Unlike Diego, Zoiph slowly opened his eyes standing. He was able to walk around freely. His entire body was functional and he could walk and move perfectly fine. He walked through the endless plain. During his journey, he saw many mythical creatures float around. There were giant squids and sharks swimming through the sky and tentacles stabbing other monsters. But none of them were hostile towards Zoiph. They were all neutral and made weird creepy sounds. Even if one of the monsters tried to attack Zoiph, they were stunned by blue lightning as if he was blessed by a god.
After walking non-stop for a week, he approached a district. The place was covered with a giant wall that was over 50 meters tall. When we infiltrated into the district, he saw a village that reminded him of the town. There were actual people living in this dimension. Some people owned a farm, some people sold items at the market, some people ran the town. While staying in the district, Zoiph lived in seclusion. He slept on the street floor and stole food in order to survive. It was all because he didn’t believe in the government and the town. He already saw how the previous town he lived in treated him. It was obvious that he didn’t have any faith in the system and this new town. But one day, he was caught stealing and was arrested. But instead of being sent to the underground prison, the district leader visited him. She knew who Zoiph was. Not only him but the entire history of the town. Zoiph thought that the girl standing in him could’ve been Rachel, who was also one of the main people in the town. But there was no way he wouldn’t notice if it was her. The leader of the district decided not to punish Zoiph for stealing since she knew his current situation. Not only was he exempt from the punishment, the leader offered him food, a place to sleep, and a job. Zoiph didn’t trust her. Because he knew that to every good action, there is a cause behind it. During his stay in the district, he continued to keep his guard up. On the first day, he distrusted everything, on the 2nd day, he doubted everything, and on the 3rd day, he started to change his mind about people. No matter who, and how the people were, everyone in the town treated each other equally. Zoiph started to think that this town wasn’t as bad as he thought it was. This was the ideal idea of the town he wanted. Zoiph was an anarchist before his death but after supervising this district for a while, he started to change his mind a bit. He believed that in this new life he was given, he could live without worrying about anything.
The problem approached on the 4th day. When Zoiph left the town in order to scout the area, he was devoured by a giant hand. It happened so quickly that he didn’t even notice. When he was eaten by the hand, he was covered with chains. He couldn’t move at all. The place was full of complete darkness. It was like the infinite void.
“Well you weren’t supposed to wake up yet. You woke up like 10 days earlier than you were supposed to.”
A voice from the empty darkness approached him. Zoiph heard footsteps that were coming towards him. It sounded like someone was walking on a bush.
“Because you woke up so early, I couldn’t even perfect Diego’s catastrophe!”
After hearing the name ‘Diego’, Zoiph tried to resist the chain that was limiting his movement. Diego was one of Zoiph’s only friends. If his friend came into this strange world just like him, he needed to find his friend.
As the footsteps got louder and louder, Zoiph shivered with fear. Right when he thought the guy walking towards him was visible, he felt a wood chunk, specifically the trunks of a tree crawling up from his legs. The pieces creeped up to Zoiph like a snake and started twisting his body. Zoiph wanted to scream so badly but he couldn’t since his mouth was fully covered with wood chunks. He tried to bite them off but they were resilient. If Zoiph bit one off, another would accelerate towards him. They were copious.
“Oh wow… You are a really interesting guy. I’m pretty sure even the lurker and the mist will love to become your guardian.”
All of Zoiph’s senses were blocked and censored except for his hearing. His sight was pitch black and he couldn’t even speak. He felt thorns spiking into his body and there was no odor to the monster in front of him.
“Oh shit…”
The monster whispered.
“I accidentally killed his vision. Fuck. The Blind father is going to kill me.”
The monster seemed to think deeply for a bit and started searching for something from his hand bag.
“There I found it.”
The thin branches then started to move out of his face. He still couldn’t see anything but it definitely felt more comfortable. When Zoiph relaxed and sat back, 2 sharp branches quickly pierced through his eyes. The pain was indescribable. The branches then slowly removed his eye ball. Zoiph started crying for help but there was no one. Before he could even pass out, the branches came back and put new eyeballs in his head. Zoiph was exhausted from the pain and the suffering.
“There you should be able to see things now.”
Zoiph refused to open his eyes. He just wanted to go back to the town he was in. He questioned why he had to go through all of this. There was no anger, there was no desire to avenge, he just wanted peace. He wanted to go back to his bed and have a really nice nap. Tears started flowing out of Zoiph’s new eyes.
“Wait, why are you crying? Don’t you wanna see your old buddies again?”
The monster started mocking Zoiph’s mutilated mind and body. When Zoiph opened his eyes to check who he wanted to kill when he got out, there was no one. The branches and the trunks that was covering were also gone as if the entire torture was just a nightmare. Right when he tried to stand up and walk again, a skinny guy with gray skin started walking towards him. He was pretty tall, around 3 meters tall. But his head was nothing like a human. It was a giant tentacle that swung around freely. There were no eyes in his creepy looking face, just a wide open mouth and nose. Zoiph knew from his guy that the monster was laughing and smiling right now. Zoiph started to slowly back off. Zoiph was terrified. His face was full of horror and there was sweat coming down from his forehead. Before Zoiph could even run away, the monster jumped him and opened his mouth as if he was trying to devour Zoiph.
*
As Zoiph woke up from the darkness, he heard a voice. The voice that tortured him.
“Okay well I think that is everything. His body is definitely fit for the catastrophe, I’m done injecting all the stories and achievements, I think he has all the abilities he need?”
The monster was talking to himself.
“I should probably wake him up soon. He needs to talk to the lurker before he leaves.”
Zoiph painfully stood up from the ground. His entire body was ripped apart. The pain was so excruciating. His desire for avenge was so avid. The anger slowly prevailed throughout his entire body. When his crippled body started running towards the monster, the wind blew strongly towards him. Then, trees started moving out of nowhere. The trees twisted each other and grabbed onto Zoiph. It was as if a forest was moving.
The trees surrounded him but out of all of them, there was one that was unique. It was the monster that devoured and tortured him earlier. Zoiph tried to resist the restraint but the trees that were surrounding him were tightening Zoiph even harder.
“Geez why are you so hostile every time you see me?”
The monster whispered to himself. Zoiph thought the monster was being ridiculous. How can you not hate someone that tortured you for hours? After thinking for a little bit, the monster made a “Ah-ha!” sound as if he realized something.
“Ohhh!” The monster exclaimed.
“I look like this. I swear I I thought I switched my look.”
The monster snapped his creepy looking broken finger. He then slowly transformed his look into someone that Zoiph knew very well. The monster now looked like Diego. “I was wondering why you tried to fight me. The Zoiph I knew never fought against his companions.” Zoiph was shocked when he saw the monster turn into his best friend. Was it because he went through so much, Zoiph started to think that the monster in front of him was actually Diego. Because Diego is the type of person who would torture people for fun, revive out of nowhere even after his death, and betray his friends if he needs to.
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“Why… Why are you doing this to me?” Zoiph wanted to ask Diego why he had to go through all of this pain and suffering. What sin did he commit for him to deserve this.
“Well, I’m actually not the Diego you know. The Diego you know came back alive and was sent to your town as a catastrophe. He like wanted to destroy the town or something.”
Fake Diego explained to Zoiph.
“When we send catastrophes to the town, we have to send multiple at once. And because I saw your dead soul floating in the void, I catched it and brought you back alive.”
Zoiph didn’t understand most of the things that fake Diego was talking about. How can you just bring someone back alive?
“But before I could turn you into a catastrophe, you woke up. That’s why you had to suffer through all those surgeries. But to be fair, it didn’t hurt that much right? I mean compared to the things I had to go through, that was nothing.”
Zoiph, breathing heavily, asked Diego one last question.
“Are… Are you one of those monsters?” When Diego heard that question, he answered with a “Huh?” as if he didn’t understand.
“Oh the [Outer Gods]?” Diego finally answered. “Well I’m more of a general? Like I lead those gods you know what I mean?”
When Zoiph heard Diego’s answer, he was shocked and petrified. Zoiph now couldn’t imagine how strong that Diego was. Because even when Zoiph first met those creepy squid looking monsters, he knew from his gut that if it wasn’t the blue sparkling lightning that stunned them, he would’ve evaporated into pieces.
“Anyways, can you stop talking? I’m trying to introduce you to someone.”
Diego complained like a little child.
“I’m pretty sure he is watching us but doesn’t want to come out. He really likes dramatic entrances.”
A few seconds later, the dimension started cracking. Out of the thin air, Zoiph witnessed a crack forming right in front of them. When he gazed at the crack, he saw a reflection of himself. He thought it was a mirror of himself but something was different. The Zoiph that he was seeing didn’t really look like him. The Zoiph in the crack looked exactly like him but the atmosphere he was giving was totally different. Right when the cracks started forming, the trees that were restraining him slowly faded away too. When he was released, he didn’t run away but rather stared at the Zoiph stuck in the crack. When he touched the crack, it shattered like a broken glass.
“What was that?” Zoiph questioned Diego as he looked back at him.
Diego sighed and whispered to himself, “I thought all Zoiphs were smart? What’s wrong with this one?” Although Diego said it very quietly, Zoiph heard Diego’s trash talking. He made a face that showed discomfort.
“Well, what do you think? Doesn’t the guy in the crack look very familiar? Oh right! MAYBE BECAUSE IT’S YOU DUH???” Diego screamed at Zoiph with a rage. Zoiph thought to himself, ‘Who the fuck doesn’t know that. My question is why is there me inside that crack.’
As Diego was calming down his temper, the glass particles that shattered soon rose up and started forming a shape. The shards then made the legs, the upper body, the arms, the wings, then the head. It was like making a human with a play dough. When the human was finally in full shape, it looked exactly like Zoiph, but not the current Zoiph who is all messy, wearing torn out clothes, and has dust all over his body. It was Zoiph in his prime. He had tuxedos on without the jacket, and a black soft hat. Behind him, a black wing made with a raven's feather stretched out as wide as it could.
Even after seeing himself, Zoiph wasn’t surprised. If another version of Diego exists, why shouldn’t there be another version of himself? The other Zoiph silently stood still and so did the real Zoiph. The one who broke the silence was Diego.
“So are you guys just not going to talk? I thought you wanted to say something Zoiph.”
Both Zoiphs stared at Diego.
“I mean like my world’s Zoiph.”
Diego and the other world’s Zoiph took turns looking at each other and Zoiph. There was some sort of telepathic conversation going on between those two. After a couple of minutes, the Zoiph in the hat spoke first.
“Hello. The other me.”
*
After the Zoiph’s first greeting, everyone stayed silent for a while. They just didn’t know what to say in this awkward situation. Meanwhile, the Zoiph from Diego’s world found a rock nearby and sat down. He took off his soft hat and held it in his hand.
“I… I really wanted to talk to you.”
Zoiph sitting on the rock spoke with a very deep and dark voice. Zoiph knew from his instinct that the Zoiph from the other world went through a lot. Zoiph started to understand Diego when he said “I mean compared to the things I had to go through, that was nothing.” His face was dark and hopeless. It seemed he had given up on everything.
“Well… Zoiph..? I’m sorry I really don’t know what to call you.”
Zoiph approached the depressed Zoiph.
“I don’t go by Zoiph anymore. Call me Sothoth.”
As Sothoth told Zoiph his new name, Diego hurriedly approached Sothoth and angered.
“Wait hold up. We aren’t supposed to tell others our real name! What if they find out who we are-”
Sothoth gave Diego a death gaze and cut off his word. Diego, feeling threatened, stepped back.
“I really don’t care anymore Diego. It doesn’t matter to me anymore. Nothing matters. Our town is gone. All I want to do is just see my friends again. This is why I agreed to your final catastrophe plan. Saying one last goodbye before it gets destroyed.”
Zoiph desperately wanted to ask what happened to him and his town. Sothoth looked at Zoiph’s shining blue eyes. His eyes were also once like that. Full of hope, cheer, youth. But now, everything is gone for him. His colorless gray eyes explained everything.
“Well, I guess you are probably wondering what we are talking about. Even if you are the extremely smart version of myself, you don’t have context so…”
Trying to find something to pick with, Diego commented, “Oh hell no. He is one of the dumbest versions of you I ever saw.”
Sothoth ignored Diego’s stupid comment and continued on with his sentence. “
Well, there are multiple versions of us. Basically, parallel universes. Mine is the very original one. All the parallel universes in this world form based off of our world.”
Because of the complicated words Sothoth was saying, he looked like a wiseman.
“I don’t know if you noticed but…” Sothoth hesitated to speak afterwards. “This world is like a game. Specifically a server file. My world is the very first world that the God of this world created and all the parallel worlds made afterward are like save files made to test different things.” Zoiph was shocked but it was something that he kind of expected. He already knew that this world was based off of a game but didn’t expect to have parallel worlds. He thought that there was only 1 file for the world. “Your world is… Different. It’s special.” Sothoth spoke. “Us… The [Outer Gods] rule is to interfere with other worlds. But for some reason, the blinded father told us to commit some actions to your world.”
“Why are you doing this to our world? What’s so special about it?” Zoiph asked with resentment. “And why was I and our Diego brought back alive?”
“Well, our job was to send new catastrophes to your world. In order to do that, we have to find dead souls with purpose. The best ones we could really think of were you and Diego and a few others.”
Sothoth looked up into the dark endless void. There were no stars in the sky unlike Zoiph’s world.
“We already sent Diego to your original world. And it’s time for you to go with him.”
Zoiph was enraged. He shouted towards Sothoth, “I don’t want to go back to the town as a catastrophe. You are going to force me to destroy the town. I don't want to do that. Plus, I have a new home here.”
Sothoth derided after hearing Zoiph say the word “Home” because he knew better than anyone that Zoiphs in every single universe doesn’t fit with the word “Home”.
“I honestly don’t care what you do after you return to the town. My job is to just make you a catastrophe. You can destroy the town, travel, revenge or kill someone you hate. I don't care.”
Zoiph was surprised Sothoth said that. He wondered if it was even probable to become a catastrophe and not destroy the town. If he was being completely honest, Sothoth’s deal was quite intriguing. Although he found a new town to stay in, it didn’t give the same vibe as his old town. And if he goes back to his old town, he will be able to reunite with his friends. Diego and Crimson, the most important people in Zoiph’s life.
After thinking deeply for a little bit, Zoiph answered to Sothoth.
“Yes, I will become a catastrophe. But I’m not destroying the town.”
Sothoth replied soulless, “Sure… That’s fair.”
Zoiph gripped his hand as hard as he could with dedication, hoping this plan will work out well.
“Well how will it work?”
Zoiph asked Sothoth.
“You need one of the [Outer Gods] with a high class in order to become a catastrophe. I will be your guardian since I’m basically you. It will be the most effective way to become strong.”
This entire plan was still suspicious for Zoiph but he agreed to do so. Sothoth opened the system tab for Zoiph for the guardian contract. But the system screen Zoiph was looking at was odd. It was different from the one he used to use in the town. This one looked rather glitched.
“..m..o..y”
Zoiph heard a whisper from Sothoth.
“This is just my ability. I can’t control it.”
Things started fading away for Zoiph. His vision was blurring and he couldn’t see or sense anything. And suddenly, Zoiph received a massive amount of memory. It was like someone copied and pasted someone’s history into his head. Because of the overload, Zoiph passed out. And when he woke up again, he was inside an asteroid.