Parables of Empathy (Bendy and the Ink Machine)

1- Into the Unknown

Author's Note: The artwork for this chapter is by Lady-Lampblack on Tumblr.

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"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." – Hebrews 11:1

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Now what was that feeling again?

Ah yes- it's like this:

There's a warmth within you that burns like a candle, searching for something outside of yourself in this suffocating darkness. The wax figurine of a body that encompasses your heart drips and drips away until everyone can see what's inside- that flame that shudders much like a firefly dances, yearning for another to fly across the stars with. It's finally made its way through your layers of pain to color the universe, but you never expected that sustaining this beauty would be so hard.

It's just as dreary to be exposed to the elements as it is to remain hidden. It might be even worse; there's a piercing vulnerability in revealing one's core. The billowing wind, once shielded against, can sweep straight through you. It threatens to blow your flame out. And if you aren't careful? Someone can even reach inside your chest to steal it away.

How terrifying it is, then, to allow yourself to receive kindness.

...Why do it at all?

Because this is the very nature of souls. A fire that is kept smothered too long will surely die. And if it dies...

We don't know if it can ever come back.

Yes, it is much scarier to cloak your essence in apathy and bitterness, to breathe out the smoke within you at whoever dares to come too close. This is what many do, though, because one too many times...they had trusted.

What were the disciples going to be like as they leapt together into this abyss of uncertainty?

The two lost to time were laid side by side, only content with their recent miserable existences once they discovered they had each other. Smiles lit their faces and gleamed with the sparks of revival. Sammy had been raised from the dead long ago, but it might have not been until this moment that he had ever truly been alive. Even as his bones drowned in ink, Sammy's wick still flittered somewhere; it was starting to shine through him like a flashlight underneath a few feet of water, dim and yet so bright through a new moon's glitter. This gift from Francine kept her living, too. Surely it would tear her apart more than any monster could to deny herself the embrace of companionship, and so it was either fate or her determination that led her to find it in the most unexpected of places. She loved the way this nestled in her arms like a bird seeking shelter in winter's storm; it made her feel...meaningful. And so for that feeling, she'd endure the perils of sincerity. Maybe he would, too.

But we cannot forget that other beings lurked these caverns as well, not knowing what they searched for but doing so regardless. It was all left in them as they waited for salvation. But beasts are only beasts as long as it is believed they are, and their souls still burn no matter how deep they've been buried in doubt.

To be truly human is to be afraid, but to push on anyway. So it was for all of the studio, new and old. Time may erode memory, but not who you are.

Such is it to have faith.