Awakening X

I walk alongside myself through a seemingly endless corridor - the Cells of Forgetting. I pass black doors as I go, featureless and solid. Ventilation ducts criss-cross the spartan ceiling above. I spend the walk talking to myself - to Roshan. There is so much I must tell him - of the unbelievable events that took place in the bubble outside reality, and of his own past, which he and I both lost in the Cells of Forgetting, but only I have recovered. Roshan himself seems increasingly doubting of me - perhaps he thinks that I am some sort of doppleganger, a trick of his captors. I can think of no way to prove otherwise.

At last, five minutes after passing the cell we were both prisoned in, we reach the end of the corridor. At it is a plain white door, with a blurry glass pane in the top. Roshan reaches out, turns the knob and pulls the door open.

A robed figure whirls, saying the first words I have heard from any of them: "What? Who are y- the new prisoner!" Over Roshan's shoulder, who is blocking the doorway, I see the robed figure draw a knife and cut a deep gash in his palm. Roshan is already moving toward the man, but already he is pulling out something reddish and unpleasant-looking - a chunk of the giant heart? - and pressing it to the bleeding gash. Instantly, he vanishes, with a faint poom as air rushes in to fill the space where he stood.

Roshan turns to me - perhaps now more convinced that I am who I say I am - and says, "We'll have to move quickly - he's probably going to warn others." I agree, and begin searching the office for anything useful. One wall is completely covered with shelves holding bottles of some ambiguous liquid. I suspect that this is the drug that our captors use to induce amnesia. The robed figure who fled left behind a newspaper, dated June 25th, two days after Rebecca and I entered the office building. I picked it up from his desk - and beneath it is a switch-board, a row of pairs of tiny toggles marching through the middle. I call Roshan over, and we agree that this must control the cell doors. I flip one up, and sure enough, a door just outside swings open. Roshan flips them all up.

You know, I'm starting to think that he might be a little more impulsive than I am. Perhaps I shouldn't have given him the Device - I know that if I hadn't seen what I had beneath the beating heart, I'd be a little too eager to just escape the building, no matter whatever else lurks here. But I suppose I shouldn't criticize myself too much. Besides, there's no time to waste - more robed figures could arrive at any moment. Roshan is already calling me onward.

Most of the cells were empty, it seems. They look like they were never used. Eighteen prisoners in all emerged from the cells, scattered along the long corridor. Most of them are already walking in one direction or another by the time Roshan and I find them - they had to be explorers to get in here, after all. Roshan and I split the job of explaining their circumstances to them - most of them are quite incredulous, but follow us nonetheless. The sight of the beating heart, by the time we get there, silences most of them.

Rebecca is the last one found; she is brave, as always, and was almost to the heart by the time we catch up to her. It is an awkward moment, as she looks between the two of us. I speak up first: "I am Roshan - do you remember me?" She shakes her head; but there must be something about us that is familiar to her, or she would not look at us so. Roshan continues, "I am your boyfriend; we went here together on a date, and were caught by, um, robed figures and imprisoned." I consider whether to add that I am also her boyfriend, but time is running short until more of the robes arrive, and she looks confused enough as is. The rest of the prisoners are catching up behind us.

So we stand, Roshan and Rebecca and I, with some very confused prisoners behind us, gathered around the living heart. Two doors lead out; I have unlocked both. The prisoners look to us for leadership; and it is time for me to make my choice, though I have delayed it. Should I escape, or try to unravel whatever plot the robed ones make? I look at Roshan, who is thinking his own thoughts; I could predict him before, but now he has taken a path quite different from mine. While I delayed making my decision, events made it for me. I tell Roshan, "You must lead Rebecca and the other prisoners to freedom. I'll stay, and try to stop the robed ones." I'm the only one who can. Roshan replies, "Good," and walks out the left door. Perhaps he's grateful that I did not try to come after him; after all, only one of us can reclaim our life.

Well, we'll see about that. I have some ideas of my own on that count; but now isn't the time to voice them. I take the right door and run through the corridor beyond. I need to figure out what the robed ones' plot is, and then stop it. Time is running short; enemies might arrive at any moment.

Where first?