Ziiiiiiiiing~

Eyes open wide, unblinking. It only took moments for Hugh to become aware of his surroundings. Though to him, it felt like he was out cold for hours and suddenly woke up.

“Woah, woah, WOAH! What happened?” he quavered, looking around. The young man was no longer in his apartment; there were violet skies with shining clouds and blazing stars all around him, like countless nebulas blending together. He let out a yelp as he looked down, almost tripping. He was standing midair, yet it felt like stepping on sleek marble. Hugh slowly began to slide his foot across the terrain. It was a flat, solid surface, stable for footing but fully transparent, the purple horizons loomed below, clearly visible.

Sitting-though to Hugh it still looked like levitating-beside him still was Gy, who let go of the gem-carrying stick, still spinning incredibly fast. The gemstick hovered in position a few inches before them. Paston grabbed the Lezard’s corpse by the leg and dragged it away from the two men. “Just a couple bars away is fine”, Gy shouted while pulling out a small bag from underneath his giant red scarf and putting the bizarre lantern with the eyeball inside it.

He turned towards Hugh. “Sit down. Now’s the best time to talk.” But the young man was stuck in place, moving his head around to marvel at the seemingly infinite space chaos engulfing him.

“I have sooo many questions”, he mumbled. “What’s that? It must be so huge!”

Gy turned to where Hugh was pointing: A gigantic shadow with multiple limbs spanning across a big portion of these magenta stratums towered over clouds and stars alike. To see this from Hugh’s perspective really felt like a planet-sized monster. Dredged across the shadow’s body were little glittering feather-shaped nodes.

“Ah, that,” Gy shook his head, “that I don’t know the answer to. It’s always been there and doesn’t do anything. It probably moves around, because I’ve seen its arms or whatever they are in different positions.

Though to be honest,” the tall man said in a snarky tone, smiling at Hugh, “it’s not safe to stay here, in the vergent network, for too long.” Gy pulled out a cup and a metallic bottle from the bag. “Come, sit”, he said, lightly tapping the transparent ground. It made no sound and Hugh, still light-headed, felt like he was looking at a mime pretending to perch on a floor that is not there.

Hugh made a deep squat and carefully placed his hands down before shifting to a slouching position. The constant ‘zing’ noise that kept hitting his ears for a while now was starting to get louder.

“So this place is the vergent network? What is it exactly?”

Puckering his lips, Gy instead responded with an puffing ‘mm’. Paston came back and curled between the man’s perched legs, then let out a huge yawn. “Hey,” the tall man suddenly spoke out, “let’s make this into a question game instead. You ask a question, I answer, then ask you a question, you answer, then ask me another one etcetera etcetera. Alright?”

“Alright.” Hugh crossed his arms. Then followed an awkward silence-besides the constant zinging sound-which Hugh promptly broke. “Okay, what now?”

“Game on. I asked a question, you said alright. I was waiting for you to ask me a question, and you asked 'what now', and now I'm answering. Do you follow?”

“Yes, I think I follow”, Hugh grumbled. Mildly confused by this kind of behavior, he saw Gy reveal his golden teeth once again, grinning and waiting for the next question.

“Oh! Uhh, so what is this place?”

“This is probably not a place per se,” Gy responded while pouring some hot liquid from the metallic bottle and into the cup, “the best explanation I can think of is that it’s something in-between actual places. You can see it as a space connecting where we were, and where we are going. A tube of sorts.”

He took a sip and squinted at Hugh. “My turn. Is your head spinning and hearing a loud ringing noise yet?”

“I think so”, Hugh replied, holding his head. He was certainly feeling kind of dizzy, and for good reason. Half his brain must have been trying to process what happened the past few hours still, and the other half must have been hard at work creating expectations on what’s to come.

“You feel that, too, Gy?”

“Nah, your brain gets used to it after a few times. Same goes for Paston here”. He stroke Paston’s hair, revealing an incision atop his skull.

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“Chew on this, it will help a little”, Gy noted while pulling out something from the bag in front of him.

He threw something small at Hugh, who instinctively caught it in his palms. A metallised plastic wrapping read: “Joseline’s Candy Knobs”. He unwrapped it and reluctantly ate the candy. “Tastes like butter caramel”, the young man thought as he put the wrapping in his pajama pocket.

“Throw it away” Gy blurted, and took another sip of the hot liquid. “You can throw the trash out with no repercussions here.” He turned and bawled at the headless Lezard corpse, hanging a dozen feet away. “HEAR THAT, YOU FUCKING BASTARD? OH WAIT, YOU NEED EARS TO HEAR. Fucking worse than trash.” Turning back to Hugh, he raised his eyebrows: “Ah, pardon my language. So… I hope you understand you can’t go back to your old life now. Any regrets?”

Hugh didn’t throw the wrapping away. He crossed his arms again and looked at the vast dome of mauve and amethyst skies. No rays of light beaming up anywhere. The zinging in his ears subsided a little. He clicked his tongue. “I don’t know, but I hope it’s for the best.” Hugh turned his gaze and pointed at the colorful gemstone floating next to him and Gy. “So what’s this here?”

“Don’t touch it!” Gy shouted, shaking his feet and forcing Paston to get up. “It’s our guide through the vergent network. This is a special gemstone and it’s used to, uh… to help us get in between places, so it has to keep spinning until an exit is close.” Calm again, he gulped down what was left in the cup and exhaled loudly. “Now, very important question,” Gy gave Hugh a piercing look and stressed every subsequent word, “do-you-know-anyone-else-like-you?”

“Not that I know of. Does it make any difference?”

“No”, Gy responded in an evasive tone. Glad he was passed the ball to ask another question like that, he continued: “Does your family know about your ‘quality’?”

The word ‘family’ resonated throughout Hugh’s body and sent a shiver down his spine. He rest his chin on his fists and sighed. “My parents died when I was little. I'm sure they didn’t know anything, because the first time I ever saw this ray of light was the day they died.” Hugh kept talking with his eyes closed. “My older brother has been taking care of me most of my life, and I’ve told him a few times about this. He doesn’t necessary believe what I see is real, but he believes in me. And he really shouldn’t… because… I’ve lied to him about many other things...”

A pause in Hugh’s words prompted Gy to speak. “I’m sorry to hear that”, he said quietly, watching as Hugh started nudging his forehead with his thumbs. Paston walked over and shoved his fox-like head between Hugh’s hands, whimpering. “Heh, thank you,” Hugh smiled, “you’re a good dog after all.”

Instantly retreating back, Paston snarled, scoffed and walked back to Gy, who gave Hugh a sour smile. “He doesn’t like being called a dog. He finds it humiliating.”

“Well what is he, then?” Hugh took a deep breath and shook his face to release himself from the sobbing state he was in. He tapped his temples, taunting Paston. “What are you? Come on, talk in my head!”

Gy sat back and put the cup and bottle in the bag. “Heu heu! You can only hear him when he’s in smoke form, buddy. Technically speaking, Paston is a thylacine. There are no more of his kind left on the surface. Then again, he’s not really an animal at all...”

“The surface?” Hugh pondered as this part caught his attention the most.

“Nu-huh-ah,” Gy interrupted, “it’s my turn to ask.” Noticing that the gemstone’s spinning slowed considerably, he rustled his scarf. “But game’s over. We’re close.”

Pulling the bag under his big red scarf, the tall man moved towards the floating stick that carried the gem atop its wheel. “Paston. Hugh. Grab on to me.”

Both of them dragged their feet, Hugh put his hands on Gy’s wide back while Paston scurried between his legs, grabbing on to the tall man’s shiny black oxfords.

The gemstick stopped spinning and floating. Gy caught it just when it was about to drop to the transparent ground, and an iridescent bright light shone from within the gemstone.

Ziiiiiiiiing~

Torrents of colors fell upon the three, then a strong gust of wind hit Gy face-on, turning him around.

Hugh fell on his back with a loud thud, followed by a moment of silence. The sound of birds chirping could be heard from the vicinity.