Resigning himself to his fate, he closed his eyes and let the dark portal swallow him. However, just as he was about to be completely consumed by the darkness, he felt a powerful yet familiar force encircle and grip his chest. Opening his eyes, he realized that the monster was holding him with its tentacle over the ebony pit. Before he could comprehend what was happening, the monster plunged into the abyss, dragging him into the dark depths of the world.
'Who are you, oh angel of the Plutonic night?' the boy asked in a despondent tone.
The response formed in his spirit like an inaudible and incorporeal melody, conveying an intense and vivid feeling of desolation as if he were experiencing it in reality. His horizons seemed to merge, fused by the emotions the immanent melody generated, reaching a profound connection where their identities intertwined, achieving a level of unity and peace never before experienced. When the melody ceased, their two consciousnesses separated, but through that newfound understanding and experience, he learned the name of the architect of his anguish.
'Saphira... we are indeed very much alike,' the boy murmured with a smile.
Leaning against the strangely soft and warm marble pillar, he noticed that the faint amber light emanating from Saphira's antennae allowed him to glimpse the sinister arms of the Plutonic shore. Although the light could repel their physical presence, it could not shield them from the sinister influence the shadows exerted over their objective understanding. At that moment, they were immersed in a distorted domain, a reality created by the other and perpetuated by subjectivity. Unable to prevent the shadows from invading his psyche, he watched helplessly as that unholy presence revived the world of nightmares he had tried so hard to forget. He remembered the reduction of vital value achieved by the hive mind, which only generated false needs and systematizations that perpetuated the alienation of the spirit from the world. He even experienced the loneliness caused by the subjectivity inherent in the phenomenal world to which all living beings were subjected.
As they descended through that onyx sea, the shadows exerted an increasingly powerful influence, and with them, the boy's visions grew more vivid and disturbing. The malevolent influence evoked the image of his mother, whose viperous tongue only spewed venom, comparing him to a man he could never equal. He saw the light fade from his father's eyes, each day retreating further into his own world without speaking a word to anyone. He relived the moment that man left, losing his sanity upon witnessing humanity's greatest horror, and saw himself filled with hatred and tears, screaming in pain and despair as he tried to end his life with a knife.
Believing he could no longer find hope within his spirit, he resigned himself to his fate and relived that incessant spiritual torture over and over again. However, in a miraculous act of compassion, his senses were enveloped by a healing melody, and his body was surrounded by two wings of white feathers that infused his soul with a sense of belonging, relieving his spirit and giving him the strength to rise once more.
Finally freed from the trance that had imprisoned his mind under the malevolent influence of his soul's darkness, he saw Saphira again, whose sensory tentacles continued to watch him. With a smile on his face, he saw the veil of shadows that stretched across the horizon fade away, giving way to a spectral light that enveloped them, transporting them to another plane of existence.
In this new reality, the first thing that caught his attention was the sky, dyed a warm amber tone that seemed to mimic the movement of the sea. In that perpetual and serene sway, a single pink star stood out in the sky, struggling to show its light. The surface of that world consisted of tiles, all bearing the same image: a black rhombus surrounded by four white corners that, when joined with adjacent tiles, formed a white rhombus together.
The monochromatic ground was occupied by five large structures. First, a withered tree made of gold, whose branches resembled a labyrinth of tubes from which golden spheres of various sizes sprouted. The second structure was a tower composed of concave silver spheres stacked atop one another. The third structure was a pyramid made of diamonds, balanced perfectly at its peak by a crystal sphere that reflected the world around it. The fourth structure was a cylinder carved from a single piece of marble, taking the form of a semi-arch. Finally, there was a statue of Atlas, the titan condemned to hold up the heavens, though in this depiction, he was erroneously holding the Earth.
Around these unusual edifices were beings similar to humans in form but strange in appearance. They were sexless, with gray skin and dark hair, varying only in length. These 'humans' seemed completely absorbed in their stimulating esoteric activities, which kept them busy and fascinated. These occupations consisted of admiring, embracing, and licking the golden spheres that fell from the tubular tree. They constantly boasted to one another about finding the 'brightest' or 'largest' sphere, invariably leading to fights where the spheres became marked and dented. This did not go unnoticed by the less scrupulous, who took advantage of the opportunity to acquire those “new” and “rarer” spheres, restarting the cycle once more.
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Some of them gathered around the diamond cone, laughing heartily as they watched their reflections being distorted by the crystal sphere. They spent their time creating scenes of fights and romances that became even more comical in that world of distorted reflections. However, the strangest event occurred when couples, large groups, or solitary individuals ventured inside the marble cylinder in the shape of a semi-arch. What happened inside there I cannot describe, nor do I wish to, but I can say that not everyone who entered that place returned. Especially those who entered alone were never seen again, but those who did return carried a ridiculous smile of satisfaction on their gray faces.
'Where are we?... What is this place?...' – the boy asked, his face reflecting amazement as he observed the peculiar behavior of the inhabitants of that strange world.
But he only received a terrible screeching sound that reverberated in every corner of his mind. Turning towards Saphira, who had stayed behind when they arrived in that world, his face paled at the sight of his companion's condition. The marble pillar that constituted her torso was completely cracked, and a huge crater extended from its center, from which an ominous bubble of liquid light emerged, dissolving Saphira's body on its path to freedom.
The boy was paralyzed, stunned by the deafening sound that rumbled in his mind, coming from the pain his guide was experiencing. He watched as Saphira's body was destroyed little by little from within, until in an instant, that infernal noise ceased and, in the deafening silence, the sphere floated free from its corporeal prison, exploding upon contact with the ground and spreading all the light it contained inside, revealing the figure lying within.
Appearing human, its body seemed to be entirely made of wood, and long orange hair fell over its shoulders like cascades of lava. That creature, resembling a puppet, approached the corpse of what once was Saphira. With its hand resting on it, it transformed the body into small luminous particles that entered the puppet's body through its joints.
Once the macabre task was complete, the creature turned its head at a 180-degree angle, revealing the empty sockets that served as eyes, and opening its mouth, it spoke to the boy in an excessively sweet and kind tone. It seemed like an attempt to console the desolate boy, who, after witnessing the entire spectacle, was left in a state of extreme shock.
'Why the reaction? I don't think this appearance is frightening enough to justify such a response. After all, we both played an important role in this new form I have acquired.' - Its empty sockets twinkled, and with a mischievous tone, it added - 'It is precisely because you helped me get closer to the truth that I wished to reward you by granting you a wish, a simple task for someone who has come this far.'
What did this place have to do with his wish? Why had he come here in the first place? What was this strange world he found himself in? The boy was deeply confused, trying to understand the connection between his wish and the reality surrounding him. He felt a strange familiarity observing this world and its inhabitants, as if there was some prior connection, but at the same time they seemed completely foreign, trapped in empty and meaningless activities in their constant search for eternal pleasure.
'Fulfill your wish, blessed one, and become the synthesis that will transcend and reconcile subjectivity with objectivity, merging your being with the phenomenal world around you.'
When Saphira finished speaking, she opened her wooden mouth once more, revealing a small cannon inside. Suddenly, a stream of amber light burst from the cannon, surrounding the boy's body, trapping him in a glowing liquid bubble. Within that undulating incandescence, a new perspective of the world manifested before his eyes, allowing him to glimpse the essence that permeated all objectivity and himself. His being began to transform according to the primordial mandate of this essence.
The burning light seemed to want to flay him alive, molding his skin into the shape of a fleshy sphere, like the one surrounding his body. The bubble was filled with the blood that flowed ceaselessly from his body, which lay with its flesh exposed, making it seem that it was about to burst.
The pain was unbearable, distorting his perception of what was real and what was false. He wanted to scream, to beg for the pain to stop and the infernal heat to cease, but only tears rolled down his face, evidence of the immeasurable torment his body experienced as it was deformed beyond human limits.
Now in the middle of the blood-filled bubble of light, only a small embryo floated silently. The boy's body reduced to that tiny embryo, from which an umbilical cord emerged, ending in a spike with a hole at its tip. The spike absorbed all the light that made up that existential plane, accumulating it in the embryo's stomach, leaving that reality empty. Only the embryo and Saphira remained floating in the void.
'The wish has been fulfilled, objectivity and subjectivity will now return to their real origin, concluding the ascent to absolutism.'
When Saphira spoke those words, a flash blinded me, and I lost perception of the void surrounding us, returning us to the courtyard where it all began. There, only the song of birds and the wind could be heard, as the old record player lay silent next to the deck chair.
Though none of this mattered to the boy who now bore a demonic appearance, for he was unable not only to see but also to hear and feel anything from the outside world. He was a being completely independent of the given, floating in his bubble of flesh and blood, emitting no sound, simply being.
But now, being unable to create knowledge of the world, he was free from any emotional bondage derived from his needs and ideas, he required nothing, not even the melodies of the record player. He was truly free, not only from the house that had imprisoned him for so long but also from the yoke of his own subjectivity, of himself and others. Using his new powers, he enveloped himself in an amber aura, ascending to the heavens, vanishing into the vastness of existence forever.