Awakenings - 3

Julian faced the murky polikinnate. The sky had darkened significantly and the only light was the glow emitting from the pillar of universal energy. A soft wind blew out from the pillar and rustled Julian's hair.

"Distortion.....you lived," Julian's red eyes flashed in the soft light as he stated coldly. The last time they had fought, Julian had thought he had finally ended the murky polikinnate in front of him. When Julian had created the spatial lock, never in his wildest dreams did he imagine for murky polikinnate to be alive.

"...haha....I did...but at a cost...." Distortion replied with a raspy voice. His voice contained untold resentment and hate all directed towards Julian who had made him this way.

"Of course, your body seems to be a liquid now," Julian noted with a hint of appreciation.

".....youuu..." Distortion thundered. To polikinnates, their shape was directly linked to their strength. Formless represented the weakest state. Followed by the gaseous and then liquid state.

"....no matter.....you have grown...old and weak....you cannot...stop me from.....killing the perfect hosts..." Distortion calmed down and replied slowly.

Glancing at the pillar, Julian answered calmly, "Over my dead body."

"I would.....have it no other way..." Distortion spat hatefully. Gathering their energies, the two beings flew at each other and engaged in a fight that would only end when one of them died.

-----

Emmia woke up in a cold sweat. She had been dreaming of facing that terrifying purple being. Of dying and ceasing to exist. Her breath hitched slightly as she remembered Seril getting knocked away. The last thing she remembered was something inside her snapping before she lost consciousness. Sitting up she tried to calm down as her breathing continued to increase.

"Mia, calm down." a familiar voice sounded out.

Emmia turned her head to see her brother laying on the ground staring at her slightly concerned.

"Ica!" Emmia exhaled in relief. Her breathing returned to normal as she saw a familiar face.

"Where are we?" Emmia asked curiously, finally looking around. The twins were in a completely white space, from the floor to the walls to the ceiling. The room contained an eerie glow as Emmia squinted her eyes slightly.

"Look up," Icarth replied.

Emmia looked up, and what she found were floating letters that spelled their names. 'Emmia Struze' and 'Icarth Struze' floated peacefully in the middle of the air, defying all logic. Well, not that there was any reasonable logic left at that point.

"Are we in our memory space?" Emmia asked confused. "Why is it joined?"

Before Icarth could reply, an unpleasant feeling swept over him. This time, even Emmia felt it instantly as she too paused. The feeling was not exactly describing danger. It was more like that disturbing feeling you get when you are all alone at night, walking through your house. Your brain starts to play tricks on you, and you start to feel increasingly uncomfortable until you decide to huddle up in your bed for safety.

That sort of unpleasant feeling kept increasing as a door suddenly appeared in front of them. A simple oak door with a door frame and a handle. The handle turned and a tall lanky figure wearing a suit stepped out.

But it seemed as if the door was too small for the tall figure. So in the end it had to dip its head and then step out. When it did, it created a weird picture for the twins. It looked human, but its features and proportions made it look inhuman. It was tall, about 10 feet, and had very skinny limbs with awkward proportions. Covering its body was a full black and white suit. Interestingly, its skin was a shade of white, almost blending into the room.

But all these seemed to pale in comparison to its face. There it wore a mask. Or to be specific, it looked like the mask itself was its face. The mask blended into the rest of its head in a very disturbing fashion. On the mask, there were no other features except for a mouth. The animated mouth on a solid surface added to its unsettling feel.

The figure raised its hands and said, "Welcome my hosts! I never thought that this day would come, yet here we are!" Its mouth moved, but weirdly enough no sound seemed to come out of it. All the words were directly conveyed to the minds of the twins.

"Who are you?" Emmia asked while she moved towards Icarth for comfort.

"Hmmm, tough question. Tough question indeed. If you're asking my name, then I can't tell you." the being replied with an upbeat voice.

"Why not?" Icarth asked as he narrowed his eyes. The being was suspicious. Very suspicious. Icarth sat up while Emmia stood next to him.

"Well, if I did say my name then your cute little heads would explode," the being said cheerfully while miming an explosion with his long hands.

Icarth and Emmia shivered. While it could have been that the being was lying to them, it spoke with such a surety that they reflexively felt that he was telling the truth.

"Then what are you?" Emmia asked uneasily as she changed her question.

"Ding ding ding! Right question! I am a higher dimensional being that has taken residence in your bodies. Well to be exact a part of me. And by that, I mean a significant portion of me." The being stated cheerfully.

"If you're still confused, think of me as a tiny orb inside each of you that lives inside and in exchange gives you some cool powers." The being continued after seeing their confused expressions.

Emmia patted her body while Icarth narrowed his eyes.

"Inside us? Where inside?" Icarth asked.

"Well, that's also a hard one. I'm there but I'm not. Just like I'm here right now, but not exactly. For all your purposes, just think of it as I am there!" The being exclaimed smiling creepily. It had sparkly white teeth and inside its mouth was just a black void that didn't seem to lead anywhere.

"Where are we?" Emmia asked after a pause, seeing that the being was just confusing them.

"Wow! Another right question! Currently, I've pulled you two into your merged memory spaces to undergo the bestowal of my abilities." The being clapped animatedly.

Emmia flinched backward and Icarth stood up.

"What do you mean....by bestowal?" Icarth asked, completely alert. His senses were now tingling with uneasiness. The presence of the being was getting increasingly suffocating for both Emmia and Icarth. At the start, they didn't feel anything, but as time passed, the pressure was starting to come down on them.

"It's where I give you my powers so that you can use them outside. I think you call it 'gifts'? Well, this process should have been automatic but complications arose, and...oh dear" the being paused its rant after seeing Emmia and Icarth's strained expressions. Its presence was exerting untold pressure on the twins and it was increasing exponentially with each second.

"Seems like I dont have much time," the being said in a depressed tone. "Well, I will give you my abilities now. Enjoy the abilities!" The being cheered up and extended its bony hands towards the twins. By now the memory space was shaking and rumbling dangerously, indicating a danger that was soon approaching.

Touching their heads, the being transferred its powers to them and sent them out before they died from its mere presence.

A creepy grin etched itself onto its face mask thing as he leaned against the door.

"I wonder what these lifeforms will show me this time! I can't wait!" The being said with morbid excitement.

In the merged memory space, universal energy gathered and started to form letters to indicate what the gift of the twins was.

"Oh no, that won't be interesting," the being muttered seeing the phrase being written. Raising his lanky arm, he brought it down and split the phrase that was forming.

"There!" The being said finally satisfied. "I should leave now, ooooh, I just can't wait!" The being shivered in delight and exited out the door with disappeared behind him.