RitusTheMarlFox

Fritz tore down the constricting corridors of Starcruiser-1148, dodging men, machines, and anything else that found itself in his way. The hallways' dim fluorescents tossed just enough light to distinguish objects from shadow, and the small creature nearly moved fast enough to throw doubt on exactly which one he belonged to. Fritz was an engineer, a glorified sort of maniac mechanic tasked with keeping 1148 from flying apart at her seams, and today was little different. With a sudden turn and a clatter on the ship's metal flooring, Fritz disappeared down a corner without a trace, leaving a few unsettled crewmen staring in quiet disapproval.

I keep staring into Alice’s blue eyes, body beginning to slump as I lean closer to her face. I can just barely see myself in the glass, my deep amber eyes against hers, and I watch as she moves across her desk. What exactly is she doing? Scanning me? Pulling up my file? Making notes on my face, eyes, and any other sorts of body language? I’m dead curious, just like I’ve always been, and I keep leaning in until my paw presses against the glass. I swear that I can almost see what she’s doing, her face is vivid from the computer screens’ light, and I try to adjust my angle. It's almost in view, almost visible, and

There is light; red blurred splotches mixing against dark, consuming black. The colors intensify, slowly shifting into separate shades of yellow and blue until they bloom into a single shade of bright white. It is strangely beautiful, with strands of yellow, red, and green streaking across the new surface while new colors inch around the edges. Everything keeps shifting, changing, and after a few more seconds the muddled lights roll away to reveal pure, blinding white. It slowly sears itself into a close transparent surface, dull red flowing out, before everything shifts. The colors hang for a few seconds, and fade away to reveal a small ar

There is nothing beneath the pain. All I can feel are the fiery, sinister flashes, maddening relentless torment and the excruciating waves of misery. Everything is burning in the endless suffering, every nerve is shrieking in anguish, and I try to think, escape, but my consciousness is nearly silenced beneath the flames of torture. I know I'm not dead, my senses confirm that, but is this really my reality? The pain... the pain is worse than anything I've ever experienced, and I start to ask if I ever made it out of the dream. What if this is some kind of THETA-created hell, some kind of Emlar punishment for my actions? I have to check despite