Though Austin was under, he still felt the pain from his injuries, a constant reminder that he was still at death's doorstep, even in the deep of his unconsciousness. He was in a limbo with an itch he couldn't quite scratch.
In the darkness void of his unconsciousness within he floated, Austin felt he was an out of body experience. When opening his eyes, Austin looked at his arms and legs, he realized he actually might be having an out of body experience, as they were glowing with a silvery hue.
'Oh shit!' he thought to himself. Instantly, there was a chorus of his voice, resonating with his surroundings, creating an echo all around him. 'What the hell…? Where am I? What is this place?'
These thoughts had barely finished chorusing around Austin, when something happened. His surroundings changed and Austin was back in his cell. Everything was as he remembered — the lack of a bed, the windowless walls and everything in between; even the mirror had repaired its cracks from the bullets that shattered it to pieces somehow. The only thing that was out of place was the other person standing directly across from Austin.
The guy was hooded, cloaked and barely identifiable; the way he stood - his posture - and his obvious masculine build had Austin come to the conclusion that he was a guy. He was around Austin's height and size, but outside of these details, Austin couldn't tell anything else about who the mysterious figure in black actually was.
'Who are you?' Austin's thoughts reberated around him, putting his own nerves on end even more than they already were. 'Do you know where I am? What is this place?'
"It seems to be your subconscious physicalized," the figure responded in a familiar voice. "As for who am I? You already know the answer to that. We've known each other for some time now,"
Austin still didn't know who this guy was, but then he figured out why the guy's voice sounded so familiar — It was 'the' voice — the one he'd been hearing since he woke up in the cell weeks ago.
'YOU!' Austin gasped when he figured it out.
"Yes, me," the guy removed his hood and suddenly there was a vibrant show of silvery light and, standing before Austin was… Austin? An exact duplicate of Austin, 'But how?!'
"I'm sure you have questions; you're confused. We'll have time for to answer them in due time. Just know now that you're not alone. I'm here even when I'm silent," the duplicate Austin said, mysteriously. "You're about to wake up. See you soon, young owlet."
A sudden and invisible force began pulling Austin away, as the other Austin vanished, and Austin woke up with a start, gasping for air, as his saviors/captors came into view.
"Would you look at that? He lives!" one of them said. It was the girl.
"Good," said a guy's unfamiliar voice. A different person than whom Austin heard from the first guy's voice earlier. "Judging by the crest on his clothes, I'm guessing he's similar to her. Boy, give me a reason not to kill you. What's your story?"
"My… story?" Austin asked perplexed.
"We'll decide our next course of actions based on what you say, so be careful," the guy said.
The guy was maybe 17, definitely older than Austin; he had a vibe to him that said he was in charge. He had dark crow-colored eyes, raven-colored hair and a muscular build, as if he worked out daily, his caucasian skin tone a slight tan. He wore black jeans, a navy blue, long sleeve button-down shirt with a violet blue raven imprinted on the back. His black work boots reached his heel like high-tops and his 12 foot long, steel-tipped, wooden-staffed spear was strapped to his back.
Every instinct in Austin's body was yelling "DANGER! DANGER!" as he quickly looked around for an escape. But, before he could even move, the girl spoke. "Try some," she said. "I dare you."
The first thing Austin noticed about the girl was that she was beautiful. She had olive white skin, a lean, slightly athletic build, with raven hair and dark eyes. She wore a navy blue skirt above a pair of black calf-reaching leather boots. Her long sleeve, purple, wool shirt was worn underneath her black vest which had the same raven emblem as the guy, only hers was dark violet. Her curly, raven hair was stylish - a direct contrast to the guy's somehow wild and neatly-trimmed raven hair. She had no spear, but her staff was made of wood and she had it hefted in her hands, ready to put Austin down, should he try something. Austin had a gut feeling that she knew how to use it, too.
Austin wasn't necessarily sure why, but every instinct in his being was screaming at him, urging him to get away from these two people as quick and as far as possible. But fear of what could happen and the realization that he didn't even know where he was let alone how to navigate his way to wherever it was needed to go on his own stopped him from moving - Not to mention the girl's clear threat in her voice.
Taking a deep breath in, letting it out through his nose, Austin forced himself to breathe. They wanted him to tell them what he knew. Then that's what he needs to do. He began telling what happened, how he had woken up with no memory of who he was or where he was. He told them about the cell and how he woke up there with no idea who he was before then, with only his name to link to any past life he may have had in a life before. He told them how every time he tried to remember something of his old life, he'd hear a ringing and get a headache.
He left out the part of seeing his eyes glowing silver in the mirror and and hearing a voice in his head — He didn't want to come across as crazy — but he did tell them about how, after the past three months since waking up in that cell, he received the letters and how he fought his attackers before they had arrived.
When he finished, the girl and boy, whom Austin swear looked so much alike, they had to be siblings, locked eyes, seeming to have a silent conversation. As they did, Austin took in his surroundings; he was propped up against a grey steel wall, inside a small chamber with no windows, stone-hard floors and single door located directly behind his captors.
Just as Austin was beginning to contemplate the odds of walking through those doors alive to escape, a realization suddenly had Austin looking down at his shoulders, chest and gut areas, where his shirt had been removed and, in it's place, were bandages of cloth and he realized nothing was hurting anymore. In fact, his wounds had gone numb completely and he didn't even feel it at all; the only thing hinting there was ever even a dagger and some bullets in him in the first place were the bandages across his right peck, gut and shoulder, which was tented a little red from the dried blood. Austin looked at the two people in front of him. "Did you guys heal me?"