The Fifth World

Bo: I don't know if days are passing or even weeks... the darkness makes everything a blur. It took me a while to understand the difference between breakfast, lunch and dinner. For breakfast I am given a piece of mouldy and dirty bread. For lunch I am given an apple or a lumpy and smelly stew. Dinner follows a while later with a lovely meal consisting of tough, hard and cold meat of some sort with a couple of steamed carrots. With every meal I am given a metal cup of water... I guess it's adequate to get me through.

"Do they take you out of your cell much, Lucius?" I call out from my cell, my fingers wrapped hopelessly around the bars.

I hear him breathe out, he seems tired, "it has been a few months since they have taken me from this cell. They have enough of my deoxyribonucleic acid in storage, I am confident that it won't be long until they kill me."

I feel myself struggle to swallow that, "no," I say quite urgently, "they can't. We have to stop them."

"There is nothing either of us can do, Bo," he whispers.

It is as if he has already accepted it... death, I mean. It is as if he has known for a long time that he would die in this place and there would be nothing he could do about it. Nothing? Really? There are plenty of things we could do! Plenty! With Lucius' help we could both get out of here... maybe we could take down the Thornes... even if it is a long shot. If somehow, someway, we could get our hands on some Angelican blades... or even get out of our cells without being cuffed... I could do something, I could jump from here, take whatever weapons I need and be back within minutes of leaving and I could save Lucius. We would be free, free of darkness, of slavery and of evil. I could see my friends, my family... everyone. I could see Cynric, Nancy, Felicity, even Janine... and of course my friend Caine. Something clicks when I think of him. Caine. I remember every story told me, the ones that were true and the ones he thought of himself... or even famous stories that are based on some historic event. Caine's voice echoes in my mind and it is a reminder of the outside world... the world I have been deprived of for who knows how long... his name was Lucius. He was an Angelican, beautiful, young and intelligent. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him. We would take History together at the Academy... Lucius' Angelican gift was just seeing people and knowing what they'd look like in any amount of years he would choose. Some may see it as a gift... he never saw it that way. He hated that when he would look at someone, subconsciously apply his gift on them and see nothing when in his mind he should be seeing that person a few years older, their body wrinkled or possibly larger, just a little bit more aged than what they are now... he hated knowing that sometime within the next few years that person would be dead.

And it finally sinks in. My fingers tighten around the cell bars, "Lucius, you said you lived in Hargon. You went to the Academy, didn't you?"

"Yes," his voice is so dead, so toneless and lifeless. He is like a robot.

"You knew a Time Jumper, his name was Caine. Am I right?" I ask him.

"Yes."

"You loved him," I say, "he loved you."

"Yes."

"Lucius, do you not understand why I am asking you these questions? I know Caine! I have known him for a short time now but I care about him deeply. He is my friend and he told me about you, Lucius. He loves you and he misses you but he believes that you are dead."

He does not answer. It is quiet but I am certain I can hear him breathing. I try and push my head through the cell bars but the spaces are too narrow. All I want is to see Lucius, this man that I have been sleeping beside for a while now, this man I have had many long conversations with... but have never seen his face.

"Lucius," I call, "Lucius."

I finally hear movement in his cell, I hear his hands grip his cell bars just as I am doing now. I try, with as much strength as I can, to take a look at him... I see his hands, his long fingers and I feel myself smile with relief. That is my friend, my friend who's face remains a mystery in my mind...

"Caine is... alive?" I finally hear his voice.

"Yes," I say urgently, "he is, Lucius. He was the one who taught me how to control my abilities. He taught me how to use an Angelican dagger and a sword... I may not be able to speak Angelican but I know that I can defend myself reasonably well. He is so great, Lucius. He is fantastic."

"He is," I hear him mumble to himself.

The cells remain quiet for a few minutes. I am not sure whether he is sitting alone thinking to himself, dead, asleep or crying... I hope he is not dead. I sink back to the cold and hard floor and slowly get up.
That's it, I am going to get out of here.
I open my mouth, take in a very deep breath and call as loudly as I possibly can,

"Jasmineeeee! Jasmineeee! Jasmine!" I do not care if I am interrupting other people's sleep, if I am interrupting other people's meals or even Lucius' quiet time to himself. I have to speak to the evil Jasmine. Right. Now.

After thirty seconds go by I hear multiple sets of feet trudging along the corridor. I run to the bars of my cell and stick my face through to get a look at who approaches. I see shadows in the darkness and feel myself smile. My mouth tastes disgusting... like dirt and dust. Gross.

"Why do you cause such a ruckus?" I hear a deep and disturbed voice from down the corridor.

The shadows come closer and over the trudges of heavy feet I hear light, heels clapping along the stone ground... boots. Boots that belong to a woman.
The silhouettes appear at my cell as one of them, who I can see is easily a man since his biceps are bigger than both of my legs put together, sticks a key into the door and opens it. I crawl back into my cell and watch them as they enter. There are three of them... two men and one woman.

"Jasmine," I say in a strong voice, she stares at me, I may barely be able to see her but I know that her eyes are fixed directly on my face, "I told you I would think about your proposal. I am gladly accepting."

I hear breathing, from Lucius' cell, it is heavy and panicked, "No, Bo, what are you doing?!" He begins to yell, "Do not help them! They will kill everyone! Everyone! Innocent lives will be taken!"

Lucius continues to yell hysterically until one of them male Thornes disappears from my cell, I hear him unlocking the door to Lucius' cell... Lucius grunts sharply and I know that at this moment he is probably being beaten for the hundredth time since being here. His yelling stops but his heavy breathing continues. The male Thorne returns.
I feel almost everything in my body feel sympathy towards Lucius... and sadness and guilt... because I know that he is only disagreeing with me because he knows that Caine is still alive and that there is hope in both of them being re-united.

Jasmine's eyes tear themselves away from my face and she looks at one of the males, "retrieve the shackles for her. Relocate her to a finer facility. Now."