Abyss

Chapter 9: Destiny

The faint waft of cinnamon floated through the room, mingling with the warm scent of hot chocolate. I felt comfort all around me.

I was staring right at my Switch, a gift I had received. Noises came from around me, the bustle of my parents and my younger cousins. My parents. My parents?

My sights were locked onto the game, and I had no control over my muscles. They moved of their own accord as if I was a mere observer. But I did hear. I could still hear them. Did I ever really listen to them?

"Harry. . .! Harry. . .!" My mom called out multiple times from the other room. "Harry" She suddenly appeared from behind the doorframe. "Your dad and I have decided to take a vacation in Singapore. You'll join us, won't you?"

I did not answer them. I did not answer them. I desperately wanted to, but my mouth did not move. I did not flinch from my game. I could feel my mother's disappointed gaze. I could feel it sear into my very soul.

Then, I fell.

I seemingly slipped out of my body, falling into endless darkness, until—

I was on a yacht. Surrounded by my parents and my little brother. My eyes were still glued onto my Switch. A feeling of liminality washed over me. I lost the game, my Pokémon party fainted. I looked up and . . . and they were all lying down on their seats, their faces pale and blue, unmoving. Water rose from within the boat, water oozed from their mouths, ears, and eyes. Their eyes hollow and lifeless. And then it struck me. I had never gone with my family. I had stayed home, indulging in mindless video games. I had stayed home and I had picked up that trembling phone. The trembling phone whose words I never forgot. Whose words were the sole reason why I secluded myself from the outside world and cast myself into the world of history, literature, and gaming. The sole reason why, when I read the news about the Oculus headset with the ability to kill its user, I did not hesitate in procuring it.

I switched it on and eased it over my head. I lay flat on my back and booted up the only game created for it. A game titled 'Eden's End'.

The machine's tendrils drilled superficially into my scalp, and I awoke into an eerie recreation of that day that haunted me so. The day I regretted for the rest of my life. I should have died that day. I should have died along with them. The game froze, and, scenes blazed across my retinas like a reel of memories. The Leviathan and the giants off the coast of China. The Jinn of Jabal Qaf. The blood pouring through the rivers of Atlantis. The rotting corpses of the morgen stewing in the pools of Ys. The cloud-like sands of Takamagahara. The multitudinous chants of the seraphim. The war between Cleopatra and Octavian. The gelatinous tides of Circe's abode. I saw these all, and many more. How many times had I been through these horrors? How many years had passed?

The scenes ceased. I opened my tired eyes. Above me stood an uncanny orange dragon from a game I had long forgotten. A mute doll-like figure stood near his side, unblinking and unspeaking. He pulled me to my feet, and I felt oddly light. He gestured at me, and somehow I knew exactly what he was saying. He wished to lead me to someone important and offered to fly me on his dragon's back. I accepted and we began our ascent.

As we soared through the skies, the ground below appeared to phase in and out of existence. Far ahead, the terrain seemed to be generating itself the closer we got. Below, creatures of all kinds roamed the lands, co-inhabited with horrific block-shaped entities and disfigured dinosaurs.

I snapped out of my daze and looked forwards. My guide, who called himself 'Red', explained to me that I had to complete some sort of encyclopedia before he could introduce me to the man. He provided me with an infinite number of red & white balls and told me to aim them at the creatures below. We spent six days and six nights doing just this, and on the seventh day, we rested. When I awoke, Red was gone.

I looked around groggily when my heart froze in my chest. That man. That conniving trickster. I rose to my feet in a fit of rage, but it dissipated as quickly as it had arrived. The man was now in earshot. The man—

"Saklas. My name is Saklas, dear Captain." He gave a quick curtsy.

"Why do you call me that . . . Captain."

"That is what you chose to name yourself, was it not?"

I mouthed some words but could not utter them.

"Please." He sighed. "You have gotten this far. Celebrations are certainly in order." He snapped his fingers, and that dreadful chest appeared.

". . . who are you?"

He gave a warm smile. "I am the Demiurge of this world. I am the Architect of all that you have seen and all that you cannot even dream of."

My skin begins to twitch the nearer he gets.

"And you are the first man to complete my world."

The first man . . . No . . . I died several times did I not . . .?

My body began to contort.

"Worry not. This is what you wished for, is it not? This is why you chose to enter."

My vision blurred and I began to grow, my bones crackling and my flesh stretching. Soon, I towered over the man, and he smiled, satisfied by his creation.

I tried to move my limbs, but I could not. It was as if I were a mere observer. My spasmodic muscles moved of their own accord, tramping across the fair plains. And I roamed, and roamed, and roamed. I roamed across those fields of Elysium. I roamed to Eden's end.