Chapter 3 : Lincoln (Past)

He didn't feel frightened. Instead, he felt a strong sense of confidence, as if he knew exactly what he was doing while suspended in midair. Surrounding him were glowing red particles of light, and he was fully aware of his actions. However, another part of him couldn't understand what was going on. His body moved on its own, yet deep down, he knew he had complete control over this energy. His mind kept repeating the word "energy," as it argued with itself, with one side understanding and the other completely clueless.

Yet this energy, these crimson particles enveloping him, beckoned to him with a purpose. It was as if they yearned for him to channel their power into something. Suddenly, a disturbing vision flashed before him—a glimpse of taking lives. Was that the intended use of this energy? To continue killing? "Our savior!" echoed a distant voice. Savior? What did they mean by that?

A sudden weight settled upon his shoulders, burdening him with the gravity of countless lives.

The energy particles merged with an instinct to safeguard, transforming into numerous crimson-sparkling spikes. They hung in the air momentarily before swiftly darting forward, slicing through the atmosphere. The sickening sound of flesh being pierced reached his ears, followed by agonizing screams and the macabre flow of blood. Some splattered onto his face, yet he remained unfazed, showing no hint of recoil at the gruesome spectacle.

Lincoln woke up with a gasp, his heart pounded in his chest as sweat dripped from his brow.

With a groan, he exerted effort to rise, utilizing the sizable rocks as aid. He forced his eyes open, gradually adapting to the dimness surrounding him. Where was he? Surveying his environment, he deduced that he was inside a cave, although he had no recollection of ever venturing here. Noticing a glimmer of light emanating from the cave's entrance, he approached it and cast his gaze upward. The night sky greeted him, shrouded in darkness. The depth of the hole he had fallen into made climbing out seem impossible.

Lincoln squinted at the opening, watching small bits of snow fall from it. That's when his memory returned. The hike, the small opening Dexter had discovered, and, most importantly, their fall. Lincoln checked his watch, but it was broken from the impact. Frustrated, he groaned and walked around, trying to figure out what to do. Then, he suddenly remembered that Dexter had fallen in with him.

"Oh no..." Lincoln whispered. "Dex?!" He called out to every direction of the cave. "Dex?!" He repeated. There was a moment of silence before Dexter replied. "Lin! It's about time you woke up! Over here!" Dexter's voice echoed and Lincoln turned to the direction he thought heard it come from. He walked briskly in that direction, but he ended up bumping into a wall. "Do you have a torch?!" Lincoln asked. "Yeah, I do. But it's dim, and my watch is done for." Dexter replied. Lincoln sighed, "Just keep talking I'll try finding you with your voice." Lincoln said. "Good idea," Dexter replied, and Lincoln started walking away from the moonlight.

Darkness wrapped around Lincoln and his senses were on high alert. This is an unknown territory; anything could come from any direction. "Our backpacks fell with us," Dexter stated.

"Yeah, they did, I saw them when I woke up," Lincoln replied, walking towards the voice.

"You should've brought them..." Dexter replied. "You could've waited for me; why did you go in the darkness?" Lincoln asked as Dexter's voice became louder. "I remembered before I fell in, there was this red light shining from the inside of the cave, I wanted to go look for it, so I got a torch from one of our bags and started looking," Dexter replied. "You could've woken me up," Lincoln replied with a frown. "Look I wasn't in the right mind at the time, anyways come quick I think I found something cool," Dexter said.

Lincoln suddenly started hearing whispers from the direction Dexter's voice was coming from. It sounded like a group was talking to each other, he couldn't make out Dexter's voice from amongst the group, however. Should he be relieved though? "Can you hear that, Dex?" Lincoln asked. "Hear what? It's so silent in this cave that I can hear my heartbeat." Dexter replied with a chuckle. Lincoln stopped in his tracks. "The silence... Yeah, maybe the silence is getting to me." Lincoln said and continued walking.

Lincoln took a few more steps towards his friend's voice before finally finding him a few meters away examining a red gemstone stuck to the side of the cave, with a dim torch. They would keep a spare torch or two just in case incidents like this would come when they would no longer be able to use the torch in their watches.

"It's deep, I can't pull it with manpower alone," Dexter announced. Lincoln approached his friend, "Here, let me try." He spoke. "Sure," Dexter replied, he got up and moved aside. Lincoln bent in front of the gemstone and took a while to examine it, "Some yanking with an ice axe will do the job. Can you find one?" Lincoln asked. "Okay," Dexter replied. "Man are we lucky that our backpacks got pulled with us in our fall. We'd starve if not for it." Dexter added.

Lincoln chuckled, "Too bad we aren't sticking here for long." He added. Dexter gave a cocky laugh and walked away, "Yeah, too bad." And then Lincoln lost his source of light. He turned around. "Dude! Why'd you take the torch with you?" There was a short pause. "Look Lin, I need it more than you do, you're not the one who needs to find stuff," Dexter called out. Lincoln chuckled again and turned his attention back to the gemstone. "Yeah, whatever. Just come quickly so we can take this gem out..." Lincoln paused. The stone was glowing, which means he wasn't imagining things earlier.

The red gemstone was glowing! "Cat got your tongue?" Dexter said when he neared Lincoln. The light emitted from the torch was easily more powerful than that of the gemstone. "Dex, can you turn off the torch for a second?" Lincoln asked. "Okay?" Dexter said and switched it off. "Whoa," Lincoln whispered, as he looked at the glowing stone. "Something wrong?" Dexter asked.

"What do you mean? Can't you see that? The stone is glowing!" Lincoln said. "Now that you mention it. I feel as if we had this conversation before as if I..." Dexter paused. "Never mind, it's just deja-vu. Something's got to you dude... Here." Dexter said after turning on the torch again. "Huh?" Lincoln asked confused then saw his friend holding out the bottom end of the axe. Lincoln took it and thrust the pick towards the side of the gemstone. He pushed it as deep as it could go, then yanked on it.

"What should we name the gem?" Dexter asked as Lincoln yanked. "I don't know why would we even name it," Lincoln said with a chuckle. Dexter ignored him. "How about flare?" He asked. "Too orange," Lincoln replied. Then tuned him out as Dexter went through a sequence of horrible names for the gemstone.

Lincoln felt around the gemstone, something about it drew him closer. But it was just an ordinary stone, he was sure of it. Wait why am I so sure? He asked himself. "What about scarlet? No! Something with scarlet! Dude, you're no help!" Dexter retorted. "Scarlet is too light. Crimson is a better fit, but to name a stone that..." Lincoln said it was just then when he gave one final yank and pulled the stone out of its place.

It shot towards Dexter's direction, but he ducked right in time. The stone went flying across the room before finally losing momentum and falling to the ground. Lincoln ran towards the noise, not giving much care about watching where he was going. He tripped from one of the rocks and fell right on top of the stone, its tip poking his chest.

"Lin, you crazy guy! Watch where you're going!" Dexter called out. Lincoln could hear footsteps approaching him. He slowly got up and bent to pick up the gemstone. He then massaged his chest as Dexter came to stand next to him, flashing the light at the stone. Lincoln smiled. The gemstone no longer glowed. "I know what we can call it..."

Before Lincoln could finish the world got sucked into a black void and then Crystal woke up, in Hayden's arms.