The Psychonet: Apocalyptica

To See the Light

I was shrouded in darkness. I didn't want to fully embrace the reason, but my denial was undeniable. The game had changed. My power was rendered obsolete in some ways. Worse, our tour guide of this underworld had been annihilated. But my denial remained. It was the easiest path to staying sane. It was the only path I could see.

Though, only metaphorically. I could not see. The void lingered. A familiar sound droned, an emanating echo of love, of cries, and of the beast that ate minds. The pain of my realization delayed my return, or repeated it, endlessly. The timeline kept reigniting. I was stuck in the void. Returning, and returning, and returning.

I always envisioned the end of the world in third person. Something I couldn't touch. My dreams only allowed for such. Reasonably, that kind of thing is locked away to the realms of the inexperiencable. I thought I'd be able to watch the fire and destruction from a distance, like the ultimate firework show. That the chaos wouldn't affect me. But in reality, it played out in every corner of my life, showing me those realms outside of ordinary experience. A kind of intangible pain that only the luckiest could taste. Outside of sanity and even outside of imagination.

The world ends with power. The fringes of experience are locked away behind the gates of power. In our curiosity, we chased that. Our lust destroyed us in ways we never thought possible. It was beautiful, as much as the crystal landscape that replaced our home world. It was nearly time to move on. Our hopes would guide us to freedom from that corrupt power. From the consequences of our craving for security, pleasure, and avoidance of pain.

More to the point, we must escape the tragedies of our curiosities.

We could and we would. We must.

Finally, I could see again. I could feel again. It was warm.

Pandora rushed in and squeezed Lily, "Aww Lily. Stay with us. You're our friend now. You told your truth, and we see you."

This cozy moment helped but awful images of the other timeline danced around in my mind, taunting me.

After hugging for a moment, Lily turned to me in shock. "Oh my god... this is proof!"

"Lily?" I asked.

She excitedly twirled around, "This proves that the timelines continue!! We can tell Kaos now!"

She was excited but this idea was too disturbing. I rejected her notion, "That makes no sense. How could you think that??"

She turned and looked me in the eyes, "Think about it. I mean really: first, think about all that stuff you just went through, with me and that other timeline."

My heart began to race, "Wh-what?"

Sadistically, she insisted, "Go on. Think about it. Recall every detail."

What the fuck was she doing? To my horror, my intrusive thoughts obeyed her commands.

She smiled, "Perfect. Now I can remember your memories. So! Here's how it went-"

I frantically interrupted her, "Wait! Why are you doing this?!"

With total confidence and smug, she crossed her arms and said, "Silly Guhya. Seeing you this scared is kind of exciting. But that's not what I'm talking about. Get your head out of that dirty place."

Pandora reacted, "Huh?! Guhya?! What's she talking about??"

"Lily! Come on!" I yelled.

Lily saved me after her torturous move, "Don't worry, it's not as bad as you think. We will have to talk through that stuff though. But first, let's get to my proof!"