Cipher Code {complete}

Chapter Twenty Four: Paper Lives •EDITED•

October, Year 483
Forest of Lacau
State of Nicia
North

Two dimensionality.

Like paper he was flat, near inexistent, empty.

Like paper he could be folded, remolded and recreated. Paper boats, paper hats, paper kites and paper planes; Philip had never felt so part of a group.

He laid there, exhaustion creeping into his bones and seducing his heart to a slow beat with each poisoned breath of fog that was pumped into his lungs; with each flare of heat that pulsed into his arm, thawing another layer of ice from his skintight suit and injecting warmth and feeling into his flesh.

Getting feeling back into his hand was taking longer than he thought. For now all he could do was twitch his thumb, not enough awareness in the limb to even flick his fingers. Each little spasm sent flickers of pain across his face and reminded him of how vulnerable he was as long as his gun was out of reach.

Two dimensionality. Philip didn't know if it had been a stroke of fortune or if life had finally decided to give him a break, but once again he found himself questioning his life choices. Questioning why death hadn't claimed him long ago back when he hadn't had any hopes for a continued existence.

The beast had stopped in it's tracks, it's paws digging into the ground by Philip's face. Hot drool dripped from it's open mouth and splashed on the forest floor with a blast of heat and steam.

Though the moment had passed, the image was clear, vivid. The scene still played out in his mind as he rested his cheek on the damp earth and waited for his hand to be freed from it's cage of frozen fog.

He had waited to fight.

Waited to die.

Waited to give up.

Waited to save Issac's life if he could.

Philip had waited for something as he watched the creature, stared into it's curious and thirsty eyes; gazes filled with equal desperation locked in one moment. Hunger to live and a thirst for living, an unspoken desire universally understood by all in the circle of life.

The battle for survival was a bitter one and there was always a loser. Speed ensured success but for some reason the creature cared to wait for it's meal. One floppy ear stayed raised in attention as though it was searching for something.

They waited, silent and still as a series of deafening howls burnt through the fog and screamed into the air, shaking the earth until the moonlit forest seemed to scatter into darkness.

Philip had held his breath, shut his eyes and prayed. He didn't believe in a higher 'one' or The Code, not even the 'God' of the rebels that razed cities in East to the ground. Still, he sent his hopes into the sky with the expectation that some divine being might have been tuned in to his channel.

Turned out he was lucky. Maybe The Code existed, maybe it didn't. Coincidence or not, he was still alive.

The creature had stalked away and walked past him, apparently having no more interest in the prey that laid defenseless. It broke into a run and disappeared into the woods.

Two dimensionality; like paper I am crushed, recycled and reborn.

It was a passage from the Book of Identity, the first verse Philip had memorized-knowledge of The Law was compulsory for service-and his favorite out of the two books and sixty-three chapters.