It… it… it’s not possible!
He was tumbling in space! Air rushed past his face as he fell away from what appeared to be the bottom of the flat world they now called home. How is this possible? Why am I not dead? So many questions flooded his mind as the terrible feelings of panic and fear increased. Was this what had happened to Christine? Had she been dragged from the surface to the underworld and set adrift? Saria! Tears flowed down his face as he watched the place he had called home become smaller with each passing moment. It seemed that once again the law of the universe as he understood it was ignored. No human should have survived being tossed into space; there shouldn’t be any air or heat to keep him warm.
When he could no longer see the world, Lareth covered his face with his hands, wracked with sobs. I should have listened to Saria. I should not have gone to the fields. He fell for what seemed like hours through the vast expanse of space, wondering with each passing moment why he still lived. Was Christine still falling? Did she still live? Lareth removed his hands and looked around, desperate for any sign of life. His thoughts were cut short as he noticed something begin to take shape. It’s form becomame clearer as he fell closer to it with each moment. There were little pinpricks of light that grew brighter, as well as hints of a crystalline shaped structure made of metal sprawling as far as the eye could see, leaving him wondering just what he was falling to.
As he grew closer, the imperceptible impression of movement began to register--movement that appeared humanoid in appearance. Hope blossomed, cutting through the despair that he had been sinking into. Is Christine here? Is she still alive? He started crying again, this time tears of joy that she might still be alive. Movement caught his eyes as something detached itself from the city and flew towards him with tremendous speed, leaving him breathless as he hovered between feelings of hope and terror. Even if Christine still lived, Saria was still back at their new home. In ten years, no one had ever returned. He would never see her again.
Then the time for speculation was over, within mere seconds the object approaching became clear. It was a metal cage of some kind and Lareth was helpless to stop it from moving in and simply closing around him as he fell, trapping him in a rectangular cage of bars barely big enough for him to fit in. With the sounds of metal locks snapping into place, the cage shuddered briefly and then in the next instant Lareth was flattened against the back as it picked up speed and began the return journey to the unknown structure.
As it got closer Lareth could see that it was a massive honeycomb of walkways and jutting points spread out from a central point with spider-like arms in all directions. People of all types as well as aliens from races Lareth had never seen before were in constant movement. Carrying tiny glowing orbs and carefully placing them in slots along the walkways, removing ones that were dim and replacing them with ones that were glowing brightly. What is this place? He turned his attention to a large platform jutting out at one of the outer edges of the nearest walkway, the cage swiftly flew towards it, slowing down at the last possible moment and then coming to a rest, he hung onto the bars desperately.
