Al and Adam stood in front of the unconscious man they had heaved up the staircase. A firm slap from Al had broken Adam out of his thoughts and now they booth stood in front of the idiot who fell down the stairs. A frantic energy had over come Adam and he found himself getting worked up for the upcoming interrogation. He had brushed off Al's questions about his wounds and told him he'd explain everything once they knew who was after them. So After Al had fished some handcuffs out of a draw and clasped the mans limbs 'round one of his comfortable chairs the two men got started on making Mr.tumble spill the beans. Adam hoped from one foot to the other before shaking the man to wake him. The rigorous shaking didn't do more then produce a protesting groan so Adam gave up the effort and gave the floor over to Al. The pressure on Adam's body built as he waited for the man to wake, his impatience flaring as he wished they urged the interview to progress. Al slapped the mans face lightly to promote further response. Seeing the man still staying stubbornly out of it, he grasped his face and opened his mouth. left hand holding the crooks jaw down Al grabbed Adam's half full glass from the table and poured some into the mans mouth before closing it. He put the glass down next to his empty one and used his right hand to then hold the mans nose, causing him to swallow down the small finger of whisky. The man woke up fast without spluttering, jerking his face out of Al's grip. Al's respect for the man rose a little at his handling of the strong liquor and he wondered what Adam had poured in there. Al let him recover a little after he woke, slapping him firmly once he did and glaring at him with disapproval.
"Why'd you come here?" Al spoke like the question was a formality, like he expected the man would tell him everything he could have possibly wanted to know-effectively setting the atmosphere and the tone of the 'interview'.
Adam (literally) jumped in and slapped the man on the face again for emphases "Yeah, who do you work for!".
Al looked over at him and took note of his furious hopping, Adam's tall form see sawing side to side as he shifted from one foot to the other. "Are you uh, okay?" The atmosphere was somewhat ruined.
Adam looked deep into Al's eyes as he stopped jumping from foot to foot and pondered the meaning behind the insightful man's words. The spark of realisation caused flame to bloom in Adam's mind. The frantic energy that had overtaken his body, his eagerness to rush through the interrogation, the slow disappearance of all rational thought as he stood motionless in the middle of the office. Adam was not okay. Warmth make a beeline through his body towards his bladder and he suddenly crossed legs his legs as his mind finally caught up to the speeding movements of his body. Adam uncrossed his legs and ran for the doors at the back of Al's office as he realised there was no stopping the incoming tide-criminal and detective alike watching him run(if the indescribable dash could be called that) eyes wide with disbelief. He flung open the door at the right and then ran past it, seeing it was not in fact a bathroom. Praying to the sweet lord he leaped to the other door and slipped inside, hoping for porcelain paradise and figuring that if there was no bathroom there would at least be privacy. But as if by miracle, he had found himself in the hallowed halls of the restroom once again, the tiled floor beckoning him, welcoming him home. Adam slammed the door closed behind him, free at last.
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Adam finished washing his hands, basking in the profound relief of not peeing himself, riding high of the blissful emotion. In this moment of euphoria, this bastion of peace and refuge, the voice decided to speak into his mind once again. In this brief serenity the enemy lingered, Adam shot down at the height of his accomplishment.
[You are not doing a very good job]
Adam felt the disturbance before the voice ever spoke, his eyes had flung open in indignant rage as he fore-felt the coming of his great enemy. The words tumbled through his mind in accusing litany and before more could be said Adam spoke back against his captor, projecting his words harshly in his mind as he spoke them.
"You suck"
[...]
"you suck so much, you're terrible. WHAT THE HELL. I killed someone! I actually killed a guy, I was stabbed. Bloody hell I was shot too! What is wrong with you man! You suck, you suck so much and I hate you. Wh-ho-what right do you have have to do what you've done to me! You're terrible, you're terrible. Look what you've done, look what you've done!" Adam stared at his bloody shaking hands.
Adam felt the wood as brushed up against it, sliding down his bathroom door. He'd backed against it in his rant, seeking to barricade himself from the world outside, subconsciously pressing himself against the room's entrance to make himself feel safe somehow in the little bathroom he hid in. His hands shook as thoughts of what he'd done flashed through his mind, how he'd killed a man and stared into his fading eyes. He felt phantom pain in his side as he remembered the wounds that had been inflicted on him, his body not quite believing such gaping injury was simply gone due to some potions random healing. The voice in his mind stayed, bearing down on him. Adam remembered how it had forced him to leave this room such a short time ago and felt his whole body shiver. The trembling in his hands transferred into a whole body experience and Adam held himself tightly to clamp down on the involuntary movements. He sat on the tiled floor and rocked slowly as his emotions rolled through him, experiencing something like a panic attack as huddled there. It was something he only ever heard of, a thing people these days had started talking of-although Adam felt like he must be going through something must worse.
The voice in his mind stayed, it's presence hovering over him and ever worsening the sate he was in. He struggled not to let out some sort of sobbing sound as it hovered over him, watching him wrap his arms around himself in his weakness, his venerability. His panic started to slip away as stayed curled up there, his sobs becoming more infrequent and his stare lengthening. Despair stared to null more and more of what it was he was feeling, such overwhelming indecipherable emotion disappearing away into the hopeless void. Adam felt fear, and the fear gave way to more and more of these new terrible emotions, the fear fading as the emotions fed the void. He had started to rock faster the longer he stayed hunched over, helpless. Adam fought against that sweeping despair, his fear of becoming unfeeling surfacing, of cracking and becoming an empty shell. Adam wanted to fight back the swelling apathy and the tide that fed it, but he felt as if he was too pathetic to, huddled up like a scared child against the bathroom door- the only one in his house that would lock. His trembling hand reached for the drink at his side, seeking relief from the crushing things he was feeling-for they were like things, heavy and physical. He drank deep of the draught, the voice in his head wordlessly encouraging his actions and making him feel all the more violated as he did so. He felt escape from the permanency of his own emotions, the buzzing warmth temporarily filling him and pushing the void away. He was left him with a slight pleasant feeling sufficing him, the emotions not gone, but heavily reduced in intensity. He left out a huge uneven breath as he felt the weight lessen. He felt like he could send again, breathe again-like his legs were once again up to the job of lifting along with everything he was experiencing. He felt his thoughts almost spread out, freed from their spiral and their circling nature. Negative reinforcement he thought to himself as he slowly started to clearly think again. He realised how quick of a crutch the drink was becoming. His past deviation into psychology informing him of the conditioning he was putting himself through, causing Adam to shake his head stupidly, temporarily forgetting about the voice dwelling in his mind. Although he supposed magically healing from stab wounds was probably enough to get anyone hooked on the elixir, let alone its mental benefits.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Adam stood and walked to the toilet, frowning as he realised the mirth he felt, the unnaturalness of the sudden change in emotion causing him to shiver again as he did just before. Adam considered the effect the drink had on him further, unsettling himself. Adam felt himself grow weary of the gourd upon his hip, deciding to maybe treat it with a little more of the gravity a magical potion deserved.
"hear we again" Adam muttered darkly as the warm pressing sensation fulfilled him, and he was reminded of the other reason the elixir shouldn't become a heavy stable of his inter-dimensional diet. For the fourth time that day, Adam used the bathroom.
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Adam washed his hands, the skin of them turning red as the scorching water fell onto them. The voice spoke as he dried his hands throughly, wondering idly about how he would ever wash his handtowel if he kept getting teleported into this bathroom with only a gourd upon his hip. His mind kept drifting, filling with any other inane abstraction as opposed to addressing the presence in his mind which still lingered. Eventually his mind ran dry of thoughts to pull from. Adam stood defeated before the towel rack and finally engaged with the persistent dogged presence that wouldn't leave him.
"What do you want" Adam sighed seemingly alongside his response to the voice still in his head-or maybe it was his response that was a sigh.
[You need to defeat the summons of the lich so they may not become enemies of the future or become parts of his twisted abominations, so some may avoid even the most gruesome fate of becoming both]
"I already killed one, surely I am not doing such a bad job"
[The man you killed was not a target]
Adam sucked in a large breath before responding "Who was he then, how was I supposed to know who to kill-how was I supposed to know I shouldn't of killed him" His words came out fast in reply
[you wouldn't of known]
Adam choked out in response, sputtering in disbelief
[For it does not matter you killed him. You were pursing your goal to stop the coming calamity. Your task is all important, and there will be obstacles in your way that will be removed or avoided. All that matters is that you keep moving forward, this will not be the only one you kill in pursuit of this goal. The fate of all our future lies in the success of this endeavour, the undertaking is not of consequence in comparison to the weight of its completion. It does not matter you killed this man or that you do any other that would be in your way. You must eliminate the targets you have been given, you must accomplish this goal. You will move forward and eliminate your targets. More hangs in the balance than can be known.]
The voice spoke callously of the lives it expected to be taken, openly valuing not any individual over its goal. Adam wondered what the point of his efforts were, surely he was just as worthless as any other the voice could sink its teeth into, why wad he the one chosen to suffer through this. Adam imagined hundreds of people in his shoes and realised the voice might of used many people up already in pursuit of it's task. There was no way to prove he was the first, the only one-even if he was the one one going about the mission right now. What would other people do in this scenario, what had other people done already. Adam imagined what a killer could of done with this type of power, nausea overtaking him as he imagined all kinds of criminals empowered to seek out this goal. What had been done by these people in ;pursuit' of the goal. What atrocities had the voice enabled-encouraged-them to undertake, pushing them on as long as they killed the ones the voice wanted killed? Who was to say the voice even told the truth about the 'mission' it's instructions were vague and severe. Was there any real targets, or would the voice simply congratulate him on his killings and assure him of his success, endlessly propagating violence and using him as tool for murder and destruction. Adam tried to pull himself out of another negative spiral before his thoughts culminated in more dread and listlessness. He considered taking a swig to fill his body with that healing fuzzing warmth and to push the negative emotions away and his hand drifted toward the gourd almost without prompting. As he felt the leathery skin of the container with his hand he recoiled from the sensation, not wanting to become dependent on the drink to maintain a positive mental state-definetly not because he realised that the action was also result in another use of the bathroom. The shock of almost putting himself through another bathroom event helped him to shake out of the stupor he was entering. He fought the cloying thoughts and shook his body almost violently, purposefully. He exerted some control over his body and forced himself to take a deep breath, soon the flurried thoughts flying quickly out of his head. He repeatedly inhaled until he could smoothly draw air into his body and release it without shuddering, making sure the moment was passed.
Feeling somewhat recovered Adam briefly entertained the idea of asking the voice about his next destination or his next target. Then he thought about what it had said to him and about how there could be others out there in the different worlds, reeking havoc and abusing their gifted power. he thought about immortal psychopaths let loose on those innocent realities and of the voices encouragement to deal with all obstacles and chose to leave instead. It was time to put some distance between himself and the voice, and to act while he had some sort of motivation to complete his task. He felt resolve settle as he stepped out into whatever world awaited him. He felt guilt for the man he killed, and he did not look forward to the job he had been given. Adam wasn't a killer, he felt remorse, he felt wrong inside at the memory of what he'd done. He told himself that was enough. He wasn't evil and that it was better for him to do this then for someone who didn't mind the feel of blood thick on their hands.
But Adam was a killer, he had looked into a man's eyes as he lay down alive and then later as he lay there dead. He had seen the consequences of the trigger being pulled, seen a life fade away. He had killed someone, he couldn't take it back. He knew it had changed him even if he didn't want to let himself be aware of what that meant. He had crossed some sort of line surely. He had just been defending himself, and yet he knew if he ever did return to his old life things would be different. The words sounding flimsy in his own head let alone another's. Adam stepped out into the bustling new world mind still wrapped up in itself. He wondered if the next time he killed it would be easier. He seemed to balk at the thought, his skin turning paler and face scrunching up in disgust and even fear at the thought.
It wasn't long before his features flattened. The whistling and rushing sounds of the new world filling his ears and the indecipherable flashes of colour in his vision forcing his attention to shift, his eyes to focus. He began to be overwhelmed by his senses as he transited out of the quiet safe bathroom. He felt his feelings fall away as the onrushing simulation overtook him, the speeding machinery and shinty lights stunning him. The hovering colours and flying wonders filling his gaze. Adam found grand technological vista surrounding him, distracting him from his thoughts with its outlandish reality.