The Diamond Hallway- Chapter 2

The Diamond Hallway

Chapter 2 – Leading Time

In the moment I was fully awake again, the moment I began to miss something. I opened my eyes and the lingering sound of time was gone. My body felt strangely alive. Did the dragon not get me? I sat up and felt the change in places in my soul. The clearness in my head was gone, instead I had a terrible headache and I did not remember more then before. I looked around the room. It was a small and modest one, with the bed I was sitting on in one and a wardrobe in another corner. Was it only a dream? I looked on my right shoulder. Well, as long as I knew dreams do not leave wounds behind. There was a bandage around it, but my blood coloured the once white red. Who helped me? A loud knocking on the door tore me out of my thinking. I stood up and opened the door to this room. Behind that, there was some kind of living room, with two more normal wooden doors and one more decorated with glass. The knocking sound, came from one of the wooden ones and probably led to the outside. I hurried and opened up. On the other side of the door stood a grey male cat with the typical clothes of an postman. He twitched his eyebrow when he saw the deep rip in my jacket and the bloody bandage. "Your post, sir.", he only said politely and gave me a white envelope. When I took it, he bowed lightly and went away without saying another word. I closed the door, after I got a short view at the city scene outside.

I looked around. I knew this was my house, with my clothes in the wardrobe and the food I bought in the kitchen, but my head did not want to remember anything. There was just this certainty. It frightened me. I left the envelope unopened on my kitchen table and went through the other wooden door to the bathroom. I looked terrible when I saw me in the mirror. My hair was a mess, my shoulder bloody and many parts of my clothes torn. I guess this is how you look, if you where to be hunted by a grown up Gemdragon. I undressed myself and went under the shower. The water went red almost immediately and my wound began to ache again. At least I could feel how my body has started to heal it, but I would still need to get proper treatment. After I finished cleaning myself and bandaging my wound again I went to the wardrobe. Sadly my clothes did not show much about my personality or job. Their where all really similar to what I was wearing before, only two more elegant suits. I picked one of them and got ready for work. For what work? It would have been great if I knew, but my body did all this things almost on it's own, without my mind remembering anything at all. The Headache in my head gave me no time to wonder or think about it, I just went on, combing my hair, getting in my shoes and Jacket. Then I left the house, totally forgot the unopened envelope on my kitchen table.

What now? The streets where full of people on this hour. Everyone was hurrying for work, to the market or other business. My head tried to make me thing that I was used to this kind of scene, but in my mind nothing reacted. So I just let my body go, it would know what to do. When I turned into another street, after passing the main road, I suddenly stopped. My heart was beating faster. This street was as lively as the other one, but my eyes where glued to a jeweller a few meters ahead of me. There was a Gemdragon, selling his goods to the female squirrel owner of the shop. A deep red one, whose scales looked like rubies and his claws where at least ten centimetres long. I could still see the blood on his claws. My blood. It was not easy to distinguish one dragon from another, if you where not used to it, it was the same for dragons with our races. But I was sure, I would recognize this one under thousands. He suddenly lifted his head and stared at me. A cold shiver was running over my back. I could see a angry sparkle in his eyes, but then he concentrated on his business again and ignored me.

I hurried to went on, before the dragon could change his mind and attack me again. My insides convulsed as I passed him, but he still just ignored me, what makes me even more worried. It was generally accepted when Gemdragons attack and kill someone, even on the open street. No one would even help, it's your own fault when you mess with one and no one wants to led their anger to themselves by helping another person who already is a target of them. Gemdragons are very essential to our system, but there are not many left of them. That is why they have some rights, that under normal circumstances you could just shake your head about them. They got even a own management, which keeps track of every Gemdragons life and activities. If their number decreases to much, they just request them to make more eggs. Love was never an interest for them. Their just do what they need to do to keep their race alive. There giving the eggs to their management, where other Gemdragons take care of them and give them a proper education. I do not even now, if they know any other love then the love to gemstones. Anyway, I was thankful that this one decided not to kill me right now.

Without noticing I suddenly stopped in front of a bigger building. I looked up. It was shaped like a pentagram and the walls where made out of grey solid looking stone. The caulks between the bricks where filled with some kind of metal, which holds them together. There where windows embedded in regular distances. The building was one of the highest in this city and after three stories, the stone bricks vanished and in their place there came hard wood, which was overdrawn with a dark blue alloy. Nothing moved inside my mind. I never saw this building before, but my body still gave me the feeling to know this all. I hesitated shortly. My body wanted to go, but in my head I had a wired feeling, like it wasn't right for me to be here. I ignored it and stepped through the glass door, which glided open automatically as I came nearer. The room inside was wide and cool. There was a staircase in the middle of it, which led spirally to the top through all eight stories and I could see many furries running it up and down. On the left side of the hall was a small reception, which was controlling the incoming people. The glass wand between it and the stairs had a wide door, big enough to let a dragon pass. My body took control again and led me to a male grey cat, which was standing behind the reception desk. First he eyed me confused, then it seems he began to recognize me. "Welcome back, Sir. How was your vocation?", he chatted in a casually happy voice. "Nice, like always.", I just answered and hurried through the open door. It seemed I was on the right place, at least people seem to know me here, but in my head nothing changed. It was more then oddly, to know you belong here, but to feel like you never were and never should be here.

On my way up, there where some more furries who greeted me. Some even liked to talk to me, but I prevented every conversation, there was nothing I could tell them. After I finally reached the seventh floor, I was totally running out of breath. Why do they even build buildings that high? I looked around. The windows where closed by black curtains, so that the room was laying in a dark twilight. I waited some moments until my lizard eyes got used to the spare light. Then I saw what this room was and my heart contracted again. It was a breeding station. I could see nests standing on metal pedestals on the floor and the with carpet designed ways between them. The eggs in the nests where bigger then my own head and were shimmering in all possible colours. Red, blue, green, white, yellow, purple and so on. There where eggs of Gemdragons. My view stopped at a deep red egg on the right side of the room. Could it be his? If I really belonged here, have I done something wrong to led his hatred to me? My thoughts where interrupted as a door opened on the other side of the room, which obviously led to a wide bureau and research room. Out of it came the strangest furry I ever saw. She was female, which was no doubt because of her well build body structure. Her face looked like a squirrel, so did her ears. But her hands and tail where they of a lion. She had long golden hair, which she pinned up to a dot. A long white gown was hiding the rest of her body from my view and she was wearing small round glasses on her nose. When her sight fall on me, she suddenly stopped in her movement and looked at me with big eyes. "Your alive?", she asked shocked and her hand immediately reached into her pocket and came out with a round shimmering ruby, which had the size of an apple. I strained my whole body, as I recognized what it was. A communication gemstone. There are pretty useful, if you want to call and talk to someone who is far away and their working for really far distances. One of the things only Gemdragons can create and an very essential instrument nowadays. I didn't doubt a second that she was about to call that ruby-red dragon. Something deep inside me suddenly screamed up. It saw the danger I was found myself in and reacted faster then I could think. The ceiling was to low for a high jump, so I first reduced our distance by running on the carpet ways, which absorbed the sound of my feet. The last few steps I overcome with a jump, landing elegantly on my claws and stroke the ruby out of her hand. Startled she flinched a few stapes back, unable to realize what just had happened. For a few moments we just stood there and fixed each other. I broke the silent first as I suddenly felt the anger overcoming myself. "Why do you want to kill me? Why is this Gemdragon after me?" My voice trembled. The squirrel-lion pressed her lips together and looked determined not to speak a word. Then she did a movement with her hand I couldn't follow. A second after that I could see something strange happening with her surroundings. It was like I saw some kind of template which pushed itself before the world. I could see the Hallway where I firstly woke up, filled with diamonds, but after a few seconds the illusion was gone again. I blinked a few times with my eyes. The woman was gone, too.