Call of Caldiria Chapter 6.

I have been extremely inspired to write lately. What can I say?

Call of Caldiria Chapter 6.

             Veredel slowly blinked her eyes open as the piercing light above shone into her eyes. She was still in the hospital but now strapped down to her bed. “Ugh.” She looked around, her neck firmly restrained. “Nurse! Nurse!”

             The nurse slowly walked in, almost scared to look at Veredel. “Oh, you are awake.” She took a deep breath. “Good.” She smiled at Veredel.

             “Why am I strapped down?”

             “You were thrashing about even when you were sedated. We need to make sure we could run the tests effectively.” She looked at the floor.

             “Are you scared of me?”

             “No, of course not.” The nurse’s demeanor changed. Its just weird things have been happening in here. We umm. . . don’t know what is wrong. And people have been hearing things.” She turned around. But I do have some good news. You have a guest.”

             “I do? Is it my mother, finally?”

             “No. Her name is Wren.” The nurse sighed. “She said she will only come in when you are ready to see her.”

             Veredel had never heard of the woman. “Umm, I guess.” Veredel would have shrugged if she could. “Send her in.”

             The nurse hurried out of the room as if she were looking for an excuse. After a few minutes, a woman who was just a few years older than Veredel walked into the room. “My, you sure seem to have seen better days.” She grabbed one of the fold-out chairs and sat next to Veredel. “I have wanted to speak with you for quite some time.”

             Veredel furrowed her brow. “You have? What makes you say that? You aren’t some kind of demented stalker, are you?”

             “Oh, come now, Veredel. Don’t you want to know why you can hear other people’s thoughts in your head?”

             The lady spoke the words in Veredel’s mind as if it were a casual conversation. “I. . . how did you. . .?”

             Wren giggled. “I heard that there was a young lady with a rather unique issue. Brain trauma, people hearing voices. I wanted to check it out for myself.” Wren smiled. “And I can tell that you aren’t really surprised.”

             Veredel looked off to the side. “I have been hearing other people’s thoughts in my head. It’s true.”

             “Prove it.”

             “Huh?”

             “Respond to me psionically.”

             Veredel didn’t know how to do that. She closed her eyes, Wren’s mental conversation already straining her brain. “Umm. . . I. . .”

             Wren laughed. “My, you sure are cute. You are lucky I know how to read minds otherwise. . .” She giggled. “I did feel you somewhat tug at my mind, though. Cute.”

             “Cute?” Veredel narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t a conversation I exactly want to have; you know.”

             Wren stood up. “I didn’t just come here to talk about your little gift. I want to help you.” Wren looked Veredel over. “Especially as the longer you ignore your psionic abilities and don’t train yourself, the more you risk killing yourself.”

             “WHAT?”

             Wren nodded her head. “Yes. It is like a muscle that needs to be worked. The more you tax it, the more you can damage your brain. Put enough strain on yourself, and you can end your life.” Veredel’s face darkened. “Oh, don’t worry.” Wren leaned in close. “I am here to help you.”

             “How?”

             Wren produced a little earpiece. “This is a lovely little device a friend of mine created. It should help you filter out those nasty little voices in your head.” Without waiting for permission, Wren inserted the device into Veredel’s ear. She then cried out in pain as she felt something burrow into her skin.

             “Ahhhh!” After the pain subsided, she looked around. “The voices. They are. . . gone.”

             Wren smiled. “See. I told you it would work.” The woman winked at Veredel. “Now, what do you say I help you get out of here?”

             “What?”

             “You didn’t think I just came here to give you that and leave? Veredel, I want your help with investigating these missing person reports.” Wren crossed her arms and started to pace. I am sure with your gifts you can help me. With our powers combined, we could really get some leg work done.”

             “But I have. . . I have to recover from this gunshot and the other stuff.” She takes a deep breath. “I hurt myself when I was. . . dealing with all of those thoughts bombarding my head. I can’t just. . .”

             Wren giggled. “Oh, don’t worry; I have that covered. I have another gift for you in my car. I heard you lost someone to this game. Are you not at all interested in finding out what happened to them?”

             “How did you hear about Sean?”

             “I just asked the doctors. You told me the name, dear.” Veredel sighed. “Veredel, you have a gift, and you lost somebody. Do you really want to just sit here recovering alone? I don’t know how much I can figure out on my own. Having another person with psionic abilities well. . . it would make the journey to find out the truth and find your loved one much easier.” She giggled. “And I am sure you wouldn’t want to do it alone.”

             Wren was right. The moment Veredel recovered, she was going to search for Sean. While Veredel found it odd that Wren was being insistent on them working together, the woman could help her control her powers. Veredel didn’t want to end up hurting herself. Besides, Wren could get her out of the hospital now if she was telling the truth. “If you aren’t lying, I guess I don’t have a choice. The longer I wait, the bigger the chance I will never see my little brother again.”

             Wren smiled. “Good choice. Now, wait here a second. I will tell your doctor I am discharging you into my care.” She winked at Veredel. “I will take care of everything.”

             Veredel took a deep breath. She had no idea how Wren could help her recover so quickly, but if it meant getting out of the hospital, she didn’t care. She hated this place. She hated knowing that her parents were so close but wanted nothing to do with her. She hated that the staff seemed to be afraid of her due to her strange mental issues. She just. . . wanted to be out and looking for her brother already.

             Wren and a nurse walked back into the room. “Good news. We can leave.” The nurse began to undo the straps around Veredel’s body. “It was really easy to get you discharged. It’s almost as if they want you to go.” The woman laughed.

             “Right. I wonder why that would be.” The nurse helped Veredel into a wheelchair.

             “Now come on. I know you want to meet my friend. She is dying to meet you.” Wren wheeled Veredel through the hospital.

             “Friend?”

             “Oh, you will see.” Wren hummed.

             “So, how exactly did you find me?”

             “Hm?”

             “I just find it a bit strange that you would have heard about me? I umm. . .”

             “We can talk about this later.” She walked outside, the sun shining down on them. “There are a lot of things to discuss, but we have something else to take care of.” Wren wheeled Veredel over to a small red car. “Here we are.” She opened the back door. “Get in.”

             Veredel took a deep breath before jumping inside. Wren pushed the wheelchair away and walked around to the driver’s seat. “Make yourself comfy.”

             “I don’t see anyone else in here,” Veredel said as Wren sat down in the driver’s seat. “Only this briefcase.”

             “Oh, she is in the briefcase, dear. Open it up.”

             “Umm, people can’t be inside briefcases.”

             “Just do it.” Wren sighed. “We aren’t going anywhere until you do.” She put her hands behind her head and started humming again.

             Veredel rolled her eyes and opened the briefcase. Inside was a vial with blue goo. “I don’t—”

             “Open the vial.”

             Veredel snorted. “This is getting weird.” She slowly unscrewed the cap. “If she didn’t help me silence the voices in my head, I would be so out of here.”

             Once the cap was off the goo suddenly came to life, jumping at Veredel. “Ahhhh!” The blue ooze expanded, slowly covering her body. “What the hell is happening?”

             A feminine voice filled the vehicle. “I am soooo happy to be out of that stupid container.” Veredel gasped as her body was slowly hugged. “And I am sooo happy to meet you.” A face feminine materialized out of the goo. “Hi. I am Kia.”

             “Hi?”

             The strange goo lady smiled. “I am a slime. Sorry, but I am just. . . so happy to have some time to breathe.” She hugged Veredel tightly. “You have no idea what it is like to spend your life in a test tube.”

             Veredel squirmed, but the slime held her entire body tight. “I umm. . . guess I wouldn’t know.”

             Kia wrapped tighter around Veredel. “So, umm, I have a question to ask. We slimes form bonds with people. We help protect them by bonding with them so in return we can. . . . well. . .” She giggled. “Get some protection ourselves. I couldn’t really survive out there on my own. Nor would it be easy for me to get the food I require to survive.”

             “Food?”

             Kia nodded her head. “Yes. It’s very similar to what you would eat. I just leech a bit off of you, and it’s all good.” She giggles.

             Veredel snorts. “I don’t see how this helps me.”

             “Well, if we bond, I can help protect you from harm. And I can help you heal somewhat.” Kia looks at the gunshot wound on Veredel’s arm. “While I can’t fully fix that, I can at least make the pain go away and accelerate the healing.”

             “I mean, it’s mostly healed up. I have been in the hospital for how long?”

             Kia narrowed her goopy blue eyes. “Come on. I can help you. Please? I don’t want to go back into that tube. They never, ever let me out.” Her eyes seemed to sparkle.

             “I. . . umm. . .”

             “I can only bond if you are willing to accept me. I can only merge with a willing host.”

             Veredel took a deep breath. “Okay. As long as I can go back on this if I don’t like this.” She pointed at Kia. “Just a trial run, okay.”

             Kia nodded her head. “Trial run. Of course.” Veredel tensed up as she felt the slime girl slide into her skin, becoming one with her. “You will love this, I promise.”

             “I. . . ughh. . .” Veredel gripped the seats of the car. “This feels weird.” Her body bounced about, her thighs growing and shrinking, her arms extending and retracting. “What are you doing?”

             “Getting comfy. I have never been inside someone’s body before. Ahhh.” Kia suddenly settled, and Veredel’s body returned to normal. Or, well, almost normal.

             “What the hell did you do to my chest.” She looked down at her breasts. “Undo this at once!” Veredel gulped as her boobs were now almost twice as big.”

             “What?” Kia’s head appeared out of Veredel’s neck. “I thought you would like it. You don’t?”

             “No!”

             “Shesh.” Veredel moaned as her boobs shrank. “I was just trying to help.”

             Veredel snorted. “At this rate, you are going to get kicked out of my body.”

             Kia gulped. “Wait, please let me show you how I can protect you.” She turned and looked at Wren. “The demonstration? Are you ready?”

             Veredel looked at Wren. “What demonstration?” She gulped as Wren pulled out a knife. “What are you doing?” Wren suddenly thrusted it at Veredel’s forehead. “Ahhhhh!”

             A hard blue liquid covered Veredel’s head like a second skin, stopping the knife. “Hah! You are going to have to try harder than that!” Wren pressed down harder. “I was kidding.” Kia bounced the knife away. “You didn’t have to try that hard.”

             Wren snorted, “If I didn’t, the girl wouldn’t know it was real.” She turned her attention to the road. Now, let’s get going.”

             Veredel looked at Kia. “Okay, I admit it. You can really protect my bacon.”

             “What is bacon.”

             Veredel laughed. “You are kidding, right?” Kia shook her head. “You must have really spent most of your life in that tube.”

             Kia settled inside of Veredel’s body. “It isn’t something I really want to talk about. But I am happy you want to keep me around. I thought I would never get someone to. . . someone to be with.”

             “I never thought this would happen either, so that makes two of us Kia.”