Space Odyssey: Spectre-Chapter 378 378: Increasing Pressure

Jace blinked as he opened his eyes. He was not in his garage as he woke up. He was in a dark field of grass. He got up and looked around. There was a faint dirt path at his feet. But he could not see more than a few feet in front of him. He moved in one direction but stopped as he could feel a shiver down his spine.
It was the threat of danger and death. It was not coming from the direction he moved. It came from the other direction. Jace considered it for a second. He could continue in the opposite direction, to the safe path. He could tell that whatever it was would not be able to stop him.
But Jace also knew that the threat of danger and death always led to the same thing. A fight. But something like this, that made his very spine shiver in fear. It meant that there was a powerful foe. Not just someone who he could find the weakness of. But an actual foe who could oppose him.
Jace tried to use his electrical vision. But it did not work. Now that he was thinking about it, none of his powers were working. He could not even sense the faintest of electrical lines. It was like electricity did not exist in this place. He was completely at a disadvantage.
A wild grin grew on his face before he walked with resolution and excitement in the direction that danger was coming from. As he moved he could feel the pressure on his body building as he moved. Not out of fear, but more like gravity was trying to crush him as he approached the danger. Or it might even be that it was trying to push him away.
Eventually his feet were sinking into the ground when he arrived in front of a set of stairs. They were wooden stairs and were just a simple set. He raised his foot and stepped onto the first one. It creaked loudly as he put pressure on it.
As he did the amount of pressure on his body increased. He could feel his muscles screaming pain while his bones creaked as he stepped fully onto the first step of the stairs. He took a moment before he moved onto the next step. Everything in his body was screaming for him to stop, but he continued anyway.
He could tell the threat was far past the stairs. He had not even gotten close to the threat. He could not stop here, he should not even rest. He had too far to go to stop now.
But as he stepped onto the next step the pressure increased exponentially. He could hear the wood creaking loudly while he almost lost his balance. As soon as his first foot was up he was breathing heavily as he got ready to bring his next foot up.
As soon as he began bringing up his second foot he had to bend over and put pressure on his leg as he stood. His teeth were grinding loudly as he pulled his second foot up to the step. He rubbed against the side of the stair as he slowly brought it up and then slammed his foot down.
He took a moment to get used to the new pressure that was monstrous. If these were normal wooden stairs they would be wooden splinters by this point. Something was going on that he wanted to think about. But at the moment his mind was flooded with a single course of action, to get to the sense of danger and fight it.
Resist the threat of death. Fight back. Those were the main thoughts in his mind. But there was another in the background. It was asking questions. Why could he not see? Why could he not use his power? Where was this pressure coming from? How can he be here when he fell asleep in his garage? Those questions were floating in the back of his mind.
But they were pushed aside by his more primal thoughts. Getting to the danger and fighting it.
After adjusting for a second he stepped up onto the next step. This time he fell to his hands and had to push himself up from the floor. As he did he could feel everything in his body was burning. It was on fire, he was on fire. But he could endure it.
As he lifted himself up he could feel his arms were heavy. Like they were holding him down. While his legs were shaky like they could not support him. He refused to give in as he stood up fully. Once he was standing he began bringing up his other foot and could feel the pressure increase even more.
Even his eyes were beginning to droop as he felt the pressure was beginning to cloud his mind. But he kept screaming in his own mind. Keep moving. Do not stop.
He pulled himself up onto the step and then began standing at full height as his vision was blurry. He could feel his mind on the verge of collapsing as he was about to pass out. But he could and would withstand it. This would not be where he stopped. It could not stop him here.
He stood at full height. There were no more steps but he could still feel the pressure as he stood on this wooden platform. He moved forward slightly and leaned forward as he got ready to move. When he did he felt the pressure mostly disappear while his vision cleared up and his mind was no longer clouded.
Jace blinked in confusion as he could not see completely and those questions in the back of his mind started getting answers as he could see where he was. He was on his porch, in the mental landscape that Cho and Salem had built in his mind. There was a field of grass and a single dirt path leading down from the wooden porch.
The wooden porch led into a single story house. A ranch house that had a raised ground. He could see the outside of the house now. He could even see the hanging chair and the rocking chair that were out on this porch. But he could not see inside the house. Nor could he see through the windows, they were still shrouded in darkness.
He was in his own mind. The last thing that happened was him going to sleep at his workbench. Now he was in his own mindscape. The source of danger was still there. So was his desire to get to it and fight it. But now he could think with more of his mind.