Free IGMS Issue 5 by IGMS Page A

trunks. I cried out in relief and swore as it set off a flare of explosions in my head.
    Sunlight piercing through the canopy blinded me. I cursed it too. When I could see again, I was in the hospital's foyer. I leaped for the elevator and pushed the button.
    It didn't light.
    Then I got mad.
    I kicked the closed doors and stabbed the button again. I howled at the unfairness, not caring anymore when the pounding in my skull doubled.
    I stomped to the escalators in the foyer. They were shiny, pristine, and unmoving. I plodded up them, fuming. By the time I reached the fourth floor, my legs felt like lead, my vision had narrowed to a blurry tunnel, and the hem of my dress was tattered from catching on the escalator jags.
    "Eloy!" I shouted. "Eloy, I'm here!"
    He didn't reply, of course. In my dream, he had been at the end of the corridor, behind the very last door.
    I hurried to it, hating the tangle of silk that slowed me. My fingers slipped on the knob. I screamed at the door, wrenching and tugging at it until I wrestled it open.
    The tableau was the same as in my dream. Eloy lay curled around the recliner, motionless.
    "Oh, no." After all that rushing and fury, I went reluctantly to his side. I kneeled, afraid to touch him, afraid he would be cold.
    "Here I am," I whispered. "I'm back." I blinked, and tears coursed down my face. "You told me I should be with those I loved, so I came back. I love you."
    My throat closed, but I'd said what I needed to say, so it didn't matter. I slumped forward, giving myself over to the heaving, ripping sobs of grief.
    "You are hurt," he rumbled.
    I gulped and sat up, scrubbing the wetness from my face with my sleeve.
    His eyes were open, their beautiful blackness gazing at me. "What have you done to yourself? Is that the dress I gave you?"
    I laughed. It didn't come out right and turned into a hiccup. At least my head felt better, although that probably meant I was going into shock.
    "Th-the wall w-wouldn't let me in," I hiccupped. "I r-ran into it."
    "I see. You do have a knack for making things difficult."
    "Th-that's gratitude f-for you."
    "Where is the recorder?"
    I groped at the folds and layers of silk. "I left it with Luella," I wailed. "I w-woke up so scared, I forgot it."
    He pushed himself up and tugged me into the cradle of his arms. "That is unfortunate, but there is no great harm. Don't cry."
    Cuddled against him, the knot in my chest eased, and all the pain from my assorted injuries diminished. "I'm sorry."
    "I meant that it is unfortunate because if you had taken it with you, it would have opened the portal, and you would not have had to resort to, err --" He plucked at my dress.
    I gawped. "Isn't that what you meant the dress for? Like the ring?"
    "Not as such. The ring, yes, but it had only the one use, as you discovered. The dress was merely silk and thread, a pretty thing I thought you would like."
    "Then how did I get in?"
    He burble-rumbled. "This place is a sort of dimension, a prison and a school made for me by my people."
    "You're a criminal?"
    "I'm a prince, actually. But also something of an aberration. I suppose you might call me a sociopath."
    "Did you murder someone?"
    "No!" He sounded affronted. "I never acted upon my disdain. But while my affliction was deemed curable with time, I was judged too dangerous to leave free. They were afraid I would bore of an existence of peaceful contemplation. Seeing the sense of it, I agreed to exile and rehabilitation until such time as I could overcome my disease."
    "That's what the rooms are for?"
    "Yes. And by a quirk of their design, a fissure can open from here to elsewhere, which is how I came to be where you first found me. They form during storms of emotional turmoil -- mostly madness that I have observed. Unfortunately, the complexity of different time flows and the varying atmospheres is hard on me. My excursions had to be limited."
    "I'm pretty sure I understand your words, but they're not coming together into any