The Fifth World

Cynric: I can feel my mind spinning, literally, my head aches, my chest aches... I can barely breathe. I cough loudly and can taste, on my tongue, charcoal or just this burning taste... it is revolting. There are voices around me. I drift in and out of consciousness. It's just a hazy vision of darkness, at times I see faces gathering around me, hear their voices, even if they are a little muffled, speak. Then it just returns to darkness.

"We need a doctor!" somebody yells, the deep voice is familiar but it is not someone I know well... if it were someone I knew well then I would be aching to see them, trying to get their attention and let them know that I'm okay. "We need an Angelican or something! Please!"

The voice is panicked, a little too panicked. I feel my head roll to the side. The air is fresh in my lungs but it still burns. It is difficult to breathe. I cough loudly. My breathing becomes faint, so faint... my mind spins even faster...

"I'm losing him!" that same voice yells. Who is he? Who is this person that I know but cannot name? For some reason the sound of his voice makes part of me want to hit him but the other part of me feel pity towards him... it is someone I obviously do not like that much but someone who... I probably should care for anyway. Caine? Could it be him? "Hurry up!"

The realisation hits me, this man, a few years younger than me but who physically appears older than me, I believed was the one trying to steal someone I care about away from me. Bo. Bo, Bo, Bo. Her face appears in my mind, the darkness is no longer there... but she is. She's so beautiful, so perfect in the strangest ways. I love her high pitched voice, the way a couple of her teeth are a bit crooked, the way her cheeks dimple when she laughs, the scar under her eye from when she fell out of a tree when she was a child... she is perfect.
A warmth touches me and I am not certain whether it is just seeing her in my mind that brings it to me or if it is someone touching me... or maybe it is Bo touching me, her hand across my face... it's okay, I say to myself. Is this really it? The end? Gosh, after everything I have done, the people I have killed, the number of times I have drawn my dagger... this is how I am going to die? A little smoke inhalation? It really is not that brave. I have seen the future, I know what lies ahead... but I never saw this moment. I do not recall this moment. What changed to change my fate? Was it the kiss? Was it the fact that I kissed Bo? Am I now regretting that? No. Of course not. If I die today, here, right now, I will not regret a thing. I will never regret holding Bo in my arms and thinking thoughts that would seem unpleasant to a lot of people. I will never regret loving her or protecting her. I will only regret not doing pursuing what we had earlier.
My eyes open and I see the faces around me, I breathe in a sharp amount of air... and then my eyelids close for what I believe may be the last time.

Bo: I open my eyes. My face aches as does my body. It is dark, cold and... wet. I whimper as a sharp pain stings across my face. My hands instinctively fly to my nose and my cheeks. What the hell? My skin is gritty... and I am guessing it is a mix of blood and dirt and whatever else may be on this cold, wet and hard floor. My hands slide across it, it is made of rock. I have been lying on my stomach but I guess that I did not place myself in this position... I was probably thrown into this position. My back and neck hurt. I sit up, my joints crack and I grunt each time a limb screams in protest for relief. My eyes scan the surroundings. A cave? I scoff to myself. I have been taken captive and they have put me into another cave?! Stupid Thornes. There are three walls, each as cold and hard as the floor and the ceiling. The fourth wall is not a wall at all... it is just steel bars, all put into place to create my cell. I feel myself tear up, my body aches in every place... I stand up and run to the bars. With all my might, my energy, I try to pull them or break them or do whatever the hell I can. I know it is no use but I need something to take my anger out on - anger for being stupid, anger for getting caught... and the anger and sadness I feel knowing that almost everyone I love is probably dead. I fall to the ground and cry. It is uncontrollable. It hurts. It really hurts. Cynric, Nancy, Felicity, Caine... even Janine. All those children, their mothers, their fathers... all of the innocent people. I had the power to stop it and I didn't.

"It is no use," a voice echos.

I immediately stop and gasp. My breathing stops. The caves fall silent again. I look around my cell and even in the darkness I can tell that I am alone in here. I look passed my own bars and see another cell across from me and then down the long corridor even more cells neighboring my own. I wonder how many people are in here.

"Who's there?" I whisper.

It is a while before I get a reply. The person, wherever they may be, is definitely in pain. They shuffle in their cell, I can hear them, slowly... I wonder how long they have been here for.

"You are the one they have been talking about," the voice says to me, it is a male, his voice deep and pure, definitely young... he must be an Angelican.

"I guess so."

"I hear them," he says, "the Thornes they have on guard in here sometimes, they talk about you. You are the subject of many conversations. The hybrid. The one who can bring a world to ultimate war."

I feel myself breathe out heavily and I take my cell bars in my hands so I can kneel, "no, no." I cry, "that's impossible. I can do no such thing."

"Ah," the voice sighs deeply, "I have never had the opportunity to meet a hybrid. There are very few in this world. They are different, I don't think anyone knows their true capabilities."

"If anyone does," I answer, "it is me."

I let my body fall onto my bottom. I am too sore to waste any energy trying to find the person I am speaking with. I shall just let my body lean up against the cell bars, close my eyes and listen.
The voice does not answer. I breathe in and out... and try to ignore the feeling of the swelling up of my face. Gosh, I must look a really beauty right about now. I smile to myself. Why am I feeling so sorry for myself? I am a Time Jumper! I can leave this place! I do not need a think hard, I can just do it. I think of Calhoun's home... and realise that that would probably be the best place for me right now, that is if the Thornes have gotten there first. I close my eyes and re-open them thinking that I will be sitting on his living room floor or something... but I am not. I am in the cave, I remain in the cave. I grunt again and slam my fist into the floor.

"I would not try to use any of your powers, it will only wear you down. The Thornes have placed an Angelican spell over your cell bars... within the bars it is impossible to use any kind of magic. They use cuffs to restrain you from using them as well."

God. I cannot stay here.

"Who are you? Where are you?" I ask the voice. Could I be speaking to myself right now? Is this voice just a figment of my imagination? Or my conscience? Am I really going insane? I am not entirely sure how I have been in here... can these caves really drive someone crazy in such a short amount of time?

"I am sitting in the cell beside yours, young one," he replies, "I hope that one day I will be able to see your fantastic face, since right now we can only see darkness and as long as we both remain in here, we will never be able to actually meet... only speak."

I sigh as I pull my legs into my chest, every movement hurts, "what is your name?"

I hear him shift around his cell a bit. He takes even longer to reply. I can hear him, he is right beside the wall that we share... and then I hear rocks... or stones.. crumbling or sliding along the floor. In a dash I am over to the wall that he is probably leaning on. I see, a hole of some sort, probably one that would have taken ages to form... or dig. There is a hand there. His hand. I smile and take his fingers in mine. I know that I am not crazy, but I am not alone either. This hand assures me of that.

"Lucius," he replies, "my name is Lucius."