Abridged Understandings of the Real

We all lose in the end

You felt it scrape against my cheek, sharp but painless. I was vulnerable so you made your move to push me through, but I reached out. I felt your wrist start to burn in my hand as we passed through. We fought for a while there, in the void. The white that surrounded us was blinding but we cast no shadows there.

As you brought me to my knees I felt the incision on my cheek burn the way your wrist burned my skin. It grew and grew until the flakes of my skin began to peel away. Soon, my body was a cloud of dust that faded into nothing.

Then you turned to the gateway. It looked upon you with the transcendence of all bright. It spoke to you, saying "I am a barrier. I keep you safe, but I also keep you trapped inside. To open me would be danger, but without risk you will not conceive of what lies behind."

You said to it "I need to banish him far away, somewhere where he can't come back seeking revenge." But the gateway looked on with a face of warning.

"If he is surely entrapped for eternity, there must be a cost. For the space he once filled must be filled again. There are those who seek to fill the space of other realms with their own malice and anger."

You replied with naive arrogance "If i were to entrap him for a year to pass, would the evil be held at bay?"

"He may be held for a year from this day. The beginning of a cycle has come and shall come to pass once it has finished. He will pass through the gates to be received by darkness. He will be kept safe from harm there until his day, but shall be preserved for the time when he will again be allowed to transcend into your world. He will be pained, but he will learn. He will have new understanding once his time is up and shall have more power as the cycle ends."

Then, the gateway opened to reveal the gatekeeper who raised his arm, outstretched toward me. A power came over me and pulled me through. As the gates closed i uttered a final curse and a promise of vengeance before the gateway shut again and so ended my reign. You will answer for this. It will be brought up to the higher beings as a testimony against you. I will come back for you R.