Gasps filled the air as the man’s missing arm appeared. His flesh and muscles reached out and stitched it back onto his body. As time went on, the man’s deathly complexion turned a healthy pink as he gasped for air. At that moment, Callum felt a hand on his shoulder. Tom was frowning at him as the others rushed forward to check on Sarah’s father.
“Come on, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Tom walked towards the library as Rachael put Sarah down, allowing her to check on her father for herself. She nodded towards Tom’s figure while staring at Callum, signalling they should follow him. Callum frowned as he followed the pair. They don’t look too happy. Did I do something wrong? Callum sighed as he checked his right hand where only four stars remained.
I wonder if they’ll come back. He shook his head as he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. What’s the deal with these people? As far as he had seen only Rachael had used her power. Well, that was what Callum guessed. It was the only reason he could think of for her being able to move normally inside the area of Slow.
He had to admit that he was interested in finding out what card she had. With the way she answers to Tom he must have something more powerful. Callum squinted at Tom’s back as they entered the building. However, he could discern nothing about him. Except that he seemed to carry an immense weight on his shoulders.
Once he was inside, Callum realised things were worse than he thought. Someone, or something, had trashed the interior. It looks like a war happened here recently! His eyes scanned over the broken doors and ruined books scattered around. However, neither Tom nor Rachael slowed down as they led his to a staircase in the rear of the main entrance.
He could see a dim glow at the bottom of them. Which made him wonder if they had electricity. However, once they reached the basement, he noticed several fires burning dotted around the room. Callum’s eyes went wide at the sheer number of people huddled up around the metal bins being used to keep people warm. The smoke coming from them drew his gaze as amazement filled him. It’s flowing out those windows without spreading!
Because of that, Callum immediately had the thought that someone had to be controlling it. After all, that was not a normal occurrence. The people gathered there stared at him with mild curiosity for a moment before staring into the flames again. Rachael coughed to gain his attention as he had not noticed that he had stopped walking to check that place out. It was then Callum realised Tom had slipped into a small office near the right wall.
“Come on in and close the door.”
Tom reached for a bottle of whiskey as Rachael and Callum filed in behind him. With a smooth wave of his hand, he indicated towards two empty chairs on the other side of the old desk. As the pair sat down Tom poured himself a drink before clearing his throat.
“Ok, first off, I’m Tom. I’m the one responsible for all those people out there.” He pointed towards the door before fixing his gaze on Callum. “Of course, you already know Rachael.”
“Callum Wixx.” Callum said as he noticed Tom was waiting for his reply. “Or just call me Cal.”
“Cal, huh? Ok, we’ll go with that. Did you just get here son?”
He’s treating me like a kid. Cal sighed as he met Tom’s gaze. “Yes.”
Tom nodded as he took a sip from his glass and rubbed his cheek with his thumb. “No point in asking what you know then. We’ve only been here a few days ourselves. So, let me share what we think we know.”
“According to everyone out they just woke up here. Some of them remember watching a solar eclipse before suddenly finding themselves in this hellhole. So that must be the same for you.”
Callum nodded after thinking for a bit. That’s right. I wasn’t sleeping in bed! I was watching the eclipse! He swallowed nervously as his experience seemed connected with everyone else’s.
“Nothing new there then.” Tom glanced at Rachael briefly. “Like us, I’m guessing you usually experience quite lucid drams?”
Cal licked his lips which had become dry before answering. “Yes.”
His voice sounded rough, even to his ears. However, neither Tom nor Rachael seemed to notice as they both nodded at his confirmation.
“Ok then. Now, keep an open mind here. Because from here on out it’s all just theories we came up with.” Tom downed the rest of the liquid in his glass before smacking his lips. “I was a librarian before I found myself here. I loved to read and through the years I’ve come across unusual stuff. Are you aware of the native American beliefs of dreamwalking?”
Callum shook his head as Tom cocked an eyebrow in his direction. A slight chill ran down his spine as Tom stared into his eyes.
“Well, some people believe that lucid dreaming is the first step to becoming a dreamwalker. A person who can willingly transport themselves into other realms, dimensions, whatever you want to call it. Personally, I think the eclipse blurred the borders between our reality and this one. However, this caused all of us here to be transported into this place against our will.”
“Why do you think that?” Callum frowned. He was interested in what Tom was saying but if they had only been there a few days, it was a bit early to make any conclusions.
“For one, our cards seem to have a symbol that could be an eclipse on the back of them, right?” Tom nodded as Callum confirmed he was right. “Two. Only those of us who experience regular lucid dreams have those cards. And three. Well, this is more symbolic and conjecture on my part. But since most folks sleep at night, then you could consider the moon as a symbol of our dreaming mind and the sun of our waking consciousness. If you overlap the two, then both are happening at the same time.”
I get where he’s coming from, I do, but he can’t be sure of that. Otherwise every time an eclipse happened then others would have disappeared. Something like that would have been all over the news. Callum sighed as he closed his eyes. But if he’s right then why hasn’t something like this already been documented? Does that mean an eclipse serves as a sort of gate between our world and this one? How would we get back home?
“I know what you’re thinking Cal. And you’re right. I’m not really sure of anything. But I had to come up with something. There used to be more of us, you know? More Walkers I mean. But, some things happened and they’re no longer with us.”
“They’re dead?” Callum eyed Tom warily when he heard that.
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“Not dead. Just not here, in this library anymore. I just brought them up because it was spitting ideas with them that led to this theory. Personally, I think the card we each receive reflects something in our personality, mindset, fears or hopes. The only thing we could never agree on were these markings on our hands. Like something out of a video game.”
Tom sighed as he stared at the back of his own, weathered hands. “Some of the younger Walkers thought this was some twisted game world. That we had to get out there and find the boss or something to get home. But there’s people here who can’t do what we can. They need someone to look after them. So that leads to my question for you. Will you stay and help us?”
Callum rubbed his face with his hands as he thought about what to do. I’ve got nowhere else to go. They have a safe enough place. There are people who can fight. And they must have food at least to survive. Callum sighed as he realised there was very little choice in the matter for him. At least, for now.
“Yeah, I’ll stay.”
Tom laughed as a wide smile broke out on his face. “Good! Good! Rachael, take him to the ATM and explain everything else to him. He’ll be your new partner since your cards seem to work well together. Make sure you exchange that information.”
Rachael rolled her eyes before squinting at Callum. “Come on.”
The pair said their goodbyes to Tom before leaving his office. However, Callum had a few doubts after their exchange. If the others were right about having to find bosses or maybe even items to leave, then staying here long term won’t be an option.
“Ok Cal, this is my Core card. The Dash card.” Rachael said as a card materialised in her left hand.
Callum frowned as he looked at its details. It seemed underwhelming compared to his considering it only had a single ability. I guess it makes up for it with its low cost. He shook his head at that thought. Rachael’s card could be used five times, just like his Slow ability if he had all 10 stars. But mine has other effects I can use. Honestly, I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse. Callum shrugged his shoulders as Rachael glared at him while they walked.
“Well? Show me yours.”
An awkward silence descended between the pair as Callum scratched at his cheek. “I don’t know how.”
Rachael’s eyes went wide before she started laughing. Callum’s cheeks grew red as heat spread throughout his face.
“Sorry! I forgot you’re new to this! Just hold out your hand while thinking the name of your card.” A bright smile crossed Rachael’s face as she watched him with interest lingering in her eyes.
Time. It was Callum’s turn to smile as his card appeared in his hand. “By the way, what did you mean by Core card?”
However, Rachael was no longer smiling. Her jaw hung open as she stared at his card with a blank look on her face. She looked like a fish swimming in its tank as her mouth opened and closed with no sound coming out of it.
After a while she seemed to finally find her voice. “Cal, what the hell! I knew your card had to be amazing, but this is on another level!”
Callum quickly shushed her as her voice grew louder from excitement. His heart skipped a beat as he asked her a question. “Is it really that amazing?”
“Your damn right it is! This little beauty is on the same level as Old Tom’s card! I wonder if he knew it was this strong when he asked you to join us?”
Her eyes kept flickering to his card as if it mesmerised her. At that moment, Callum only had another question on his mind. “What card does Tom have?”
“Oh, his card is called Creation and Amy has the Smoke card. Hell, this is great news to be adding you to our group!” Rachael burst out laughing as Callum allowed the card to disappear.
“What do their cards do?”
Rachael frowned at the sudden question before shrugging her shoulders. “Well, the originals of the group set a rule not to share your card’s abilities with anyone except who you got partnered up with so I don’t know the specifics. But basically Tom’s card lets him create things out of thin air while Amy’s allows her to turn into and control smoke.”
Callum’s brows knit together in a serious frown. Tom’s card should be pretty strong depending on what its limits are. Amy seems like she would be tough to handle too. A sigh of relief escaped his throat once he thought that. For a moment he was afraid that their cards would be quite weak like Rachael’s.
“Right, anyway, about the ATM.” Rachael said as she pointed to an unplugged ATM against the wall.
How is its screen working?