Chapter 3: The Benefactor
The colors in the sky were peaceful and still, yet had a stunning beauty that struck the eyes. Abel gripped his shirt tight and felt his heart still throbbing lightly in his chest. Still beating. Still alive. Still the same. He wasn't dreaming things at the very least. This past day that had embarrassment and shame, adventure, plus a gorgeous view of the aurora that he couldn't dream up.
His heart grew steady, and the forestry around him grew calm. A white spot dashed across his vision. Abel held his head lightly for a brief moment, 'I'm not lightheaded...' he glanced back up at the sky.
A thin flash of light streaked across the sky. Shortly after another followed. "Shooting stars! I've never seen one before!" Abel exclaimed. "I almost thought my head wasn't working right. How silly I am." Abel laughed at himself and enjoyed the natural wonder before his eyes.
The aurora gently swayed and the rainbow sparkle dots kept still, but the shooting stars danced without fear like wild animals. They dove aggressively like birds after prey and without fear like lemmings off a cliff. Each star burned out one after another.
Then the stars cut through the aurora, smearing the colors across the dark night sky. Every light in the heavens mixed and crashed and the sparkles were more like blood splatter. The beauty of motion and chaos, "It is like... Pollock using heaven as a canvas... what the..."
As the insanity began above him, it erupted within him as well. His heart gave one solid thump against his chest to shake him out of his daze. Abel's vision went blurry and he puked in the grass beside him. It was just bile, he still hadn't eaten in hours. Standing up slowly from the ground Abel stumbled away. His vision swirled in front of him and he wasn't sure if he was looking up or down because of the extreme nausea and throbbing headache. "Starry Night, Van Gogh. Is this what artists see when they take drugs?"
Abel had no balance and though he tried to go straight, to exit Supera Park as fast as possible, he was going the wrong way. He kept moving, knowing that no help would find him. This was him fighting for his life. With each step he hoped, he hoped he was getting closer to his salvation.
Abel finally fell over. He could only tell because of the impact he felt across the front of his body, from his knees all the way up to his face. Abel groaned "Why now? Even my toes hurt! Wait..."
Abel tried to clear his mind powering through the chaos. The panic clung to him, the confusion continued it's assault, and the pain continued to harass him. But his willpower shined a spotlight. He refused to give in to his demise, if that was what fate had in store. So with the only clarity and effort his willpower could afford, he raced through his thoughts.
Mumbling out the little bits that leaked from his mind, Abel struggled. "Hurts... Just one. Left..." Abel groaned again. He opened his eyes to look toward his left foot. "Tripped..." By his foot seemed to be a small rod with little faces carved into it. The rod was stuck into the the ground.
Abel's eyes strained and as he strived to clear his vision, his mind grew blurred. One eye had a red gym embedded in it. This gym flashed briefly and Abel closed his eyes. He felt a calm and peace overcome him, like moments ago before the fireworks in the sky...
Abel opened his eyes. The peace was still there, but nothing else was. He felt like he was in a calm pool of water floating. It was strange though, because there was nothing around him. "Darkness? No. I can see myself. But it's just black, as far as the eye can see. Up, down. Echo?" Abel took a deep breath. "Echo!" He screamed, but couldn't hear his response.
He tried swimming, and felt the vague sensation of movement. He tried walking and could still sense that he was in fact traveling. He ran. Straight in one direction. He did this until he noticed that he wasn't getting tired. He held his hand to his chest and could feel his steady heartbeat.
"This sensation. That same feeling of life. I can't be dreaming. I would doubt that spirits have heartbeats, and this doesn't seem to be heaven or hell. Limbo doesn't make much sense. Magic?" Abel paced forward in an effort to stimulate his ideas.
"Did that even take ya ten minutes?" A cool and suave voice filled the air. It had a composure and class that contrasted the chosen words. "You got brains, kid. You don't seem very experienced with magic however. Wanna tell me about you?"
Abel flinched when the voice first spoke. Then he paced in circles looking all around himself. "I don't think I want to share. Not sure I could share anything worthwhile anyway." Abel squinted, like that might help him better hear and understand the response of the disembodied voice.
"Come on. No reason to be like that. I just wanna make friendly conversation. I'm new to town, to be honest. No friends yet. I thought you'd be able to just talk with me a minute."
Abel began walking straight forward again. "Well, I'm new here to, you could say. I don't have many friends either. I try and make friends carefully though. Once, a boy told the girl I liked that I wanted to go out with her." Abel made small talk while walking.
"Well, I'm sure that boy messed it up somehow. What'd he do?" The disembodied voice chuckled. The amusement he felt was weaved into every word.
"He also told her that I'm a criminal, working with a gang." Abel scoffed and chuckled, the disbelief he felt born again. "Can you believe it?"
"Can I believe that's what happened? Or do I believe you were with a gang?" The voice probed gently.
Abel's laughter would've echoed if this space could bounce the sound back around. "Very good question! That is really what happened. But, he wasn't lying." Abel felt the silence, a true emptiness like before the voice came to join him.
"You're just full of surprises pal. Why don't ya tell me about that? Sounds way more exciting than lying friends." The voice seemed to have grown some interest in Abel's past.
"Well I would but that is what I did with my old friend. Now all of the girls I know don't like me. They think I'm a ridiculous liar, talking about gangs to look cool. Or that I'm a brazen fool, bragging about how I'm a thug. Or whatever else their imaginations can conjure."
"The female mind is a mystery, kid. I've been around a long time and still can't figure 'em out. I've had some bad friends too. I get it, kid."
The silence took its turn in the conversation. After a few moments, Abel spoke up. "Do you like gambling?"
"Gambling?" The voice was shocked. "Well, I'm familiar with gambling. Do you want to bet on something? Can I guess your name? This will be fun!" The voice was getting more excited again.
"I'll let you go first." Abel said.
"Is your name Jareth?" The voice asked softly.
"No... is your name..." Abel paused to think. 'Jareth being an uncommon name and this voice being from somewhere else, the names might be quite distinct because of geographical differences. They still speak english there though, he doesn't have a strange accent.' Abel spoke out. "Is your name Lysander?"
The guessing went back and forth, and eventually the names began to reach extremes. They both began guessing names of varying nationalities. Some even seemed to be ambiguous sounds. The whole time, Abel walked forward without tiring.
"Is your name Rumplestiltskin? I should've guessed that way sooner." Abel chastised himself after questioning.
"No. This will never end. If I tell you my name, will you tell me yours?" The voice was bored and just wanted this to be over with. "You can't walk out of here anyways."
Abel stopped walking then nodded his head. "Thank you! That had been boring for a long time. My name is Tower. What's your name, kid?"
Abel sat in silence. He paced in a circle for a moment. "I'm quite impressed Tower. I don't think that's a name for a man. But I believe you. However..."
"It isn't a man's name. I'm not human, kid." Tower cut in. "Don't hold out on me now, we've been at it for so long. I'm on the edge of my seat, so to speak."
Abel sighed. "You aren't law enforcement. You can see me. You aren't human. You are as good a liar and gambler as me. At least, I don't doubt it. If we were playing cards, you would have no tells. But, we are playing a different game and only you know what the objective is."
"Kid, have you been trying to figure out the magic or something this whole time?"
"We have different objectives though. You need to know my name. But your name isn't what I needed. You're too good at gambling, lying, and just to be nice I'll guess you're about as smart as I am Tower. With a friend like you, I might never need an enemy."
"Jeez kid! You're a sharp one!" Tower sounded genuinely impressed, but not an ounce of worry or tension was in his voice.
"Why don't you come clean with me. This has been fun with our little secret interrogation game, but I would like to leave if I'm still alive." Abel looked out at the darkness with scorn in his eyes.
"I really need to apologize! I gave you the complete opposite impression of what I wanted to. Look, I want to help you kid. I want send on your way, happy as could be. I really want to be your friend. I don't know how that one boy could make you so distrusting?" Tower spoke sincerely. At the end, the confusion and questioning in his tone further showed his candor.
"I've seen lying and how crooked people are a few times in my life. Personally and with others." Abel paused here for a moment. His eyes got misty and his vision blurred for a moment. He quickly used his sleeve to get the tears preemptively. "I'm weak. You have powerful magic. I can't be useful unless you're going to just use me. I'm not a quality resource. Except for my life."
"That's where you're wrong, kid. More or less. Look, I and many others do this exact same thing. I am here to um, in gambling terms, put up my stake. Or something like that. I'm a benefactor." Tower spoke clearly, trying to make sure Abel could process every word, and hear the truth in each word.
"So how does this game work? What are the stakes exactly? I mean, you haven't said enough. At all. Really." Abel waited for the empty space to respond.
"Look, lots of worlds have magic. Lots don't. I'm basically a deity. Now I meddle with other worlds to make a profit basically. It's what we all do. Not personally though. We choose people and things to do it for us."
Abel was perplexed by everything that was going on. "So why choose me?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SalukiSands
SalukiSands Lemmings were thought to be suicidal but they jump off of cliffs and such because of migration. Lemmings are just peculiar.
Some fun painting references. Look them up for fun guys.
Please comment or something. I think comments are super fun.
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