My eyes snapped open to darkness once more. This time though, the darkness was much more… ephemeral? It couldn’t measure up to the true darkness of the Firmament. That was definitely comforting, as the darkness of the Firmament, now that I'm no longer on magical sedatives or whatever, is absolutely fucking terrifying. Darker than black by magnitudes, somehow. This magic bullshit was crazy. Oh my lord, and it’s fucking EYE. I don’t think I’ll forget that for as long as I live.

As I was sitting on my ass pondering what to do next, definitely not just letting my thoughts spiral into an anxious nightmare, as that’s something I would never do, the darkness continued to get lighter and lighter until it just disappeared. Well that was useful, and distracting, something I desperately needed to be at the moment.

*Ding* Congratulations you have gained –Darksight– ,and through no effort of your own, even. Amaaaazing job little brother. On account of your eyes being exposed to Void for a millennia or two, and really who’s counting, they are no longer affected by Void’s pale imitation, Light. I know what you're thinking, Light, that doesn't make sense! Well figure it out then, it's real simple.

Good luck little brother, you’ll need it.

+1 PER

Hey I heard the sarcasm in that amazing! I thought, indignantly. Also, Darkness is just a lack of light, just how stupid did it think I was? Wait, how did I know that...? Must've been common knowledge.

It was having way too much fun with this sibling thing already. Was this really the thing that looked at me with an eye the size of a planet? I supposed I should give it a name to call it by. After all, saying it, all the time was going to get old. How about an acronym. Well their a giant incomprehensible abomination from the Void, so why don't I just call it that. Incomprehensible Void Abomination, or Iva for short. Nice, that’d work.

Ahhh, that was a nice distraction.

Now back to spiraling.

I don’t know how to balance a fucking world! What does that even mean! ‘Satisfy my own curiosity’ my fucking ass, what was I thinking! And I attacked Iva, a… well you know what the name stands for! What was I thinking! What was I thinking! Goddamn it, Valin what were you thinking, you fucking idiot! Oh goddamn it all, I hate that name!

Oh no. I can feel my fingertips going numb. Oh, and there goes my toes. And yep, there’s the tip of my nose. My heart starts beating faster, and my breathing becomes shallow, fast, and erratic. Ooh, a heart palpitation, classic. Maybe I’m having a magic panic attack this time. How mystical. Well you know what they say, variety is the spice of life. I have to say though, this magical panic attack feels identical to a normal one, three out of ten, it could do better.

The banter did nothing to make me feel better, but it was distracting while I rode out the, probably non-magical, panic attack.

Annnd time. Oh hell yeah, fifteen minutes. I think that’s my PB. Thank god for the short ones.

Now what.

I just. I just don’t know what to do. I don’t want to be here. How do I get somewhere not here? First, I need to move.

I’ll move later.

I laid there on the ground for hours. I would think about getting up, of course. Even motivate myself somewhat, but then the reality of the situation would come crashing back down. I am a broken, memory-less man in the middle of a dark cave. I don’t even have pants for Christ’s sake, and who the fuck is Christ! Questioning something basic like that would start the spiral again.

I can’t just lay here ‘till I die, can I? That would be hilarious. A great big middle finger just for Iva. ‘How's this for entertainment, asshole!’

Watch a man slowly dehydrate to death, admission only costs obscene power, and a penchant for kidnapping. That would be pretty funny. A final fuck you to a power much greater than myself.

Sure, let's go with this. I might as well. It’ll be the bravest thing I've ever done, the coward finally stands up for himself, and it only took having everything I’d ever known or been being destroyed. Fuck, I don’t even have my memories, and I’m still deriding myself. I must’ve been a real fuck up.

And so I laid, laid, and laid, some more. Finally, my inaction is a weapon, or so I told myself. I wasn’t being a coward, I was fighting back! Even I didn’t believe that, but maybe if I repeated it enough times it would become true. I’m a fighter alright, fighting my kidnapper by killing myself. Real fucking brave, me.

Finally, after who knows how long on the ground, something happened. A pulse. It felt like…reassurance?

Like the emotional embodiment of ‘believe in yourself!’, but instead of coming from disingenuous sycophants, or rightfully concerned family, it came from myself.

No, not myself, but something close. In my chest I could now feel, It. Damn, and I had just named the previous It, now I have to come up with a new name already.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Eh, I'll do it later.

“Who are you little buddy? Why are you riding this sinking ship?” I said to the entity inside of myself.

God I must be going insane, but I don’t think a crazy person could imagine a place like the Firmament. They could try, but they would never fully capture the immense darkness, and crushing presences. Oh. I’m even thinking like a crazy person now. Great. ‘I can’t be crazy! I’ve seen it!’ Is what I must sound like. I still don’t think I am, but I imagine that’s what most insane people think.

It feels connected to the Firmament though, so maybe it’s an agent of Iva? Nah, I doubt that narcissist would hire another Void being to do anything. Well, except me of course, but I didn’t count. Iva said it themselves, to them I was barely a newborn.

What was I doing again?

Oh yeah.

“Listen, buddy, I don’t know if you’re a parasite or something, but if you can get off this disaster, I would recommend you do so. I’m not exactly planning to survive much longer, so you can find a better host elsewhere.”

*Pulse* it sent disapproval.

“Oh, didn’t like me saying that did ya? Well I’m sorry, how about I explain why I’m doing this, so you’ll understand. So there is this big motherfucker named Iva, and their a real bastard, kidnapping, extortion, threatening violence, murder, and probably more. Anyway, it sent me here to ‘balance the world’, so I’m protesting by… killing myself… you know, that sounded, well not good, but much less sad in my head.”

*Pulse* It sent sadness on my behalf.

“Don’t judge me, you barely animate Void creature. Wait no, I’m sorry. That was rude of me. I’m sure you're a swell… guy? Whatever, Doesn’t matter. I think we got off on the wrong foot, or I guess same foot in this case. Or, I guess actually the wrong foot works for this, cause it would be like I tried to move the left foot, and you the right? Goddamn it, got off track again. Anyway… I’m Valin, and you are?” I finished my long rambling

*Pulse* It sent confusion about how it could tell me its name.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you could only do that weird idea soup thing, sorry.”

*Pulse* It sent motivation, and excitement for the future. ‘We could become strong together’ it sent, but with emotions and Ideas, instead of words.

“Well if you're so hyped about our partnership, I guess I can try to get stronger with you.” I said. I don’t know what about it made me so motivated, but I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I hadn’t felt motivation in a very long time. I think.

Getting up took some doing, mostly because all of my muscles were sore. Apparently laying on uneven stone ground is bad for you, who knew?

I took a more detailed look around me. Hmmm yes, the cave here was made out of cave. Very interesting. Jokes aside though, It was only about fifteen feet wide, and ten feet long. The walls were made of all the exciting colors of the cave world, those being dark gray, light gray, dirt brown, and dirtier brown. It seems an animal made this cave a home before me based on all the, uhhh, dirtier brown strewn about.

At the front end of the cave there was a roughly six foot tall tunnel that bent left. Following it, I saw something spectacular. Tree’s taller than skyscrapers, whatever those were, with canopy’s so large they must’ve covered miles, and just with one of these big bastards alone. But it wasn’t dark, because these trees were glowing a bright, beautiful blue.

It was like being outside on a clear summer's day, not a cloud in sight. The only reason I could tell they were leaves, and not just the sky, were the giant branches that they all emerged from. I could even see a hawk… in… one. That branch must’ve been at least 10 miles away, so how could I see…. Moving on, I could see plenty of smaller plant life as well. Their leaves glowed a much duller brightness, but it was still pretty. A forest inside a forest. Amazing. What do they eat? Don’t plants need sunlight or something? I guess it doesn’t matter.

I was standing on a rocky plateau, only twenty feet or so in the air. The hill in front of me was steep. Very steep. Damn near ninety degrees, even. I could slide down pretty easily, but the chances of me getting back up here were nil. Maybe I should stay, I mean there are probably all manner of creatures in fucking forest².

*Pulse* ‘get moving already!’ It sent.

“Yeah, you’re right. No point wasting time.” I said

Sliding down a hill bare-ass is not a fun experience, I have got to say.

At the bottom though, lay my reward.

A fucking black hole. Floating in mid-air. A beautiful blue corona around it's fucking Event Horizon. It's only basket ball sized though. No need to panic.

“WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE-”

*Pulse* Calm down! It sent.

“NO, I WILL NOT CALM DOWN, THAT IS A FUCKING BLACK HOLE!” I screamed

There are certain things I can handle, few and far between they may be, but they do exist. Black-fucking-holes are not one of them. I don’t even remember what’s so dangerous about them, but what I do remember is to NOT FUCKING MESS WITH THEM!

*Pulse* ‘There is reward, go explore.’ It sent.

“You know what, sure. Why not? If I die, I die. I was planning on doing that anyway.” I said, psyching myself up. And if I survive, I knew I could trust my void buddy, so that’d be nice. Why would I be able to trust it? I don’t know, but I would. Who needs rationality?

I take a step forward. Then two. Then ten. Then I’m directly in front of the black hole. Huh, I’m not dead.

“Sorry for doubting you, friend. I knew you had only the best in mind for me!” I said cheerily, mostly from the rush of being, you know, not dead.

*Pulse* Touch it

“I take everything I just said back! You obviously can’t be trusted!” I said half jokingly, half terrified. But I touched it anyway, cause I guess now I was ride or die with a being I met 20 minutes ago.

Fuck it, we ball.

*Ding* Congratulations, you have found a dungeon. Maybe don't go poking around in each one you see with zero preperation. Or do I'm not your dad. I wonder why this one is different, though. A mystery. *wink* *wink* You're welcome.