CHAPTER 10: The silent Promise

The terror of the fall seized John, a cold dread that tightened his chest just as the world dissolved. Before he could hit the unforgiving ground, the very fabric of space fractured before him, swallowing him whole. He was trapped, adrift in a bizarre, swirling void.

Time twisted and stretched, an endless, disorienting journey until a sudden, blinding light erupted. He found himself in a place of stark brilliance, and clutched in his hand was a stone, pulsing with a golden luminescence. He had no memory of acquiring it, no understanding of its purpose, yet it clung to him, an inseparable part of his being.

"What are you?" John demanded, his voice echoing in the strange light. The stone remained silent. Then, it detached itself, floating upwards, towards a sliver of visible sky. A moment later, John, driven by an unknown compulsion, leapt into the light, plunging into a new, alien landscape.

He landed in a city of towering structures, bathed in an artificial, harsh glow. His attention was immediately drawn to a scene of brutal violence. The glowing stone, now acting independently, had struck a white-haired man, leaving him grievously wounded. Another figure stood nearby, watching impassively. John, his own survival paramount, ignored the scene.

"This stone..." he muttered, "it's jumping, moving away from me." He left it near the injured man and turned to flee, his thoughts consumed by his sister, by the desperate desire to return to her.

"My life is a mess," he whispered, running. "I don't understand any of this."

But the stone, as if mocking his attempts to escape, reappeared before him.

"Who are you? Why won't you leave me alone?" he cried.

The stone hovered, then floated closer. "I know how much you love your sister, John," it said, its voice a resonant whisper in his mind. "I've seen it in her thoughts."

John's heart pounded. "You... you can read minds?"

"Yours, and His," the stone said, glancing towards the old white haired man . "Idiot."

Then it returned to John's hand. "You'll take me back, won't you?" John pleaded.

"I have work to do," the stone replied. "Then, I will return you."

John gripped the stone tightly, clinging to its promise. Before the space around him could shatter again, another figure materialized: Before John could speak, the spatial rift opened, dragging him into the swirling chaos once more.

He emerged into the same blinding light, and the stone, with a renewed violence, struck the white-haired man again, this time in the chest. The same impassive figure stood by, watching the man's agonizing demise.

The stone settled at the dying man's feet. "You thought you could escape?" it whispered.

The white-haired man began to melt, his form dissolving into a strange, crystalline shard. This shard flew towards the glowing stone and merged with it, fitting perfectly. The stone's form shifted, its broken, star-like shape becoming more complete, a perfect, glowing sphere.

"John, I can read your thoughts," the stone said, its voice echoing in his mind.

John recoiled, shocked. The stone then turned to the Old Man. "And yours."

With a sudden, swift movement, the stone leapt into John's hand, and vanished, leaving the strange, light filled place, and the Old Man behind.