Nice Byx

"Answers"

     My eyes sprang open and I took in the sight of many vibrant colors slowly fusing and diffusing, in a long slow spiral. It was chaotically beautiful. Then literally, in the blink of an eye, my whole world shifted. I was now looking up at the milky white Conticurl looming in the sky yet this was the exact scene I had just been looking at a moment ago. What had that Skrill done to me?

   As my sense of feeling slowly began returning to me, I took notice of the hard uneven texture of dirt under my body. Sitting up slowly, I realized two things. I must have collapsed, because now I was lying on the ground with my white robes stained brown from the dirt. The second thing I noticed was that there was a pressure building behind my eyes. It could have been a side effect of the Skrill or maybe I had hit my head while I was out. Either way, I wanted to stop it before it actually began to hurt. I shut my eyes tightly trying to suppress the feeling. As the pressure began to spread to my forehead, it became clear that it wouldn't be silenced that easily.

  Giving up, I opened my eyes, and my vision seemed distorted once again. All I could see was blue, flowing back and forth, getting closer and further simultaneously.

  "Leks, please stand." A familiar, but garbled voice spoke from above me. Looking up, I saw Sage Syn's head sitting atop an ocean of blue that was swaying slowly to the rhythm of the breeze. The ever-increasing pressure wasn't going to make this easy, but the Sage isn't someone I wished to keep waiting. Gritting my teeth as the pain began ricocheting inside of my head; I managed to get to my feet.

   The world was on an indecisive tilt, constantly shifting slightly, only adding to my overall sense of confusion. The pain in my head was overshadowed by a bloated heavy feeling encompassing my whole body. My limbs felt like dead weight bringing me down and I knew before I started falling that I was going to feel the hard embrace of the ground again soon. 

   The Sage, as if he knew what I was going through, grabbed hold of my shoulder firmly, steadying me. He looked in my eyes and in a low tone addressed me.

   "You saw something, didn't you?"

   "Yes," I admitted. "At least I think I did." I still wasn't too sure what to make of what I'd seen. Why had I even seen it? No one else seemed to have a reaction to the Skrill. And could a plant really inspire such an intense vision? A lightning bolt of pain, the largest one yet, assaulted me, and I couldn't help but let out a low grunt.

   Without saying a word, Sage Syn lifted his robed hand and tapped the exact spot he had before, this time without the Skrill on his finger. The instant he lifted his finger, the pain was gone. It had completely vanished, and although I didn't know how he did it, I was so much more than grateful. The Sage turned around and began to whisper to the tan Byx beside him. Without the pain distracting me, I became aware of another foreign feeling inside of me. This one, though, was much more subtle and muted than the other, and it left me with a warm light feeling all over. Was this my Ky? 

   I took in the crowd around me, attempting to decipher if any of them felt it too. If they did, they showed no signs of it in their expression. In fact, most of them held a confused expression with their eyes locked on me. I turned around to face the group of Dullards, and their faces mirrored the ones of the other Byx's. The ones that hadn't already been illuminated showed small hints of worry in their eyes and none of them wanted to meet my gaze. That was until my eyes found a pair of bright eyes staring directly back at them.

   Though his eyes were a new color, they still held the same kind expression they always had. Seeing them, reminded me of all the trouble we'd gotten in together. Admittedly, most of the time it had been my fault, but I honestly never tried to start trouble. Venhj was the only other Byx who seemed to understand that, and it was his coming to my defense that usually landed him on watering duty right alongside me. Some good had come of it though, because now we were so close that we could convey whole sentences to one another with only the slight raise of an eyebrow or a subtle smirk. Venhj's expression was one of complete concern as he stared at me. I flashed him the same smile he had shown me earlier to let him know I was fine. His expression relaxed, but there were still signs of skepticism in his eyes.