The world shattered.

All that was, shattered, as if the world was made of fragile glass. All living shattered with it. There were no signs of their doom that could have been seen by anyone of this world. One moment, everything was as it should be, and the next, all was broken and nothing made sense anymore. Broken, all broken. Shattered to pieces. Even the souls splintered and tore apart. All frozen as time ceased to be, the laws of this world themselves came undone.

Both a moment and an eternity later a being claimed this world. It saw the state of it and was rather confused by it. Why was this world in such a state? As it was wondering about it, the shattered world exploded, shooting and diffusing into the being’s own worlds. This had never happened before but it wasn’t worried. Its worlds were too big and too many to be affected by such a thing. Like a drop in the ocean. Soon it forgot about all this as the part of its consciousness that was observing, moved elsewhere. If it had paid close attention it might have noticed, but it hadn’t. One small Soul Core that was still whole. Unique, different from how Soul Cores should be. It inconspicuously entered one of the being’s own worlds.

*

On the morning just before the world shattered, Ray was yawning away, stooping in his chair and staring at his laptop. His left elbow was propped on the desk to support his head. Sometimes he blinked, each blink getting slower and longer. Sometimes it wasn’t a blink anymore but his eyes closed and his head slowly lowered, lower and lower until it popped off his hand and he jerked awake. He put his head back on his hand and kept staring at his laptop until his eyes closed again.

He had been in this state for a long time. He was hungry, he was thirsty, he had to pee, and was barely awake. But he ignored all this, it was unimportant. His mind couldn’t spare the thought on these irrelevant needs. As to what he was doing? He was reading a novel. His mind immersed in the story, unwilling to leave. He still had the thought at midnight to tell himself just one more chapter and I’ll go to sleep. For a few hours he kept telling himself this, then gave up, and decided he would just read until he passed out.

Suddenly, he was startled as his alarm went off. He turned it off and looked around with confusion on his face and in his mind. His mind was slowly coming back to reality, reluctantly letting go of the story for now.

Oh, it’s morning already?

He blinked. It hurt. Ouch, my eyes feel so dry. He rapidly blinked a few more times trying to get rid of the feeling then rubbed his eyes. He teared up as they hurt even more. He then gently wiped his eyes with his sleeve as he kept tearing up again and again. He was at this for minutes.

When he could finally see and stopped tearing up he shut his laptop and got up. His cat was still sleeping sprawled in the middle of his bed. She was so cute he felt an extreme urge to rub her belly. Summoning a great amount of willpower, he resisted. He knew it was a trap. He sighed and went to the bathroom.

When he got back to his room his cat was up, wanting to go out. He couldn’t resist anymore and gently picked her up, rubbing her head as he walked to the front door. His cat was very unhappy about being picked up, but she endured as she saw she was getting what she wanted.

Ray then went to get dressed to get ready. He knew he was about to deeply regret not getting any sleep. There was a reason his alarm went off after all, and his next task required a rested mind and a lot of patience. But he was tired, and was cranky, because he wanted to go back to read.

He sighed as he put his hand on the living-room door, but stopped for a moment and mentally prepared himself. It had to be done. If it wasn’t done now, it would be much worse later, and he would regret it even more. He sighed again, feeling pity for himself as he finally opened the door.

It was lying there in her crate. As Ray opened the door, this monster got up and started shaking in excitement. Ray already felt a headache coming on. This thing might look like a dog, but it was a monster with unlimited energy, and he felt even more exhausted just thinking of dealing with her. She wasn’t even his dog, he only offered to help out with training her. Yet, somehow he ended up taking her for three-hour-long walks daily to try to somehow tire her out.

Even though Ray always complained, about his cat, how she hated being petted and was generally a jerk, about the dog, how she was a vampire sucking all his energy and being all over the place, he loved them both. He loved them and wouldn’t have traded them for anything in this world. As he looked at this energy monster and pondered about his poor life choices, he smiled. “Let’s go then, you monster.“

But the next moment everything broke apart and he felt himself splintering.

His mind tearing apart and shattering…

…it hurt...

...he felt himself being undone…

Broken like a mirror.

Pieces of him scattering.

Who was he even?

What was he to begin with?

Where was this?

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Why was it so dark? So bright? So cold yet so hot?

Why did he feel so happy, giddy with joy? Yet so miserable he wanted to die? Was he even alive or dead? Why did it hurt so much, felt so good and all wrong, all at once? But the feeling of all of him that ever was, is, and will be, being here and now at this moment passed, and the sense of loss he felt next was excruciating. He didn’t know anything, yet he knew he was about to be no more. Everything was about to be no more.

...alive…dead...shattered...broken...undone…scattered...splintered…

Then he felt terror. True terror that ground his splintered being into dust. Yet, he still knew he was. He was forcefully gathered back together, put together. But he wanted to die! Something alien, something awful, something unfathomable, something truly harrowing wormed its way into his being. His soul screamed from pure terror, trying to scatter and be no more, to escape at all cost.

But he was not given the peaceful release of death he was yearning for. Or maybe he was dead and was being tormented in death. His soul kept shaking and screaming but the alien existence did not let go. It gathered more and more of itself in the middle of his being yet it always stayed a small spot there.

A whole mountain of the unfathomable being gathered there, then a whole lot more, an ocean, oceans, then more, a whole planet, then more. It was boundless and unknowable, an incomprehensible existence. Yet, no matter how much of it there was and came, it stayed a small spot in the middle of his soul. Where was it all going? And why was it going into an insignificant human soul? Only the dreadful existence itself knew.

After a while, only Ray’s crumbled and crushed soul remained. It was like fine dust that was still forcefully held together. If it could, it would have scattered long ago, but it could not. Even the shaking and screaming of his soul stopped. He had no more thoughts, no more feelings, nothing. In the middle of his soul there was a small spot. It was blacker than black, something impossible and incomprehensible. If any living being saw it, they would be dead instantly, their soul destroying itself. But no one saw it, no one was alive, and no being was observing.

Slowly, the fine dust that remained of Ray’s soul started to gather tighter and denser around the black spot. The remains of his soul still wanted to escape and scatter but how could it put up any resistance? It all gathered in a ball, then got compressed more and more until it looked liked a perfect dull gray marble which hid the black spot within. At this point the force stopped, but the marble stayed whole. It did not want to break anymore. It wasn’t screaming or shaking, it just was.

*

Darkness.

He wanted to open his eyes, but panic set in as he realized he had no eyes. He wanted to scream, but he had no mouth, no lungs. Calm down, calm down, I’m not hurting anywhere after all. Everything is alright. No, am I crazy? How could it be alright when I seem to have no body?! Shut up me, just calm down, everything will be fine.

He slowly tried to calm down. He seemed to not possess a body, it was pure dark, but he could think at least. That was something. Right, so all I can do is think. How this came to be anyway? Who am I, why am I here and where is here?

As he worked his mind and tried to remember, he abruptly felt a pure, inexplicable terror, and his mind shattered.

An exasperated sigh could be heard, but no one was there to hear it.

*

Darkness.

He woke up. He could think again, but he could not move. He was filled with anxiety, he did not understand what happened, what was going on, but he mentally took deep breaths. I have no idea what is going on. Do I have a paralyzed body or am I just a disembodied mind? I think I’m a disembodied mind… or soul then? It’s all dark here, where is here anyway?

He was mulling this over. He felt there was a fog over a part of his mind. As he was prying at it, out of nowhere he felt extreme horror, and his mind shattered.

“So fragile...”

*

Darkness.

He felt himself waking up. He started to think, wondering who he was. He felt there was a weird lump in his mind like a hard dome. He wanted to examine it, but he had an uneasy feeling about it. He couldn’t explain what was wrong with this dome-like thing, but he was more and more sure it was wrong, and should not be there. The next moment he realized what it was, and his mind splintered again.

“Unbelievable...”

*

Darkness.

He woke up, and after some brief thinking, his mind shattered. He woke up again and again, and his mind shattered again and again. This cycle kept repeating dozens of times, then hundreds of times, who knew how many times.

“Stop breaking apart…”

“...stupid human…”

“...again? I just put you back together…”

“...you never learn, huh?”

“Humans are truly worthless.”

“…”

If his mind had kept together, he could have heard these occasional comments, but his mind kept shattering and he heard nothing.

*

Darkness.

He woke and he felt calm. He wasn’t sure where he was, what he was, but he didn’t feel like there was any hurry in figuring things out. He had time, he could take it slowly. As he was just being, not thinking much at all, something caught his attention. He didn’t examine it closer, he couldn’t explain it, but he knew he would die if he thought about it. His thoughts slipped off of it, and he let it be.

“Are you gonna keep it together this time?” the sudden disembodied voice seemed to hold his metaphorical breath.

Who is that and how do I talk?

“Oh? You seem to be doing fine this time. I’m transmitting my thoughts, but I can hear all your thoughts don’t worry,” the voice talked again.

All my thoughts? That’s creepy, don’t worry? How stupid is that? Now I am worried! Who is this creep? And they can hear these thoughts too then, can’t they? What do I do, how can I stop thinking?

But the more he wanted to stop thinking the more he thought, and the more anxious he got.

“Just stop, and calm down.”

But he couldn’t calm down, he couldn’t explain it, but he knew there was something wrong with the voice. Something was very wrong, something very unnatural, he could not remember but it felt like… the next moment his mind shattered again.

If the disembodied voice could have facepalmed, it would have.

“Let’s try something else then.”