Ghosts of the Past...

[Dab]

He came to slowly. At least, slowly for him. The first thing he noticed was the sound. The sound of water flowing past him. Then he began to notice other sounds such as a distant thrumming noise, and the soft sounds of machines moving around.

It was then that he remembered what had happened. He sat up abruptly, and immediately regretted it as the movement sent a sharp streak of pain across his back. He tried to breath and found his lungs fill with a think, syrupy liquid. Pain from protesting muscles raked his back as conscious thought quickly melted away to be replaced by instinctive reaction.

Luciaden reacted quickly, attempting to swim through the thick, sticky liquid that held him down. Dots starting to fill his vision, he tried to find a way out of his watery prison, his legs buckling, his lungs burning from lack of oxygen. He began a slow fall towards the outside wall of the tank he was trapped within, almost losing consciousness. He prepared himself for death. Finally an escape from a universe he had become disgusted with. Humans and their pathetic ways, the petty wars. His mind flickered through his life. From the beginning with the invasion of the nomads, and his involvement in it. The scattered wars that had been attempted against him. The faces of those he had commanded, those he had killed.

His thoughts turning to the life he had before he had been captured and tormented. Visions of his home, now a burning firestorm blazing across a barren landscape. The once-great cities of impentrable crystal crumbling from time and neglect. And those responsible...

No! His teeth clinching together. I will not go out like this. Not until I have avenged my people.

A surge of adrenaline filled him, mixing with the intense anger within him.

Eyes squeezed shut, teeth throbbing with the pressure of being clinched together tightly. Hands balled into fists. The anger inside him exploding outward. Abruptly aware of everything around him. The ship that he had fought to capture. The stars racing past as it moved at incredible speed. Every small bit of machinery and crystal throughout the ship. The ship's shuddering as its controls, keyed to be used with Miralukan minds, went berserk under the telepathic pressure of Luciaden's outburst.

And the subtle, yet very alive, being that was on the ship..

Luciaden gasped, sinking into the wall and floor as his knees collapsed beneath him in shock. His vision blurred as unconsciousness threatened to overcome his oxygen-deprived brain. However, this time instead of hitting the wall, he melded through it, slowly falling out into a bare room. He sucked in air greedily. Laying there on the floor, recovering from the mental and physical pressure he had just suffered. The soft sound of boot steps steadily moving towards him.

Too drained of energy, he could do little more than look up at the boots quickly approaching him. And what he saw froze his mind.

His mind blanked, the site stunning him speechless. At last he strangled out a shaky "How?"

That was all he got out before an intense pain was unleashed on his mind, resulting in his loss of consciousness.

To be continued

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