Prologue 2: an out of body experience
My existence as a scientist of the empire must have surely ended in that moment, when I embraced oblivion after succumbing to my sickness. It would however appear my trials would not end there. As my lucidity returned I somehow awaken in an entirely different place. I recognize it as my hometown near Leiden, but everything feels off. The area is devoid of life and color, and instead of the sun the sky is adorned with a horrifying swirling vortex made up out of uncountable numbers of people, being sucked into its center high above me in the sky. In the distance I could see others being pulled up into the skies, screaming and kicking. Some wear the uniforms of soldiers, other are clearly civilians.
“What is this? Is this hell, is it purgatory? Where am I?” I scream but no one is around to give me the answers. What the fuck is that thing in the sky? I am momentarily perplexed by these strange circumstances before I regain a hold of myself. I try to come up with a suitable explanation for my current situation. I still remember entering deaths embrace back in the facility. If anything this might be a place where souls are judged after death. My creations have destroyed an immense amount of lives, if anything I probably belong in a place like this, assuming this is indeed hell or some gateway towards it. While thinking about such things I gradually start feeling a force trying to pull me upwards, into the maelstrom.
Even if I deserve to be here I am not going down without struggling, I do not want to be condemned to hell for all eternity. Desperately I seek to escape the force that is pulling me towards the maelstrom by finding something to hold on to or some form of shelter to keep me from floating away into that horrifying spectacle.
The strange occurrences show no sign of stopping however. With excellent timing another strange occurence takes place. Suddenly I hear something other than the chorus of screams and moans of what I presume to be the dead. With a sound somewhat like a string snapping under pressure suddenly large cracks form through the air, as if reality itself has shattered under pressure, and cracked like some oversized ceramic bowl. One of the cracks appears in my vicinity. Even after looking at it I’m none the wiser of its nature, if anything peering into its depths greatly disorients me. Shown through the crack is something incomprehensible. Even if I look at it, I can’t comprehend it. Is this what religion refers to as chaos? It must be, I can’t find any other words to describe it.
I gather my train of thoughts again, looking at this situation I am left with a choice, make use of the crack and leave this place, or be pulled into that vortex above. The choice for me was quickly made, the vortex above was certainly of a malicious nature, or at least it seemed like that to me. Deep inside I had already resigned myself knowing resistance was probably futile, but now that I am given a broader set of options I would surely choose something more benevolent, or at the very least something less obviously malevolent. Before the force could fully lift my body I rush at the fissure and quickly jump towards it, bracing myself for impact. As my body moves through that unexplainable thing, I’m overwhelmed by sensations that are too alien to describe.
The next thing I know I am standing in an entirely different place, trying to get my nausea under control. At first glance it would appear like I am in some kind of cave system. It seems over the years my affinity to underground places has grown, I’ve spent many years of my life skulking around in them after all, secret research facilities and shelters and the like. While testing if I can freely move my body I notice the force pulling me upwards seems to have disappeared ever since I’ve moved through that strange fissure, yet the world still remains devoid of color. I start moving around, first carefully avoiding the low hanging stalactites hanging from the ceiling and the sharp looking stalagmites on the floor. Like that I walk around for what it feels like hours on end. Pushed by boredom and curiosity I try touching one of the sharp looking chalk formations, wondering what a stalagmite feels like. To my surprise my hand moves right through it, unable to get a hold on it. Flustered I once again try to grab the stalagmite, but it yields the same result. I briefly ponder this situation before coming to the conclusion that I am still without a corporeal form. Apparently that greatly reduces my possible interactions with the rest of the world. An immense feeling of anxiousness strikes me, do I have to spend my time as a ghost until the end days simply wandering the earth? Perhaps it might have been better to ignore that fissure after all. How am I going to spend the rest of my existence like this without going utterly mad? I continue walking while brooding over such thoughts
It would seem my exploration yielded me some unexpected results. In front of me is a large door of solid dark rock, or some dark type of marble, this greyscale world makes it hard to tell the difference. It is decorated with ominous engravings of horned creatures and scenes of massacre. Though the depictions are quite horrific, I can’t help but praise the craftsmanship of the artisan that must have created it, it’s like a renowned renaissance piece. For a while I admire the engravings, it reminds me of the pieces that I witnessed during an art exhibition of the Party, together with Ingrid. We were invited in honor of our achievements regarding improving army communications. Ingrid loved macabre art the most, one of those quirky things of hers that appealed to me. Everyone has those kinds of quirky sides to themselves that make them interesting and fun to be around with.
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Deciding that I spent enough time admiring the engravings I walk forward. I don’t even bother to remove the hands from my back and leisurely stroll right through the door, trying to push it open would be futile after all in my state of being. What greets me is a scene I surely did not expect.
A group of for lack of a better word, beings, is engaged in combat with a large looking monstrosity that somewhat resembles a large bear standing on its hind legs, with triple jointed elongated arms and leathery wings. All in all, not something you want to run into if you’re on a leisurely stroll. I do not fear for my life however, since I know I’m already dead. It would seem that the assortment of smaller creatures are successfully routing the large monstrosity. There seem to be 2 human like beings in the group, one male and one female, along with a stocky dwarfish creature that was presumably a male, a tall and gaunt female being with pointed ears as well as a deformed looking darker-skinned creature. The tall female was attacking with bow and arrow from an incredible distance, the green skinned creature was somehow creating fire out of nothing and shooting it at the bear monster and the two beings I presumed were humans where engaging the monster in close quarter combat. From time to time the dwarf would lower his mace and focus on one of its allies to release a ray of light that somehow seemed to cure injuries. Even if I want to deny such an absurd existence with all my means, when confronted with the inexplicable no other answers come to mind. Could this truly be magic I’m witnessing?
I decided to pass the time as a spectator of the battle. With their repeated assaults they managed to drive the creature in a corner, badly wounded. But like any animal forced into a corner, in desperation it suddenly struck out at the human female. The claw of the monster sinks deep into her shoulder, before the force behind the blow sends her flying. The rest of the people cry out in alarm, but they of course have to focus on suppressing the monster first. The woman happens to land close to me. As I watch her on the ground, pained and obviously on deaths door, suddenly our gazes link. As the intense gaze matches my inquisitive stare memories of regret slowly prompt me to action. I could not do anything for Ingrid, and even if my technology would end up saving lots of people, I would not be there to witness the outcome. Even if it is once, I would like to save a life with my own hands.
Despite knowing it to be a rash action, I rush over to the dying woman’s side. Even though I’m acting purely on my emotions, I feel like I’m truly doing the right thing. Even if it is just my mind playing tricks on me, this must be the right course of action. A chance meeting in a strange cave between a woman that should die and a ghost seeking atonement. Though I never was the type to believe in fate, due to my vehement belief in free will, what else could have brought this meeting to take place? And stranger still was that somewhere from deep within me, I could feel that I was the only one that could help her here. As I kneel beside her she has a surprised and somehow fearful look on her face, like she has seen a ghost. I look her in the eyes, reflected on her Iris is a somewhat gruesome shape. A pale looking man in a tattered white coat looms over her, his skin covered in terrifying wounds. If I saw that while near deaths door, I would be stricken with fear too. My pallid figure looks like some dark omen of death, like a grim reaper that ferries souls to the afterlife.
“It’s going to be alright, you are going to be fine...” I try to say some soothing words to her, to calm her down. If she starts panicking now the stress would kill her even faster, she is already starting to bleed out. Even if the message doesn’t get through, the tone seemingly does. The fearful look in her eyes starts dissipating, does she trust me or has she just accepted her demise just like I did back in that facility? As if guided by instinct, I move my weathered hands to her gruesome wound. As soon as I touch her, it feels like all the warmth of my body is being sucked out of me. My ‘body’ strongly wants pull to back my hand, but I force myself to hold on. It feels like if I stop now she will surely lose her life. As it gets increasingly more difficult to not pull away my hands I witness a miracle. The flesh that had been ripped apart by the monster before, exposing flesh organ and bone, starts regenerating at a rapid pace. Motivated by the apparent success of my endeavors I successfully push through the mental barrier and in the end with a final feeling of triumph I collapse forward, on the woman that I have just saved; it seems like she is going to make it.
The last thing I felt was blissful warmth.
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Author's note:
Thanks for reading the second chapter of the prologue. Once again if you spot any mistakes or inconsistencies feel free to point them out to me in the comment section or sent me a PM.
The final chapter of the prologue will be uploaded as soon as I am able to do so.