The boxes had been restored to thier perfect structure when Taylor returned. The glowing red entity was still the same red it had become when he changed the memory being broadcast.
’It would be so easy to mess with this thing again. I almost wish I didn’t have something more important to do.’ Taylor begins his trek carefully around to where the discarded memories were.
When he arrives he finds the memories are not as he left them. The boxes were overturned and dumped out on the ground. Apparently the being had found the boxes and wanted to ensure they no longer could be broadcast. What remained of the faded blue memories was a pile of scrapped and torn ethereal material. It was a tragedy.
Looking over the mess it was clear there was no way to tell one memory from another. Many of the pieces were too similar to be sure, some were even fading out of existance. There was only one thing he could do at this point. Taylor grabbed up all the pieces that remained and placed them into two containers; the only hope that remained was that those emotion people could piece something together.
With boxes in hand Taylor closes his eyes and imagines the place he last visited. When his eyes open he is back amongst the emotion people holding a crumbling pile of blue memories.
The blue girl that looked like the queen rushed forward crying at the sight. “Oh dear! I have never seen that happen before!”
The large red guy becomes very animated. “What did you do to them?”
“Hold on now. I found them like this. I was hoping there would be something you could do.”
“This has never happened before, we always handled the memories with care.”
“Is there a way to piece these together maybe? Like a jigsaw puzzle.”
“Look, clearly you don’t understand what is happening.” The green guy finally offers his voice. “We are not actually what you see, none of this is; in reality we are just a neural pathway that activates and deactivates based on stimulation. Memories are just electrical impulses. You can’t put two pieces of electricity together and hope they are the same as before.”
“Actually he might just be on to something.” The blue girl adds.
“Your kidding me, right?”
“No look, when I put these two pieces together they made the pieces glow blue and a flash of the memory showed up. I think I can actually do this.”
“Oh thats fantastic, I was worried about you for a minute.”
“So why do you care about Michaels love so much? My best read on you is you hate the guy.”
“Well basically, he killed me, then stole my body, and basically wants to kill I don’t know how many people. I have every reason to hate him, but everyone should find love in thier life somehow. Right now it looks like he is being denied what is rightfully his, the love he had for the queen. Whoever has done this to make him so full of hate is my real enemy, so once I stop him I will find the source of all of this and stop that.”
“That makes a lot of sense.” she replies, the others nodding in agreement.
“So you will tell me how to find his conciousness?”
“As promised. Do you know the projector thing where you found this?”
“Definately.”
“Well there are two ways there. It will depend on how your abilities work. First, you can try to travel to where those thoughts are being projected, like walking through to the other side. If not, try inserting yourself into a memory being played and step out once you are projected. One of those two things is bound to work.”
“I really hope you can put that together.”
She smiles and winks at him before he closes his eyes. Something he never thought he would see on her face, but then again she was but a figment of his imagination trying to interpret a working brain; the whole thing was worthy of a headache.
Back inside the area with the neatly organized boxes. Taylor quietly sneaks to the front of the room, narrowly avoiding detection when the angry light made its way to change the memory. Once it returns to its work Taylor walks up to the wall the images are projected onto. Closing his eyes he attempts to travel to the other side of it but there seems to be no effect.
Sneaking back to his hiding place he reevaluates the situation. ’I guess I have no choice but to get into a memory, though judging by the priorities of this red light thing I am probably not going to like what I see.’
Reaching up carefully with his right hand Taylor touches the memory currently being projected. An instant feeling of rage and betrayal surges through his body as the memory begins to flash before his eyes. Concentrating as hard as he can he places himself inside the memory.
No longer in control he watches as his body wields his spear with amazing proficiency. One person is stabbed through the chest with the spear while he charges with some kind of improvised club. A boot kicks him back and off the spear allowing him to swing widely cutting down another assaulter in simple robes with a pitchfork. Relentlessly the dream takes him on a path of rampage through these simple folks who are sorely undertrained for the battle. The whole thing looks more like a massacre than a battle, yet still they fight on, unbroken in thier resolve.
A flicker in the background tells Taylor he has his best shot at ending this nightmarish vision on the right side of the conciousness. Closing his eyes taylor concentrates on the vision he glimpsed through the flicker and the sounds around him stop. The next sounds he hears is the sound of traffic and riding in a car.
He opens his eyes to find himself looking at himself but only it is definately the First Hunter looking back. Instantly flicking into action Taylor begins his plan. “Hi, I’m Taylor, your friendly neighborhood figment of your imagination.”
“I know exactly who you are.” The First Hunter snarls.
“Of course you do Michael.”
“Not you wrench, the little twit that just showed up in my mind.”
“Honey, there is noone there.” the Queen gently reminds him.
Clearly invoking his rage already Taylor smiles arrogantly at the Hunter. “You never get to call me anything betrayer! I will destroy you like so many of your kind and discard you like the trash you are. Unfortunately the idiot that thinks he loves your daughter has somehow managed to escape his prison and has started some hair brained scheme to irritate me.”
“Taylor? Taylor is in your head? Oh I feel sorry for you. He has irritated me every single lifetime. It’s some sort of strange power he has over people.”
“Yet, you have never executed him?”
“No need, he usually dies within a few years of showing up. I thought he was finally gone forever, instead he is bothering you. How fortunate.”
“When I figure out how you got in my head I am going to obliterate your soul to the point not even the gods will be able to rebuild it!” the Hunter threatens.
Taylor sits back and imagines a bowl of popcorn in his lap. Taking a bite of the treat he slowly chews the morsel down until easily swallowed. “I might have been scared before I knew what I know now about you, Michael.”
“You know nothing!”
“I know you still love her.” he says pointing at the queen?
“Are you completely insane? She betrayed me and had me executed, nobody hates her more than I do”
“Except you cant let go of the memories of your love for her.”
“Your the one who is insane buddy. That lady right there is your ’cursed’, your ride or die, your better half, your fated love, your ying to your yang.”
“She used to be. I now know better then to let love cloud my judgement.”
“We have arrived sir.”
“Good, let them know to bring out all the prototypes. Lets put on a show.”
