The Awaened -

Thank you for all your comments.

My apologies to those that I have managed to confuse - yes, this story was published before on this site under SciFi & Fantasy but I felt that it was the wrong place for it. So if the story is very familiar that's why. I also wanted to make some minor changes to the text which is why I've decided to remove the old version completely and republish in a section that makes more sense.

Anyway, to those that are new to the story, I hope that you enjoy it. I have put tags in place to try and highlight any potential triggers for people.

On the drive home, Kane texted Si.

+ when can we meet?

- 60 mins - are you out of the hospital yet?

+ just heading home now

- ARE YOU MAD?

- DO NOT GO HOME

+ what!?!

- meet me at the Foreland Lighthouse. do not go home

The car continued to rumble up the A39 in companionable silence. But Kane's mind was racing. He had a quick look on Google maps and found the nearest hotel to the Foreland Lighthouse.

"Gus?"

"Uh huh?"

"I can't go home. There are too many...I can't...not yet."

"Of course. I'm so sorry I should have thought of that. Do you want to stay with me?"

"That's incredibly kind but I think I'd like some time to myself. There's a place in Lynton that I stayed at when I was looking for properties in the area. Can you take me there?"

"Of course, what's it called?"

"The Blue Ball Inn."

Gus burst out laughing.

"You're not serious? Really?"

"I know. Stupid name but a nice place."

"This I have to see."

Ten minutes later, the sleek BMW pulled up outside a traditional coaching inn. The old building, whitewashed and stolid, hunkered down into the red Devon clay, hunching its shoulders against the wind whipping off the northern coast. It must have been a sight for sore eyes in years gone by as travellers saw the glow from the lantern above the door and caught the smell of wood smoke from its warming fireplace.

The Blue Ball Inn did have a room available for Kane and the couple running the place were only too happy to laugh with Gus about the unusual name.

"It's always a conversation starter," chuckled Bill, the publican, "When regular coach services used this route in the 18th and 19th centuries, a blue ball would be attached to a pole located at the front of the inn and it was raised to indicate that residents there required passage on the coach."

"I'm sorry, my mind was in the gutter."

"You're not the only one," smiled Bill as he walked them up to see the room. "Is this ok?" he said, opening the door?

"It's perfect," said Kane, fervently. He'd been worried that it would be the same one that he'd stayed in with Emma all those years ago but it wasn't. It also had a good view of the road and parking nearby. And it looked like he might even be able to climb through the window onto the woodshed behind if he had to leave in a hurry.

"Excellent," said Bill. "I'll leave you to get settled in."

Kane nodded his thanks and looked over to see Gus hovering uncertainly.

"Gus, I'll be fine. I just can't quite face our house yet knowing that my family isn't coming home. I'll spend a couple of nights here and decide what I'm going to do."

"Alright then. Well just shout if you need anything."

"I will. Sorry to drag you away from work for such a long time."

"Pffft...what are friends for?"

They hugged and Gus made his way down the narrow staircase and back outside. It was only another minute or two before his car leapt away up the road.

Kane quickly found directions to get to the lighthouse and texted Si to let him know that he was on his way but would be late. He didn't want to take a taxi. Anything that might give clues to his whereabouts to the people that appeared to be overly interested in him needed to be avoided. At least until he found out whether Si was unhinged or not. So he grabbed a waterproof coat and pulled on his hat before setting off on foot.

Fifty minutes later found him carefully descending the steep steps leading down to the lighthouse. It was an astonishing looking place built back into the hillside with a huge retaining wall holding back the tons of earth above it. A large white cottage was attached to a stubby lighthouse which itself was perched on the edge of the cliff looking across the Bristol channel towards Wales. The wind whipped around him, forcing him to hold on to his hat as he made his way to the front door. He raised his hand to knock but Si was already opening the door and encouraging him inside.

"Come in, come in. Come and sit by the fire while I put the kettle on. Tea or coffee..?"

"Tea, thank you."

Si bustled off through the narrow corridor, ducking his head under the stone door lintel as he headed to the kitchen. There was the familiar sound of a kettle and the clink of mugs being set on a tray.

"I've only got normal tea, nothing fancy like Earl Gray. Is that OK?" came his voice from the kitchen.

"Perfect - thank you."

Kane moved into the comfortable sitting room, settling himself in front of the log burner holding his hands out to the heat.

A couple of minutes later Si reappeared with a tray and a couple of flowery mugs. He sat down in an armchair next to the sofa that Kane had seated himself on and they both relaxed into the soft cushions with their warming drink.

After a minute or two of staring at the fire Si sat forward, his every move that of a very properly brought up gentleman. Kane really looked at Si for the first time. He was wearing tweed trousers, a smart shirt and tie complete with a woollen waistcoat. A smart pair of sturdy brown shoes completed the outfit. He was an eminently forgettable looking, if smartly dressed, middle aged man. Neither tall nor short, his hair was starting to thin and his features were warm and welcoming if plain. He looked like someone's country uncle.

His accent wasn't quite a cut glass, aristocratic, English accent but he was extremely well spoken.

"I'd like to apologise for doing what I did to you today but I couldn't think of what else to do. It really was unpardonably rude."

Si looked really quite uncomfortable, almost as if...was he scared?

"It was certainly a shock," said Kane. "I have so many questions."

"I don't doubt it Mr Daniels, I don't doubt it."

"Why me? What on earth has happened to me?"

"Well...therein lies the sixty-four thousand dollar question. I can only share what little I know from my forty-eight years of experience, living with this benighted horror."

"This what?!?"

"Mr Daniels..."

"Please call me Kane."

"If you insist, Kane."

Si took a deep breath, his back still ramrod straight as he looked up to the ceiling above before deciding on exactly what to say.

"Mr...Kane. I have been living within this duality all my life. I spend most of it being terrified at the prospect of meeting others. When I saw you in the hospital, your aura shining brighter than this lighthouse, I was terrified anew."

"Wait, my what?"

"This will probably be easier to show you. Please believe me when I say that I mean you no harm. May I show you what I mean?"

And he reached out his hand to Kane.

Shaking slightly, Kane took it and was again thrown into the spirit world. He found Si there too, still holding his hand. He released it as soon as he realised. Si smiled a thin little smile.

[I have read numerous books and treatises trying to find out anything that I can about this grey realm and I have yet to find a single document that can either explain it or define it. Through years of living with it, either accidentally or otherwise I have come to terms with some aspects of it. Before I go any further, look at me. What do you see.]

[I see you much as you are in the normal world. You are hovering above your body much like all the other manatee figures I saw in the hospital.]

[Ha! Manatee's!! I like that description. What else do you see?]

Kane looked harder. Eventually he noticed a faint outline of light.

[There's some sort of light surrounding you but it's very tough to make out.]

[Good, that's because I am controlling it.]

Si swallowed, looking nervously around him and then forced himself to relax a little. Slowly a soft glow of light, a little brighter than the ones that surrounded the manatee blobs, surrounded Si. Si, still nervously looking around, made a quick motion with his hand and the glow was gone and he returned to how he'd initially looked.

[You need to be able to control your aura Kane. Try and feel your energies flowing around you and just pull them back. You shouldn't have to reach too far, just...ohhh!]

Once Kane knew what to feel for he could sense his aura. It

was

bright. Many times brighter than Si's. He tried a couple of different things and then suddenly he knew he'd done it, almost like putting a cap on.

[Like that?]

[Exactly like that. You should also be able to disguise yourself as a blob. Just turn your chin down towards your chest and then I like to think it feels as if I've thrown a sheet over myself.]

Kane felt exactly what he meant and was soon another formless manatee.

[That...that's very good.]

[Why do I need to hide myself, Si? And how did you know that I needed to leave the hospital? Why are you helping me? Not that I'm ungrateful of course. And why...]

[Slowly. Now that you're much less obvious shall we return to our bodies? Do you need help with that?]

[No. I think I've got it.]

They blended back into their own forms, Si looking somewhat shaken, but very obviously trying to maintain his equilibrium.

"Let me try and answer some of your questions. I'll try and leave my personal...issues out of it and just give you the bare bones of what I know." He sighed and took a sip of tea.

"Your brain, most likely through trauma, is not like everyone else's...please just wait and let me talk for a while. There are very few of us Awakened in the world. A truly tiny portion of the world's population. There are people like me who were born into this world. My experiences of trying to come to terms with the grey realm as a child were...traumatic. I have only met one other who survived from such a young age. Imagine finding yourself in another world, no one believing you, and having to come to terms with that, learning what to do in that place as a child."

He paused.

Kane tried to imagine it. No wonder not many people survived it. Not on their own. Si calmed himself and started again.

"But most come from some form of trauma that has fundamentally changed some of the neural pathways in your brain. I don't pretend to understand how it works or what has been changed. You suddenly become aware of the grey realm and as you grow more used to the idea, one can transition back and forth between it and the real world. The safer world if there is such a thing."

"As you may have gathered, my aura is nowhere near as bright as yours. My abilities are...limited in comparison to the very few others that I have met. As a result I have lived my life under the radar. I am as ordinary as I can make myself. I am beneath the notice of most and have become very good at staying that way."

"So why did you help me? If you're so keen to avoid other Awakened people why did you go out of your way to find me and help me?"

Si's head dropped as he looked down at his beautifully polished shoes. His eyes were watery with tears when he looked up at Kane.

"Because I need your help. I am being eaten alive and have no idea what to do."

Kane could only stare at him, his mouth slowly opening and closing as he tried to make sense of what he was being told.

"You are far more powerful than I am. Maybe you can do what I cannot, particularly in this weakened state."

"What..?"

"Come. I found that a gesture helped me initially when I tried to move into the grey realm. Put your hands out as if pushing two curtains apart and push your mind into the realm."

Kane looked at him and he nodded encouragingly. He did as he suggested and just like that moved seamlessly into what Si was calling the grey realm. He took a moment to get used to this new ease of transition. Si appeared facing him as he had before.

[I mentioned that I have been terrified for much of my life. This is why.]

And he turned around.

Attached to the base of his neck at the top of his spine was what looked like a small black crustacean, about the size of a tennis ball. Kane moved closer to examine it and small tendrils flickered out from it, seeming to almost taste the air around it. It reminded him of a coral plant except that the tendrils were longer and finer. And they definitely sensed him.

[Don't get too close! You are a far tastier snack than I!]

[What is it?]

[I think of them as Brain Claws. They are creatures of the void, spawned from who knows where but not from our world. They are parasites, sucking the life from people, growing slowly but surely as they eat away at us. The thought of it being there, attached to me, fills me with horror. Normally I can hide myself but this one was too quick.]

Acknowledging this to another person seemed to break the brave facade that Si had in place. He slowly curled himself into a ball hugging his legs as he floated above his body in complete depression.

[How do you get rid of them?]

[I have no idea. I have seen them before in hospitals, usually as a sort of manifestation of very serious diseases - cancer, very infectious diseases like ebola and so on - but once I knew what they were I avoided them.]

[Do they always kill the host?]

[No, not always. Sometimes they grow to the point that the flow of energy from that host is not enough nourishment so they move on. An Awakened as a host is perfect for them. Lots more energy to feed them.]

[How big do they get?]

[I don't know. The largest that I have seen was twenty years ago and it filled the entire back of the Awakened that it was on. It was agonising for the poor person and manifested itself as the worst cancer that anyone had seen, literally eating him alive.]

Si shuddered, obviously re-living the horror of what he'd seen.

[So what can we do?]

[I don't know! I don't know! I have tried pulling it off but the pain was indescribable. I could feel its tendrils down through my whole being and pulling at it felt like every one of them had little hooks dragging at me.]

He drew in a breath and looked up at Kane hopelessly.

[All I can think of is...if you get close enough it may try to leave me to get at you. We just need to trap it somehow or...gods, I don't know, something!]

[Si - look at me. Are you seriously expecting me to let that thing get somewhere near me without a better plan than that?]

Si curled up further and began to cry.

In exasperation Kane swore and lashed out, his fist flying at the tea cup on the table in the real world that they were hovering beyond. He was shocked when his fist hit the cup and smashed it before it flew against the wall beside the wood burning stove. The raw power surge he'd unleashed unmasked him and his aura was suddenly shining brightly again.

[KANE! What are you doing?]

Panicking, Kane backed away from Si as the Brain Claw stirred. Tendrils waved towards him, sniffing for the power source that had just unveiled itself. It slowly extracted itself from Si. Long tendrils withdrew from within his spirit body and Si's spirit form convulsed with pain. He collapsed in shock, unconscious before his physical form hit the ground in sympathy. A huge gash was exposed on the back of his neck with an eerie glow coming from the ragged open wound and specks of light leaking out into the grey realm.

The Brain Claw hovered above Si's form, its feelers raised and reaching towards Kane.

It flicked from one side to another, tendrils trailing beneath it as it searched for a way to get behind him. Kane backed away until his back was against the wall. The noisome beast feinted, moving appalling quickly and as Kane turned, desperately trying to keep it in sight, it darted back in the other direction. Kane shrieked as it shot towards him, tendrils extended, a darkly glittering maw visible.

[Nooooooooo!!!!]

In desperation Kane swatted at the thing and managed to flick it away from him. It deflected off the wall, a purplish mark on its side where his hand made contact with it. It screeched out its anger and pain in an awful two tone ululation before hurtling at him again, tendrils out, ghastly maw wide open.

Kane flailed at it again, throwing his hands up in front of him, in a frenzied attempt to get as far away from this thing as possible; to get back to his material body and away from this horror. He subconsciously ripped at the join between the grey realm and the physical world and a small tear appeared directly in front of the Brain Claw.

It was sucked into the physical world where, travelling at speed it slammed into the wall above the woodburner making a horrible snapping sound as it impacted against the solid wall. Its nauseating ululation was mercifully cut off and clouds of gas started to billow from it as it lay on the brick fireplace surrounding the cast iron fire.

Not knowing what to do, Kane pushed the rent that he'd created together and the physical world was again a separate place. He looked over at Si whose spirit form was still hovering over his unconscious body. Kane felt like an onlooker at a car crash, he was drawn towards the jagged wound in Si's neck and the odd motes of light that were slowly drifting towards the ceiling.

He reached towards the gash in Si's neck in an unconsciously empathic gesture. He suddenly felt a draw of energy as a stream of light left his hand and slowly started to seal the leaking wound in Si's spirit form. The escaping motes of light diminished until the ragged rupture on Si's neck was completely sealed.

Panting slightly with exertion Kane staggered back from Si's collapsed form, struggling to process what he thought he'd just done. No, what he had done. Looking back at Si and the Brain Claw in the physical world he realised he had to go and help.

Suddenly all too aware of the dangers of the spirit world, he once again capped his aura and threw on the manatee disguise before pushing himself back into his body.

He landed back with a jolt. His hand stung, whether from hitting the mug or the Brain Claw he wasn't sure. He stared at the thing steaming on the fireplace and then started to cough as whatever gases it was giving off were not pleasant. He quickly opened a window and cool, fresh air smelling of the sea swirled around the room quickly dissipating the swirling cloud.

He turned back to Si.

What exactly are you supposed to do to help someone that collapses in the spirit world? He crouched and checked his breathing which seemed to be regular. If he was breathing then he had a pulse so what next? At least get him off the floor? Kane grunted as he hooked his arms underneath Si's shoulders and hauled him back up onto the chair.

Si's tea had been spilled when he fell unconscious, so Kane picked up the mug. Next he collected the broken pieces of the mug that he had smashed and went to the kitchen to find a cloth to try and clear up some of the mess. Finding all he needed he decided to put the kettle on again before heading back to the sitting room.

By the time he'd cleared up, made two new mugs of tea, appropriated some chocolate digestives and settled back into the sofa he'd run out of things to do to keep him busy. He realised that his hands were starting to shake with reaction and he rapidly put his mug down on the small table nearby. He was sweating. Why was he sweating? The window was open, it was cold...

A small part of him remained analytical. This was shock - a reaction to what he'd just been through. He needed to lie down and get fluids in him to help his blood pressure. That proved to be more challenging than he thought with his shaking hands making it tougher than he could have imagined to get a few mouthfuls of tea inside him.