A Perplexing Dilemma

Athelia looked up from her thoughts. She had been wondering of the state of the world; more specifically, her world. When they had left that dimension so suddenly, it had seemed as if the very fabric of time had been thrown into chaos. All their work, hers and Dr. Russel's, had been for nothing. And when we were so close...

She looked out across the landscape, her gaze settling on the group of her new acquaintances. They were circled around a campfire, wrapped in large leaves they were able to find in the forest, and were currently sleeping the night away. Athelia used to revel in her inability to grow weary - it meant she had more time and effort available to channel toward research, toward Dr. Russel's experiments when he finally had collapsed from exhaustion. Tonight, however, she longed for nothing more than being able to close her eyes and forget the issues of the universe, as her companions were doing.

She averted her gaze and instead looked to the sky, marveling at the millions of twinkling lights that blanketed the heavens. Each one had its own story, its own bit of life to share, swirling with energy. If she could only reach out and grab that energy, she felt as if her existance would finally make sense-

"Gazing at the stars again, are we mistress?"

Athelia turned to face Gammon. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough."

"You just got here, didn't you?"

"Possibly."

Athelia couldn't hide a grin. Gammon had the habit of being mysterious, although he usually failed at his attempts, and looking rather silly after doing so.

"I want to see those stars, Gammon," she said, "I want to be up there with them."

Gammon eyed her surprisedly. "Athelia, are you going back to your Caelvitanian beliefs? You all but abandoned those decades ago."

"I'm not sure. I guess it's just the strain these past few days of alternating between frantically surviving and not doing anything has just got me a little on edge. But it's true. I want the stars in my hands again. I feel dark without them here with me." She did indeed seem dimmer than usual.

"Athelia, we've been having this discussion ever since I met you. The stars aren't alive. They are big masses of energy and light hovering over a bend in the fabric of space. It's impossible for something so structurally simple to sustain life, let alone contain it."

"What are we, Gammon? We aren't even as great as the stars - we don't have the energy or the gas or near the size of a star, and yet we exist. We live. We create. Is it really so difficult to imagine something greater than us also has these gifts?"

Gammon sighed. Athelia's irroneous beliefs that stars were the paradisical beings that watched over the cosmis were foolish, but eons of bickering hadn't changed her mind any other way. Caelvitanians, he thought. Who'd have thought such foolish people once held the greatest technology in the history of the universe before the natural selection process of life decided their collapse?

Gammon started. He had realized something. Athelia was getting dimmer. He glanced at himself to see that he was as well. What is going on?

"Athelia! We need to get back to the others now!"

She looked into his eyes, still filled with wonder and longing. "You go ahead. I will say my goodnights to Master Jacob in a moment. For now, I need to reaquaint myself with the stars. Who knows? If this is indeed a separate dimension, there may be new ones to know."

Gammon flew away to get a better view of what was happening. What he saw terrified him.

From the darkness behind Athelia - behind where he was just standing - tendrils of an unnaturally dark energy were reaching out for the both of them. Athelia was still gazing at the stars, half focused, oblivious to what was happening.

"Athelia!" Gammon shouted, but she didn't hear him. The tendrils wrapped their way around her until the head was all that was visible. Her light was so dark now it was difficult to even know she was there.

With a sudden constriction, the tendrils engulfed the area where Athelia was standing. There was a gust of gossamer-thin light whisps, then all evidence that Athelia had previously occupied the space had vanished.

Gammon tried to scream. He tried to call for help. He tried to jump forward at the essence that had just taken Athelia away from him. All he knew was that a moment later he was speeding as fast as he could to the safety of the camp, where the fire still glowed.

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Jacob woke with an excruciating pain in his entire arm. His entire body seemed to be convulsing with the sheer agony. He looked at his arm to distinguish the source of the pain. What he saw startled him.

The wristband that Dr. russel had given him was surging with power at an astonishing rate. Electric arcs were leaping off of it and linking to his skin, hence the pain.

With a yell, he frantically scraped at the latch holding it in place. In his panic, he jumbled with the catch for a few moments before he managed to rip it off of his wrist and thrust it to the ground.