Ethereal

Chapter 14

The rock I was clinging to was pretty slippery, so I dug my fingers into it as much as I could to yank myself up on top of it. I felt the rock practically turning to gravel under my hands as I did so, and as I stood up straight I found the tiny pieces stuck in my palms. 

It was terrifying how strong, how durable, I had become. I tried not to think about it, and how strong someone would have to be to kill me now. How strong the angels were. Weren't angels meant to be good? Had they really gone around killing babies like myself? It made me shudder, at least now I was choosing that fate. How could I defend myself as a baby? 

I brushed the grit off of my hands, pulling the tiny stones out one by one. I noticed that it had left tiny cuts across my hands, most of which were bleeding slightly. 

Huh, so I could still be injured. 

As I stood on the rock, I noticed that the small island wasn't quite what it appeared to be. There were about 8 rocks, all about the same size, placed in a perfect circle. The rocks were fairly large, but in the middle of them all was a similarly perfectly circular pool of water, about 2m across. I couldn't see through the water at all, I only noticed that it was perfectly still. 

Kneeling down at the edge of the pool, I noticed that though my hands still had blood on them, almost all of the cuts had already healed over. 

I shuddered again, this did not feel like me. 

Dipping my hands into the pool in front of me, I began to try and wash off the blood. The water was cool to the touch at first, but suddenly it was dimly glowing, and I could feel it heating up.

I recoiled quickly, pulling my hands out. A sudden chill in the air made me shiver, and I was reminded of that time not so long ago when I was working, asking to leave early. I felt a shiver then, and my boss had been oddly nice to me. 

Had it begun, even then? And what did the shiver mean, was it an announcement of the portal opening? In which case I would have to hurry, the angels would know. And they would be here soon. 

The pool was now glowing, was this the portal? I looked into the pool, and had the sudden thought that I was going to have to swim through it.

I sighed and placed my palms on its surface. As I touched the water, I watched a ripple across its surface, and I lowered my hands in further.

Only... now there was only a thin film of water there. So on the other side, my hands met the air. Taken by surprise, having been expecting some resistance, I fell forwards, directly into the pool.

Even more surprising, the side I came out on was seemingly a vertical wall, as I found myself falling forwards onto the ground. 

I gasped as I fell, landing on what appeared to be some kind of white marble. It was pure weight, and I noticed that as I pushed myself up into a standing position it didn't crack under my strength.

It reminded me of the floor in a dream I once had... the one with the frightened eyes. I turned to look behind myself, where the portal was. It was the same 2m pool, only it stood vertical. The water was unmoving still, and it seemed to glimmer.

Slowly turning back around, I found myself facing a vast room. It reminded me of a courthouse, only the rows of seats were stacked high against the walls, and each person seated wore clothes of a pearly white that seemed to complement their stunning faces. They were angels, I was sure. Everything in this room was white, it was almost making my eyes hurt. And it was all so clean, how was that possible?

The room was so huge, there were so many people. Was this the council? They peered at me curiously, many of them looked confused. I noticed many of them directing this confusion to a woman, who seemed to be some kind of a judge. She sat on a much larger, higher table, and had small eyes that stared at me, making me feel as though she were looking right into my soul.