“DECEPTION. THE LINGERING ATMOSPHERE IS ENGULFED BY PECULIARITIES; IT PIERCES WHERE YOU DON'T SEE, IT EXAMINES THE UNSEEN. UNDER YOUR RIVER OF FALSEHOODS, THE HIDDEN NO LONGER APPEARS TO BE SO HIDDEN. HOWEVER, YOU PERSIST IN YOUR LIE, SECLUDING YOURSELF UNINTENTIONALLY WHEN EXPOSED; THUS, THERE YOU LAY, YOUR MANUFACTURED FALLACY OF DECEPTION EXPOSED. YOU CAN NO LONGER SUCCEED IF YOU KEEP YOUR SECRETS TO YOURSELF. YOU SENSE SOMETHING IS WRONG, AS IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO COMPREHEND YOUR OWN EXISTENCE. WHAT YOU FEEL IS A TINGLING SENSATION; WHAT YOU KNOW IS A FEELING OF BEWILDERMENT. BUT THERE IS ONE THING THAT IS GUARANTEED. YOU'VE COMPLETED YOUR TASK.”
The crawling darkness continues steadily, nothing can alter it, and nothing can penetrate it. The emptiness is so visibly large that it would strike a sense of megalophobia into those who could witness the sheer size of it. Think of it as being the polar opposite of an enclosed liminal space, though possessing a maybe even more terrifying emptiness to boat.
Though as Basil bathes in the darkness, the sentience sits in it; only observing what is right before it. Though nevertheless, Basil seems to keep afloat somehow. His entire body was void of enthusiasm, but still alive and well. However, there was an apparent force which trivially attempted to overcome all within it, but to only no avail. It was as if the darkness was sentient and growing enraged due to its inability to gain control over the poor child.
(“You are sleeping.”) the abyss tried to deceive the young child.
“I am?” he responded.
(“Yes. This is a dream, everything will be fine. You are fine. I only wish to comfort you little one.”) said the unwavering darkness as it attempted to coerce the child into submission.
Basil could feel the sheer mass of the dark as it wrapped around his petite body. That soothing feeling he used to know now felt extremely unfavoring.
“No, NO!” Basil yelped.
With a shout that rang out endlessly, he forced his will onto the abyss. Unknowingly grabbing hold of it and twisting, bending, and sculpting it to form whatever he truly desired. And out of that, he created something new, something never seen before in the realm of the abyss. Hope. A flame in which he only passively adopted from the Knight who rescued him. A flame In a realm where there is only nothingness, hope should not exist. Though somehow through sheer force of will, it does. Because he made it so. Though he may not know how, and though it may have been subconscious, he still did it.
As the light of hope seeps through, darkness still remains. Encapsulated within a caliginous realm of nothingness and yet everything at the same time. Emplaced between an infinite, and finite domain, the living mass of darkness could only feel powerful when presented with a newcomer. Yet even though it tried and tried, it just could not rule over this young child. It was somehow weak to their commands. Preposterous right? This being though unknown and mysterious, emitted powerful degrees of unnatural force. It could infiltrate the mind and twist and bend whatever it chose to; but a kid who simply just appeared from nothing was able to just emit an even more powerful control than itself?!
“Hello?!” Basil spoke in a still somber tone.
“Anyone there?!”
“Christ. You really are a disturbance.” A restless sigh could be heard from behind Basil.
“Huh?” Basil responded. Frantically floating in the vast darkness as if swimming through the air. Managing to somehow, change his direction, only to be faced with an odd enough sight.
Just floating there, right above and in front of him, seated in the air, one leg atop another, was a boy the exact same in appearance to himself. Down to every nook and cranny. Every descriptive detail. Even the one he did not know of. His shimmering short black hair. His almost soulless eyes. The same royal black short, and white button up with the shined black loafers. It was all too much to comprehend. Lastly, a specific detail Basil could instinctively pick out in the bleak darkness, was the boy’s skin.
“Wha-“
“Hmph. Something wrong? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.” the boy or thing let out a soft giggle.
The boy’s skin was unnaturally pale. Even more so than Basil’s! The young man’s skin was so pale in fact that their body was like a deceased corpse. It was as if you could tell that the boy’s body was cold to the touch without even feeling it.
“Who are you! Were you the one talking to me this whole time!?” Basil yelled out in question.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“Me? Oh, I'm you, why of course. And to answer your last question, yes. Yes I was.” the doppelgänger responded in a distinctively blissful tone. However, there was something wrong. Whenever they spoke, their voice had a naturally glitchy and deep toned relay effect layered on top of the original.
“You’re me?”
“Yes, I'm you. Or what you think you are at least.” The entity continued on with the same cheerful attitude from before.
Completely dumbfounded by the current predicament, Basil could only lay there, addled by what he was both seeing and hearing. Silence ringed out in piercing static, pernicious overtones wrapped tightly around his skin, only the precognitive instinct that this entity was malefic in its desires could fill his very soul.
“Hey? You ok there? What’s wrong?” The entity tilted its head sideways with a saddened expression on its face. Warping and distorting the exact space around it unknowingly. Until, ( “WARP” ), appearing in front of Basil in a snap. The two were now face to face, nose to nose, leaning in as the entity inspected Basil deeply, analyzing him up and down. Basil on the other hand, was still trying to comprehend what had just happened.
“Hmmmm.”
“You really need to calm down y’know.” It spoke as it backed away, frown still on its face.
“We’re connected, so your feelings influence me, and that’s really annoying.”
Dumbfounded, Basil was still lost and mesmerized by the entity. Mesmerized by one singular detail. Its eyes. Its eyes, although lifeless, possessed great horrors inside. They glitched and warped, and generated many feelings inside those it set its eyes upon. From awe-inspiring, to mind-shatteringly terrifying.
“Connected? Huh?” Basil responded in a rushed attempt to keep up with the conversation.
“Yeah. I still don’t quite understand it, all I know is that anytime I try to control you, it’s like something tells me no and you control me. It’s like you have a power. No. Maybe you are the power.”
“Eh. I don’t know. It’s all still so confusing, but let me help you there.”
The entity would then snap its fingers, the gradual warping from before bow intensifying to horrifying degrees. Until the entire environment would shift and return back to its docile state.
“There, try to move around some, don’t wanna get stiff joints.” Another snarky comment backed by another hushed giggle.
Still swimming in the still visibly lifeless void, Basil could feel the control over his body return to him. He could now move around as he pleased, stretching and even flying freely through the abyss.
A quick snatch from the entity as it grips Basil’s forearms with its numbing touch, and Basil is sent soaring deeper into the everlasting space. The entity laughing in a roaring and spontaneous burst of ecstasy; stretching all its limbs out with playful vigor.
“WAIT-!” Basil was abruptly cut off by the flash of speed.
Basil shouts into the limitless dark. Panicking and spinning through the abyss until; ( “Huh?” )
Wait what? What was this feeling? This underlying feeling of tranquility, this feeling that lit and shined brightly throughout the great void. As Basil silently thought to himself, what could be happening to him, he couldn’t help but embrace this emotion. This feeling. it flowed through the abyss with ease and without falter either. It was a feeling of melancholic loneliness, acceptance, and most of all, the feeling of freedom; all in one broad concoction.
Even though it filled Basil with a new feeling altogether, one which he was not at all yet accustomed to, it still did something inexplicable to both his soul and heart. So now, observing the absolute completeness of the space, Basil had finally realized just how big it truly was.
It was never ending, and as Basil felt the mostly illusionary cold brushes of the wind, only one thought would stay on his mind as he settled in this overwhelming pocket of solitary.
“A place much larger than imagination. . .”
A tear would fall from his left eye as he quoted this new mysterious being. He finally understood what they meant by those words. Shutting his eyes as he awaited the constant spinning to stop.
Grabbing him once more via the forearm, even tighter than the last, Basil’s strange newly met doppelganger, brought all movement to a halt. Their grin as wide as ever as they could barely contain their excitement. In contrast to Basil’s fright of course.
“Are you having fun yet!?” They shouted as if Basil had no ears.
Basil’s steadily exaggerated breaths kept him from responding how he wished. Swallowing all his worries down in one humongous gulp.
“Hm. What’s wrong? You don’t look so pleased.”
“Let me guess, you wanna go home?” the entity sighed.
“Can’t you just stay a while longer? The darkness can feel good too y’know.” it exclaimed in desperation.
“I just want to be let go.” Basil said back shakingly.
“You have to say the magic word~” it jokingly countered.
“P-Please?”
“Please what?”
“Please. Let. me. go.” the words being dragged as if scratching to be released.
“Thank you for your time. Basil.” it smiled back with one last reveal. Atlas, pulling the boy in as a radiant bright white overtook the absolute darkness. Extinguishing all that came with it.
- End.