“I’m surprised you have gotten this far.” I admitted after hours of travelling through an impossible labyrinth and being sucked into all kinds experiences. They all had something in common though. They all wanted to keep me there, no matter what.
While I swiped the dust of my shoulders, Paula was largely unresponsive on her own torture bench, still having been nailed to it.
“Hey.” I said and started pulling the nails out. Only as I slapped her several times did she finally look me in the eyes. “It’s fine now. Look, Tom is dead.”
“We need to … hurry.” Nodding several times I helped her to sit up and turned to the wall to my right straight away. After kicking it several times, I conjured my sword out of thing air and slashed at the wall with no effect. “Don’t tell me you have no clue how to go on.”
“I obviously know the way.” I answered and scratched my cheek a little.
“We are doomed.” I nearly forgot she could discern my lies as well as the apostle of truth. Hammering against the wall once more, I sensed that we had to go past it. This was the correct way, but I still couldn’t embark on it.
“How about you stop nagging and do what you are here for?”
“The truth is that you are the only one capable of getting us out of here. You are the ruler of this place! If you’d rather be tortured then to find out the truth about this book you are talking about, then tell me! At least let me find my peace!”
“Fine.” I hissed angrily and stepped away from the wall. “Aska. Get here this instant.”
“No! That thing is dager-“ Yeah, Aska was dangerous. He was most definitely the most dangerous man I knew.
“I do not know why I have created you, but you can do everything the real Aska can do as well, right? You can manipulate my emotions and memories, you can even block my path.” I explained and knocked onto the wall with the tip of the sword again.
“Down here I am your god.” He said, a dangerous smile on his otherwise handsome face.
“Admittedly, it’s not just down here, isn’t it? If you have crept this deeply into my subconscious, then I really must see you as my god in other places as well. But you aren’t him. I don’t love you at all, I only feel hatred right now.” I balled my left hand into a fist and smashed right through the sturdy wall. Death was seeping out of the cracks on my hands for a little while while I grinned at him. Brandishing my sword at him, he barely managed to stop it with his bare hand. Letting go of the sword, I pounced into him and scratched his cheek with my fingernails while we both fell down. “I know I’m weird.” I hissed and headbutted him angrily several times. His nose broke after the second time and he groaned loudly as soon as I stopped. “But at least I’m willing to clean that mess up down here. Starting with you.” Grabbing his throat, I squeezed tightly while he pressed his hand against my chin to force me away. He trembled beneath me, hit my vulnerable side several times but it was to no avail. My nails dug deeper and deeper into his skin until I stopped choking, and rather pulled his throat apart in one go. Throwing his deprecated head against the wall furiously, I quickly stood and freed Paula from her constraints.
“Now we have to hurry.” Aska was a god. And he would come back.
Sprinting through the opened wall while holding hands, we immediately fell down into a deep pit full of an oily substance. For several seconds, we both struggled against the suctioning forces as we waded towards the opposite end which luckily had a stair leading upwards.
“That wasn’t nice.” I turned around as fast as I could and stared at Aska holding a burning torch in his hands. Grinning deviously, he let the torch fall down quickly.
“No!” I screamed, extending my hand towards the faraway torch and wrestled for its control with my mind. He held against my attempts with all he had, but luckily I was capable enough to stop the torch in mid flight.
“I love to see hope in your eyes.” Aska explained happily and jumped onto the torch, pushing it into the oily substance which was immediately ignited.
I lost the ground beneath my feet even before the wall of fire reached me. I was sucked towards the middle of the pit, still holding onto Paula’s hand. And then, the fire spread to us. We were immediately engulfed in it and pain spread throughout my body. Giggling loudly, I breathed in a whole lot of hot air before I lost my balance as well and dove beneath the surface of the oily liquid. Even there my whole body felt on fire and the liquid rushed into my lungs, burning me from the inside but also reminded me of my helplessness. Trying to scream, I choked on even more burning water and fell unconscious right away.
There was no dream during that time. I had no vision. It was just darkness for a second and then, I was woken up by several slaps on my face.
“Wake up!” The constable screamed at me loudly while I shook my head filled with pain.
“Fuck …” I mumbled, slowly opening my eyes to look at the ceiling through a cloud of pink mist.
“Finally. It took me an hour!” The constable complained while I sat up groggily. In front of me laid Paula, her chest stabbed through by the constable’s sword. Immediately, I went within me and strengthened the defences of my soul as much as I could. Standing up, I quickly kicked the teapot off the fire and followed Marc out of the temple as quickly as I could.
“Why did you do that?” I hissed at him the moment I stepped out of the temple.
“Because of this!” He shouted out and pointed at the sky where several winged humans flew in circles. “They told everyone that the gods sealed off this world. No god except you can enter it now!” My dream had come true without me doing anything for it? And why would the gods do such a thing at this point? No … even though I would love to see it come true, I couldn’t accept it.
“… quit showing me what I desire. I’m getting sick of it.” I said and exploded in death right away. The dream warped around me as it was torn to shreds within seconds and was replaced by a burning hot feeling all over my skin. Grabbing Paula’s hand tightly, I made sure she wasn’t affected by my magic, or rather the imagination of my magic and hurled everything I had at the oily substance around us, disintegrating it instantly.
“I’m done with this shit!” I didn’t care what it meant to destroy my own subconsciousness at this point. I just wanted to be done with it. And so, I pointed my index finger right towards the place where I felt all my memories and let go of a massive ray of death, tearing through the walls of the labyrinth with ease. And then, I showed Aska my middle finger and dragged the still burning Paula behind me through the dark tunnel I just dug.
My skin healed way faster than hers and even as we fell through the roof of the library all my memories were in, she didn’t regain full consciousness.
“Hey. Wake up.” I said, still dragging her over the floor as I heard a loud thud behind me. Rolling my eyes, I turned around to see Aska strolling over towards us which a huge smile on his face.
“Do that again in here and you may wake up without any memories.” He said, but still shrank back a little as I pointed at him with my right index finger and materialised death once more. It shot towards him at an impossible speed, curving upwards in the process. Sneering at his feet standing there, I turned around again and dragged Paula further for exactly thirty seconds until Aska laughed behind me.
“I can target … so leave me alone or I’ll kill you time and time again.” I growled unhappily, taking a step forwards as a book got loose from one of the shelves and flew towards me.
“Really?” He asked all high and mighty as I leaned over to the side, evading the book by hair’s breadth. It sailed straight into his hands where it landed neatly and already opened on a very specific page he presented me.
“How about I eradicate the memory of Luna’s death?” He asked and showed me exactly what I could never bear to lose.
“You …” I growled, already thinking of ways to counter him until I found it. Bookshelf after bookshelf rattled loudly as thousands of books flew towards me, forming a tornado above my head. Smiling brightly, I pointed my finger upwards and sent one of these books towards him in case he didn’t know.
“You would eradicate all of the memories you made with me so you could protect one?“ He asked in disbelief which showed that he wasn’t all knowing about me.
“Some are worth more than others.” I concluded and smiled brightly as he sighed and sent the book back into its original place. I followed suit shortly afterwards and stared at him warily.
“I’m trying to protect you here.” He said sighed helplessly.
“I know. In this book there is something I don’t want to see. But I still need to.” I admitted and closed my eyes a little. At least he wasn’t as hostile to me anymore.
“I cannot let you leave.” He admitted and balled his hands to fists.
“You are free to try whatever.” I said a bit tired of this shit and turned my back towards him. Dragging the slowly healing priestess of truth further towards the altar, I noticed how she started to mumble incoherent stuff halfway there. Something down here must have turned her head to mush. Maybe it was the torture, maybe the flames or something else entirely. Only she knew for sure.
“Wake. Up.” I growled as we were ten metres away from the place I wanted to be. An altar with a book spewing death and a shut door emitting a green light.
“Do your thing.” I growled unhappily, but smiled nonetheless as Paula stood up slowly and looked at the door with hazy eyes.
“No truth is behind that door. It’s just a door, leading to nowhere.” How was I supposed to understand that? A door always lead somewhere. But this door which had to be subconsciously contained by a barrier so that it didn’t cause mayhem within me purely by existing lead nowhere?
“At least tell me this endeavour wasn’t for naught.”
“The book … it’s weird. The contents are true, but they are also a lie” So a half truth? Or were it’s contents true depending on the person one might ask?
“Can you do something with it or not?” I asked, disregarding all these questions I had right away.
“I can replicate it in our reality. I just have to touch it but …” She was scared. My barrier held the worst back, but it wouldn’t be able to protect her inside. And I couldn’t enter at all.
“Give up.” Aska said, having appeared behind me. “This is my doing. Your magic cannot win against mine.” So it wasn’t even the book, but rather my fear of it keeping me away.
“So I am the reason I cannot read it again?” I asked, hitting my head a little before Aska spoke up again.
“The real Aska locked it away, but we down here keep it safe.” He admitted with a rather plain face which made me very angry because I couldn’t bear my subconsciousness and Aska agreeing on something.
“How much I hate this.” I mumbled and finally made a decision. My soul was created from death, which was why mine would be obliterated it I entered that protective bubble. But I did have someone with me who wouldn’t have that many problems.
Pushing Paula’s back, I shoved her into the bubble towards the altar. She started to scream right away, her mind filled with wonderful death fantasies and a lot of pain.
“You can do it!” I cheered her on as much as I could while she stumbled towards the altar and collapsed leaning onto it.
“May the truth come to light.” The death inside the bubble vanished instantly as a bright light erupted above the altar, blasting through onto my barrier heavily. Grinning towards Aska, I snipped my fingers and threw Paula’s soul out of my subconsciousness. Snipping once more, I attempted to leave as well, but was held in place by a rather strong force working contrary to mine.
“As I said, I won’t let you leave.” He said, walking towards me with a black sword in his hand.
“And I do not care.” I stated dryly and let him stab into my heart. “Because you aren’t the real one. You aren’t as fearsome as he is.” I growled, grabbed his hand and crushed his bones instantly. “Which is why I will leave. Now.” Bit into his nape with my canines and drew pitch black blood from him right away. Savouring the sweet liquid in my mouth, I made sure that not a single drop escaped my mouth as I sucked him empty in a deathly hug.
Then, I let his corpse fall onto the ground and snipped once more, leaving that place for good.
“I’m surprised you have gotten this far.” I admitted after hours of travelling through an impossible labyrinth and being sucked into all kinds experiences. They all had something in common though. They all wanted to keep me there, no matter what.
While I swiped the dust of my shoulders, Paula was largely unresponsive on her own torture bench, still having been nailed to it.
“Hey.” I said and started pulling the nails out. Only as I slapped her several times did she finally look me in the eyes. “It’s fine now. Look, Tom is dead.”
“We need to … hurry.” Nodding several times I helped her to sit up and turned to the wall to my right straight away. After kicking it several times, I conjured my sword out of thing air and slashed at the wall with no effect. “Don’t tell me you have no clue how to go on.”
“I obviously know the way.” I answered and scratched my cheek a little.
“We are doomed.” I nearly forgot she could discern my lies as well as the apostle of truth. Hammering against the wall once more, I sensed that we had to go past it. This was the correct way, but I still couldn’t embark on it.
“How about you stop nagging and do what you are here for?”
“The truth is that you are the only one capable of getting us out of here. You are the ruler of this place! If you’d rather be tortured then to find out the truth about this book you are talking about, then tell me! At least let me find my peace!”
“Fine.” I hissed angrily and stepped away from the wall. “Aska. Get here this instant.”
“No! That thing is dager-“ Yeah, Aska was dangerous. He was most definitely the most dangerous man I knew.
“I do not know why I have created you, but you can do everything the real Aska can do as well, right? You can manipulate my emotions and memories, you can even block my path.” I explained and knocked onto the wall with the tip of the sword again.
“Down here I am your god.” He said, a dangerous smile on his otherwise handsome face.
“Admittedly, it’s not just down here, isn’t it? If you have crept this deeply into my subconscious, then I really must see you as my god in other places as well. But you aren’t him. I don’t love you at all, I only feel hatred right now.” I balled my left hand into a fist and smashed right through the sturdy wall. Death was seeping out of the cracks on my hands for a little while while I grinned at him. Brandishing my sword at him, he barely managed to stop it with his bare hand. Letting go of the sword, I pounced into him and scratched his cheek with my fingernails while we both fell down. “I know I’m weird.” I hissed and headbutted him angrily several times. His nose broke after the second time and he groaned loudly as soon as I stopped. “But at least I’m willing to clean that mess up down here. Starting with you.” Grabbing his throat, I squeezed tightly while he pressed his hand against my chin to force me away. He trembled beneath me, hit my vulnerable side several times but it was to no avail. My nails dug deeper and deeper into his skin until I stopped choking, and rather pulled his throat apart in one go. Throwing his deprecated head against the wall furiously, I quickly stood and freed Paula from her constraints.
“Now we have to hurry.” Aska was a god. And he would come back.
Sprinting through the opened wall while holding hands, we immediately fell down into a deep pit full of an oily substance. For several seconds, we both struggled against the suctioning forces as we waded towards the opposite end which luckily had a stair leading upwards.
“That wasn’t nice.” I turned around as fast as I could and stared at Aska holding a burning torch in his hands. Grinning deviously, he let the torch fall down quickly.
“No!” I screamed, extending my hand towards the faraway torch and wrestled for its control with my mind. He held against my attempts with all he had, but luckily I was capable enough to stop the torch in mid flight.
“I love to see hope in your eyes.” Aska explained happily and jumped onto the torch, pushing it into the oily substance which was immediately ignited.
I lost the ground beneath my feet even before the wall of fire reached me. I was sucked towards the middle of the pit, still holding onto Paula’s hand. And then, the fire spread to us. We were immediately engulfed in it and pain spread throughout my body. Giggling loudly, I breathed in a whole lot of hot air before I lost my balance as well and dove beneath the surface of the oily liquid. Even there my whole body felt on fire and the liquid rushed into my lungs, burning me from the inside but also reminded me of my helplessness. Trying to scream, I choked on even more burning water and fell unconscious right away.
There was no dream during that time. I had no vision. It was just darkness for a second and then, I was woken up by several slaps on my face.
“Wake up!” The constable screamed at me loudly while I shook my head filled with pain.
“Fuck …” I mumbled, slowly opening my eyes to look at the ceiling through a cloud of pink mist.
“Finally. It took me an hour!” The constable complained while I sat up groggily. In front of me laid Paula, her chest stabbed through by the constable’s sword. Immediately, I went within me and strengthened the defences of my soul as much as I could. Standing up, I quickly kicked the teapot off the fire and followed Marc out of the temple as quickly as I could.
“Why did you do that?” I hissed at him the moment I stepped out of the temple.
“Because of this!” He shouted out and pointed at the sky where several winged humans flew in circles. “They told everyone that the gods sealed off this world. No god except you can enter it now!” My dream had come true without me doing anything for it? And why would the gods do such a thing at this point? No … even though I would love to see it come true, I couldn’t accept it.
“… quit showing me what I desire. I’m getting sick of it.” I said and exploded in death right away. The dream warped around me as it was torn to shreds within seconds and was replaced by a burning hot feeling all over my skin. Grabbing Paula’s hand tightly, I made sure she wasn’t affected by my magic, or rather the imagination of my magic and hurled everything I had at the oily substance around us, disintegrating it instantly.
“I’m done with this shit!” I didn’t care what it meant to destroy my own subconsciousness at this point. I just wanted to be done with it. And so, I pointed my index finger right towards the place where I felt all my memories and let go of a massive ray of death, tearing through the walls of the labyrinth with ease. And then, I showed Aska my middle finger and dragged the still burning Paula behind me through the dark tunnel I just dug.
My skin healed way faster than hers and even as we fell through the roof of the library all my memories were in, she didn’t regain full consciousness.
“Hey. Wake up.” I said, still dragging her over the floor as I heard a loud thud behind me. Rolling my eyes, I turned around to see Aska strolling over towards us which a huge smile on his face.
“Do that again in here and you may wake up without any memories.” He said, but still shrank back a little as I pointed at him with my right index finger and materialised death once more. It shot towards him at an impossible speed, curving upwards in the process. Sneering at his feet standing there, I turned around again and dragged Paula further for exactly thirty seconds until Aska laughed behind me.
“I can target … so leave me alone or I’ll kill you time and time again.” I growled unhappily, taking a step forwards as a book got loose from one of the shelves and flew towards me.
“Really?” He asked all high and mighty as I leaned over to the side, evading the book by hair’s breadth. It sailed straight into his hands where it landed neatly and already opened on a very specific page he presented me.
“How about I eradicate the memory of Luna’s death?” He asked and showed me exactly what I could never bear to lose.
“You …” I growled, already thinking of ways to counter him until I found it. Bookshelf after bookshelf rattled loudly as thousands of books flew towards me, forming a tornado above my head. Smiling brightly, I pointed my finger upwards and sent one of these books towards him in case he didn’t know.
“You would eradicate all of the memories you made with me so you could protect one?“ He asked in disbelief which showed that he wasn’t all knowing about me.
“Some are worth more than others.” I concluded and smiled brightly as he sighed and sent the book back into its original place. I followed suit shortly afterwards and stared at him warily.
“I’m trying to protect you here.” He said sighed helplessly.
“I know. In this book there is something I don’t want to see. But I still need to.” I admitted and closed my eyes a little. At least he wasn’t as hostile to me anymore.
“I cannot let you leave.” He admitted and balled his hands to fists.
“You are free to try whatever.” I said a bit tired of this shit and turned my back towards him. Dragging the slowly healing priestess of truth further towards the altar, I noticed how she started to mumble incoherent stuff halfway there. Something down here must have turned her head to mush. Maybe it was the torture, maybe the flames or something else entirely. Only she knew for sure.
“Wake. Up.” I growled as we were ten metres away from the place I wanted to be. An altar with a book spewing death and a shut door emitting a green light.
“Do your thing.” I growled unhappily, but smiled nonetheless as Paula stood up slowly and looked at the door with hazy eyes.
“No truth is behind that door. It’s just a door, leading to nowhere.” How was I supposed to understand that? A door always lead somewhere. But this door which had to be subconsciously contained by a barrier so that it didn’t cause mayhem within me purely by existing lead nowhere?
“At least tell me this endeavour wasn’t for naught.”
“The book … it’s weird. The contents are true, but they are also a lie” So a half truth? Or were it’s contents true depending on the person one might ask?
“Can you do something with it or not?” I asked, disregarding all these questions I had right away.
“I can replicate it in our reality. I just have to touch it but …” She was scared. My barrier held the worst back, but it wouldn’t be able to protect her inside. And I couldn’t enter at all.
“Give up.” Aska said, having appeared behind me. “This is my doing. Your magic cannot win against mine.” So it wasn’t even the book, but rather my fear of it keeping me away.
“So I am the reason I cannot read it again?” I asked, hitting my head a little before Aska spoke up again.
“The real Aska locked it away, but we down here keep it safe.” He admitted with a rather plain face which made me very angry because I couldn’t bear my subconsciousness and Aska agreeing on something.
“How much I hate this.” I mumbled and finally made a decision. My soul was created from death, which was why mine would be obliterated it I entered that protective bubble. But I did have someone with me who wouldn’t have that many problems.
Pushing Paula’s back, I shoved her into the bubble towards the altar. She started to scream right away, her mind filled with wonderful death fantasies and a lot of pain.
“You can do it!” I cheered her on as much as I could while she stumbled towards the altar and collapsed leaning onto it.
“May the truth come to light.” The death inside the bubble vanished instantly as a bright light erupted above the altar, blasting through onto my barrier heavily. Grinning towards Aska, I snipped my fingers and threw Paula’s soul out of my subconsciousness. Snipping once more, I attempted to leave as well, but was held in place by a rather strong force working contrary to mine.
“As I said, I won’t let you leave.” He said, walking towards me with a black sword in his hand.
“And I do not care.” I stated dryly and let him stab into my heart. “Because you aren’t the real one. You aren’t as fearsome as he is.” I growled, grabbed his hand and crushed his bones instantly. “Which is why I will leave. Now.” Bit into his nape with my canines and drew pitch black blood from him right away. Savouring the sweet liquid in my mouth, I made sure that not a single drop escaped my mouth as I sucked him empty in a deathly hug.
Then, I let his corpse fall onto the ground and snipped once more, leaving that place for good.
