[IC] Sacrifice

[Carantathraiel]

How strange. Enoch had expected something to happen when she touched the hilt of the weapon. Some amazing ray of sunlight or even just a feeling that she was making the right choice. That she was where she was supposed to be. Instead she was just standing in the middle of the desert with her hand on the alien weapon. What a disappointment.

The arrival of the stranger was so sudden that Enoch jumped, turning her emerald gaze on him. She hadn't heard him approach. Swallowing, she felt the sword leave her fingers, and Enoch felt a flicker of annoyance. This wasn't the 'something' she had been waiting for? This mystery skull-rider to appear and take the sword? This was more disappointing than before.

Her hand remained outward, as if she were expecting something else to appear for her to grasp. Nothing did. But the man waved his sword with a soft woosh, and sliced something she hadn't seen before. Fear rose in her as the line appeared, and she stepped backward as …. whatever that was opened like a mouth, revealing something she couldn't have understood if she tried. “Wha—“ She breathed out, shocked. How was there something there!? This was all just desert! Sand! Heat! There was no … whatever that was! Awed beyond words, Enoch took a cautious step to the side, trying to look behind the mouth, expecting to see something to explain the strange sight, but what she saw only made it worse. There was just sand! More sand, for miles. The same desert she had lived in her whole life. This mouth just floated in the air like a droplet of rain.

Enoch jumped again when Skull-Rider took her still extended hand. His grip was gentle, but firm at once, and Enoch blinked dumbly at him. Her tension grew when he stepped toward the mouth, and when Enoch realized he intended to step inside it, she felt the urge to strike him. He had escaped one dragon, and was dragging her into the mouth of another?! She bent her legs, trying to pull away, but his grip was stronger than her ground. Her feet slid through the sand as he stepped into the mouth. With a panicked gasp, she lept over where she knew the teeth would be, her body shrinking as she felt her feet land on something solid. There was a loud clank as her mother's axe fell from her hand.

Her eyes closed, Enoch didn't move, waiting for ivory teeth to chomp down and crush her body. It never came. She just felt unbelievably cold. She'd never been this cold before. Not even on the chilliest of nights in the desert. Shivering, Enoch peeked an eye open, and felt her confusion deepen as she took in her new surroundings. Everything looked like it was made of stone. Only, the smoothest stone she had ever seen. Like the strange metal of her mother's axe. There were torches, too, in strange colours, like when Pandu would throw powder into the flames during festivities. And they weren't dancing wildly, but contained and solid.

Enoch's eyes went down to her bare feet. There was sand littering the floor. It, too, was made of the metal stone. Tucking her arms close, Enoch exhaled shakily, bewildered as a cloud left her lips.

For the third time in the last few moments, Enoch jumped when the mystery man with the sword and the skull moved suddenly. He crossed to the stone wall and opened it (yes, opened it!), and dug his arms inside. Enoch could do nothing more but stare in shock and confusion. Penemu, help me. Enoch thought in terror. What is this? What have I gotten into?

The man returned with a blanket, which was the first thing Enoch recognized in this alien world. He held it out, and she silently took it, wrapping it around her tightly. Even the blanket felt weird, but it was warm, and that was all she could appreciate, for the moment.

“Metal...” she repeated the word. Her brow knit together quickly, struggling with her thoughts. He was asking about something. A weapon of her fathers. Or mothers. She had something like that, didn't she? It was at home, on her wall. Back in the desert. She had stared at it before she left, and brought it with her. It was the one on her wall. “That,” She breathed out shakily, her hand pointing to the covered item on the floor. “It was my mother's. My father gave it...” She stopped. Had her father been here? The axe was from here? The same shiny stone? Enoch's eyes widened as she fell into her thoughts again, her wide, shocked gaze on the odd walls.

[Pascal]

“How did you get that?” Penny asked as soon as she had sat down at the table. Deedee’s gaze flickered to her wrist before looking up at Penny. “I applied for a few different positions, got this one.” She said plainly.

Rhonda sat down with a huff. Deidre didn’t need to look over at her roommate to know what the fuss was about. Rhonda wanted to finish her story, and was jealous that Penny’s attention was on her instead. Penny didn’t seem to know what was wrong, and Lola didn’t care, so Deedee turned to her roommate to continue the story from the previous day. “So will you tell us what happened next?” She asked. That earned a large smile from the woman, and Deidre was happy to have the attention off of her.

“Of course I will! So where was I… Oh, so he was hitting his own car, chasing me around, when…” Rhonda went on with her story, and by all appearances, Deidre was watching her and paying attention. On the inside, though, she just found herself not caring. The story was outlandish, but what was more, Rhonda wasn’t genuine. It was completely contradictory for Deidre to be so bothered by this, of course. She was hiding the biggest secret just beneath the surface, and she was silently condemning Rhonda for not sharing the truthful story behind her imprisonment. It is different. She tried to reason. She is going out of her way to draw attention to herself and her lies. I am just…trying to blend in.

Everyone was looking at her, and Deidre quickly glanced around, realizing that they were waiting for her to speak. Had Rhonda asked her a question. “That’s just…wow, I’m speechless…You know?” She said after a few moments, confident that they would call her out for missing whatever the question had been.

“Exactly!” Rhonda slammed the table emphatically, and one of the guards came over, baton raised to quell any unruly behaviors that arose from the group. Deedee immediately looked down at her plate, sitting very still. The last thing she wanted was a fight. Lola, on the other hand, glared at the guard, nearly bucking at the woman with her head. The guard didn’t appreciate the disrespect, of course, and Lola was forcefully removed from the meal.

With the mood sufficiently brought down by the interruption, even Rhonda grew quiet. The rest of the meal passed calmly, apart from Penny asking a few questions about routines around the facility, like when she would see Lola again. Deidre didn’t have a whole lot of answers, but Rhonda had enough speculation for the both of them.

At the end of the meal, Deidre reported to the shift-workers exit, and waited for her bracelet to be scanned that would say she was allowed to leave. She waited quietly for the positive tone, and then for the guard to wave her through. The man who was there scanning, however, didn’t pass her on right away. “First day at laundry, right?”

“Yes, sir.” Deidre said, looking up at him briefly but keeping her gaze low. She didn’t want to make enemies here, especially of the guard.

The man thought for a moment or two before he spoke again. “And you know how to get there?” He asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“Is this going to be your shift every day?” He asked, making Deidre realize that his questions were going a bit beyond essential information. She hesitated for a moment before answering affirmatively again. The man checked his computer once more before shaking his head. “Except tomorrow.” He interjected.

“I’m sorry…?” Deidre looked up at him once more, holding his gaze for a few moments in confusion. “What is different about tomorrow, I thought I had this work every day…” She wasn’t trying to be argumentative, and fortunately, the man didn’t seem to think that she was.

“Docket says tomorrow you have an appointment with the medical wing. Something needs to be checked in your blood. Don’t know more. But after breakfast, report here to be escorted to Med bay. For now, you are dismissed to laundry.” He finally waved her through, and Deidre slowly began the trek to the laundry area, barely keeping up with the few who were dismissed at the same time. Her mind was having a hard time focusing on where she was going, and if she weren’t with two others, she might have taken a wrong turn.

They needed her to do blood work. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She had assumed that her blood was normal. But now she was sure that it wasn’t. Normal people didn’t…look like she looked. If they were calling her to the medical wing, though, they weren’t yet sure of what was going on. That meant there was still time. Time for what?

Time to get out. Deidre had considered escape before, the pros and cons, and the potential ease of changing her appearance to get out, but she had decided that the steady meals and routine was far from the worst situation in which she had found herself. Now, with the threat of blood work hanging overhead, her perspective had changed. She needed to get out of here before they pulled her in to poke and prod at her—before they figured out just how different she was.