Darklight: The New World

Part 12: The Light At The Bottom Of The Well

Soran slowly made his way from the ground to his feet. He was soaked through to his skin and he was shivering in the cool wind of the early morning sunlight. It was going to be a warm day later on, but at this point the breeze cut straight through his sodden clothes.

“I think we need to get you out of here” The woman stated, leading Soran towards a waist-height podium that was the same sandy-colour as the stone pavement. The pattern of the stone pavement changed around this to a large hexagon that the podium was attached to. There was a slight step up onto the hexagonal stone that Soran stumbled over and ended up sitting with his back resting against the Podium. His head was still splitting and he was starting to feel dizzy and nauseous. Built into the podium was a small touchscreen terminal containing strange symbols and what appeared to be a map. The woman cycled through the screens and, appearing to have selected an option, metallic railings lifted out of the ground to mid-height as the pale cyan symbols appeared to glow from within the stone hexagon itself. The entire flagstone then lifted off the ground on a pre-selected course towards a mid-sized building a few blocks away. The view was something to behold - the city, much much smaller than Utopia of course, expanded below the arcanely-suspended platform in a sea of light brown stone. Soran could make out the shapes of some of the buildings he had seen in the Undercity, gleaming clean and new in the early morning sun. This city was a far cry than its future self. All around them in the air these floating platforms ferried the population from place to place ready for a new day.

“What’s your name?” Soran asked the woman as he looked up at the woman who had so selflessly come to his aid. 

“My name is Serene” She replied with a smile. She was wearing a long white coat over baggy black trousers and a turquoise blouse with a ruffled collar. On her feet were black high-heeled enclosed boots.

“So what’s yours?” She asked Soran, taking a seat down beside him to better hear him over the sounds of the city.

“Soran” He replied.

“Well I’m pleased to meet you Soran” Serene said, patting him on the back. The sound of his hand on his sodden coat created a wet slapping sound at which she frowned. “We’re on the way to the hospital to give you a once over. Can you tell me what happened to you?”

Soran couldn’t. 

“I... I don’t know” He replied. 

“Hmm amnesia” Serene thought to herself, examining Soran’s face and looking into his eyes one after another. “Pupils are sluggish, it looks like you may have a concussion”.

“Are you a healer?” Soran asked her. Serene looked taken aback.

“Healer?” She said with a smile. “That’s a bit of a strange term. I suppose I am, but my actual title is Doctor. Doctor Serene Lance”.

“This is going to sound strange” Soran said to her. “But what is the date?” Serene looked at him in sympathy.

“It’s ok, concussion can be very confusing. It’s the 17th of the 5th Semester of the Spring Solstice”. Soran had to think about this for a moment and remember his conversion rules for the Utopian date system. That made this... hundreds of years in the past. He really was in pre-Rammachandra Arcadia.

They were approaching a building that seemed much larger than any in the area. It appeared to be a squat but very wide hexagon with four large arms extending out equidistantly half way up the building. Along these arms appeared to be a series of landing stations for the transportation platforms that Soran and Serene were currently using.

Soran guessed he was around seven stories from the ground. Around them were four other stations with these transport platforms coming and going every couple of minutes or so. Serene helped Soran to his feet as he stumbled a little. Whatever the hell had happened to him has sapped him of nearly all of his energy - his legs were like jelly, his head throbbed with pain with every beat of his heart, and every one of his muscles ached as though he had been through the most rigorous exercise routine of his life.

“Come on” Serene said to him. “I’ll drop you off in A&E to get you checked over before my shift”. Soran smiled at this kind woman who had, without knowing him, helped him in his time of need.

“Thank you, Serene. Thank you so much”. He smiled at her again, but all he could think of was Natasha and how he needed to get back to Utopia. If she didn’t help Vittoria then he was certain she would kill Natasha - snap the mental link between them and scramble her brain. Or something like that.

Walking into the upper entrance of the hospital Soran was hit by its resemblance to a Utopian hospital - large sweeping corridors with blue vinyl floors and white walls. Signs hanging from the ceiling in a strange and unknown language to Soran likely directed people to different departments in various areas of the hospital. Serene lead Soran past the throngs of people and followed the red line painted on the floor towards Accident And Emergency. As they stepped through the automatic double doors into what seemed like a waiting room Soran saw something that made his blood run cold.