Moments later, or what felt like moments, gravity felt wrong. It felt like everything was being crushed and expanding at the same time. Stretching and contracting infinitely, Theo's reality had seemingly been pulled through a narrow lens.
'Huh?... What...'
Struggling to take in the strange... whatever it was, he tried moving his hand. Before he could see it, though, if he was actually seeing anything right now, reality snapped back.
Air rushed into his lungs. All the matter around him became de-spaghettified, and gravity returned to its usual state. Falling on his face, he grimaced and grabbed his face.
'Well, I guess the floor's solid again.'
Theo opened his eyes, then, narrowing them only a moment later, he raised a brow, stunned by the sight in front of him. Below Theo was a pristine white marble tile. Its surface shone and shimmered like a mirror as it reflected his visage.
His white hair. Pale, nearly flawless skin.
Not dust. Not glare. His hair, though white, was dirtied by the dirt and grime of the outskirts, framed his face in the reflection. Theo reached up slowly, fingers brushing through it. The texture felt the same, but the color didn't lie.
"…That's... fancy."
Groaning and forcing his aching body off the cold surface of the smooth, tiled floor, he cast his gaze around.
He was in a large room, the white paint on the walls pristine and unblemished. Rubbing his eyes, his vision finally somewhat cleared. The room came into focus, revealing it was filled with lavish furniture. The floor, as he had already seen, was covered in crystal-like marble tiles. Even the door ahead of him looked more expensive than the entire decrepit building he called home.
Shaking his head, he turned round to get a better view of the place. The moment he did, his gaze landed on the silhouette of Maria. In that moment, the memory of how he got here came flooding back, and he exploded into motion. Dashing a few meters ahead in not nearly as long as it should have taken him, he fell to his knees at her side.
The impact sent a net of cracks running through the pristine white tiles.
Pausing and staring at his knees in shock for a very brief moment, he thought to himself.
'Is this floor defective?'
His expression right now didn't show anything but his overflowing worry for Maria, but like any normal person who suddenly finds themself somewhere, unfamiliar, his mind was overwhelmed. How did I get here? Where is here? How far from home am I? So much went through his mind in the past few moments that he wasn't sure he was not in a dream.
But still. The moment Maria's injured body came into view, reality washed over him, and nothing else mattered.
"Maria," he breathed, hands already hovering over her, afraid to touch, afraid not to. She lay still, far too still, her chest not rising, lashes unmoving against her cheeks. Staring at her seemingly lifeless body, his heart stopped for a single terrifying instant.
Theo waited and waited for another few agonizing seconds, but her stillness was absolute.
"No…" he muttered, the word slipping out.
His fingers trembled as they inched closer, and his breath hitched. His eyes darted all over her body, desperately searching for any sign of life. A twitching finger, an eye moving under the lid, the faintest heartbeat, even a shallow breath.
But nothing came,
"No... This can't be real! You can't be...."
His chest tightened, an invisible hand closing around his heart. His fingers trembled as they inched closer, hovering just above her shoulder before coming to a stop. Theo still couldn't bring himself to touch her. For no other reason than not wanting to further damage her already heavily injured body.
As he knelt on the shattered tile floor below, his body hunched over hers in the eerily quiet, large, and foreign room, the large door behind him creaked open. Turning back to it, with Maria still sprawled on the ground, he looked up to see the immaculate door behind him swing open. And from it, a group of men rushed in.
The sound of their boots striking the ground echoed in the room. Along with them were the sounds of metal scraping against metal. Swivelling towards them, he jumped to his feet.
"Who the hell are you people?" he demanded.
Without a word though, the men clad in metal plates swarmed and apprehended him. The cool touch of the metal stung his skin, causing him to wince.
"Answer my damn question!"
But answer his question they didn't. In fact, they only continued to increase the force of their efforts in restraining him.
'Who are these guys?'
Struggling against them, he pulled his hands taught, and put all his strength into it. Slowly, he was able to wrestle it free from the grasp of the armoured men. He strained and pulled with everything he had.
'Almost... there... almost...'
Realizing he wasn't enough to restrain him, one of the armoured men called out.
"Don't just stand there!"
In the next instant, another two rushed forward.
They slammed into him from both sides, their weight piling onto his arms and shoulders. Metal gauntlets locked around his wrists and biceps as they forced his arms back. Pain flared, sharp and hot, but it barely registered over the surge of panic clawing up his spine.
"Get off me!" he snarled, twisting hard.
Pouring all his strength and more into his struggle, he pushed against them. The force of their struggle weighed on the floor, and in the next moment, the floor cracked again.
"Calm yourself. We're not here to fight," a voice rang out.
But still, he refused to back down for a single moment.
Watching the scene unfold in front of him, the voice sighed, then rang out once again.
"Unless you would like Lady Maria to die, I would recommend you step aside, sir."
Quickly turning towards the source of the voice, Theo's gaze fell on a middle-aged man. Hurriedly looking him over, his eyes widened as stood in front of him was an elderly man. His hair was grey and long, nearly falling below his Covering his face was a thick beard, that beard though, did nothing to hide the man's features. His face was well-shaped, with a powerful jaw crowning its proportions.
His skin was flawlessly clear and wrinkle-free, which betrayed his obvious advanced age. And his eyes, they were a beautiful auburn colour.
At the sight, Theo stiffened.
The pressure on his arms hadn't eased, but he stopped struggling all the same, as reluctant as he was to do so. The armoured men noticed the change immediately, tightening their grips but no longer forcing him down.
The elderly man stood a short distance away, looking down onto him with a presence that exuded authority and demanded obedience. Realizing he had eased, the man looked to Maria's still body lying on the floor for a while, then back to him, and sighed.
Then, waving a hand, he said to the men not wearing armour and said.
"Take her."