The Raven's POV-Chapter 32: Crisis

The inside of the chamber was rather spacious; That was the first thought of Rowayne who had just entered the chamber.

While he was trying to figure out if he could that the glass was bullet proof or not which he couldn’t.

The door closed with a metallic clink which was ironic considering the sound came from a door made of glass

Unless the door wasn’t made of glass it just looked like it did, which would be quite amazing by itself

Since Rowayne had seen something that looked so glass-like but wasn’t glass.

Transparent plastic of course did not count since not being able to tell them apart from one another was a skill issue in Rowayne’s book.

The book of course meant the personal diary and not some metaphorical phrase meant to imply his mindset.

Then the chamber started filling, from below.

The liquid was green and quite viscous.

The moment it came in contract with Rowayne’s skin, a sense of euphoria started enveloping him from within

It was subtle at first, and gradually increased as more and more of his skin came in contract with the liquid.

At some point it became so overwhelming that he had to bite his lips until they bled and clench his hands into fist so hard, they started bleeding.

Just to prevent himself from drowning in the immense pleasure and he was barely succeeding.

The wounds close as soon as they are inflicted, which was a blessing in this situation, the pain of skin being repeatedly pierced was harder to get used to than an ordinary bleeding wound.

Then a change occurred in the chamber. It happened when Dr Connor initiated phase 1.

Small almost imperceptible waves travelled through the liquid, it was unnoticeable for the naked eye, what wasn’t unnoticeable though was the liquid slowly changing colour.

This phenomenon wasn’t limited to Rowayne’s chamber, it happened in all chambers.

Amidst intense pleasure, a prickling sensation started making itself known.

At first it was overshadowed by the pain Rowayne was self inflicting himself with but slowly and steadily it crept up.

The sensation underwent a change as the intensity of waves increased. From prickling sensation to burning sensation

Eventually it reached a point where Rowayne did not need to self inflict injuries to stay sane, the pain was anchoring him in the sea of pleasure.

But the intensity kept increasing, something that acted as an anchor mere moments ago became an un-stratchable itch that lingered in the back of his mind.

And it grew more and more itchy as time went on.

Eventually pain caught up to pleasure.

The warmth of the liquid was like the comfort of a mother’s womb, while the waves made him feel like his blood was molten iron coursing through his body charring it from within.

And it stayed that way for what seemed like eternity for Rowayne.

Until something changed

Shortly as the Second phase commenced.

Rowayne felt danger.

An instinct carved into his very being was screaming that –

If he did not leave the chamber. He would die.

But there was nothing he could do in response, overwhelmed by sensations even moving a single limb seemed like an impossible task.

Then another sensation joined the fray, Pain. Similar yet different.

The previous pain merely originated from the flesh, but this.

This one originated from the very soul.

Then the darkness took him.

With Rowayne losing consciousness his body started deforming, nails elongated, flesh twisted and eyes grew all over the skin like tumours.

Then it all reverted, vanished as if it was all a hallucination.

Then the process started repeating itself, each time, the body would deform in a slightly different way then return to its original form.

If one were to closely observe though they would notice that Rowayne’s body after every cycle deforms less and less.

***

Rowayne opened his eyes in an unfamiliar place

A vast night sky lit by aurorae. (A/N ~ plural for aurora beuralis, commonly referred as northern lights )

Green dominated the sky, with isolated patches of red.

There were vortexes of blue and purple

It was mesmerizing, the sky had no stars, no moon and no sun

Only darkness dominated the vast sky.

And the aurorae. It looked like paint on a black canvas, but that was wrong.

Lights were not stationary, they moved, they flowed like a waterfall in the sky

And Rowayne, he watched in daze completely enthralled by the beauty.

His daze was broken as a minor tremor ran across his feet causing him to step back

Splat.

It was then that he looked down at his feet, witnessing a sea of darkness wrapped around his ankles.

No it wasn’t darkness, it was something else, something he did not know what to name.

It was like water but but felt as thick as blood and look as dark as the void itself

And it was everywhere, overspread across the board

There was also a pervasive fog obscuring his vision part of the horizon

But the fog clinged to the land not daring to stretch towards the sky as if afraid of the lights overhead.

He squatted down, extending his hands, submerging them in the black substance.

His hands met resistance, which indicated the liquid was denser than it looked. As he his hands delved deeper he came to a realisation that –

There was no ground, he stranded on this unknown liquid, and was on the mercy of this unknown liquid

He could sink to the abyssal depths if this strange liquid willed it.

The only blessing was that the liquid seemed content in claiming his ankles only.

"Congratulations on making it this far."

A voice echoed, shaking the world, it was a familiar voice.

Rowayne followed the direction of sound to see the fog parting, revealing the figure he had met once before.

The silhouette made of darkness, the countless eyes that stared at one’s very soul and the tentacles that hovered in the air with mind of their own.