That Which Watches

Nothing, void once more.

No, less than the void. That Which Watches observed the space without space in the time outside of time. They felt nothing but the cold though, that frozen darkness full of chaos and silence.

*Blink*

They bore witness to a vast darkness, or was it blindingly bright? It was hard to be sure in such a chaotic realm. This non-darkness moved, large beyond words and powerful beyond measure. This mass of chaos and creation seemed to pause for the briefest moment, its mass contracting or pulsating strangely as it stopped.

After an unknown length of time the non-darkness moved on, and what was left behind was a small pearl of something new. Form from nothing. It called to That Which Watches and they drew nearer, but dared not touch. While the orb was tantalising beyond contemplation, That Which Watches knew that to converge upon its majesty might undo them completely.

So That Which Watches kept its distance, watching as they always did.

*Blink*

Time passed, That Which Watches observed without eyes or senses that bright orb once more. It had changed, no longer a tiny sphere of pure light, it was now a vast dark thing filled with innumerable smaller lights. The lights danced in the dark, seemingly never touching yet so close in this new place. That Which Watches wanted to look away, for it knew the danger that getting too close poised. But it was hard, the sparkling lights inviting with their strange familiarity.

With a supreme effort, That Which Watches tore itself away, the narrow space between them and infinity smaller than the mind could process. That had been a close call. That Which Watches observed the anti-space around them once more. It was normally so empty, the occasional passing horror or conjoined nightmare sometimes drifting by. But the space around this new orb seemed to be filled with many things and anti-things. For the most part they canceled each other out, but there would remain a great rare occasion for a part of one to remain. These twisted horrors fell upon the outer boundary of the orb like a blizzard of dread.

That Which Watches saw many others like unto themself scramble to the boundary, their forms seemingly burned away as they touched the outer edge of that terrible orb.

They didn’t see any make it through the boundary though, the sealing had been done while they had looked elsewhere. But surely some of the fragments had slipped through, they always did. And with the horrors came the sickness, and the death.

They turned away, it would be over soon and they had no wish to see it rent from within by the non-things that infested the beyond around them.

*Blink*

They remained. They watched. It seemed strange, but the orb remained too, a little darker, a little bigger. The lights that twinkled within danced more slowly, many of them growing brighter for instants before they too fizzled out as so many orbs had before.

But this one seemed different. Time was the basis of That Which Watches concept of everything, and time was cruel. But this one, it had lasted longer than most. In fact it was already far older than it had any right to be by their internal reckoning. They didn’t know why, but they knew that something was different about this one.

That Which Watches peered closer. Closer and closer to the tiny dancing lights and their chaotic order. They saw many things, smaller and nearly infantile in their understanding. But they were truth and light, the opposite of the darkness that spawned them. That Which Watches withdrew, the closeness burning them even as they realised the truth of the orbs.

They were not dead like the horrors and bits that drifted, they were alive and full of those vibrant lights. For the first time in That Which Watches’ entire existence it felt lonely. It felt so alone in the space without. But how to get in without concluding?

They moved away once more. Their fragmented mind awash with concepts and this new pervading pain.

*Blink*

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Time had once more passed, and the orb had only increased in complexity and function. It was large now, so large as to fill the space without space completely. And yet as they willed it, That Which Watches could move away and this supposed vastness faded to a pinprick of hope in the distance. For the space without space was endless and could not be escaped. Not truly.

That Which Watches peered into the orb again, the twinkling lights seemed to call their name as they moved closer once more. The burning as That Which Watches drew near was intense, but nothing could truly mask the new pain of being alone. It was worse than the burning, tearing sensation, worse than the blinding non-light and far far worse than the cold dark crushing black of the neverspace.

They moved closer, so much closer. They could see it now, the lights were themselves entire systems of complexity and danger. But they still seemed to shine through the darkness in a way that nothing That Which Watches could remember. They seemed solid, real. Not like the infinite nightmares of the space without space.

They stopped on the very threshold, the pain had mounted until all they could distinguish was the tearing, the folding of their mind into a tiny box. They fled, the vastness of the orb fading away into a point of light that itself seemed to fade slowly as the non-space between them grew. That Which Watches fled until they no longer could remember why they were so afraid.

*Blink*

Time passes, slowly by this one’s reckoning. That Which Watches began to wander once more, their mind a twisted chaotic thing. Thoughts of light drove them on through the horrors made of living darkness and the vast consciousnesses that dominated the anti-space. It seemed that nothing would break through the darkness until That Which Watches saw a distant light like a candle from across a canyon of terror.

Moving closer That Which Watches observed a vast sphere of complexity and light, the barrier seeming to shimmer as tiny cracks spread throughout it. A memory sparked and they stopped. That Which Watches began to remember their experiences before. The lights looked dimmer though, small and faint. Not the strong bright fires that they remembered, but dull white spheres that seemed to pulse slowly as if horribly alive and dead at the same time.

That Which Watches watched in the silence. Time passed.

*Blink*

Time had passed, That Which Watches had not been aware of all of it. From time to time they lost their grip on consciousness as awareness fled into the more protected corners of their mind. The darkness had slowly consumed the orb now. The fading lights were all but gone, the shimmering was now replaced by a depressing and heavy stillness.

They moved away as the orb seemed to expand faster and faster. The boundary now flew towards them as fast as they could retreat. That Which Watches felt fear once more, if the orb consumed them would they become part of that darkness too?

Before the question could be answered the orb seemed to lose cohesion, the buckled and tattered boundary that had previously surrounded it seemed to snap under incredible tension. The orb rippled as the shell was broken and seemed to stop before slowly contracting.

This contracting surprised That Which Watches. The new feeling was strange to their mind. They began to follow the orb as it traced its own expansion back along its previous path. They followed.

*Blink*

The orb was smaller now, though it was hard to be certain for the inside was so unlike the outside. No space and no reality to grasp made it difficult to reference anything, and with the total darkness inside the once bright orb, That Which Watches had no way to tell if it was truly any larger than it had been in the very beginning.

This contraction continued till it seemed to stop once more. The orb fluctuated, growing slightly then shrinking slightly more.

This back and forth seemed to speed up, the anti-space around seeming to exert some dark pressure on the orb from the outside while the orb itself seemed to desperately push back against the horrors that scrabbled at its unprotected flanks.

It was strange. This all seemed at once so familiar and yet so new. That Which Watches would have cocked its head if it had one, but alas, it was formless thought in a realm of maddening contradictions. So it contented itself to observe.

*Blink*

The orb was gone.

No, not gone. Transformed rather, but into what?

That Which Watches peered closer with eyes that cannot see but was interrupted. Their mind a slight haze from the close proximity of one of the vast non-darknesses. It roamed near to the orb but did not seem to notice it as it moved slowly and inexorably in the direction of That Which Watches.

That Which Watches shrank away, their mind temporarily focused on their own survival instead of the mystifying changes the orb was undergoing. But as they looked back they realised in horror that the orb was now nowhere to be seen. In the infinite anti-space they searched for it, but they could not find it. With no lights to guide them they felt lost. Alone in a place that crawled with such potent lunacy.

Time passed once more. They felt themselves losing their grip once more and so fell into themselves, trying to preserve what sanity remained.

*Blink*

Darkness… madness. Chaos and nightmares. But above all, nothing. Void once more.

End of Story