Young Writers Society

"Hallucinate?" Bo's head tilted towards Raiden's voice. "Is he okay? Can someone help him?"

Boris was already preoccupied, having appointed himself as Bo's guide in a laughable attempt at an act of penance. No, because it was simply the decent thing to do. And he was the second tallest. There. Practical reason.

"The natives nay know a remedy. For now he'll have to wait it out. For the time being, someone will need to walk with him, watch his steps. Whoever's left that's well."

"I can see the way! Onward!" Raiden proclaimed, stepping forward and pointing ahead. Whether or not this was the actual correct way to be going was not even an inkling of worry in Raiden's mind, as all he was sure of was that everything looked like it was bright neon -- even the dark bits; very bright neon black -- and that he knew exactly what he was doing.
Plus, there was a massive sign that said "this way!" over there, so who was he to refute the gods of signs?

Aegeas was about to say that he didn't have a clue what Boris was talking about, but was distracted by Raiden. Who was clearly on something.

"That's a tree," the otter said, faint smile on his face as his eyes focused on the large trunk Raiden was pointing at. Aegeas was pretty sure it wasn't something he was supposed to laugh at, given the circumstances, but there wasn't much he couldn't find funny right now. Probably not a good sign, but he was a little too tired and a little too numb from the pain to think about it.

"Uh, Nadira? Codix? Could you go help him?" Bo asked, head tilting again so his ears faced the source of Raiden's voice as Raiden got further away. "I'm sure he thinks he's going the right way, but we need to stay together, and let Maahes lead the way."

Nadira and Codix both nodded, only to pause when they realized that Bo could no longer see something like that. Codix felt a knot forming in his gut - he knew it must have been hard for Bo to suddenly be blinded, but it was hard ot accept that something so terrible had happened to his friend.

"Okay," Codix said. Nadira gave Bo's hand one last tight squeeze before muttering the same thing in agreement. It was Nadira who got to Raiden's side first - she grabbed onto his hand and stared to bring him back towards the group. Codix, meanwhile, tried to distract himself by checking on the other members of their group. Boris was taking care of Bo. Nadira was taking care of Raiden. Maahes was in the lead.

But how was Aegeas-

He had been too shocked by Bo suddenly being blinded to notice just how beaten Aegeas looked. Both arms dangled helplessly at his side, and he kept stumbling. Codix quickly went to his side and offered him a warm but unsteady smile.

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"Hey hey! I'm being yoinked by the hand of God! Oh woe is me! What is morality but a heathen's excuse and lies to do good!' Raiden babbled, his hallucinations slowly fading away as time carried on, yet he felt as high as I (the author) feel tired, so with that I'm probably gonna go sleep while Nadira drags Raiden to wherever they're off to.

Aegeas started to raise an arm, then grimaced. Whoops, he'd almost forgotten about that (and everything else, but he wasn't about to admit that, if only because he wasn't sure how to). "It's fine," he said, giving Codix a lopsided grin. "We have bigger things to worry about, right?" Hopefully Codix didn't realize that was more of a question than a statement.

"We do," he agreed, "but I think helping you is important, too."

After a moment of hesitation, he slipped his arm under Aegeas's - allowing the otter to lean up against him as they walked towards the village in the distance. A few moments into helping him, he changed into a human form again. He was taller as Oliver than he was as Codix, and height was something he needed right now.

They emerged the brush all dotted in cuts, scrapes, bites, dirt, blood, sweat, saliva, and a number of other fluids that, perhaps mercifully, could not be identified.

It was in this state of bedragglement that they entered the village. But, as they had hoped, the villagers were hospitable. They gave them water. They gave Raiden a remedy to dispel his hallucinations. They helped them to clean, and better dress their wounds.

And then they awoke in a cell.

Boris’ eyes were still awash with the blinding white light that had taken them. The raucous, feverish chanting of the villagers as the beam dragged them skyward still echoed in time with the throbbing of his head. His vision unclouded at a damnably sluggish rate, but as he came to he felt the heavy arm that still clutched his- Bo’s- and the bizarre texture of their prison.

It was not exactly hard, but it was not soft. It felt smooth on the immediate surface, like the inside of a cheek, yet solid, and thick. Stringy strands and little bubbles abounded to break up the surface, overlapping in a thick weave.

As his vision unclouded further, white blurred into a dull, deep, fleshy pink.
Underneath the uncomfortably low ceiling he made out the shape of Bo, slumped next to him, possibly awake. He found the shapes of Aegeas, and Raiden, and Nadira… he counted, and recounted again, but could find no earthly trace of Maahes or Codix.
Boris opened his mouth to say something stupid, to lighten the atmosphere, but his voice had left him.

As for bars, or door, there were none, but the cell opening was protected by a thick weave of the fleshy strings, like a ghastly spider's web.

What could be made out through the cracks was no good either- a forsaken narrow corridor indistinguishable from the cell interior, from the stomach-like claustrophobia to the poor lighting.

Boris defensively backed harder into the wall, and regretted everything.

This was not part of the plan. This was not part of the plan.


This was not part of the plan.

Bo was in a haze. The villagers had done something to stop the bleeding and wrapped what he assumed was a bandage around his eye, but it did nothing for the pain. Now that the shock and the adrenaline wore off, his entire head was pounding madly like a beating drum, and he could barely focus on what was going on. Everything was dark, and everything was quiet, save for the breaths of those around him.

The air felt cool, and the ground was a strange texture - it almost felt like skin, stretched firm, but he hated that that was the only thing he could compare it to. He desperately hoped it wasn’t that.

He kept an arm around Boris’s shoulders to ground him, but part of him desperately wanted to pull away. Already, he missed his independence. Already, he felt useless and helpless and small. If he couldn’t see what was going on how was he supposed to know how to help? How was he supposed to know how they could escape?

His arm pulled away from Boris a little bit, but never left him entirely. He slid his hand down Boris’s should to Boris’ hand, finding that the easiest way to find it. He held Boris’ wrist loosely, because he could remember how Boris’s palms felt. Like they’d been burned or something.

“Where are we?” he whispered to Boris, his voice tired and afraid to go any louder, since he didnmt know their environment. “Is everyone with us?”

This was not part this was not part of the

Boris felt Bo loosen his grip, and resettle at the wrist. This movement brought him back to reality, and in response to said reality, Boris slumped limply into the wall.

"In a cell." he said. The words trickled out in a sparse, gravelly whisper. His voice sounded so unused, it surprised him.

"We're on a wraith ship. The villagers, offered us to them."







Maahes, and Codix, are missing."

After everything they'd survived that day (yes, it all happened in one day, hadn't it? Had it?) it all came down to this after all the wandering in endless chrome corridors they fought Kartiel and fought with Kartiel and switched consciousnessess and drank themselves out of consciousnessess and fought the wasps and the eels and the goddamned christing bloody hell leopard whatever all for this? For this? To await an excruciating conclusion.

And the touch that kept him present was the man who he had blinded, for a gamble, he looked to him for guidance. Useless. He was useless.

Bo hummed softly, nodding. He tried not to show how much that disturbed him, pressing his lips into a tight frown, but hearing that they were on a wraith ship sent a dart into his stomach.

We’re gonna die. We’re gonna die.

No, no, he couldn’t accept that. He couldn’t think like that if he wanted any chance of living and helping the others.

But what would become of them? Was this Kartiel’s plan all along? Was Kartiel just messing with them, leading them on slowly to their death?

He worried about Codix and Maahes, but especially Codix. Codix was just a kid - sure, a smart and capable one, but he didn’t want to imagine them doing anything to Codix that would hurt him, if he was even still alive.

Good grief. Bo was exhausted.

“Nadira?” he asked. “Raiden? Aegeas?” He knew Boris said who was gone, but he... he wanted to hear the others that were there. If they could reply. If they were able to.

The world was dark.

And then, suddenly, it wasn't.

Nadira felt like her head was splitting as she came to. She could still move her body, but it felt like some kind of foreign signal had run its course through her. She dug at her memory banks for an explanation of it all, and remembered that they had arrived at the village. They had arrived at the village, and then the villagers had helped. They had helped them, and-

The wraith.

The wraith had come and taken them into their ships. Wraith darts, she clarified, remembered what she had seen in the notes on Atlantis. Their transportation system must have messed with their system, but Codix would have noticed that the moment they arrived here-

Where was Codix?

Nadira shot to her feet, barely registering as Bo called out her name. Codix wasn't in the cell. She saw Bo, and Boris, and Raiden, and Aegeas, but she couldn't find Codix or Maahes no matter where she looked. If she could cry, she would have been. Codix was gone. He was taken by the wraiths, and she could only think of one reason why.

"No," she whispered. "No, no, no."

She moved past the others, pressing the palms of her hands against the cell's strange entry point. She couldn't break past it, but she wasn't even sure she was trying. She was just trying to find any sign of him - she knew it was hopeless, but it was the only thing she could think of doing.

She had always known that she was going to outlive Codix. She was a robot. He was something more tangible - something made of flesh and blood and bones, even if none of those matched humanity's versions. Something more alive.

But she had never imagined losing him like this.

Her hands dropped to her sides, and she took a step back from the door.

"He-He's gone," she said. "They took Codix. They-They took my best friend and I..."

She stared hopelessly at the door for another moment.

Then she turned to the back of the cell, silently made her way over to the corner, and pulled her legs close to her chest.


The world was dark.

But it wasn't entirely dark. Codix found himself drifting in and out of consciousness, catching bits of conversations among little, blurry sights - of being jostled around as he was carried to somewhere in a hallway that looked like it was alive, to being thrown in a cell, and to Maahes (a strange, gelantious goo dripping out of a gash on his face) being thrown in with him. He was vaguely aware of Maahes trying to rouse him awake, and of Maahes telling him something, but he passed out again before he could really understand any of the words.

And then suddenly the world wasn't dark, and came into overwhelming focus around him. The cell - he was in a cell, right? - was empty besides him. The only confirmation that he had that Maahes had ever been in it with him was the pool of goo on the ground. He almost touched it, still too shocked to register what had happened, but caught himself when his finger was hovering over it.

He glanced down at himself.

His form was still human, and the fractures had barely begun to form. It couldn't have been long since...

Since they arrived at the village.

Since the wraith took them.

Since-

He shot to his feet.

"Nad?" he said, voice frantic as he glanced around his cell again. It was just as empty as it had been the first time he looked around. He darted off towards the door, pressing his hands against it as he tried to peer outside. But the door made it too hard, and-

He drew his hands back.

They felt gross. There was some kind of liquid coming off of the webs, and-

"Ow!" Codix yelped, frantically trying to wipe it off on his jacket. It hurt. Not too much, but just enough for him to realize that it wasn't a good idea to underestimate what was keeping him trapped inside the cell.

Codix didn't try to think about what had happened to Nadira. As far as he could guess, they had taken her to another cell. And if they did something to her, he'd get her back - he just had to figure out how he was going to get himself out first.

He stared at the door.

He stared at himself.

He stared at the door again.

Then he let out a sigh - this was a lot harder than he had anticipated. He resigned himself to anxiously pacing around the cell, trying to come up with an answer that refused to show itself. It was only when he got bored and started absentmindedly changing little parts of his body that an idea came to him.

He usually changed his form for show, but there had been some guards he had seen at the castle years ago that had used it for other things. And it was what he had done back with the eels, too. Make his body protected enough, and add just enough strength, and he could easily make his way through the wall.

So he did exactly that.

He went running into the wall with his body sufficiently protected and supported, and went tumbling out on the other side - into a hallway that matched what he had seen when he was barely conscious. His form shifted again, this time back to its original one. He didn't know when he'd need to use his abilities again, and fracturing could be a death sentence if he wasn't careful.

Then he heard people coming.

He eyed the hallway for somewhere to hide, and ultimately found the perfect spot up against one of the walls. He watched as a group of wraith walked down the hallway right in front of him - none noticing the distinctively people-shaped spot on the wall as they chatted with a group of people who had come from the village.

Codix narrowed his eyes as they disappeared down another hallway.

Where they working with the wraith? That was a thing that actually happened?

Still, it did give him an idea.

He went back to his human form and gave himself an outfit that matched what the people of the village wore. If anyone found him, he could play dumb and pretend he had gotten lost.

Fully intent on finding the others, he started on his way down the hallway.

He was only halfway down the next hallway when he got his first chance to test his makeshift disguise - another group of wraith were heading down the hallway. He could hear them talking.

He ducked his head down.

The wraith passed, barely giving him a second glance.

Codix raised his head.

Or, at least, he thought they had passed.

One had lingered behind, and was looking at him with narrowed, suspicious eyes.

The other wraith suddenly stopped down the next hallway.

If Codix wasn't already terrified, he certainly was now.

And then a hand - the hand with the feeding organ, and the hand that was the most deadly part of the wraith - shot out, grabbed him by the shirt, and tugged him into a room that had to be some kind of small storage closet.

A very small storage closet, because there was absolutely no way for him to get free from the wraith pinning him up against the wall in the darkness. Tears finally began to well up in Codix's eyes. He wasn't going to find Nad. He wasn't even going to see her again. He was going to die here, in this closet, with a wraith sucking away every last bit of his life.

After everything he had been through, this was how he was going to die-

Nadira’s voice triggered something in him. Flipped a switch. Bo let go of Boris and started crawling towards the source of Nadira’s voice, reaching out an arm to try and find her.

“Hey, Nadira,” he said softly, still pawing at the air until they caught on a shirt. A shoulder. It felt like it would fit Nadira. He reached above their shoulder to pat their head and feel their hair. It was longer. So it at least wasn’t Aegeas. He hoped it was Nadira. Whoever it was was getting a hug.

He pulled them into a hug slowly from what felt like the side. Once they were wrapped in his arms he was positive it wasn’t Raiden. It was his robot friend Nadira, and hopefully she didn’t mind hugs.

“Look. I don’t know where we’re at, but we’re gonna figure this out. We’ll get out of this, and after it all we’ll be back home. Back in our own bodies, away from all this.”