It was pitch black as Meha tried to feel his way around. It was so dark that he couldn't even see his own pale wrinkled hands in front of his face. Meha reached for his pockets hoping he might have something that could illuminate his surroundings. He was startled to feel only his own clammy warm plump flesh. Not only didn't he have pockets, he wasn't wearing anything at all. He continued to grope his way around the room until he abruptly ran into something. It was just as black as everything else around him. If not for the pain of the impact he wouldn't have known it was there. Meha felt the object before him. It was cool to the touch and seemed to go much higher then his short stature could reach. He began to slowly feel his way along the object, first in one direction for a little ways then the other.  He found that it was consistently smooth, flat and cool. Meha realized it must be a wall of some kind. Suddenly from somewhere behind him came a yellow light. He turned to take a look at it. With out warning it intensified. As the blinding rays hit his yellow eyes they inflicted his whole body with unbearable pain. Quickly he closed his eyes and looked away while using both of his hands to block the light. Once more the room was engulfed in total darkness. Meha slowly opened his eyes to peer through the blackness. The only thing he could see was a yellow glow that had been imprinted onto his retina from the painful bright light. With his eyes still closed he nervously groped further along the wall. Finally he finds a corner where two walls met. The burned glow in his eyes was starting to fade. Cautiously he took another chance to look around again. As soon as his eyes were open the blinding rays struck his eyes, causing him even more agony. “No please!” the naked fat old man screamed. Holding both of his hands over his eyes he slid down the corner and onto the floor.  Meha groaned loudly in both pain and fear. The light unexpectedly dimmed and softened along with his pain. This time it didn't disappear abruptly. It ever so slowly just let the darkness creep in. Before the light was completely gone Meha moved his hands and opened his eyes to see that his naked body was lying on the floor in a corner to a large square black room. From out from the darkness a ghost like voice said, “This or…” Suddenly it grew lighter all around Meha until everything turned a bright white. At first he braced for the pain while closing his eyes and holding both his hand over them. To his surprise the light was quite pleasant this time and not painful. He found himself floating alone in the white light. Instantly all of Meha's pain was relieved and replaced with a sense of euphoria. Meha looked down to see that he was no longer naked. He was dressed in a very soft and warm dark red garment. As the light began to dim he realized he was now sitting in on a golden throne. As the brightness faded completely he found himself surrounded by numerous beautiful women within some kind of fuzzy white room. The women were half naked and very attractive. They represented the most beautiful of all the categories of human females. There was even one of his own kind among them, she was an extremely tall lovely powder white pale. They started to serve him various fine foods and a number of strong sweet wines. Unsure of everything Meha sat there and refused their offerings. Only after the lovely ladies continued to insist he finally gave in and accepted a few of the items they were offering him. Carefully he munched on a small piece of sweet fruit and took a sip of wine. Meha was really starting to enjoy himself as some of the ladies snuggled up to him while the rest danced for him. From nowhere a stooped over, dirty ragged man shuffled into the room. Meha was startled and dropped his glass of wine. Immediately the ladies were frightened by the strange man and took refuge behind Meha's throne. Meha could tell that the poor fellow was extremely mal-nourished. Both his hands and feet were shackled. Meha was surprised the man was even able to walk because of the short chains on his restraints. The man was filthy from head to toe and smelled most foul. What few rags he was wearing barely covered him. Meha could also see that the man had been beaten numerous times. The chained man struggled with his chains to look up at Meha. The man's eyes were a bright yellow. Meha realized that the poor man was a pale like himself. All the dirt and grime had covered his natural pale white skin. The dirty man exclaimed in a worn out muffled voice, “Oh please, please save me.” Meha quickly rose from his throne and grabbed the man's arm to help steady him. Meha smiled at him and offered him some of the fruit he had been eating. The man devoured the fruit in seconds and kneeled before Meha. Just as Meha was about to ask the shackled man the reasons for his condition all of the ladies fled the white room. They were terrified by something. Meha soon saw what had frightened the lovely ladies off. Two tall Meant guards, also dressed in red had entered the room. They had their laser pistols aimed at the shackled man. “Halt slave!” barked one of the guards. The chained man quickly got up and tried to shuffle his way towards a door past Meha. Before Meha could react two blasts erupted from the guards guns. The impact struck the poor slave in the back. The smoldering corpse fell to the white floor with a soft thud. Slowly a puddle of inky red encircled the body as it lay on the white floor. Quickly Meha ran over to the ragged mans aid, but it was too late. “No!" Meha yelled.  “No!” The two guards walked towards Meha aiming their weapons at him. Meha stood over the burned body in the warm puddle of blood and looked at them with distain. Once the guards were close enough to see Meha and his red robes they quickly lowered their guns. They stood before him and saluted. One of them coldly stated, “I'm sorry sir it was necessary.” “He was only a miserable pasty slave sir,” the other said dryly. Meha stared into the guards faces. They were cold and almost as ghostly white as the room. Meha snapped, “He was a fellow Pale and a human being, damn you!” “So what does that make you sir,” One of the guards asked. “He's only a higher ranking slave, that's all.” replied the other guard. Both of the guards started laughing at Meha. At first it was very soft and subtle, then it grew louder and louder. “No, no, no,” ranted Meha as he ripped off his robes and threw them at the guards. Now completely nude he yelled at them both, “Never, never!” A thick inky blackness once again surrounded him as he continued to scream, “Never, never!” Pain struck his body as it floated in the darkness. It was burning hot as if he were being shot like the slave over and over again. Yet Meha continued to shout, “Never, never, never!” “Very well then!” echoed a loud voice from all around Meha. It vibrated his entire being, even down to his very soul. Flames rose all around him. Pain engulfed every part of Meha's body as he burned within the hot flames. “Never, neveeer ahhh!” he howled with both pain and fear. Meha started to roll. Around and around he spun until he suddenly hit a floor. He moaned loudly as he lay there on his back. A light came on and a sparsely decorated bedroom now surrounded him. Over him was a large bed with a very lovely white skinned lady peeking at him over the edge. She was thin and frail, but very attractive for a middle aged woman. With yellow eyes she gazed down at Meha deeply concerned. She got out of bed and down onto her knees, tucking her golden night gown underneath them. Mehas thin night clothes were soaked with sweat. He was trembling with his eyes wide open. They were locked, transfixed onto something. As he quivered on the floor the thin lady gently stroked his forehead. “Meha my dear husband, what's wrong?” She asked softly with a slight shutter in her voice. When Meha's stare finally broke he looked over at his wife. He grabbed her still trembling as tears of fear and pain flooded his eyes. “Leneta,” he said with a parched whisper. “Oh no, not again Meha,” she cried once realizing what was going on. She cuddled the man in her arms and wept out loud. “Yes my dear Leneta, it happened again. It was the same realistic dream. Oh God what pain.” He was able to mutter. “The same cruel one that has plagued you all these many nights,” Leneta was able to sob out. “Yes dear, the very same one. I thought it was over, but this time it has come back even more intensely,” he replied wiping his tears away. The door at the far end of the room flew open. An old gentleman with a short white beard stood there frowning at them. Like Meha he was rather short for a Pale, but had the typical skin tones and washed out dark hair color of one. He was dress in a bright yellow robe, and was holding a golden anti-gravity cane handle. Carefully the old man walked over towards them leaning heavily on the cane handle. When he was a few feet away from the couple he stopped and folded his arms. The cane handle hovered in the air where he let go of it. The man looked down at them and politely asked, “Again huh?” Wiping her tears and trying to recompose herself Leneta replied, “Yes Vice Chancellor Tyu, it has happened again.” “Hum… that makes for at least a dozen or more times now Meha. This is not good. It has made a wreck out of you Chancellor.” Tyu said stroking his beard. Looking down at Meha he then asked, “What have the doctors said?” “They don't know yet, and I strongly doubt if they ever will,” wheezed Meha. “I thought it was over. I went almost a week with out troubles, then tonight....” “You shouldn't let those Meants get to you Meha,” interrupted Tyu. “What? They're not the problem. I have been telling you that.” The Chancellor said as he tried to rise up off the floor. His wife helped him pull his large body back onto the bed. The mattress sank under his weight. Leneta sat beside him and held him with a loving embrace. A few tears still rolled down her cheeks. No matter how hard she tried she could not hide her emotions, even in front of the Vice Chancellor. “Well then may I ask what the problem is Meha?” Tyu asked curtly. “That, I'm not really sure of either.” Meha said questioning himself as he rubbed his forehead. “What do you mean dear?” Leneta asked with a sniffle. “Yes Meha what do you mean?” also inquired Tyu. Meha looked up to the ceiling and pondered. Then after a few moments he said. “It was someone, no something that dragged me through it all.” He sat there with his eyes closed and concentrated on what he just realized. “What?” asked Tyu and Leneta at almost the same instance. “No, it was some kind of a force.” Meha elaborated once he opened his eyes. “It's a power of some kind, a yellow power.” Turning he looked deeply into Leneta's eyes. “Who me?” she exclaimed with surprise. Smiling the Chancellor replied “No dear, it has nothing to do with you. Or even our own people for that matter.” Staring up into Tyu's eyes Meha continued to mumble. “Yes it was a yellow force of some kind.” “So the Meants are using some kind of magical powers against us?” Tyu sarcastically laughed. “Yes Tyu, I think they are.” Meha said with a serious chill. Tyu's chuckling quickly ceased and he said. “Come now Meha, it's not possible.” “Is it Tyu? Is it?” again Chancellor Meha said with conviction. “Oh, next you'll be telling us it was some evil demon the Meants have summoned up.” Tyu smirked as he grabbed his can handle and leaned on it. “That's the funny thing,” Meha said looking at both the Vice Chancellor and his wife. “It wasn't evil, even though it was doing evil things. I got the feeling that it really didn't want to hurt me. I sensed no malice from it. There were even a few times I could have sworn it stopped just because it knew how much I was suffering.” “So what are you saying? This thing that is attacking you also has some empathy towards you?” Leneta asked. “Yes I think it does. It's almost as if it doesn't want to do what it was doing to me. So who's in the Meant Empire is making it do these terrible things to me?” Replied Meha as he leaned over and placed his head on Leneta's shoulder.  ©Lee Crystal's Outpost 13 All rights reserved