Tales From the Void

Fiona

Sight. Smell. Touch. Sound. Those were the first things that he felt in that split instance of life being jolted back into his previously inanimate body. They hit him like a speeding truck, fast and impactful. The intense lights being shown on him burned his eyes and skin. He smelled blood and mold and all sorts of rancid horrors around him. He smelled all the fear and despair in the air. But, most of all, he felt immense, immeasurable pain. All his nerves sprung to life all at once, singing a cacophony of readings and static reanimation. He glanced the sources of the horrible reinvigoration: two giant tubes plugged into the sides of his body, coils pierced deep into his flesh and hooked into the inner workings of his body, his abomination of a body.

All that intense pain caused only one reaction in him: screaming. His jaw unhinged and he let loose a cavalcade of terrified screams. But, they weren't just his screams. There were multiple screams, hundreds of screams, all going off at once. There was no centrality in all the chaos, he felt like his brain was about to split in two. Actually, two would be more preferable, it felt more like his mind was ripping in hundreds of different directions. He flailed around wildly, struggling to rip the giant tubes from his body, still screeching like a wicked bansher. It was all so horrible. It was all so painful. Several times, he bashed his head against the metal plate he was situated on just to try to put an end to it, but to no avail.

Then, he heard something else, something that wasn't his own voice (or voices perhaps.) He heard several strange barkings around him, then saw a shadowy figure rush in front of the blaring lights for a second. He looked around wildly and spotted another, then another, and another. Strange creatures that walked on two legs and were dressed in long, flowing white coats. It took him and second to realize they were the source of the noise, chattering back and forth amongst each other as they began surrounding him. He screamed at them to try and make them be quiet, make them go away, but they just kept coming closer and their voices grew louder.

Suddenly, he felt something building in his chest, something hot, so hot and even more painful. He felt it rush through his body and up his throat , and from his jaws came a spew of bright red smoke and swirling black and white fire. The creatures screamed and scattered away from him as he unleashed more deadly breath at them. However, it was only a few moments before one of them had snuck behind him and snapped something heavy over his face. The device was so heavy, in weighed his head down and forced him back into helplessness. He thrashed around under the weight of the cage muzzle, but it did no good to get it off.

He then felt another sharp pain in the back of his exposed skull. The creature who had muzzled him was taking a sharp object and carving something into him. He thrashed even more to try and buck him off, but he was surprisingly strong and held him still as he carved the inscription. He watched as the creatures surrounded him again and also began prying at his body. He was helpless. He was defenseless. He was exposed and completely unprotected. It just kept going on and on, the endless slew of physical examination that he could not break out of.

Finally, after many hours it must have been, the large pipes stuck into him were removed, but, by this point, all of the pain had made him numb. All the voices in his head seemed to have calmed down, though they were no less scattered and chaotic. It took him a while to realize he was being pulled along by a chain through hallways of caged dragons. They all went past him in one, darkened blur, his body too exhausted to register anything around him anymore. He felt fatigued, like he may fall over at any second, but his guide cruelly wouldn't allow him to rest.

Finally, they stopped at a metal cage situated firmly against another wall of them. He felt the creature push him firmly inside before the door was shut behind him. He collapsed almost instantly on the cold floor, his breathe heavy under the muzzle. He felt himself start to shut down. The voices began to subside and all he was left with was his breathing that eventually lulled him to rest. Suddenly, everything was dark, but that in itself was nice. He hadn't existed for very long now, but he knew he liked the dark. It made him feel a little safer, even when that was clearly far from true. He felt himself drift off and fall into deep slumber.