Tollank heard the voice within the confines of his mind, the sound of his mother’s voice playing over and over. Out of habit he snapped his fingers together, desperate to cut into the darkness that surrounded him. Nothing. For the first time since he was a boy, Tollank couldn’t see. At least then he could react to the world around him, in this personal Hell he couldn’t even hear. The voice still echoed in his mind. Mind your steps, Tollank. Mind your steps, Tollank. Mind your steps, Tollank. The more he thought about it the less it seemed like something his mother would say. This voice wasn’t his mother, it was some outside force mocking him. Mocking him for finally being truly helpless. He fell to his knees, and screamed. No sound escaped his lips. Tollank felt his lungs ache from the screaming, and his throat begin to grow sore, but yet nothing escaped. He began to cry, at least he thought he did. He felt tears run down his face, or was that sweat? He couldn’t tell anymore. In this prison only two things were constant. The empty void that surrounded him, and the dull ache in his chest from the screaming that made no sound.

For a while he just sat there, afraid to move. He couldn’t see, and was directly told that a misstep would cost him his life. Tollank had no idea where the ledge started. As of right now his was sitting on solid ground, but the ledge could be inches away. Or feet. He didn’t know. All Tollank knew was that he had to get out of this god forsaken place. Slowly, inch by inch, he began to crawl forward. After crawling he felt it, the beginning of the drop-off. His fingers moved across the ledge, he felt for the walkway that would lead to his salvation. Moving left he scooted along, until his fingers met another ledge. Tollank felt in front of him, it was the walkway! Finally he could get out of this goddamn void.

The walkway was actually not very difficult to navigate, it turned a couple times, but at the crawl that Tollank was maintaining it was easy to navigate. He kept crawling along, afraid to stand up and risk falling. Meanwhile the blackness that surrounded him offered no comfort, its constant embrace was starting to get to him. He just wanted out of here, he wanted to go back to the park, feel the warm water of the stream wash over his feet. Wash his troubles away. Tollank began to daydream about the brook, the park, his friends, but soon he lost his focus on the task at hand. He started to pick up the pace, not focusing on the task at hand. Suddenly the path took a sharp turn, but at this point he was powerless to slow himself. Tollank fell over the edge, into the darkness below. He felt the air whizzing past him, picking up speed. He would never see his friends again, his trip would end as soon as it began. Tollank screamed. Screamed for Leon, Areia, Keita, and Alan. For all the others in Ellexkir he had yet to meet. Now he never would. He could see the floor down below. Wait. He could see the floor. He could hear the scream. It was louder than anything he had ever heard before, deafening almost. Suddenly Tollank had a revelation. He was controlling the power and frequency of the sound. Focusing, he felt the sound waves move, narrowing into a beam aimed at the floor. He could feel himself slowing, losing speed. He was moving at a speed now that he could survive this, but it would hurt like a bitch. Closing his eye, he continued to scream, and braced for impact. 

Tollank’s body hit the ground, and pain erupted from all over his body. His metal arm had survived the fall, but the rest of his body didn’t fare so well. He could feel something poke his lungs when he tried to breath, ribs were broken. He let out another inhuman scream, to survey the damage done to his body. His legs lay at awkward angles, and would not move to his prompting. He could move his other arm, but the wrist hurt like hell. He screamed again, the sound echoing through the test chamber. Tollank noticed something to his right…a door. He had found the exit! Using all of his strength he pulled his body towards salvation. When he got close enough the door slid open to reveal a large room with other doors dotting its walls. Tollank assumed all test chambers lead to this room, so the victors could see one other. Tollank dragged himself into the room, leaving a trail of blood across the clean white floor. He made it. He beat the goddamn test. He could see again. A small smile crossed Tollank’s face, before his eyes closed and he lost consciousness.