What Bloody Fun

[Corporal Light]

When Isaac recovered from his shock-induced unconsciousness, he was sinking.

The blue tri-lights on his helmet switched on, lighting up the world. He jerked his head around, the red liquid surrounding him, resisting him with every twist and turn of the body. He glanced down to the torso of his RIG, a green hologram projecting out of it. A number was on it: 120.1 seconds.

His eyes widened in realization. He immediately sucked in a breath of air.

He floated around the blood-covered ocean, flinging his arms in every direction to slow his steady descent into the abyss below him. Darkness consumed him, snuffing out the blue light of his helmet. He tried to swim only for the blood ocean to force him down. He spun around and around, his stomach churning, and by the time he stopped he couldn’t tell what was up and down and left and right and forwards and backwards anymore. The number on the hologram ticked, with each second shaved off producing an ear-splitting bell inside his suit. 100. 90. 80. 70. 60.

He could feel his heartbeat in his head, pounding, throbbing. The force of the ocean tugged him downwards still into the nothingness all around him. It was like floating in space, only in space one could reverse their path with enough force in the opposite direction. But here, the void was its own being with it's own minds and ideas, and all of them were desperate to drown him within its waters.

50. 40. 30.

The inside of his suit felt warm. His heart beat faster as he gasped and sucked in as much breath as he could. But he kept swimming. Even as the current of the abyss, of the void, of the blood space pushed him lower and lower to drown him, he kept on swimming.

20. 10.

His heart was about to burst out of his chest. His arms froze in place, pained, unable to resist the currents of the blood ocean. With one last breath, he closed his eyes, waiting for the sweet release of death to take him away.

He felt the water shoot upwards. He opened his eyes.

All around him, the blood water evaporated, shooting upwards into the sky. The darkness went away, replaced by a bright, white light. He could see the glow of his tri-lights as they reflected off of the droplets and the mist they created. He just whirled his head around, his breath slowly returning to him, as he stayed there, suspended in the upstream.

Once the last of the blood ocean went away, he plummeted back down again. It was only then did he manage to find enough breath to scream.

He landed with a thud. Pain surged through his body as he groaned and swung himself onto his back. He stared up into the sky, air decompressing out of his suit and allowing the atmosphere around him to slip inside. He felt weak and tired, the suit around him weighing him down and keeping him locked to the ground. He laid there for a long time, trying to regain his breath.

He looked around. The blood-ocean void had been replaced by a desert of white. The sky, the ground, everything was white. There wasn’t anything else there. Just a desolate wasteland of nothing.

He had considered the Necromorph outbreak back on the Ishimura to be the most horrific, strangest thing he had ever seen. But this? This took the cake.

He eventually found the strength to push himself back onto his feet. He lifted his hand to cradle his head, only to pause.

Even after the Ishimura, he couldn’t help but shiver whenever he saw blood. He looked down. He was absolutely covered in the stuff, to the point where the original grey color of his suit had disappeared entirely. He glanced back. Footsteps trailed him from the pool that he had left behind when he had landed.

His mind went back to the void. To the feeling of his lungs collapsing as his oxygen slowly dissipated. To the creaking of his suit as it collapsed inward, threatening to bury him in the RIG that had kept him alive through everything that came before it. To the uncontrollable currents, pushing him around and sending him down, down, down, into an inescapable darkness of which that would consume him.

He could see static.

His breathing ragged and quick, he ran. He ran as fast as he possibly could. It didn’t matter where he was going, but he had to get as far away from the blood as possible. Sweat poured down his face, his legs pumped with adrenaline as he fled into the bright lights of white all around him.

[Essent Rose Allison]

Back to the white. Geeze, is this how Justin felt in Eternal Night? Too much white everywhere. She's just glad there's a horizon that way she can watch her step. It would help if there was a tile pattern here that way there's a bigger sense of FLOOR. But she'll have to get used to it, huh? She's gonna be seeing this place a lot.

Humming along to a tune that's centuries old to her, she had her hands in her pockets and her head forward. She looked left and right as she walked occasionally. Man, if only she had company again. She didn't mind being alone now as she's grown used to it but having someone to talk to would be nice.

Essent thought a lot about her past experiences. Her research on Fist powers. The tournament. Sun Wu Kong and Incident. Losing everything she had worked for... Then came this world. Tearen, the giant bug monster, that huge test thing? At least she was able to calm down, find her way back here, and try again on her own. She took a hand out of her pocket and looked at it, summoning a small orb of omnilium before reabsorbing it. She can really summon anything?

"Maybe if I can summon a ride..." she thought out loud.

She began to focus... Maybe something small... A car, perhaps? Make it nice and red with some black stripes across the side. Good horsepower and engine capacity. Good traction as well. Small enough for two doors but four people. Maybe a mustang! Or a Ford? A Taurus usually catches her eye. And within five short minutes of thinking about what she wants... A large rainbow orb came out of her chest and formed the car right in front of her.

"Perfect!"

A smaller orb came out of her hand and transformed into the keys. Essent got into the car, started the engine, and started making her way across the Nexus. Boy this was much faster! Why didn't she think of this the first time she was here? She's gotta learn to not depend on her wings too much. Sure, they're useful but, well, they're not always fast. or available.

Across the Nexus at a reasonable 55 MPH, she wanted to see the many gates there are. She saw one that lead to the frozen place. But that was one. Essent looked forward to find more white, closing in gates, and a person.

A PERSON!

She slooooowwwwweeedddd down the car as she approached said person, not examining his appearance at the moment. But when she did, she raised her eyebrows. Isn't this the Dead Space guy? She's never really played it. But she won't say anything. What she WILL say...

"Need a lift?"

[Corporal Light]

The only thing that was able to stop his maddened sprint away from the center of the Nexus was the arrival of the girl.

He had heard the vehicle she was piloting before he had seen it, but it had only just made him run faster. The noise it had made slashed at his ears and burrowed into his brain, cementing itself in the list of noises he had subconsciously collected that would trigger the urge to flee. It wasn’t until the car had came into view did he slow down. Blood-red with black stripes on the side, it caught his eye the moment it parked in front of him.

The car was like nothing he had ever seen before. It must have been ancient, probably built way before the 26th century had ever rolled around, yet it somehow managed to operate exactly like the automated transports on Earth and the Colonies. The only difference was its smaller size and the female driver staring wide-eyed at him.

She looked young, far younger than him. She was garbed in a white lab-coat with a brown badge pinned on her chest. Maroon glasses covered her blue eyes; her brown hair reached down to her shoulders.

He could see Nicole in her.

The static was coming back.

He cradled his head in his hand, fighting back the tears and the throbbing in his brain. Of all the things he could have met first in this place, he had to meet someone who reminded him of her. He would laugh at his string of luck if it didn’t break his heart acknowledging it.

"Need a lift?"    

He looked back at her, not saying a word. She really did look a lot like Nicole, with the lab-coat and blue eyes and voice. Perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad idea to accept it…

He walked toward the car, reaching for the handle of the passenger door. He hesitated midway through, cautious, pondering. He then gripped the handle and pulled the door before sliding inside with all the grace and speed of a snail.

[Essent Rose Allison]

"Take your time... I'm in no rush."

Essent looked at the other before looking back at the steering wheel. Gee, it sure is interesting meeting up with characters that are fictional in her world. Best not to say anything about that, though. Existential crisis problems, invasion of privacy, the sort. Things she learned from Tearen.

She did whatever to prepare the car for moving again and stuff before talking again.

"Anywhere specific you need to go? North? South? East? West? Specific looking gate thingy?"

She looked out the window, examining each gate. They're pretty large so it's easy to see from two hours away for some odd reason... Probably because of the flat surface. Either way, Essent waited for an answer and was ready to go whenever.

"And how quickly do you want to get there? Max speed? Take it slow? Somewhere in between?"

She was unaware of how the other felt about her. She's focused on her driving skills right now to pay attention. Usually she does focus on other things when she stops and stuff when it comes to a car. She's usually worried about losing her skill if she focuses on a conversation rather than her driving.

[Corporal Light]

As he buckled himself in, he noticed that he was leaving bloodstains literally everywhere. One would think that the stuff would have dried off and caked onto his armor by then, but whatever kind of space he had almost drowned in had left a permanent mark on his suit. That was the least of his problems, though. He could name a bunch of things worse than getting covered in blood. Dying was one; getting lost in some other dimension of time-space was another one; fighting space zombies that require forceful removal of every one of their limbs was probably the worst thing he could ever imagine.

He glanced over to her. Evidently, she either didn’t notice the copious amount of blood on his RIG or otherwise didn’t care, and neither option spelt anything good about the world or her. It would take a special kind of blindness or numbness to not see those kinds of things. That, or she assumed it was just a part of his armor, which, for the sake of his sanity, he decided was the conclusion she had drawn.

His eyes went to one of the gates in the far distance. They were far too small for him to get any reliable information out of them, but he was more than certain they were gates. Wherever he was, the world was at least more than a canvas of flat, white earth.

Taking a deep breath, he spoke up. To the girl, his voice was booming, with a force that could send a shiver down anyone’s spine if the hint of jagged weakness inside it didn’t completely destroy the impression.

“W-West… take it…” he said, pausing, “take it slow….”

[Essent Rose Allison]

Nodding, Essent went onto begin to drive, 20 MPH at most. She turned the car, taking her time to position it to the west.

She did notice the blood but, well, she's grown used to seeing blood. After all, she DID study blood samples and see lots of blood spill back at the True War tournament. She only assumed he got out of a massive fight due to the fact that she knows how gory Dead Space can get. Plus, she knows what it's like. Getting out of a fight and having blood on her hands. She DID kill someone... Only one person, though. Then she had her own blood on her hands after her head exploded due to Stratus. Off and on with her head it was back then. It... Sorta traumatized her at first... She did see the skeletal remains of her crush after the destruction of her lab.

Essent had a hard time NOT talking. She really wanted to say something to break the ice. But she has to drive. She doesn't know how people talk and drive at the same time. Well, she might as well practice... Try it out. See if it works for her.

"Must've had a crazy day before coming here... Did you just arrive?"

Essent, why are you being so casual? This guy almost DROWNED.

"I can only assume so. I appeared here when I first arrived as well. This omniverse place..."

[Corporal Light]

He didn’t entirely know what to say at first. There wasn’t really much he could talk about, aside from why he was completely covered in blood juices, and that was a subject matter he wanted to avoid if at all possible.

So, he just took to trying to relax as best as he could. He set his head against the back of his seat and stared out the window, letting the endlessly white environment mystify him. It wasn’t until the girl spoke did he break out of his self-induced haze.

“I… yeah. I just got here… what’s an omniverse?”

It was probably some extremely convoluted science theory involving dimensions, space-time, gravity, and potentially strings, but if anyone could explain that kind of thing, it would be the lady with the lab coat driving their car next to him. He turned his head to face her, waiting for an answer.

[Essent Rose Allison]

"The Omniverse, from what I know so far, is where we are right now. Well, we're in the Nexus of it but this whole place and whatevers beyond the gates in all is the Omniverse. Appropriately named since it's god is known as Omni. I've seen him. Once. He basically greeted me, told me the basics, and sent me on my way. I'm gonna work on studying the whole works of the place later. Science stuff."

"There are people from universe after universe here from what I've seen. Confirms the multiverse theory, which excites me."

She smiled, thinking about all her favorite characters. But she has to remember what Tearen taught her. Be careful about what she says...

"Then there's this omnilium thing. Turns out, after entering the Omniverse, we're made entirely out of it. We can summon anything with it as well, it seems. It's how I got this car. Took a bit of focus to summon it but it works. Haven't tried to summon a building or a person yet but... I'll see what I can do."

Essent really likes to learn about new things. She IS a scientist after all.

[Corporal Light]

Well, at least he was right about it being super duper complicated. Nexuses, a god named Omni, Omnillium, summoning. The whole thing was a massive headache that was just dying to give him the existential crisis of a lifetime. Especially the bit about the “multiverse theory.” He had never heard of such a theory back on Earth or at any point during his time in space, but from the way she was speaking, it was basically the idea that, well, there were multiple universes. Several dimensions of entirely different places that no one, not even the craziest Unitologists, could ever fathom.

He noticed her smile. She really did look a lot like Nicole. At least her could focus on her smile, rather than the logical nightmare that was all the information she had told him.

All except the Omnillium bits, however. That sounded strangely familiar…

He closed his eyes, concentrating on the word.

In the darkness, he saw a different smile: wide, impish, perhaps even malevolent. At first, its smile was the only thing he could see in the consuming darkness. Then, the light reached its face, then its body, and then its arms and legs and hands and feet. A sitting man with nothing but a large, toothy smile on its face, speaking to him.

He had mentioned Omnillium to him. If he could remember what he had said…

His vision was blasted with a bright flash of multi-colored light. He opened his eyes.

In his open palm was a small orb of rainbow light. The sphere itself was unstable, the colors constantly flickering and vibrating and strands of the incandescent energy failing to wrench itself away from the shape. For a long while, he could only stare in utter awe at what he had created, his jaw almost dropped to the floor.

Then, he decided to test it out. Closing his eyes, he conjured up the first thing that came into his mind. Something that could be useful in this unfamiliar, potentially dangerous environment.

Six minutes later, he opened his eyes.

In his hand was a large, nail-gun looking object alongside four cylindrical cells of heated plasma energy. He grinned at the sight of the thing. It had saved him possibly more than Nicole did back on the Ishimura. It was refreshing seeing it once more.

He stuffed the cells on his suit belt and holstered the Plasma Cutter.

“Pardon me…” he said, “I was just… making preparations. You know, in case we get mugged magic, Nexus-wandering bandits.”

[Essent Rose Allison]

"Alright, gotcha. Better safe than sorry, y'know?"

Essent continued to drive, though she was getting the hand of this talking-while-driving thing. Closer and close the gate came... Though it would still take a bit. At least it's not a two hour walk, anymore.

"Name's Essent, by the way. You?"

She didn't really know the name of this guy. She only knows him as Dead Space guy. Never payed enough attention to remember his name. Essent hummed a tune from her age as she drove, waiting for the other to answer. Though, to be honest, his name could be on the tip of her tongue...

[Corporal Light]

Essent. Interesting name.

“Isaac Clarke. I’d shake your hand, but both of your hands are pretty full, I’d say.”

He chuckled. At least this “Essent” could keep his mind off of what he had seen and gone through before entering the Omniverse for a short while.

He looked towards the slowly approaching gate. A massive archway of smooth, grey steel stood alone alongside two indistinguishable, small figures positioned on its sides. Directly in the middle was a large, purple swirl of energy rotating along the edges of the arch, puffing out globs of pinkish goo every few seconds.

He had seen portals in some science fiction novels, but never ones that looked quite like that. But what really caught his attention was the duo that stood guard in front of the portal gate. He couldn’t tell what they looked like or even who they were from their distance, but after fighting for what felt like days on the Ishimura, he could sense a bad vibe from miles away.

His hand slid down to his Plasma Cutter. Better safe than sorry, indeed...

[Essent Rose Allison]

"I guess you can say that it's ESSENTIAL I keep my eyes on the road! Aaaaayyyyyyy!"

Essent, oh my god. Anyway, she knew the name was on the tip of her tongue and, what do you know, it's right there! Essent looked at the approaching gate in interest... The purpleness of the portal and the silver gate structure... She also took note of the guards of the gate. Wherever this gate went, it must be well protected. Probably a checkpoint before heading in, the usual stuff. Stay calm, Essent. You've dealt with guards before... Usually at airports.

"Sorry about that pun, I just like to be funny."

Indeed she does. She talks while she fights, she commentated a tournament, she even outright said that the world needs her humor. But she knows when to be serious. She might've been the talker in school but she still managed to get to college! It's been one heck of a life she had but she's gonna be around for a looooonnnngggg time if she's here now. She's probably immortal! Well, sort of. She can be revived, right? She can die but she can be brought back.

[Corporal Light]

It took a lot of effort to suppress the smirk underneath his helmet. He should’ve seen that one coming. In fact, it was so obvious that the sheer fact it was made into a joke was enough to make him almost want to kill himself right then and there. The car was already irreparably stained with the blood all over his suit, so why not add some more to the mix?

He quickly decided against the idea.

“Nah, it’s okay. I get it.” After all, one could only take so much insanity before they had to start cracking jokes at everything they could think of to maintain what mental faculties they had left. He’d done his fair share of that on the Ishimura.

Nevertheless, he went silent again. His hand tightened around his Plasma Cutter. The last thing he wanted was things to go awry...

[Essent Rose Allison]

She didn't really mind the blood on the seat. She can just unsummon the car and reabsorb the omnilium she used to make it. Should clean it up. Eventually the car reached the large metal gate with the guards. Essent parked the car just in time before it wound up through the portal.

"Do you want me to come with or do you want to go alone?"

She doesn't mind either answer. She'll explore more of the omniverse either way. The guards approached the car, Essent most likely thinking it was just gonna be a usual checkpoint thing. Until she saw what they looked like.

She wasn't really a Star Wars fan.

But none-the-less, she still stayed calm.

[Corporal Light]

He contemplated. He honestly could use the company. He didn’t know much about Essent, but her general demeanour and appearance left him to believe that, if anything, she knew far more about the world than he ever could and thus would, at the very, very least, be a useful contact if things didn’t make any sense. Not that that would help him that much, though. The Ishimura itself had made no sense, so why would anything else make any more sense to him?

Nevertheless, she was fun to be around, and that in and of itself was enough to keep the memory of what he had seen and experienced on that derelict ship at bay.

The car slid to a stop right in front of the purple portal, and that’s when the two guards started to move towards them. For a few moments, he had almost mistaken them for statues and had relaxed himself just from how still they were in front of the gate. It wouldn’t have been the first time he had seen something totally benign as something very dangerous. Then, they had clicked their heels together, completely in-sync, and began to march towards the parked car. They were covered in white armor plating, but what was most striking were the weapons they carried and the helmets on their head. Black dots and stripes line the helmet, forming a frown, and they carried some futuristic version of an assault rifle in their hands, with one pointed straight at the front window of the car and at them. As they walked, he noticed that their feet stepped precisely at the same time, creating a rhythmic, ear-splitting clacking that permeated the air. They were robots, plain and simple. No human could possibly move like that.

Yet he saw a flinch, a misstep, as they approached the side-windows. One got a good look at the state of his armor and had almost immediately raised his rifle. He had to say something.

“It’s okay!” he said, raising his hands in the air. “I’m not dangerous! She’s not involved!”

Wow. That sounded way better in my head.

He could feel his heartbeat in his head. The stormtroopers looked up at each other, clearly wondering whether to believe Clarke or not. Eventually, the guard on his side opened the door and pulled him right out. The stormtrooper tossed him onto the ground and pressed his rifle against his back.

“Why are you covered in blood?” A monotone voice spoke out of the guard’s helmet.

He paused. “...I don’t know…”

The stormtrooper sighed. He reached behind him and pulled out a scanner. Tapping a few buttons on the hilt of the scanner, he held it close to Isaac’s armor. “Hold still.”

He did as he was told. He was actually kinda shocked at how familiar it all was. Aside from the armor, he wouldn’t have thought twice about this kind of thing happening back on Earth or on one of the colonies.

A series of clicks and whirrs burst out of the scanner as a blue semi-circle of light hovered up and over Clarke’s body. He remained silent, allowing the scan to take place. Eventually, the noises stopped and the light turned off. The stormtrooper looked at the holographic screen of the scanner.

“Blood has no origin…” Even with the stoicism of his voice, Isaac could easily hear his bafflement.

“Should we take him in? Investigate?” The other stormtrooper said, his own gun trained on the driver.

The scanner stormtrooper was silent. He must have been like him; he was quiet when he was trying to think too.

“Nah. I think he’s good.” Without further argument, the other stormtrooper lowered his weapon as the scanner stormtrooper grabbed hold of Clarke and pulled him back up from his feet. The blood on Clarke’s armor stained his hand, which he wiped away on his armor.

“Sorry about that, strangers. Standard operating procedure.”

“It’s alright. I’m used to it.” Probably would have helped if he had cleaned his armor up before trying to go anywhere. He was just asking to get pulled over and searched.

“Anyways, you both are free to go inside. We’ll let the guards inside know you’re both harmless. Have a nice day in Coruscant.”

Coruscant, huh? Sounds like a cheesy, evil planet name.

He looked back over towards Essent. He raised his hand to give her a light wave before he walked into the portal.

Next stop: Coruscant!