The continuing story of Eric Levine
Not me, not me not me I WILL NOT DIE HERE…
And everything went dark. No thoughts, no feelings, only endless oblivion. The vague sensation that something was wrong, that something was running away from him, that he shouldn’t still be able to think, to…
Was he really aware? No, there was only darkness, the black void that stretched out as far as all his senses could tell. No movement. And so, he sunk into that comforting bleakness, that nothing, thinking only I refuse to die.
Across the universe, in Twilight Town, something struggled to life on the outskirts of the woods. It was a pathetic creature, small, spindly, with a large head and too-long arms and legs on a too-small body. The thing shuddered and stood shakily, jittering as it tried to get its bearings. It looked back and forth with jerky, twitching movements.
It vaguely resembled a deformed human child wrapped in shiny gray bandages. The face was obscured completely by bandages, with a giant white X where the face would be, fastened in the center with an ornate clasp. The hands and feet were bound with chains. Most noticeably, however, was a gaping hole in the chest, where a heart should have been.
The thing skittered towards a tree, seeming to inspect it, blind as it was. It continued moving from tree to tree, behaving in a manner that was curious and animalistic, until it bumped into something that was NOT a tree.
Instead, it was a slate-haired young man in a black coat. The young man looked up from what he was observing, and peered down at the creature. “A new one…?” he said quietly, before bending down to inspect it. The thing flailed at this new person’s interaction with it, and tried to run, but the young man stretched out a hand and it slowed, then stopped. “Who are you?” the young man asked?
The creature twitched and rolled its shoulders, before unsteadily asking [you can hear me?]
“Of course,” the young man replied calmly. “Will you come here?”
It convulsed once, twice, then crept towards the young man, somehow finally registering that this was indeed, man and that it was outside and that it once had been someone… who?
With the care of father, or more perhaps a gentle doctor handling a child, the young man tapped the X on the front of the creature’s head, and inspected the chains, the hole in the chest. “Well, let us first see what you look like,” he said after a few moments of prodding, before undoing the clasp.
There was a flash of light that was soon drowned by plumes of dark smoke and black thorns. The creature’s body stretched like taffy as it grew larger, formed into something new. After a while, a voice could be heard screaming in pain over the rushing darkness, and the odd stretching noises turned into the cracking of bones.
The young man sat back, one hand over his lower face in a gesture of analytical thought. “You are a new one,” he said, the smile evident in his voice.
Bandages undid themselves, turning into those black and silver vines as they unwound themselves. Chained lumps of shriveled claws turned into hands, too-long arms and legs became more naturally shaped, and the strange potato-like body formed into the shape of a human being. The shrill scream deepened into man’s voice, and as suddenly as it had begun, the darkness vanished, leaving a few waving thorns around the person that had just been reborn.
Its skin was bleached white, and stark white hair hung limply against its shoulders as it knelt on its hands and knees, breathing heavily, shivering. The last of the bandages vanished, and the emaciated person on the ground finally looked up at the young man with pupil-less eyes.
“Do you want to live?” he asked, smiling behind his hand.
Not me, not me, not me, I will not die, “I want to live,” it - he said flatly, and his vacant eyes filled in, pupils and colorless irises forming. “I want to live,” he said again, standing (and he was taller than that first young man). Color began to seep into his eyes, and with a third and final assertion of, “I want to LIVE, FUCK IT ALL!” they turned a brilliant green.
There’s more than just Oblivion. I’m gonna live. I have a second chance. It’s so empty, I don’t care, I will live, I will not die, I will not die, I will LIVE.
The few remaining bandages that hung limply off the colorless young man flashed into the thorns of nothing around him, swirling around and tightening against his flesh, before releasing. Green eyes peered at normal colored hands, and normal colored hands ran themselves down a long-featured face and two scars along his cheeks, through brilliant red hair.
“I’m alive…” he muttered, in shock, before clutching at his chest.
“Congratulations, though it’s a fairly hollow one, I assure you. I’ll ask again - who are you?”
And everything went dark. No thoughts, no feelings, only endless oblivion. The vague sensation that something was wrong, that something was running away from him, that he shouldn’t still be able to think, to…
Was he really aware? No, there was only darkness, the black void that stretched out as far as all his senses could tell. No movement. And so, he sunk into that comforting bleakness, that nothing, thinking only I refuse to die.
Across the universe, in Twilight Town, something struggled to life on the outskirts of the woods. It was a pathetic creature, small, spindly, with a large head and too-long arms and legs on a too-small body. The thing shuddered and stood shakily, jittering as it tried to get its bearings. It looked back and forth with jerky, twitching movements.
It vaguely resembled a deformed human child wrapped in shiny gray bandages. The face was obscured completely by bandages, with a giant white X where the face would be, fastened in the center with an ornate clasp. The hands and feet were bound with chains. Most noticeably, however, was a gaping hole in the chest, where a heart should have been.
The thing skittered towards a tree, seeming to inspect it, blind as it was. It continued moving from tree to tree, behaving in a manner that was curious and animalistic, until it bumped into something that was NOT a tree.
Instead, it was a slate-haired young man in a black coat. The young man looked up from what he was observing, and peered down at the creature. “A new one…?” he said quietly, before bending down to inspect it. The thing flailed at this new person’s interaction with it, and tried to run, but the young man stretched out a hand and it slowed, then stopped. “Who are you?” the young man asked?
The creature twitched and rolled its shoulders, before unsteadily asking [you can hear me?]
“Of course,” the young man replied calmly. “Will you come here?”
It convulsed once, twice, then crept towards the young man, somehow finally registering that this was indeed, man and that it was outside and that it once had been someone… who?
With the care of father, or more perhaps a gentle doctor handling a child, the young man tapped the X on the front of the creature’s head, and inspected the chains, the hole in the chest. “Well, let us first see what you look like,” he said after a few moments of prodding, before undoing the clasp.
There was a flash of light that was soon drowned by plumes of dark smoke and black thorns. The creature’s body stretched like taffy as it grew larger, formed into something new. After a while, a voice could be heard screaming in pain over the rushing darkness, and the odd stretching noises turned into the cracking of bones.
The young man sat back, one hand over his lower face in a gesture of analytical thought. “You are a new one,” he said, the smile evident in his voice.
Bandages undid themselves, turning into those black and silver vines as they unwound themselves. Chained lumps of shriveled claws turned into hands, too-long arms and legs became more naturally shaped, and the strange potato-like body formed into the shape of a human being. The shrill scream deepened into man’s voice, and as suddenly as it had begun, the darkness vanished, leaving a few waving thorns around the person that had just been reborn.
Its skin was bleached white, and stark white hair hung limply against its shoulders as it knelt on its hands and knees, breathing heavily, shivering. The last of the bandages vanished, and the emaciated person on the ground finally looked up at the young man with pupil-less eyes.
“Do you want to live?” he asked, smiling behind his hand.
Not me, not me, not me, I will not die, “I want to live,” it - he said flatly, and his vacant eyes filled in, pupils and colorless irises forming. “I want to live,” he said again, standing (and he was taller than that first young man). Color began to seep into his eyes, and with a third and final assertion of, “I want to LIVE, FUCK IT ALL!” they turned a brilliant green.
There’s more than just Oblivion. I’m gonna live. I have a second chance. It’s so empty, I don’t care, I will live, I will not die, I will not die, I will LIVE.
The few remaining bandages that hung limply off the colorless young man flashed into the thorns of nothing around him, swirling around and tightening against his flesh, before releasing. Green eyes peered at normal colored hands, and normal colored hands ran themselves down a long-featured face and two scars along his cheeks, through brilliant red hair.
“I’m alive…” he muttered, in shock, before clutching at his chest.
“Congratulations, though it’s a fairly hollow one, I assure you. I’ll ask again - who are you?”