It was too bright; my eyes slammed shut in response and the urge to cry out pounded in my chest, climbing up my throat like burning fire up until the sound ripped from me. I scared myself, it was the most startling sound I?d ever heard, was it really me that made that horrific noise? And, what was that annoying chattering noise; it was so loud I could feel it. My teeth, why were my teeth chattering? Shivering, people shiver because they are cold. Was I cold? My hands felt down my body, I had on clothes, didn?t I? Where had my clothes gone? Why was I soaking wet; no, not wet, sticky, gooey, and cold.

It had been dark for days, I remember the darkness, I think I remember it. It?s very hard to not remember anything. I woke up and I slept, I?m not sure what else happened. But surely I was awake now, well if I would open my eyes again I?d be awake, but it was so bright, it hurt to look. Turning over on the hard ground, I felt the cold, slimy gravel beneath my hands, digging into the soft skin of my belly. I crawled forward slowly, feeling with my hands. How had I gotten here? I wanted to go home. Where was home? Why was I naked? It wasn?t good to be naked and alone, was it? I didn?t know why this was all wrong, but it felt like it should be. Who am I?

?Hello?? My voice; that was my voice? ?Is anyone there?? How could that be me? Was my voice always so velvety, yet sugary sweet like a Siren that tempted even the Gods? I clasped a hand over my mouth with a gasp and immediately regretted that decision, the goo was covering my mouth, it felt like wet spider webs and I screamed as I clawed at my face to get it off. I felt sharp stabs of pain and the burning that followed, but my hands didn?t slow as my body thrashed on the ground trying to escape the goo that now seemed suffocating. The metallic smell of blood startled me. I sniffed again and again, was someone else with me?

?Hello?? My mouth ached when I opened it to speak and it suddenly dawned on me that the pain and the blood belonged together, they belonged to me. I screamed again and thrashed but this time my nails bit into my palms as I realized what I had done. Panic attack. I panicked and I attacked myself. Had I lost my mind? I felt my face again, feeling deep gouges that covered my cheeks, my lips, and my neck. Did I do that? Scurrying across the ground I could feel the gravel that seemed to be embedding itself into my legs and the cuts that were resulting, but I needed safety, I was loosing my sanity. The darkness, I didn?t want to go back to the darkness, was that where my mind had put me? Was that my safe haven from the insanity that seemed to be trying to claim me? I was a sane person, wasn?t I? I couldn?t remember.

Again, I tried to open my eyes, I whimpered at the feeling, it hurt, but I had to see where I was. The light was blinding, it was so bright I couldn?t see anything and the goo made my vision hazy. I wiped at my eyes with the backs of my hands, but only succeeded in getting my face even stickier. Blinking slowly, I could see brown and green, and tall brown things, trees I think. It was cool outside, but there didn?t appear to be any snow. Was it Spring already? No flowers. No color. But, fortunately for me, no snow. Something on all fours looked at me; at least its head turned my direction. It gave a loud wail and then ran away. Was there danger lurking?

I scurried back deeper into my hole, my cave, my sanctuary, whatever this place was. Backing myself against a wall I closed my eyes again and rocked myself back and forth, not paying attention to a dark stabbing pain in my back. Rocks, I was just bumping against rocks. Why did the rocks sound hollow when I bumped against them? Crawling forward, I opened my eyes again and then turned to look behind me. I felt the blood rush from my face and the panic rise in me as a blood curdling scream climbed its way from me again. I covered my ears because the sound was so high pitched I felt like my head was going to explode, but I couldn?t stop screaming as I looked at my surroundings for the first time. Bodies, bodies everywhere, in the walls, on the ground.

The gravel wasn?t gravel; it was bones, shards of bone. I covered my mouth, trying not to vomit, but there was nothing in me to come out. I dry heaved over and over and when I realized I had gotten more goo in my mouth, I dry heaved more, spitting the sickening slime from my mouth. Was I in a grave? A mausoleum? This was a sick joke it had to be. Standing on weak legs, I tried to run from it all, but I felt so weak, everything was in slow motion. I spotted a bag, a duffel bag. My duffel bag. I didn?t really know that this bag was mine, but since I seemed to be the only living thing here, I was going to claim it. Grabbing it I moved outside where it was bright, but skeleton free. Unzipping the bag, there was a letter on top.

?Onyx, this was the only way. You?ve been reborn; all will be made clear to you in time. 1407 Grayskull Lane, Rhy?din. ?

Onyx? That?s not my name. Well, I don?t think it?s my name; all that I?ve been through and the best someone could come up with was Onyx? Reborn. What did they mean I was reborn? I guess that would explain the sticky goo, well not really, but I suppose it must have something to do with it. I wanted to scream with frustration, ? all will be made clear to you in time.? Yeah, because that helps me so much. Who am I? Where am I from? Why was I reborn? What was I reborn as? Looking back into the bag, I found a set of clothes, black undergarments, black pants, black shirt, black socks, and black boots that looked heavy and sturdy. I didn?t like them, so at least I knew I didn?t pack this bag. Did I? I didn?t want to get dressed still covered in goo, so I grabbed the bag and moved out into the cool weather, naked as the day I was born. I laughed to myself as I thought of the irony.

The walk seemed to take forever. I didn't know where I was going really, but my feet seemed to have a clue, I just walked where they lead me. Thanks to the goo, I acquired an abundance of dirt, gravel, feathers and flies that seemed to be stuck in the sticky mess. How was I going to find ?1407 Grayskull Lane? and why was that the place for me to go? If there were people around, surely I?d scare them, I was naked, covered in slime, and had apparently tried to claw myself to death. Who wouldn?t want to stop and give me directions? I was so exhausted and weak, I thought I wouldn?t be able to keep going, but every time I thought I was going to have to stop, I got a little charge of energy and kept going. Maybe it was a strong will deep inside of me. Maybe it was something more. I don?t know.

It turned from what I would assume was mid morning to night faster than I would have liked, but I didn?t stop. As I entered what I presumed was the city, I saw the streets had started to empty and was glad for it, but even those stragglers and bums gave me strange looks. I wasn?t sure what I looked like, if I was attractive, maybe I?d have gotten a whistle or two, even though I probably resembled the last living damsel in a horror movie. But apparently, whatever I looked like was nothing but psychotic or horrifying because no one whistled, no one offered to help the damsel. They just stared.

I had to give the man who was closing down a refreshment cart credit, he didn?t run, and he didn?t stare. He just whistled his tune and gave a wave as though he?d seen me a thousand times before.

?Sir. Where is Rhy?din?? I called out to him in my unfamiliar Siren?s voice.
?This is Rhy?din. Are you lost sweetheart? You look lost.?

At least the old man was nice; it didn?t feel like he was hitting on me when he called me sweetheart.

?I think I am. Do you know where I can find 1407 Grayskull Lane??

?Aye.? He looked me over now with a low gasp and pointed. ?The man who lives there, I think he can help you. He helps people like you in this city.?

?People like me??

?The lost. The Hopeless. The ones that don?t fit in, that?s where they go. ?

?But I?m ? ? The old man cut me off then.

?If you?re looking for him, then you are lost and you look hopeless. Just take my directions and go. Believe me, you?re not the most dangerous thing that lurks these streets tonight.?

So I did look scary and dangerous, but not dangerous enough to stop whatever predators lived in this city. Great. After pointing out the directions to me three times, I think I finally understood them enough to get myself to the address. Thanking him, I moved on to my destination. Apparently to find a man who was going to give me hope? I?d believe that when I saw it.

Why did I get the feeling I had ended a bad relationship not long ago? I scratched my gooey head, wishing I could remember more. Things came in blips, I?d remember something and then it felt like something else would fade. One moment a car passed me and then I couldn?t remember what it was used for. Things like that kept happening, it was very strange. After what seemed like another hour or two of walking, finally I stood outside two massive gates and one of the brick pillars held a sign that announced this residence was 1407 Grayskull Lane. So I was here, some how, some way. Had I been here before? I had walked all day not knowing where I was going, but some how, I made it. What now.

I stared at a little box that had a speaker for a few minutes. ?Hello?? I tapped the box again. ? Hello??

It took the computer all of two seconds to chirp at me once my molecules had fully rematerialized. Two seconds! I was going to have to really get inside the mainframe with a subspace spanner. Two seconds to boot from standby alert to active alert is just horrible.

Seriously, what's Wolvie been doing with this system? Probably letting another girlfriend download pirated holodeck programs or something, knowing him.

"Perimeter alert. Unknown humanoid detected. Perimeter alert. Unknown humanoid detected. Perimeter aler--"

"Oh for f*ck's sake," I muttered. "Aknowledged! Give me a visual on transporter control beta."

The transporter control console continued to display a readout of my own vital statistics for another half second before it switched to an external view of the grounds.

Of course. A woman. Really, was I expecting something different?

I looked her over for a few moments while I considered my options. I could go take a sonic shower, maybe get the baby-stink of Neo blood off of me. I could also set up a comm beacon just to make sure Wolvie hadn't actually gotten his face blown off (but really, the odds of that were even lower than the odds of me NOT finding a woman waiting on his doorstep). I could also just get some sleep for the next few days.

But no, there was that woman looking all pathetic and frightened and ohmigod-Wolvie-you're-my-only-hopish right outside the gate, and with Wolvie still up in space, I was the next best thing.

Well, maybe not best thing. You get what I'm going for though.

Five minutes later I was out at the gate and doing my best to towel off most of the Neosapien blood from my very tattered drunk-outfit.

"Hey!" I said as I stepped up to the gate control and peered through the bars at the sleeping girl. "Business, pleasure, or revenge? Keep in mind if the answer is revenge, I can and will explode your brain inside your skull with the power of my mind alone."

Hey, she don't know me. For all she knows, I have brain exploding powers. Heck, in this reality, you're a sap if you DON'T have brain exploding powers.

Still, I kept one finger on the gate console as I watched her through the bars. Any funny business, and I was triggering the automatic defenses. I'd clean the mess up later: after a good night's sleep and a very long shower.

This woman was suspicious.

I don't like suspicious.

"Rebirth goo, huh? If you don't remember anything, then how do you know it's not just birth goo? Seems to me you're making an awful big assumption with that 'Re' there. Exactly the kind of assumption I'd expect from a demon spy! Admit it! You're a demon!"

See the thing about demons is that if you ask them point blank, they have to tell you the truth. Demons can't lie. They can only obfuscate.

Unless of course they're the kinds of demons that can lie, in which case you had to pay attention in case they started rhyming. A non-lying rhymer is a demon pretty much eight out of every ten times.

This was going to be tricky.

"Fess up, demon! Fesssss!"