Rick stood in the void. There was no darkness. He could see his own body just fine, but that was as far as his senses would allow him to perceive. There was a flat hard surface under his feet, smooth and cool, nothing about it making it any easier to figure out where he was.
And then there was light.
An infinite flat world, devoid of anything save the white floor and white ceiling. Featureless and indistinguishable from one another. Rick looked around, spotting several other people within this white, featureless space. They were too far to identify, though, and before he could move, the white space rippled. Black walls rose from the floor, separating them, forming a box around Rick no less than ten meters across.
A box with no ceiling, walls that were as high as the sky itself. The only trace of an end to the obsidian walls a speck of white off in the infinite above.
“Rick Cross.”
The name came from behind him, forcing the chemistry teacher to turn around and face the woman that was now standing where there had once been empty space. Her face was obscured by a featureless mask, long bright red hair fell around her, pooling on the floor around her ankles. The faceless woman wore a business suit, black with thin white lines running vertically from her heels all the way through her dress pants and blazer. The way the lines shifted made it seem almost as if the suit was not really there and was more a hole to gaze into a dimension of black and white stripes.
“I am here to carry out your psychic evaluation.”
“This feels like a dream.” He wanted to say ‘nightmare’, but held his tongue, feeling his words echo around the room and all the way up.
“It is. I rendered you unconscious and connected to your psyche. It makes this process easier.” The body that was before him was unnatural. It didn’t twitch, it didn’t move. It was so utterly perfectly still it might as well have been a statue.
“What’s the purpose of the evaluation?”
“To determine whether you pose a threat to the kingdom.” The woman replied. “And whether you are apt to own maidens.”
That perked Rick’s attention. He focused on the featureless mask and frowned. “And how do we go about this?”
“It’s not really very hard. You only have to answer one question.”
The world blurred. The figure remained standing as the constant. White and black shifted. The featureless box he’d been standing in turned into a prism of color before it bled through, shapes forming, becoming more defined. Rick’s eyes widened slightly as he saw the trees sprout into focus, the wooden behemoths that were too wide, too tall, mutated, and twisted.
Next came the rain. Falling down on and around him, the light dimming, drowned out through countless droplets. The sky turned gray and opaque, casting shadows that made the trees blur, the shadows under their branches a perfect black, impossible to see through.
“The forest?”
The figure did not answer, nor did it move. It remained firmly in place, silent.
More details poured in, more shapes. A large rectangle of steel and glass knocked on its side. The block gained definition, its shape smoothing out, curves, cracks, bumps. Slowly it morphed, and Rick recognized the wheels, everything else clicking into place as the blob turned into the totaled bus.
His heart skipped a beat, something reaching down to tighten its grip on his chest.
A form emerged from the ground. A featureless brown lump as tall as Rick. The rain washed away the dirt, revealing that someone was standing there. Black hair, blank eyes, pale skin. A trickle of blood ran down his mouth, the expressionless stare turning to stare straight into Rick.
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Straight through him.
“Charlie,” he almost choked the word out.
Upon the mention of his name, the thing that had taken the young student’s form let its jaw hang loose, falling open in a cavernous silence. It drew in a breath, a raspy coughing sound that made the bulge at the side of his neck apparent.
A broken spine, Rick felt cold ice punch through his chest, his lungs unable to fill up properly, cold sweat running down his back.
“Why?”
The question came as a whisper, almost inaudible through the pouring rain. The rumble of thunder shoot the ground and Rick’s legs felt like they were suddenly about to give out underneath him.
He stumbled a step back.
And the corpse stepped forward.
“Why?”
A howl in the wind, the trees bent, the rain whipping around them and sinking Rick’s feet into the mud.
“I-.” His voice faltered.
“Why?” The corpse took another step, tears falling down his cheeks. “Why did you kill me?”
“I-.”
“You killed my brother.”
Rick whipped his head to the side. There stood a featureless lump, mud washing away to reveal the features of the young woman. It took him a second to recognize her. “May.” He felt the tightness within his chest, air running short.
Stumbling, he pressed his hand against his chest, gasping for breath.
The water was rising, mud sucked at his feet, the next step he took he sank further in.
“Why?” Charlie’s corpse whispered louder, reaching out for Rick.
The only thing he could do was attempt to run. The next step sank him to his knees into the mud. The forest closed in around him, the rain splashing down and drowning out his voice. Short gasping breaths, a tight stabbing pain. His heart hammered against his throat, blocking air.
“Why?”
The corpse leaned down. Rick tried to fight him off, but he was too strong. Cold slimy fingers wrapped around his throat. The man choked for air, body knocked over backwards into the mud. Rick’s fingers clawed against the unyielding grip, head submerging under the mud.
He was sinking. He couldn’t breathe.
Thunder streaked cross the sky. Rick broke through the surface, gasping for air. His head whipped around, a current dragging him down the river. A whirlpool plunged him under, blackness all around him.
Two more faces appeared from the darkness, their skin pale, their eyes blank. Rick kicked against the water, pushing himself to swim upwards. The surface was so far away.
“Why?” Tomas and Kat’s voice spoke in unison, whispers drowned under the current. “Why?”
Rick clenched his eyes shut. No, no, Kat and Tomas were alive. They hadn’t died, they hadn’t died. His hands grasped at the sides of his head. The currents dragging him further down. His lungs burned, the sound of his heartbeat hammered and deafened everything around him.
THUNK
Gasping for breath, Rick felt his body fall and slam into cold hard ground. Instantly, his eyes moved around. He was in a cave. No, he recognized this cave. A cold shudder ran down his spine. He turned around. The wrinkled face of Mr. Gabriel met him. Unlike the others, his eyes were not empty.
No, there was a boundless fury within them.
The old man stood, taller than Rick, looking down on him with the gaze of a man burn the world. “No, they didn’t die.”
He spoke with a howl that made the wind around them swirl. “But it was thanks to you that they almost did.” His step made the ground shake. Rick stumbled backwards. “Your choice almost killed me as well.”
“I don’t-.”
The avatar of wrath that stood before him swung his fist. Pain exploded within Rick’s chest. The world blurred as the man felt himself being no more than a rag doll that had been tossed to the other side of the room.
He hit something with his back, the impact breaking his fall. Even then, pain exploded all around him.
“Rick.” Laying on the ground, barely able to move, he opened his eyes and saw a new face. White hair, feline ears, battered and bruised. “Rick?” Monica weakly reached out to him, tears streaking down her cheeks. She stretched her claw towards him, trying to drag her broken body closer. “Rick.” She whispered, even as he could not find the breath to so much as make a sound.
A ghostly hand reached down to the cat. Rick’s eyes widened.
“Monica!” He shouted, watching, helpless, as a heavy iron collar was put around the feline’s neck.
She choked, reaching for the collar, fighting to tear it off. More ghostly hands assaulted her. The feline wailed, weakly kicking and screaming.
“You ruined everything, Rick.” The colossus of wrath loomed over the scenery, blazing eyes boring into Rick’s soul. Its face had turned into a featureless white mask, only two holes to let the searing gaze to focus onto him.
He couldn’t look away from Monica, watching as more pieces of iron were strapped onto her body, her wrists, her ankles. They grew taut, binding her and forcing her to curl into a ball. She couldn’t break free, she couldn’t escape.
“She begged you not to go,” the faceless being spoke.
“Monica!” Rick shouted, watching the ground melt, pulling the feline down into it.
Her eyes met his own, tears running down her cheeks.
“Monica!”
“She could have lived happily without you.”
She uttered a single word before she vanished.
“Why?”
Finding himself able to move again, Rick lunged towards the spot the maiden had occupied a second prior. Fingers helplessly scratched against the stone.
He screamed.