Innerworks

71. Sub-nothingness

It started suddenly.

A large scaled hand thrusting into the open space.

While It's form wasn't strictly tangible, It still found the breach rather rude.

The hand left as quickly and as forcefully as it had entered; the breach sealed up seamlessly a beat after. Nothing would look amiss in the swirling ever growing nothing of It's form...except the lone Orb now floating where the hand once was.

Upset, It swirled farther away, yet pulling the Orb closer for inspection.

Curiously it inspected the Orb; turning it this way and that; without disturbing the position in which the sphere's pale purple form floated-

Curiosity then immediately turned into unbridled rage.

The Orb was once a part of It. A part It had given life and form in the make of Its Host.

The Orb, no, the very Core of one of It's creations, floating once more within It...tainted.

The pale coloration was not natural, not at all. In fact, this Core was once a bright vivid color, It would know, It had given this one the power of foresight and command. Bright and bold to be listened to by many...

Yet here, once again within It, the Core floated, slowly fading away.

It howled and shook in fury, distress and loss. Swirling around aggressively within Its own nothingness, upset and unable to do anything-

The Core shook and pulsed a feeble and weak little thing that spoke far greater volumes of unfiltered fear.

Even more distressed at scaring the Little one, It swirled around the fading Core, surrounding and crooning in as best a comforting manner as It could manage.

Slowly the Core's shaking subsided, but it seemed like the pulsing had taken a lot more energy than the Little one had; the pale purple became paler.

Crooning again, It held steadfast, determined to hold onto the Core in what would--more than likely--be the Little one's last moments. It cried, a loud yet low tone. How unfortunate that It could not have helped It's creation when a form was present. How unfortunate that this one would suffer a slow demise surrounded by a creator who could do no more than watch.

Slowly...

Slowly...

The Core's pale purple disappeared into gray, leaving not but a tiny speck of color in It's nothingness.

It weeped, still holding and hoping at the least, that the Little one's final moments were free from pain. Time was inconsistent within the swirling depths of It but, no tools were necessary to measure the miniscule amount of time that the lone speck had left.

As such, It waited, humming, purring and crooning in gentle dulcet tones; letting the Little one fade away in peace.

...

One speck became two...

Then three...

Four...five...six...

There was now a large blotch of purple on the otherwise gray Orb.

It was never so happy or so confused in all of Its existence. The Little one struggled to live, pushed throughout the odds and was slowly pulsing back to life.

Like before, It still held fast, this time hoping for the Core to recover, hoping that the energy It gave the Little one would be able to restore it. Never had It done this, never had It needed to. Whenever It had created a Little one and the form they were given faded, a new form would simply replace the original. All with the same Core and purpose of course, just a different form and new memories to make. Never did It have to recreate a Core...or wait for it to heal.