with burning bubbles ready to burst, everything is so dark and blurry where am I? There's something, a stream of light again, and a hand reaching out for me, I'll just need to grab on to it. The fingers entwine, they feel soft and gentle as I'm getting pulled up by my unseen savior. The air, the coughing, the spinning, the water dispersing from my lungs, it feels like a breath of life, that hair, so pearly white, whose hair is that? That girl! It must be her where... my eyes, what is that burning light, beaming, obscuring everything else that surrounds it, but I can still see it, those strands of pearly white, I just got to reach out and figure out the thing I need, I just know it's necessary, just a little bit closer, past that blinding burn... The ceiling, the sickbed, an empty chair at my side, the lights are out, is it nighttime or the early hours of the day? I can't tell. That girl, who is she? I didn't get to know. Not a word, not a face, just a touch, that pure white hair, and this persistent feeling refusing to let go.

What's the time? I don't know, just the concept of time itself seems a little skewed, is it because of that egg? I'm finding myself staring into that blank white ceiling, pondering my thoughts and reminiscing about the things that I've seen, what can it all mean? And how can I achieve the best possible outcome towards my goals? That faceless apparition, what could it mean? that obscuring bright burning light, could she perhaps be an...

"Glad to see that you have recovered consciousness Questenbaum, I will need you to tell me what happened when the observatory transferred your psyche to the Ripple", I guess tomorrow's already here.

"The Ripple, it's a fitting name for that place. Sara, what's the Ripple?"

"The Ripple is a non-physical plane of existence, occupating a shared space between the dimensional walls, being able to perceive the ripple one can detect both shifts and changes between dimensions, changes that can manifest as ripples accompanied with mirages based on the creature or event creating that change, shift, or disturbance. In addition, the Ripple can be used to attune people to scout out certain creatures or person's wich the subject has established a connection. That's the cliff notes, are they satisfactory for now? We should start to focus on the event, what happened? What did you see?".

"Before I tell you, can you tell me where June is?"

"I don't see how that's relevant to the conversation, but after she recovered and you regained consciousness we placed her under several small tests, don't worry we didn't send her or anyone else inside the observatory, we can't risk it until we know what happened to you, we are only doing basic tests which will reveal her strengths when facing spiritual entities and the things from beyond, she's been at it for a while but she will not be off before an estimate of five hours from now.".

"Good, I don't know how to break this to her, I picked up the signal of Deustarmer, the reason you could not find it is not because it's gone, it's because it has merged to a human host.".

"Chrys, the radical unit 10 was tasked to track down and bring in? But that's not possible, no human body or spirit can withstand a merge with such a creature, he should have been torn apart mere moments after the merge, it must be something more at play."

"Anyway, I saw the entire Ripple change as I could see him in its distance, where the sky reaches the ocean, he sensed me, then he, he let the shadow of Deustarmer fed upon me."

"That explains your injuries, normally one would be pretty safe within the space of the Ripple, he must possess the ability to sense and interact with multiple dimensional layers while being maintained in our physical reality, of course, he might have gotten the ability to perform dimensional leaps. Thanks for the info Questenbaum, it will be of great importance." No, I must tell her the rest.

"Wait, Sara, something else happened, as I was fed upon something happened when I drifted off believing that this was the end something came to me, I saw and experienced something that I just can't shake.".

"What happened?"

"I woke in the antarctic permafrost within a sun cross of maimed bodies, and the sky, the sky seemed to shift unnaturally fast between the cycle of night and day, I decided to wander, hopefully, to find some way back and I came upon this great hole in the ice within a space where a shadow had taken hold within the ice as far as I could see, Inside the hole was a den of flesh, and at the sixteenth cycle the flesh parted revealing this seemingly bottomless pit of blue luminescent fluid, and within it, monstrosities beyond what I've ever witnessed beforehand, hundreds of worm-like creatures, hooked teeth and neon tendrils protruding from the depths of their bowels sensing you and gripping you tightly, and in the center of this pond was a worm several times larger than the others, ten meters in diameter thickness at least and it must have been more than forty meters long and its head was one deep black pupil, do you think..." Shock, that's a first, so it is as serious as I suspected, there's fear too dragged over her face, boarding panic.

"We are taking off to Antarctica this instance"

"What about Chrys?"

"He's still the top priority for the tenth unit, this must require the support and attention from headquarters, we also have to call in the first, third, and seventh unit.". The first and third, wait, the document, A5 countermeasures to be carried out by the first and third unit.

"The first and third so that means..."

"You've been doing research, yes it might mean that we have an awakening on our hands.".

The one resting beneath the arctic ice, the deep sea dweller, Leabaidha.