Two chapters a day, here we goooo!

O O O

The first thing I see is pink.

Ugh. What a terrible color to wake up to. It's too bright. Too happy. It's nothing like red. At least this kind of pink isn't.

My face feels sore but it doesn't hurt. Actually, my whole body is sore but it's a good kind of sore. Like I just did some intensive training and woke up the next morning with new and stronger muscles.

I'm laying on something hard but I don't want to get up. My armor is sitting too tight onto my body and I just want to rip it off and feel a gust of wind on my skin.

I'm staring up at a metal ceiling and my face expression is locked. I can't move. But maybe because I don't want to.

But then I'm filled with a new kind of energy and I fly up into a sitting position, gasping like I just woke up from a nightmare and I frantically look around for some explanation of where I am.

A pink familiar hand appears on my arm and I feel my muscles relax. I sigh and look up with a new calm inside me just to meet purple eyes with darker purple irises and I think I've seen those eyes before.

"Marcles?" I breath and my voice is steadier than I imagined it to be.

He smiles at me and his hand is still on my arm. He looks just like in my dream, and I wonder if I'm dreaming now. Maybe not. Everything feels extra. More than realistic. It's a rare feeling and I don't think I've ever felt this awake before. Like I've slept all my life and finally opened my eyes.

"So, we meet again, brave red paladin." I wait for him to let go of my arm but instead he moves his hand higher up and it surprises me I can't feel any fear at all. This is okay. This is safe.

"We met before?" I ask confused and surprise myself more with the fact that I don't shake his hand away. "I thought it was a dream."

"It was." He lets go of my arm and I feel both relief and a lack of something at the same time. It's weird. He backs a little and his navy blue clothes takes in the bright light over us perfectly. His skin almost glitters and I find myself staring.

"But it was me who contacted you. Through your dream." He smiles brightly at me and walks towards me again, towards the metal surface like a bed I'm sitting on and I don't back away from him. I notice this room is very big but with the only thing here is the bed.
Marcles smile drops and he looks with me with a sad expression. Worry. "But then you woke up and I found it hard to contact you again. There was a distraction. And just recently we all saw you fall down with your lion. I saved you." His smile is back and I find myself think that it's not anywhere near as nice as Lance's, but the thought is gone faster than it appeard. "Now you're in the heart of Jombonian. In reality."

"You... saved me." I absently stare at the doors past him.

"I did. Other Jomboni's did it, too. You're in our infirmary."

"In... firmary." I say the word like it's the first time I heard it. "It's quite empty to be an infirmary."

"Oh, Keith", Marc sighs and a big part of me feels safe while the other half is questioning everything. "You seem to know nothing about us. But that's completely fine because we don't expect people to know about us." He turns around and does a big gesture around the big, empty room. "We don't need objects to help people. The only thing we need is mostly this room and our inner power."

He turns to me again and place a hand on my face, cupping my cheek tenderly. I just stare at him. "Our inner power can help you", he says in a lower voice and suddenly my face is hot, but it's the best kind of hot. Just like at home. In the desert. Just like when I was sitting on my porch on my little shack and I was facing the sun, eyes closed. 

I close my eyes and my cheek is burning, and I remember bringing my wet and cold towel to cool down my face. I wait for the cold after the hot and then I feel it; so cold that it actually stings. But it's a great feeling. Just to make everything even.

I sigh and open my eyes to see a pink glowing from his hand and the yellow dots under his eyes are pulsing with light, shifting to different kinds of yellow. I can't stop staring at him and I have no idea why but I don't care. The only thing I care about right now is that I'm safe and this hot and cold feeling against my face.

Hot and cold. Fire and ice.

Keith and Lance.

I gasp at my own thought and Marc takes his hand away from me and I expect him to ask what's wrong but he must think I'm surprised over what just happened.
I actually am.

"Your face wasn't fully healed", he explains and I bring my hand to my cheek and it feels better than it have ever felt. Marc search in my eyes and his ears twitch like it did before and I have mixed feelings about it now. "How are you feeling?"

"Honestly?" He nods. "I feel more than good. Thank you."

"It's no problem", Marc dismiss and reaches out for my hand. I hesitantly take it. "Follow me. I want to show you around." He gently pulls me out of my bed and I expect my legs to be all wobbly, but they aren't. They're actually really steady.

He pulls me with him across the room and to the big fancy doors that opens automatically. We appear in a big corridor, long in both height and width. The walls looks to be out of gold and fancy, ancient lanterns is hanging on them. But there isn't normal flames in them, or normal bulbs. Instead there is this pink flame making the corridor pink mixed with yellow from the regular lights on the ceiling. We walk on a red carpet and that leads my thoughts onto blood, but then I look at Marc again and I see this red color like the color of my lion. My lion is safe. I'm safe.

"My teammates", I say as we walk through the corridor, our footsteps echoing in the emptyness. No one is here exept for us. "Where are they? I need to inform them that I'm okay. I need to..."

"No need for that", Marc says and his deep voice fills the silence in a perfect way. He shots me a big smile before he looks forward again. "We already contacted them. They are on their way. Or at least they will be soon. I just wanted you to spend some time with us properly before you leave."
We reach two big doors again but we stand far away from them to remain closed. Marc stops and looks at me and his smile is smaller. "We are currently checking errors in the Red lion. Some malfunction, I suppose, which made you crash-land here."

Okay. They will soon come for me. If not I can always wait for the Jomboni's to fix Red and fly back myself. Everything is under control.

But still...

"Keith, welcome to Jombonian", Marc says and takes two steps until the two doors opens and I'm blended with light.