Alix opens her eyes only to be greeted by a void. Her body felt weightless almost as though she were floating instead of laying on the floor. None of that mattered right now though as all the girl could think about was her monsters.
Mo, who had gotten injured for her sake.
Nuka, who had gotten kidnapped right in front of her while Alix was unable to do anything to help her. And the most heart-wrenching one of all...
"Trouler..." Alix said subconsciously. The little peccary that she found in that mine around a month ago by now. Trapped under that mine cart, lost in that giant forest, and worst of all without his mother.
Maybe that was why Alix treated the little red so kindly? Because he had lost his mother like she her father. He was wounded physically while she wounded emotionally. That sort of connection isn't one that can be faked or forced. It was all natural.
But now he was missing. Lost somewhere in this huge city by himself all over again. All because of her. Alix started to here her own voice reverberating within the void.
"Trouler." One would say warmly.
"Trouler?" Another would say in concern.
"Trouler!" Another would voice the girl's fear.
Each time she heard her voice a image would flash in her brain. These images were random and seemed to have nothing to do with Trouler but she could somehow still feel him through these visions.
She saw a crowded marketplace filled with commoners and low-ranking nobles alike searching for groceries and valuables.
Then, she saw the sea's powerful waves crashing against the edge of the city and could here the sound of the lighthouse somewhere nearby.
Finally, she saw...the sewer? Why was she in the sewers? The dark and damp tunnels filled with the excrement of the residents above ground. Though physical manifestations of filth are at least more obvious than that which hides within those same residents.
Alix thought about each scene. There was something strange about how she saw them. The view in each scene was so close to the ground that she felt an ache in her neck from looking up. Why could that be?
Alix tried to think about the reasoning for these images but couldn't think. The voices. They were suffocating and deafening any thoughts she was trying to have. It was torturous.
Alix tried to cover her ears but that seemed to make the voices louder and more violent.
"You failed Nuka!"
"Mo tried to protect you!"
"You failed them! Just like you failed your father!"
'N-no, I-I didn't. It wasn't my-'
"Your fault!"
"It's your fault!"
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, ALIX!" The voices bit at her. Those old wounds resurfaced after all these years. Alix had long hoped these thoughts had stopped. The voices that kept her from sleeping for two full years after her father's death.
She squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as possible while forcing her ears shut at the same time. She did all that she could to stop or ignore the voices but just like when she was a child it didn't work. That was until they stopped.
Just as quickly as they had started berating her the voices completely vanished. Though that was not enough to convince Alix that they were done. She kept her ears covered and eyes closed.
She refused to face those things again. That was when she heard...something.
"...ay ...ix ...thing!" Alix could barely understand any of the words but they didn't seem malicious.
Alix slowly and warily opened her eyes to see if she could find the source of the voice. Once her eyes were open Alix saw the source. It was quite obvious as within this endless void of darkness a bright light had appeared.
Alix stared at it with her head tilted to the side. She felt herself being pulled into the light. It felt warm and comforting. Like she was being caressed by someone that cared deeply for her.
Alix uncovered her ears. She wanted to hear the voice of the one calling her. And when she did, tears of recognition and joy filled her eyes.
"Alix? Is that you little tyke?"
It was her father. Alix was being called by her father. She was going to be saved by him. Going to get to see him. She would get back all the time that she had lost with him. She could tell him about the different spells that she had made and the monsters that she had become friends with. And-
Alix felt a something hot wrap around her calf. She looked down to see what it was but before she could...
"Not on my watch you divine bastards!" Alix felt herself be yanked back down into the darkness at high speeds. She tried to fight free from whatever had her but she didn't know what had her. She could feel herself speeding up.
She was falling. She was going to hit something. Was it the ground?
'If it's then will I die? Is this how I die? No not yet, please!' These thoughts raced though the girl's mind as she fell closer and closer until...
Alix shot up from the floor frantically. She was hyperventilating as one that just fell from the sky in a dream would. She scanned her surroundings. She was back in her childhood home. The Blaze shined brightly through the window of her father's old office.
"Alix..." The girl heard her name being called. She turned around and saw that it was Mo. "Girl, you scared the life outta me when ya didn't wake up! Don't do that again!" Alix could feel Mo's distress from their connection. He had likely been panicked for quite sometime though she didn't know how long she had been here.
'Seeing as the sun in up again I must have been out all night at the very least.' Alix pondered for a moment but quickly remember the situation.
"Mo, have you seen Trouler!" Mo wiped up his remaining tears with his fins while shaking his head.
"I haven't seen him since before the Djinns came in." Alix frowned. She had really hoped that Trouler was just hiding because those nobodies had come in here. Seemed that he was really gone.
Alix thought back to the nightmare she had just awoken from. If anything happened to Trouler or Nuka...
"Hold on?" Alix grabbed her chin and thought back to the visions from earlier. They reminded her of something that she had experienced before. Alix's eyes shot wide.
She had finally realized what those images were. They were her connection to Trouler. The shared vision that she had learned about with Felix! Alix had completely forgotten about that ability. Hell, it's felt like an eternity since she needed to use it last.
"Ya seem like you've figured somethin' out?" Alix nodded at Mo.
"I just remembered something really important. It should help us track down Trouler and maybe even Nuka if I can get it to work right!" Mo grimaced at the mentioning of the bird's name.
"Do we have to go look for her too?" Alix looked at Mo aloofly.
"If I didn't care about you so much I would kick you out of that window." Mo scoffed.
"I just can't believe you'd do all of this for a monster that's whole existence is based around eating my kind! What would you do if I said I wanted to go save some demons? Huh?!"
"Okay, you've made your point." Alix stopped Mo before he found other comparisons to make. "I still have to go to school today so, let's get going." Mo nodded but still had more to say about the whole Alix being friends with a bird situation.
"Let's go." Alix picked Mo up and walked out of the room. She was still worried about Trouler and Nuka but she couldn't let thoughts like that impede her progression. She would just have get a bit of help finding them.