The Nexus

Morning came too quickly and sleep never left. The first rays of light started to shine through the window when the doctor came for Ryu. "Ah? still in bed? Why didn't you get ready? I told you today was an important day." Letting out a low rumble from his throath, not quite unlike a tiger, Ryu narrowed his eyes at him. "What, do you expect me to go nekkid? I don't know if you *remember*, but all my clothes are gone, the only thing I have left here are my boxers..." and adding in a low mutter not meant to be heard "prolly for decency's sake...pheh." The doctor blinked in (hopefully) mock suprise. "Ah yes, your clothes... Pretty strange those. Well about them..." Ryu locked his eyes on him like a hawk on a prey and growled "I bloodywell hope you still have em...eh??" Suddenly a soft knock came from the door and an elf - sylph? - girl appeared with a bundle in hand with what appeared to be his clothes. Looking from the doctor to Ryu and back she entered the room hesitantly. The doctor motioned to the chair next to Ryu's bed with a wiseman's smile on his face and nodded to the girl. "Thank you." The girl walked over to the chair and carefully put the clothes over the chair, while all the time eyeing Ryu hesitantly. Ryu looked back with a half raised eyebrow and nodded thanks to the girl, which earned him a startled look. The girl then bowed deeply to the doctor with meek eyes and nearly ran off, clearly wanting to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Ryu paid it no immediate heed as he checked his clothes one by one: a light black t-shirt showing a dragon symbol on the right shoulder and a deeper black and blue curved sword on the bottom left side, wide and loose fitting gray-dark green pants with several extra pockets on the sides - his favourite - and a casual, modern style light coat, dark blue and white in colour, a small coiled snake symbol showing on the chest. He noted the stitches on the left knee of the pants, and on his t-shirt and coat from left shoulder to the right side of his middle. He shivered thinking of the accident that caused those, running his fingers over where cut would have been on his chest. After pulling his shirt and pants on, and leaving his coat - it seemed to be warm enough - he looked around for the 'finishing touch'. "Hmmm...? Where are my shoes?" Giving a hesitant nod, the doctor anwsered "Those are still being repaired. They were in more terrible state than the rest...you were pretty beat up when they brought you in. I had the local footwear brought for you as replacement." Ryu grunted as he saw a pair of kahki brown light boots. Pushing his feet into them, they reached a small way up to his shin. The soles felt soft and flexible but seemed to offer still considerable protection for his feet. They were bound by thick shoelaces, that reached from the middle of the foot, up the top, where they were fastened. They reminded Ryu of some greek/roman battle footwear he once saw in a movie back home, only closed and differently coloured, and appearantly not made of coarse leather. Standing up, he paced around a few times, trying them out, wiggling his toes in them for comfort. "Hmm...not bad..." He walked up to the doctor, intoning that he was ready. The doctor eyed Ryu up and down once and shrugged "Well, it'll have to do...Follow me now." Snorting inwardly at the comment Ryu followed him through the door and for the first time since being brought here, outside his small room. The hallway had about the same colour as his room, with a bit more leaf green worked in it. On the walls, strange crystals appeared to be floating in silver-gold holders, emitting a tranquil yellow light. The ceiling was arched, and now and then studded with a lower arch that seemed to have been grown out of the wall. While walking, Ryu gaves his eyes al freedom to quench his curiosity. Passersby seemed to be rare, and those few gaped at Ryu like they would gape at an alien. Well thinking about that, he actually would be quite alien in their view, him being human and all. Ryu gave a low sarcastic chuckle to himself and continued walking, still trying to absorb everything, from colour and architecture to people and items. Lots of teints of green and purple, the walls decorated with intricate patterns of leaves and flowers mixed depictations from what seemed to be deities working their mythes and miracles. Although interesting as it was, after the initial curiosity Ryu had difficulty thinking about anything else then his dead friend. The image that was Kaz's crushed body was etched deep in his mind, and Ryu had to bite down despair and numbing sadness several times to keep him from screaming. With his mind turned inwards Ryu barely noticed the doctor suddenly stopping in front of a big - actually quite huge - intricatly carved door which appeared to be the end of the hallway. Looking over his shoulder at Ryu, the doctor placed his hands on the door "This place is normally never seen by outsiders. It's the heart of where we live and what we are. Follow me closely... and try not to draw too much attention to yourself." The slight pause in the doctor's word make Ryu frown but he tried and to shrug it off for the moment. He did feel quite nervous, though, indeed hating to be the one standing out in a group of people. As the door opened without the stereotypical creak Ryu caught the sight of his life. Grandness spread before his eyes as what the doctor called the 'heart' appeared to be like a medieval elvish shopping centre/city bustling with activity. "Welcome to the Nexus." grinned the doctor. "As you can see this is where all the activities of daily life here take place." Ryu gaped like a 5-year old seeing the grandness of a metropolis for the first time. Everywhere he looked people were going about their business, occasionally stopping to speak and greet eachother. The centre appeared to be a huge pillar with walkways everywhere from the border to the centre. Peering upwards he could barely make out the ceiling where the yellow rays of the sun shone through a cover of leaves and vines. Ryu was shocked out of his trance when the doctor placed a hand on his shoulder. "Heh... This sight never ceases to amaze me. So how do you like it?" gaping from the hall to the doctor with his jaw still halfway to the floor, Ryu uttered a groan of amazement. "H-holy fu...."

Of dreams and nightmares

Standing in a dark, shrouded room, Ryu looked around at the lifeless, colorless scenery. There were tables, chairs, even plants, but everything was the same grey and black, like a permanent filth covering everything. This place looked a lot like his home, but...wrong...threatening. Not only the room felt threatening. There was an ominous feel, almost like a sound in the room. Like what a rabbit feels when driven...hunted. Yes, that was indeed the feel of this. A sudden shift in the shadows made Ryu spin around in alertness. His heart felt like beating a way out of him through his throat. The room starting blurring and shifting slightly, almost as if being a living thing. Thoughts raced through Ryu's head. Thoughts of loneliness...thoughts of loss...thoughts of despair...and mostly, thoughts of fear. He needed to get out of here before it overwhelmed him...but where? He started scanning around frantically, trying to find something, anything to get out of here. He ran towards the walls, trying to feel the wall for an exit, for a window, a crack, a weak spot to bash down, ANYTHING. But as he ran, so did the room move. No matter how hard he tried, he always ended up standing in the middle of the room. Stopping the attempt he scanned around again, panting heavily, for something to grab onto, perhaps he could drag his way around the room. But as he tried to grab hold of a nearby table, another shift in the shadows made him stop. Behind him there was a door! Finally a way out! But as he tried to make a run for the door a person stepped through. Well, person... Walking shadow was more like it. The shadow spoke, a voice that sounded like death, or maybe something worse, an emotionless, cold sound, like the soft grinding of two gravestones "You cannot leave like this...You will not leave like this..." Ryu felt like screaming as the words were driven like inch long nails in his skull. Putting up resistance was useless. The shadow approached him, a dark tendril held out like a fisted claw. Turning around to flee, Ryu felt a pressure on his chest. It hardened...tightened...increased to crunching levels. Ryu watched in horror as the clas ripped through his chest with a sickening crunch, spilling out life fluids and guts. The pain shot right through to his skull and he screamed... He never heard the sound as the shadow overtook him, swallowed him and conquered him.

With a start and a scream that could have pierced steel Ryu awoke in his nursing room. His head felt like he ran the olympics and his body felt like he swam them, he was soaked in sweat. The fear was gone...the darkness was gone, but the pain stayed...the pain in his chest. Oh god that red hot pain! Supressing another scream into a long, hard groan like some wild animal, Ryu wanted to rub his chest, soothe it, caress it, claw it open, anything to stop the pain. His face contorted into a grimace of horror and pain. He thought about the dream. He was almost sure that figure was his death, trying to bind him to it. He arched his back and screamed in utter pain and terror as he felt ribs shredding themselves out of his chest, the fleshy crunches like a appetizer to the fear.
Then suddenly...all was gone... With a slam the door to his room opened and the doctor ran inside. "What in the name of Kath'ar is happing!?" Ryu fluttered his eyes and forced himself to look at the remains of what once was his chest, only to find the bandages neatly wrapped around him, not even blood staining any of them. "Ghhh...wha-ggghhh-t...". The doctor opened each of Ryu's eyes wide in turn, checking light sensivity. Ryu just watched without moving, not caring if he ever moved again. The doctor checked his pulse, felt his forehead, noted the sweat, then checked the bandages, his face going from worry to confusion to understanding, back to worry. "It seems like magic healing has an adverse affect on you, but I have no idea why". Collecting his strength Ryu spoke throatily "Whhhat do you mhhhean, magic?". Looking at him seriously the doctor anwsered "Those haiki leaves in your dinner? They have immense healing properties, being able to mend any broken bone and clear up the heaviest of concussions in no more then a day. But it somehow seems like the healing process went haywire inside of you." He held out a hand to be placed on Ryu's chest. Ryu drew back at first, but then let him. The doctor placed the hand on his chest and pushed. Drawing in brearth through his teeth, Ryu prepared for the stab of pain, but he felt nothing...not a thing, just the gentle pressure of the doctor's hand. Amazement took over the exhaustion in Ryu's head as his eyes went wide. "See, you're healed, but you shouldn't have been more aware of it then of a fly crawling over your skin. Somehow your body altered how the magic works...?" Ryu grimaced and let out his good old fashioned sarcasm accompanied with a low grunt "Yay for magic healing. Now I know how a fish being gutted must feel, for fu-...for light's sake it hurt like hell...Goddamn it." He wrapped an arm around his chest, feeling if everything was really in it's place like a normal human's anatomy. Everything did feel okay, and even the old fashioned ache between the ribs he had was gone. Grunting again he settled back in his back and sighed deeply. The doctor nodded in sympathy "Yes I understand...better to let you sleep a bit more for now. But seeing as I'm here now, I might as well tell you." Ryu arched an eyebrow at that. More miraculously happy healing techniques? "The Oracle has requested you to come to her in an official audience, tomorrow first thing in the morning." Oracle? Ryu felt like bashing his head against the bedpost for all the good it would do him. All the fantasy cliché and ceremony they were going to put him through... He was already sick of it. He wondered how in the nine hells he could have ever have dreamed of living this...