In the place between places, where time is but a construct, and space is interwoven with threads of fate. A black canvas in a white infinity exists. Crimson threads of life, of purpose, of quantified impossibilities; All falling into the translucent ground, beyond its surface, down into the deep.
The canvas speaks:
| ALPHA//CRYSTALIZED DATA\ ARCHIVED.
| ALMASTRD//ENTITY SCAN\ANOMALY DETECTED\ANIMA 56% POLLUTED\ATTEMPT FIX
| ALPHA//FETCH/SAMSARA/REPAIR\
| SAMSARA//preparing... 100%\
| SAMSARA//cleansing... 100%\
| SAMSARA//fixing... 87%
| ECHO/SAMSARA//ERROR: mind component compromised, continue? y/n
| > Y
| SAMSARA//analyzing potential repairs...\ repairs found.
| SAMSARA//cauterizing cognitive gaps...\ 100%
| SAMSARA//substituting faulty body alignment...\ 100%
| SAMSARA//remodeling autonomy capacity...\ 100%
| ECHO/SAMSARA//mind component repaired\ subject may be affected by: psychosis, temporary cognitive impairment, temporary dysphoria, and other STATUS:AILMENTS
| ALMASTRD//ENTITY SCAN\SUBJECT IS OPERATIVE AND READY
| ECHO/ALMASTRD//START INCARNATION PROCEDURE? y/n\
| > Y
| AI-COM/ALPHA//AUDIO ALERT/CHANNEL 0:MUTE//WELCOME. TRAVELER.\
| ...
——— —– –– -- - -
…void.
Black, blacker than black, yet also more empty of color than the whitest white.
I cannot see.
I… can’t tell how long I’ve been awake, or how long I’ve been unconscious. It feels like an eternity, infinite nothing. It feels like a couple seconds, stretched so far and thin that recognizing it becomes beyond impossible, has time even passed at all? Where am i?
*≈≈≈*
Something happens, I am whole again.
Before I can process it, I notice, I can process. That before I was in a state so slow, so sluggish that time felt it had stopped; That now, i am awake. I am me.
“What?... Where?... Who?...”
I hear muted sounds outside… Outside? Am I stuck in something?
Something touches me. Touches me beyond the sense of tact I can feel, it goes inside my insides, burrowing with surgical precision into my whole being… Is this… my soul?
I feel it washing over me, tingling, scrubbing and picking me apart. Slowly, I feel clean, I feel the cleanest and clearest I've ever had before in my entire life. Gone is the weight of my body, the pressure of existence. Gone, the veil I never knew I'd had over my mind.
“[WELCOME. TRAVELER.]”
I stop contemplating whatever they just did to me. “Wha–?”
Before i can question what is happening I feel like being pushed through a gate, a film of something passing over me, and promptly being catapulted into what feels like to get yeeted to the stratosphere at sonic speed in reverse, i can’t properly see or feel what’s around me, but the sheer momentum and force that propels me are unreal, this overload of speed goes on for a few minutes, i try to scream away the uncomfortable pit in my stomach all the way but there is nobody listening.
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After some seconds, suddenly I start to slow down, I feel the touch of the sun, the vacuum of space, then the flow of air, and finally the weight of gravity takes me.
I gently… land? Settling inside a comfortable, warm embrace; I can see a little bit now, blurry warm colors fill my vision. The overwhelming warmth I just felt starts to go away, I try to reach out, but deep exhaustion and drowsiness suddenly fall on me.
I go unconscious, once again.
——— —– –– -- - -
Time passes… I turn and turn in my slumber ” hmmm… warm…”.
Windows of awareness slipping from me, “just… some more minutes…”.
Some orange lights hit me, slowly consuming my sleepiness, “...”.
That’s until hunger hits me, then I wake up completely.
*yaawn…*
“...hoold oon a second… I don’t remember going to sleep, last thing I remember doing is… is… i can’t remember? Where am i?“
I try to get up– *thud* –I can't. I attempt to open my eyes, but they refuse, or so i think, everything feels heavy, all i see is blurry darkness with some yellow spots.
OK, OK, take a deep breath, what’s happening? I try to inhale and feel something thick and slimy in my lungs– I can’t breathe? I CAN’T BREATHE! I desperately punch and claw at whatever is constricting me, LET ME OUT! LET ME OOOOUUUT!!! *crack*
I emerge from something, and fall face first into grass.
“A–”. *thump* *COUGH* *COUGH* *COUGH* *GASP* *COUGH* *Wheese*
*inhale*... *exhale*...
I lay down in the soft grass, take a moment to think, breathe.
“Where am i?”
I open my eyes.
I see vibrant, lush greenery, huge and small trees, bushes and herbs, some mushrooms and saplings here and there. I’m under a very, very big tree, 5 times bigger if compared to other trees around me. There is a… suspiciously round carving where I'm standing, it
is smooth and warm, it looks like the roots of the big tree grew around it, it looks like a living nest.
I smell the clean air of the forest, the perfume of flowers and the breeze… There is also a very strong, pungent, sweet smell behind me. I remember the endeavor that just happened and turn around. “What the…”
It’s an egg.
A human sized, orange/green-ish scaled egg, encased in bark. There’s an opening filled with a viscous white-golden… something? I'm covered in the stuff, too…
I offhandedly consider eating this, eggs are perfectly edible even if raw, i thought. Then it hits me, the huge crack, the VERY uncomfortable feeling of being caked in slime… did I just come out of that thing!? What the shit!?– How!?– Why!? OK, hold on, recap, I can’t remember how I got here, is this a dream?– I punch myself and bite my tongue, OW.
OK. Not a dream, what can I remember?... I definitely remember my life, at least I think I do, and my most recent ones got lost in the repetitive monotony of a student’s routine– *gurgle**grrr*
Ah, the hunger that woke me up decided to remind me it exists.
I cast an awkward glance at the egg remains, uugh, why does it have to smell so good?... *rumble* A hollow pain assaults my gut... I can’t believe I’m considering this.
Well… it’s a perfectly natural phenomenon to eat eggs, it’s normal in nature, lots of… lizards do this? I pause to consider what I have just implied… I shake my head, anyways, move along, nothing to see here, I gaze back at the egg, not weird or disgusting at all…
I look around just in case, nobody other than me and the forest to judge me. The weird gaze I feel on me must be paranoia.
I bend down to take a closer look, it doesn't look bad… the smell is kind of drowning all my other senses though. I take a small sample and lick it. “...Oh.”
Instincts take over me; Before I know it I'm chowing down.
I kneel down to slurp as much as I can of the liquid; Briefly using one of the larger shell splinters as a bowl, and then eating that too. Not caring that I'm getting completely slobbered in the stuff in doing so, the frenzy drowning any of my remnant decency; This stuff is the ambrosia of heavens, a perfect balance of flavors, and just light enough to not feel bloated and become addicted to more.
I finish and look down at my hands, still nibbling a shell, disappointed at myself for the shameful display and disappointed that there isn’t more, it tasted something like cocoa eggshell rice crackers and ginger…
I crouch down and hug my legs, *exhale*...
After that debacle, a modicum of clarity comes back. “Alright…
First, let’s consider my situation: I'm lost. In an unknown forest with unknown flora that I'm pretty very sure that they are alien, because last I checked, these weird huge plants, and glowing stone mushrooms that big cannot; Do not exist on Earth.”
Earth… *sigh* “I guess… haha… I guess that’s goodbye to home… some people would be thrilled to be in my place, I guess… but I'm naked, caked in smelly slime, lost, homeless, and with nobody to talk to.” Thankfully it’s not very cold, actually, I don't know if it is because of the shit I'm covered with or something else, but it’s hot enough for me to walk around with no clothes and still sweat.
Second… I consider my options… Uuuugh, as much as i want to, I can’t stay here moping forever. “I need to get up, I need to find someone, I need shelter, I need clothes, if i can’t find any trace of civilization i’ll need to secure a supply of food and water, water is easy, there’s rain, and since this place is so humid i think maybe it rains a lot or there’s a body of water somewhere. Food… maybe I can do with fruits and grass? I haven’t the slightest clue about hunting.” The least I should do is be safe and be able to run or defend myself.
*sigh* “I already miss home…”
I gather myself and stand up; Try to hype myself up. “Ok, Alright… ALRIGHT! LET’S DO THIS! YOU CAN DO IT! I CAN DO IT!”– I don't know, maybe, can i? “FUCK THE GODS THAT SENT ME HERE TO DIE!–” *rumble* i hear thunder in the distance “ok maybe not…” “...FUCK THIS FOREST, THE GOVERNMENT, MY GROWING DREAD, AND MY CRIPPLING ANXIETY!!!” *huff* *huff*...
Fuck, why did i have shout? I didn’t need to shout! Now whatever creatures there are in the forest know there’s a crazed moron in this direction.
The pungent smell of magic egg punches my nostrils again.
Now that I think about it, this smell doesn’t help either, something that likes sweet things could be lured here…
Lured to me.
I need to get out of here and wash myself. In these situations it’s good to climb a tree to locate a landmark. I look at the big tree close to me. It's the tallest one, my neck goes back, back, and more backwards, trying to look at the top of it. it’s… also way too huge for me to climb, oh, yeah, also i have zero to none experience in climbing trees.
Ok nevermind, let’s focus on getting out of here first.