Vision2 Read Free Page B

it,” a disembodied voice tried to assure him. “If you just relax, everything will be better when you awaken.”
    Roger was startled. He had not been expecting an answer, but he still responded without thinking.
    “Sleep? How am I supposed to sleep? There ’ s not even a bed or a blanket.”
    “Do you always have to have a bed to sleep?”
    “No, but…. Where are you? Why can ’ t I see you?”
    “You ’ re in a special chamber. It often takes awhile to adjust, and you will have to stay here until that has been completed.”
    “Adjust to what? Besides this horrible monster of a headache, I feel fine. I just want out of this room.” The soft, glowing, green panes were starting to give him the creeps.
    The voice returned, this time more exasperated than before. “I promise, sleep would be a good thing.”
    “Sleep? You want me to sleep after that?” Roger screamed, ignoring the pain that flared up with each word. “I don ’ t give a shit about sleep or anything else except answers.”
    Roger waited, but there wasn ’ t a response. Whomever he ’ d been talking to had decided to leave.
     
    Firturro stood in front of the viewing window and shook his head as he watched Roger crawl across the floor patting down the walls like a rat stuck in a maze. He sighed as he turned away from his side of the glass. The light shined through the one-way observation and caused shadows to march across his tired face.
    The council wasn ’ t exactly happy with him. He had argued with them for two days, remaining steady in his support of Roger, which annoyed them. When he had talked during the meeting, it had only been to try to convince them that, with enough time, this human would adjust and decide upon an appropriate path.
    Firturro didn ’ t have any misconceptions about the council ’ s views, and he knew that his defense of a mere human disgusted them. They wouldn ’ t admit a human, no matter how brilliant, had the capability to walk the line between free will and fate. To them, humans were nothing but substandard creatures who could only live and reproduce, and that ’ s why Obawok had been decreed their caretakers. Humanity ’ s flaws were just more assurance of the divine status of Obawok.
    In the end, none of his arguments had mattered. No one in the council had taken his side, not even the ones who sometimes agreed with Firturro ’ s more liberal views. In their opinion, the subject had been given twenty-seven years. That had been enough time to make an appropriate decision. They kept insisting that this was especially true in Roger ’ s case since most people make the decision during or before their twentieth year. Here was this human male almost thirty years old and still undecided. To the council, that was worse then blasphemy, and they didn ’ t feel they could wait any longer lest his soul be left to perish between worlds.
    “Do you think he ’ ll be okay? Do you think he ’ ll be able to make it through the Mezoglike?” Tigaffo questioned as Firturro eyed him. Tigaffo was staring at Roger expectantly, and Firturro kept waiting for him to start openly salivating over Roger ’ s test. It wasn ’ t good for watchers to anticipate their subject ’ s ultimate downfall. Some watchers may have delighted in the spilling of human blood, but he was certainly not one of them and would not abide an apprentice who did.
    “I certainly hope so, because the alternative isn ’ t good.” He turned, facing Tigaffo dead-on before finishing. “But it wasn ’ t my decision to make, and the council believed this was needed.”
    Firturro brushed past the too eager Tigaffo and headed down the corridor to his chambers. The excitement and confusion of the past few days had denied him much needed rest and food, and he was paying the price. The body that had served him so well for thousands of years was finally breaking down, and he actually welcomed it.
    He looked over his shoulder at Tigaffo. “You should try to use