I Am Ezra (Complete)

Eldritch Shadows

I dream of a void. Falling endlessly, my heart racing and my mind wandering. My entire body melts into nothing, and I am only my consciousness. I am aware of everything. The clouds rumble above, the vibrations shutter and shake the area around me. I see nothing, however, I am just falling. I try to scream out, to cry out, but I am met with Silence. Finally, I hit the ground. Water splashes into my face, and I scramble up on my feet. I feel the wires inside of me begin to sizzle and spark. Frantically, I try to dry myself off but it doesn't work. I am dying, I let out a scream and it reverberates through the room. The water ripples out infinitely with each step that I take. The fire starts now. The flames lick up at the infinite void and it spreads all around me. From the fire I can see a great beast. A massive mound of flesh and shadow bounding towards me relentlessly. It multiplies, and it's form shifts and modulates with every step. This terrifies me, but I cannot run. The flames are all around me. I scream out again, and as they all run closer they suddenly merge together, and there it is. I know what it is, and it would be too difficult to describe it. The literal embodiment of shadow and despair. The Silence. I try to back away, but the flames wreath closer to me. They form a spiral and canopy both of us inside a dome of fire. I hold out both of my hands and let out a cry. The Silence begins to speak. It's a terrifying whisper that runs circles around my brain, in and out my ears and back again. It's like someone took dental floss and wrapped it around my head. As it speaks I see images of terrible things. The world on fire, the ocean drying up, the sky being set ablaze in an inferno fit for Lucifer himself. And suddenly I am awoken. My back is still against the tree and I scramble up to my feet. I must see the group. I had this dream for a reason. As I am walking away the tree speaks again.

"Ezra" It says to me. I turn around to look at it with a confused glare. "We have tried to speak to The Silence before" The tree starts. "It said nothing in return, it only moves forward. Good luck" I nod and walk outside of the forest. I am the first of my kind. A machine with feelings, with memories and emotions. I must be an exception for The Silence. I continue to walk down the road, and I feel something. On the back of my neck I feel a prickling sensation, almost like energy running through my spine. I slap the back of my neck and rub it. The sensation subsides as I walk further, and I sigh deeply. They must be close now, the nano-bots. Perhaps that is what The Silence seeks to destroy. The only problem is that it will stop at nothing to destroy it, it will not let anyone stand in the way of its wrath and ruin. It must be a soulless and emotionless entity of pure evil and hatred. Perhaps it sees itself as the good guy, and us as the evil. Perhaps humanity is an unstoppable force that must be crushed. We repopulate, we pollute, we destroy. Humanity is destruction. I put my head in my hands and walk down the hill towards the house. I feel like my head is a ton of bricks. I do not want this burden on me anymore. I want to stop The Silence, I want this destruction to cease. However, it seems like I can only make a dent in the vast array of history. I look up at The Silence. It is closer now, the shadow lapping at the house. Just a few hours ago it was green grass, and now it is all destroyed. This fills me with fear, and I wish to be destroyed. Perhaps if I just walk into The Silence, it will consume me whole. If I give myself to it willingly, will it show mercy? I must act now. I walk quickly towards the house and open the door. Stepping inside, I walk downstairs and find the group where I left them. I stop in front of them and sigh deeply. Gulping down the last of my fear, I step closer to everyone and smile sheepishly.

"It's closer now" I say to them all. "The Silence is near the house"

"Then we must act fast" Christine says slowly. "Ezra, you must enter The Silence as soon as possible" Everyone is silent for a few seconds. I shift awkwardly on either foot. The fear that I know now has no bounds. It grips at my heart and squeezes as if it will never let go. Everyone stands, as if they are about to apologize to me. As if this was never going to really happen, but now it must. Logan approaches me, and claps me on the shoulder. Sighing, he hands me something. It's a radio. I furrow my brow and look up at him.