Chapter 24 Cyber Soul

Chapter 24

Cyber Soul

  Whipped from the west the wind drew up dark menacing clouds from behind the western horizon, blotting out the stars as it marched across the sky. The air tingled, at least for Kian.

  Unaware of what was transpiring on his ship; Kian at first attributed the strange electric prickling he sensed in the air to the coming storm. However as they carried their rocking chairs inside the Commons Banquet Hall, the prickling sensation grew stronger and he feared it was not natural.  

   Peter flew up to the corners of long meeting hall and joined his fellow Sprites who had already filled the room with gauzy golden light. It was then Kian saw a shimmer glide over his head distorting Sprites’ dim yellow glow in much the same way sun baked asphalt distorts the light just above its surface.   

   He said nothing, but continued to watch the human sized anomaly hover and shift across the ceiling. Oddly, no one else noticed it. If they did, they were not voicing their concerns.

   Suddenly an ear -splitting boom shook the room. Kian spun around scanning the ceiling, but only saw the Sprites huddling in the corners and Tyndale staring at him.

  “It something wrong Kian,” he asked, “you looked frightened. It was only thunder.”

   Kian smiled down at him, “I’m a God remember, Gods fear nothing.”

  Tyndale grunted, “There is fear in your eyes. You saw something.”

 “I did Tyndale, but I don’t know what it was. Something rippled the air, heat or some other kind of energy.  I cannot tell what. I could not see it, only the air wrapping around it as it moved.” 

  Tyndale hunched down his black beady eyes scouring the dimly lit hall. “Is it gone? I don’t see anything.”

  Kian levitated about the room, examining every inch but saw nothing amiss. “It is not here,” Kian settled down in the center of the room, “maybe it never was.” Kian said as Tyndale scampered up to him.

  “Maybe,” Tyndale questioned, “you’re just wishing aren’t you?”

   “I see nothing Tyndale. That is all I know…”

  Penny was not a bubble, but that is how she felt as she floated toward the ceiling. Unable to stop she thought she was about to die, that the she would surely burst when she collided with the heavy timbers and thick planks. She tried to close her eyes but nothing happened. Were her eyelids gone? She tried to shield herself with her hands, again nothing happened-she had no hands. She had no body.

  The ceiling’s rough -hewn wood rushed down at her. But she could not even brace for the impact any more than she could remember when or how she came to be in the banquet hall to begin with.    

   The ceiling suddenly exploded in her mind, filling it like fog in a bottle, then it dissipated, as if a though a strong wind had simply blown it away. Blackness now enveloped her. She heard a low guttural rumble far below. Sudden bursts of white light flashed in the darkness beneath her.

   At first her mind could not grasp much less make sense of what was happening. She tried to remember but kept drifting away. Another rumble, then booming cannon fire, light flashed washing out everything then fading to black again.

‘a storm…this is a storm…and I’m above it…I was below…I was within…with…Kian…the Sprites…the hall…Tyndale…flying…I was…I am flying…I remember…I….”

 Suddenly the blackness was no more. Warmth, softness, soft milky light filtering though glass, filtering through her eyelids-the sound of rushing air soothed her ears. Was it a breeze, no it was air? It was air moving up her nostrils. She was breathing. The sweet scent of fresh flowers calmed her mind.

  Warm smooth cloth slid beneath her fingertips as she let her arms drop to her side. Subtle softness cradled her body. Light settled deeper into her mind as it slowly sank back into her body, reclaimed the world, waking expanding receiving its surroundings again, through new flesh, flesh that had never existed before now...

  The opaque glass shell covering her body slid back as sensors reacted to her heartbeat and rising body temperature. She groaned. The sound startled her. A smile bent her lips. She arched her back, stretching and breathing. She parted her lips, ran the tip of her tongue over them as she cracked open her eyes.

   Soft light engulfed her. It came from everywhere. Her room glowed welcoming her back. She thought to get up but instead of sitting up she simply rose like a cork in water. Gravity was no longer an issue, no longer an anchor more like a toy she could play with.

  Rolling on the air as though it were an invisible mattress she lowered her white gown clad body to the floor. Cool ceramic pressed against the soles of her feet as she chose to walk and try out her new flesh. The coolness of the hard floor felt good. It felt normal, but it also felt optional. She was free; fly walk what else, she did not know, but she meant to explore, she meant to find out everything…