SMG4:// Exodus

Part 9: Eigengrau

Ch 1: In The Court Of The Crimson King (Omniscient)

The sun was rising over Inkopolis again. Faintly, it cascaded down through the humid fog that loomed over the city's bay. There were so many clouds, all thick and low concealing the shine of the Epithelium. It began to rain hard, each drop a venomous needle. The heavy rain made the streets flood. Streams and rivers of rainwater rippling between itself like braided hair chased through the wreckage and total destruction made that night and cleansed it, putting out fires and carrying small amounts of debris into rain gutters and down through the edges of railings into the sea. It smothered the dust picked up by collapsing buildings and buried all the bitterest of shames in a mist too dense to uncover. The downpour spared nothing, and yet it was a merciful feeling to witness.

~

A man with white hair stood in the shelter of one of the fallen highrises near the Inkopolis Coastline, watching an empty roundabout fill with puddles of water. As he did, he took his hand out of his pocket. Curled between his knuckles was a large white pharmaceutical tablet inscribed with a Bow and Arrow on the faces. The man's right hand and ear were disfigured, riddled with gnarled and purplish scar tissue in places. His fingers would twitch randomly and at points appear to move on their own. A few minutes earlier, the man was about to sever his hand again when it began to choke him. The man had a terrible headache, like the two hemispheres of his brain were killing each other.

A sudden erratic twitch of his hand made the tablet leap out of his grasp. With superhuman speed, the man caught it in his other hand. He grumbled to himself and crushed the tablet in his palm. As he opened his hand again, the smokelike powder of the tablet rushed into his lungs. Instantly, the man was put into a trance, motionless and calm.

He awoke again, somewhere else entirely. He was at a huge round table, sitting with only one other. In his hands, he held a mask resembling a dog's skull and a small porcelain dish of what appeared to be liquid mercury. He twirled the dish in his hand and watched the fluid spin around the bottom of the tray. The being across from him wore a rat's skull on their head. On the table in front of him was a dish of salt. The seat to the man's left was empty, put the pungent smell of sulfur emanated from the dish in front of it. Finally, next to a vial of liquid chlorine, a faceless, incomprehensible person lies unresponsive and face down. Kaizo set the dish of mercury down in front of him and quickly put on his mask.

"Forgets..." the other being says clearly, "Forgets the reason of coming..."

Kaizo shakes his head, "I understand, but I found..."

The other being leans forward and puts a scolding finger to the front teeth of his mask.

"Speak not of One..."

"And One shall be Naught... understood," Kaizo recites, sheepishly. He thinks for a moment, rewording his information, "Not forgotten... closer than ever to finding objectives..."

The being in the rat mask slowly raises their hand and points to themself, then to Kaizo, as if asking a question.

"Selfish...," they shake their head, "hunts the loudest and fastest first as the wounded, diseased, and the slow of foot scamper on."

"Um... have met a familiar..." Kaizo mumbles, "knows where...are."

"do not jest..." they reply, "jest while the body is damaged... beyond limit... far beyond reason. Certainly forgets... what for, the body was given. Shame... was found so strong. Oh, to have survived so wholly as Two. However immortal... Wantonness shall kill."

Kaizo raises his voice, "Don't question!...the objective will be met for sure. No Disappointment."

"So angry..." they taunt, slightly defensively, "Perhaps, It is becoming stronger within. No time left, is there? It ingests the body so It may become the body. Not much time is expected until then. Afraid to become nothing?"