The Alteration

?ItA?

The deity, or whatever was controlling the screen now had labeled this 'episode' of his life '?ItA?'.

He should be on the right track, he didn't intend to bring Jack along for this mission since it was pretty dangerous, but he didn't really have a choice in that anymore...

The deity was sentient. And it was a dick sometimes. He had never seen it though... only heard its voice. Most times it was making fun of him, sometimes it seemed to be surprised by the outcome, all the time it was entertained. But right now... he felt anger. Anger that wasn't his. There were thoughts that weren't his either. Memories from distant times and different people. Their pain, regrets and their feelings of relief. The last feeling before they died.

He didn't know what he looked like on the outside. Maybe he had passed out or was having a seizure. The thought that there was a military captain who had just paid money to get Henry to work for him was a little comforting. They probably wouldn't hurt him if he showed weakness like that... Hopefully.

His head was hurting as more and more thoughts and feelings were suddenly flooding his mind. Why was this happening? What did he do to trigger this?

He was cowering in front of the screen, he wasn't even able to look up and see what was on it. Everything was just too much... Henry was barely able to form a single thought of his own.

He wasn't the first.

These were the memories of people that were in contact with the deity before him, they had to be. But why did he have to see and feel all of this now? "Wh-why... What do you want?!" The deity itself hadn't actually spoken to him for so long, why was it doing this now?

Leaving behind...

Endangering loved ones...

Falling...

There was silent knocking. It was hard but he managed to look up.

Someone... or something was kneeling in front of him. It was not much more than a silhouette made out of... golden light? The only really clear thing he could see was a shackle around their neck. It had knocked on the ground to get his attention and was now offering the same hand to help him up. Henry wasn't sure if he could trust anything that was coming from this void...

No matter the cost...

It felt like his mind was stabbed with knifes... The silhouette just stayed still and held its hand out. The mere fact that it seemed to be a constant, not changing form right now was comforting enough for Henry to want to hold onto it. It took way more effort than it should to reach out and touch the being.

The feeling was... weird. At first it felt like his fingers would just phase through, like a ghost, but then he felt something underneath the light. It was warm... Warmth slowly spread from his hand to the rest of his body. The pain and any foreign memories and emotions faded away. Henry sighed with relieve and relaxed.

This for sure wasn't the deity. But then... what or who was it?

He carefully sat up, still holding hands with the golden entity. It wasn't made of light... but it didn't seem to be glowing either? Henry could feel seemingly normal skin under his fingers...

"... Who are you?"

It didn't speak. Instead writing formed out of the light and floated in midair. "A Friend"

That wasn't exactly an answer to his question... but it was good to know. "What just happened?"

"They felt threatened"