Sanctum Awakening

Fluoress

A crack in her wall. Strange...it hadn’t been like this a minute ago. Wait, was it? She had only been awake for a few minutes, so there wasn’t much time to examine any walls. However, she was quite positive that the crack was not there a few minutes ago. Her eyes, veiled by petal-like hair, focused on the crack, wondering about it as she sat in silent thought. A single ray of sunlight hit the grey toned skirt that made up her visible body, leading her to realize just how late in the day it was. Well, time to get up.

Fluoress stretched herself out as she got up and out of her bed, feeling her stomach rumble a little bit. Food was the way to go, and so she decided to make her way to the castle’s dining room. As she left her room, she observed the hallway. The Corridor of Light was always a welcome sight for her, with its soft grey walls, warm yellow lights and rainbow floor tiles...her new friends really put a lot of work into this place...it made her feel a little less...homesick.

The light elemental sighed to herself, feeling a grey blanket begin to fall over her. It had been a little over a month since she had been mysteriously teleported from Light Island...since she had met her new friends from all over the monster world….but she was beginning to miss her home, her room in the castle, her friends she had spent every day of her life with...when could she go home?

She heard sounds coming from the kitchen, voices from the door to the dining room. Noise always helped lift the blanket, and so she opened the door that was in front of her. Inside the white marble room, she was greeted by a singular wooden table with nine chairs around it. The large amount of space indicated that there were more seats at the table, but they had been taken out. Normally, all nine chairs would be full at this time, everyone sitting down and eating whatever it was that someone decided to cook. However, only three of the chairs were filled. Was she early after all?

“Fluoress! Good morning! It’s good to see you awake! Before you ask, there is no ice cream in the freezer, which I know is a crying shame, but I’ve got something better! I made tarts!”

The speaker was Xyster, a rather energetic looking dragon ghost with a tail made of orbs trailing behind him as he rushed to talk to the incoming monster. His blue-toned body held a palpable excitement to it as he awaited Fluoress’s response to his greeting.

“She’ll have a tart, as will I. It’s a shame you forgot lemon tarts though, as they are Frondley’s favorite and he should be here any second now…” The voice was at Xyster’s ear in the form of a free-floating psychic mouth. The ghost-like monster rolled his eyes. Could this have been brought up any sooner?

“You know, being psychic and all, you coulda told me this sooner! You know that these tarts take a long time to make! They’re special!”

The mouth that had hung by began to float off, leading the two to the table where another monster was seated. He was short, with violet skin and an exposed brain. His eyes were shut, focusing in on something that lived outside of the bounds of the pocket dimension. The psychic mouth disappeared without a trace as barely perceptible brainwaves pulsed. His eyes opened slowly, revealing a soft swirling gaze, almost as if he were in a trance. All the monster, Theremind, did was chuckle about Xyster’s predicament. His eyes were on the door as if waiting for someone.

“Well, Frondley had only just made up his mind to come here, and so I couldn’t set you up for false hope. Also, my mind was somewhere more important…” Theremind had a look of pure content written on his face as he thought back to his home and everyone on it. Everyone was okay there, definitely…

Nobody moved for a few seconds, unsure of how to go about the moment. While the three of them stayed quiet, the third figure finally raised his fluffy white body up off of the chair, a deep grumble coming from him. He was round, the only limbs he had were his arms, which looked kind of strange to the others. He had a large red crystal atop his head and several smaller ones around his body, and his pink ape-like face was filled with grogginess. Did they all eat without him?

“Ah, good morning, Déjà-Jin. To answer your question, nobody here has eaten yet. We are waiting on Frondley, Larvaluss is sleeping, Clackula has eaten with Knucklehead, and Floot Fly is not hungry.”

“Hmph. You know she has to eat. You can’t keep letting her starve herself like this, Theremind.”

“She’s homesick. Besides, this is the only time she has skipped a meal, therefore we should let her. Besides, she’s not going to be doing anything drastic.”

“Also,” Fluoress interjected, stepping out of the way of a newcomer. “Wouldn’t you feel the same way if it were you in this position?” As she spoke, Xyster began to scramble into the kitchen, his goal to get the tarts to the table. His arms full of trays, he placed them all on the table, an expression of mock irritation on his face as he scanned the flavors.

“Theremind, I did make lemon tarts!”

“You did? That’s so sweet of you, Xys!” A new voice chimed in. It was a soft and smooth tenor. Frondley had come in, smiling gently underneath his curtain of hair. His eye was sparkling as he observed everyone there, quite pleased that everyone was getting along.

“Thank you. I know you love them, so I made them! But that one-” The ghost monster pointed to Theremind, who was trying and failing to keep a straight face. “Sent me into a blind panic! Had me ready to make more tarts or be mad at myself for disappointing you!” He crossed his arms, still pretending to be upset over the psychic’s prank.

“You do know that the longer you try to get worked up the colder these tarts will be, right?” Déjà-Jin said quietly, sleep still in his voice. Everyone else nodded or otherwise voiced their agreement and began to take whatever place in the table they felt like having. Fluoress sat next to Xyster, an empty seat at her other side. She wondered why the others weren’t here...why didn’t they all eat together today?

Breakfast came and went as it usually did, just without a good chunk of the people. That in itself made the light elemental quite sad since the room was emptier than usual...as she picked apart an apple tart, her mind strayed to Light Island. Her friends, both magical and natural...Her room in the castle, where everything was warm and cozy...it seemed like she was alone in this struggle...Theremind was a psychic, he could at least hear the voices of his friends...Floot Fly...she was strong. Besides, she could fly out of here. Clackula...he didn’t seem to be fazed at all after the first week. She was alone…

No, you’re not alone. The voice that spoke to her was soft and reassuring. Was this her thought?

She looked over, wanting to see if Theremind had reacted to her. He seemed to be ignoring her, or just otherwise occupied with Frondley. The two of them were deep in some kind of conversation about a topic she knew that she couldn’t talk about because she didn’t understand it. Something like...psychic aura theory...or something else she wouldn’t quite get. She smiled faintly, pleased that everyone here had somebody to talk to. Xyster was talking quite animatedly, telling her a story about his brother who lived on another island and how they went on a picnic. It was cute and all, but her loneliness made it all into a fog of words that just melted into each other.

“Hey, are you okay? You seem to be spacing out. I was wondering if either of your other traveling partners were gonna get up soon. Something about ‘em not being up makes me a little worried, if you know what I mean.” Now that her tablemate spoke, she noticed just how tense the room’s atmosphere had become. Everyone had gone quiet at once, as if the fog of her mind had settled over the entire area.

The only sound was a barely audible shifting as everyone turned to watch the ceiling as if they were drawn to it. There were cracks there too...why is everything cracking? What does this mean?

“GET DOWN! The roof is going to collapse!”

Before Larvaluss, who had just rushed into the room, could finish her warning, a large chunk of the roof came loose. Fluoress stood quickly, attempting to pull Xyster out of his seat, but before she could completely do so, the stone fell and trapped his tail underneath it. She attempted to push the stone off for a few seconds before turning to see if there were any other people she could try to help out. As she turned her back to Theremind and Frondley, a smaller section of stone landed, effectively crushing the former’s lower half. He let out a cry of pain, but then went completely silent…

Everyone else set to work trying to seal off the roof with their various magical abilities, making sure that nothing else would fall through. However, Fluoress turned back to the ghost-like monster, attempting to lift the stone off of the tail of his unconscious body. She needed to get him out from under there or else he could be seriously injured...but she just couldn’t...not by herself.

“I need some help here...please…”

The stone lifted very slightly off of Xyster, giving the light monster a little bit more room to pull him out before the stone fell again. One more lift, just one more lift...she pushed the stone off of his tail, drawing blood from the orb at the base of his spine. But a little bit of bleeding was worth a life, wasn’t it? A voice drifted over her way. She could barely hear it…

“Keep tight...gently now...good. Deep breaths now...in and out...good. Keep breathing…” Frondley was soothing the now-silent Theremind, whose tail and legs were covered in deep gashes and punctures from where the stone hit him. Odd. Xyster wasn’t hit nearly as hard…

Fluoress noticed his lower half was slick with violet blood, leading her to wonder why the smaller stone did more damage… He was just barely clinging on to consciousness as Déjà-Jin helped him onto Frondley’s back.

“I can carry him...he’s not that heavy…” The tall female offered. “And maybe Knucklehead can take Xys. He would be better able to lift the poor guy.”

“Sorry, it’s a no can do. Frondley’s the only one who can keep him engaged right now. He’s entering a state of psychic shock, meaning if he isn’t kept engaged here and awake here, we risk losing him to his own mind...he’ll just withdraw and won’t come back out again...that would be a major risk to the body…” Larvaluss was calm, but there was a sadness in her voice that everyone could feel. “How about you go check on Floot Fly, okay?”

The light-elemental nodded sharply, turning towards the door to the dining room. She was almost out of the dining room when she heard a loud and rather startling snap. She looked down to see the center panel of her fluorophyll skirt was cracked...that’s not good.

She collapsed a few seconds later.