Shaw almost didn't notice as he arrived back on the main level of the Spire. His eyes were squeezed shut, his fists clenched white-knuckled against his sides. He didn't look around until he felt his feet plant solidly against the ground.
He hurried as far into the structure as he dared, and with a weary sigh he sank to the floor. He briefly considered kissing it, but dismissed the idea, instead enjoying the very solid and safe sensation of something beneath his feet.
That, and the great distance between himself and that sinister fog.
It was strange to think that the stuff that had essentially birthed him could prove so malevolent. Maybe that was the way it was, though. He didn't know anything else to use as a frame of reference - just these jagged, chaotic corridors infused with wisps of the never ending fog. He wondered where the creatures who seemed intent on causing them harm came from - had they formed from the fog too?
We he and Vane and the rest monsters to them?
He sighed, letting his eyes close. As he became more aware, he found he had more and more questions. The blue pendant 'round his neck had only added to his confusion. Where had they come from? Not just the items, the monsters, or the people - but
all of them. Did they exist to serve the goddesses they'd been chosen by upon awakening, or was there some other hidden quest?
Shaw knew somehow this wasn't right - it was just a feeling, but he trusted it. An instinct. He was supposed to be somewhere else,
needed somewhere else. He just had to figure out
where.That was a problem in and of itself - the world was filled with fog, and from the fog came monsters. Monsters, and other people. Others whose hearts glowed like his own, in a myriad of colors.
He wondered if any of the others felt the same way, as they went about their tasks. Their quests. Maybe that was just how the world worked - maybe he was destined to be alone. Maybe there wasn't anywhere he was supposed to be, after all.
Maybe it meant nothing.
He sighed. For now, he would rest. Rest, and reflect. He knew so little, and their world was so vast and confusing. Chaotic. He felt lost in a sea of half-rememberings; forgotten. Did it have to have a meaning? Shaw put a hand to the glowing heart in his chest, and watched the light play across the inside of his fingers. A bright red, with the beginnings of flickers of other colors.
Maybe nothing was better, after all.
