Chapter 1: Truth in Silence
Rapid breathing, growing loader, it was becoming more deafening by the moment. All he remembered was a flash of light, and an instant ringing sound in his ears. Then the echoed, desperate breathing came, like the final breaths of a dying man being multiplied hundreds of times across the steep unforgiving walls of an endless canyon.
And then there was silence, not an eerie silence that might have yielded some danger, just dead air. “Silence, your most blatant fear”, a thought crept slowly into his mind. “So much of a hindrance to yourself that you addressed your people more often than problems would arise, you would rather hear your own hollow voice than the truth of silence all around you. Now, there is only separation from your kind. No lesser brethren to guide , no lost soul to shepherd. If your shriveled, mortal carcass could be called a soul”. The thoughts became more insidious, taking on dimensions of their own as they spoke to him.
Dr. Breen’s vision returned, but the images his eyes received were blurry and out of focus. But their context seemed to burn his eyes, like a newborn baby being exposed to a bright light. “You are born undone, witness all that you have foreseen and wished only then will you begin to know the truth.” Those images were filled with nostalgia and pain flashing by at light‘s speed, until one finally came into focus. He was moving much slower now, except that now he was seated in a coldly decorated interior of a tram that was creeping towards the darkness of expansive tunnels. Everything was starting to look familiar to him, almost instantly.
The dark, winding tunnels, trams creeping along on the lower level tracks. Even the man in the neatly pressed blue suit sitting across from him staring into nothingness, looked familiar. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Another thought popped instantly into his mind. “Greetings, Dr. Breen”. A hollow echo of those words remained in his brain until he forced himself to answer.
Rapid breathing, growing loader, it was becoming more deafening by the moment. All he remembered was a flash of light, and an instant ringing sound in his ears. Then the echoed, desperate breathing came, like the final breaths of a dying man being multiplied hundreds of times across the steep unforgiving walls of an endless canyon.
And then there was silence, not an eerie silence that might have yielded some danger, just dead air. “Silence, your most blatant fear”, a thought crept slowly into his mind. “So much of a hindrance to yourself that you addressed your people more often than problems would arise, you would rather hear your own hollow voice than the truth of silence all around you. Now, there is only separation from your kind. No lesser brethren to guide , no lost soul to shepherd. If your shriveled, mortal carcass could be called a soul”. The thoughts became more insidious, taking on dimensions of their own as they spoke to him.
Dr. Breen’s vision returned, but the images his eyes received were blurry and out of focus. But their context seemed to burn his eyes, like a newborn baby being exposed to a bright light. “You are born undone, witness all that you have foreseen and wished only then will you begin to know the truth.” Those images were filled with nostalgia and pain flashing by at light‘s speed, until one finally came into focus. He was moving much slower now, except that now he was seated in a coldly decorated interior of a tram that was creeping towards the darkness of expansive tunnels. Everything was starting to look familiar to him, almost instantly.
The dark, winding tunnels, trams creeping along on the lower level tracks. Even the man in the neatly pressed blue suit sitting across from him staring into nothingness, looked familiar. His mouth moved, but no sound came out. Another thought popped instantly into his mind. “Greetings, Dr. Breen”. A hollow echo of those words remained in his brain until he forced himself to answer.
