An Acended's Journey

As the memory faded, Logan wiped away his teary eyes while he followed the guard from outside Alex's room.

Logan contemplated what this large floor was used for before the infection. Was it for meeting rooms and offices? He could ponder as to what they were. Now, he knew these rooms held sleeping people inside, each with an executioner sitting near their bed. 

The thought was oddly morbid, but Logan had more important questions to ask. Logan hesitantly called to the guard ahead of him, "Sir, where are we going?" 

Without even missing a beat in his march the guard replied back, "We're going to your room." 

'My room?' Logan puzzled at the ominous answer.

"A room like my friend?" 

"Yes." The guard abruptly stopped near a metal door. 

"This is our stop." The guard turned the handle and entered the room. Logan followed shortly after.

The room had a large table shifted into the corner of the room along with some rolly chairs pushed up against it. The light in the room was slightly dimmer than the luminous white hallways he had come from. Sitting up against a wall looked like a metal table with a small mattress on top. 

'This room looks like a mess.' It looked like everything was thrown in the corner in a hurry and papers were strewn atop the table and the floor. 

Logan walked further into the room, and then the guard shut the door behind them. Logan was unsettled being locked in the room, but he guessed they were going to keep him here. Just like all the others that went to sleep and hadn't woke up.

The guard sighed underneath his helmet before his hands pulled the menacing helmet off his head. 

The guard was an old man with dark and wrinkly skin. Logan was shocked at how the guard looked. He could have been in his 50s or 60s.

The guard tiredly spoke, "I need ya to lie down on that bed on that bed there. I'm only here to make sure ya ain't like the others."

There was a certain rasp to the man's voice. It almost felt weird to compare him to the guard he had been following around the complex. 

"Once ya fall asleep boy, I'll try and wake ya." The guard paused.

"And if ya don't wake boy, I'll be forced to tie ya down like the others." The guard carried a certain weight in his last sentence. 

The guard grabbed a rolly chair and sat it up next to the door. 'God, way to make me feel calm and relaxed to take a nap. I'm really gonna be able to get to sleep now.' Logan stood there for a minute and went to inspect his bed.

Now that Logan could see it more closely, the bed had a single pillow and some thin linen sheets. 'Man, this bed is trash. Not only is this crap gonna be cold, but this dude is wtching me sleep.'

Logan stood over the bed thinking about what he should do. So much had happened today, and now, he was just supposed to sleep? 'At least give me a decent bed or some actual blankets. I'd almost rather take my chances sleeping in my bunk. Well, the bed isn't getting any warmer.' 

Jumping onto the mattress, Logan made it slide on the metal table. 'Wonderful, I might fall off this thing in my sleep.' Logan felt tired, but that only made sense given what he had gone through, right?

Lying on his back, Logan turned his body to face away from the guard. 'God, I... I wish it was...' Logan sighed inside his thoughts. He was going to bed in a lifeless grey uniform, with the worst sheets, on what looked like an operating table. 'Oh, and I can't forget about the dude watching me sleep.'

Logan sat in silence until he thought back to a memory he had in the hall. For Logan, it hadn't even been that long. 'How long had it been? Two or three months.' Logan scoffed to himself and smiled a little.

'I love you guys, and I miss you.' Logan thought about his family. 

Logan remembered when his mom would drive into town in the mornings to get their family drinks and food. Or the times his mother would nag at him to get a job. He could still see her white hair pulled into a bun. Her blue eyes and a wizened look about her face. 'If only I had spent more time at home.' Logan thought somberly.

Yawning, Logan crawled closer into a ball as he thought about his dad. He looked so strong in his memories. With a large frame, a fuzzy beard, and brown hair. Logan remembered the times they had gone hunting and fishing together or even the bad nights when he got caught late at night. He had made Logan the man he was today. 'If my dad were here, I'm sure he could have taken the Umbra down or convinced it to buy some deal he knew about.' Logan smirked.

Or his stupid younger sister. She always—Logan yawned for a moment and continued

She always found some way to annoy him, but even then, they still hung out and played games sometimes.

'She must have been in California when the attacks happened. I hope she—'

Logan tiredly stopped and tiredly thought on. 'I hope she made it.'

...

'I'm... praying for you, sis.'

Logan thought about his older sister. He remembered... He remembered her... her...

Logan lay curled on the plain mattress and thin linen sheets. Logan incoherently mumbled in his sleep. Minutes passed as Logan shifted in his sleep until finally the guard had moved.

The guard had risen from his post on the wall and approached the bed. Looking over Logan, the guard gripped his body and violently shook the young man. 

"Wake up!" the guard yelled. The guard tested several times before deciding the boy was lost to the infection. Strapping him to the bed, the guard stood above Logan and completed a silent prayer.

Looking down at Logan, the guard whispered to him, "May god bless ya boy."

The guard left the room and marched toward the third floor as Logan slept in the empty and ruined meeting room.

Logan was soon swept up by a dark dream as something interrupted his dreams of family.

[Aspirant! Welcome to the Nightmare Spell. Prepare for your First Trial...]