A Girl In Black

A room? Solid walls, arranged into a hexagon, bathed in diffuse light from above. The ceiling ends in a point? No ceiling, it keeps going forever. Floor? Cold to the touch. A ghost? A girl in black, hovering above ground. Echoes of a conversation coming into focus...

"Why was it that I discovered? What killed me?"

"A life form aptly named a slime by most worlds which have discovered it. This particular slime, a plasma slime, was never observed until that very place and day. Thanks to you."

"Thanks to me?"

"Such slimes only exist in places where mana, a magical energy, exists. There was no such energy in any significant quantities on your Earth, or anywhere in your world really. This was because of a coincidence, which took place very early in its formation. At least until your experiments."

"You mean anti-matter don't you?"

"Oho? Yes, your world being primarily pro-matter means the potential for magic, normally arising from the properties of anti-matter, was virtually non-existent. Anyway, returning to the matters at hand. You got eaten by a brand new baby species of a plasma slime. You're a daddy!" 

The gothic loli floating before me was grinning. 

She was a beautiful girl, appearing to be 12 years of age, with pale white-blue shoulder length hair, cropped bangs, a frilly black elegant gothic lolita dress. Every piece of her clothing, from her shoes, tights, gloves to her bonnet were dyed completely in the the deepest black. Yet the various textiles, lacing, textures and the numerous folds were perceptible in the faint, sourceless light of the room. The pale skin of a living doll and the coldest arctic-blue eyes with no hint of weakness, fragility or innocence in them. A flat chest.

She was flawless, "at least she would be if not for her personality", Toshihide thought.

"I have to say you left quite the monument to yourself. Well to be more precise, to the union between yourself and your newborn slime. How incestuous! How outrageous!", her eyes were smiling, her body wriggled as she embraced herself.

"Monument?"

"A median 339km radius centred where you fell, 78 million people dead. A new record of carnage for your Earth! Hmm, around 11 million children..."

"Ok stop toying with me you floating goth loli and tell me right now: A. what the hell happened and B. where the hell am I?!", demanded Toshihide.

She's getting off on this!

This is how Toshihide knew she wasn't lying.

She crossed her arms and put one of her legs over the other, as if sitting on an invisible stool. The grin still on her face.

"I like a mass murderer when he's flustered. You're quite lucky I got to you first, my homicidal sciennce-obsessed catch! But I digress, as you wish", she begun her explanation.

"A rather adorable plasma slime grew out of your anti-matter chamber when you infused it with life, after enchanting it with a level 1 Coagulation spell that is. You may be wondering 'how?'. That anime you were so very dramatically quoting contained traces of actual spell-craft. Who could have guessed that a 28 year-old virgin chuuni was not only a natural at actual sorcery in a world without magic, but would also summon a dangerous new species of slime, because of his work as an experimental physicist? Outrageous indeed!" 

"I resent the chuuni label, but I won't deny it… But why all of the alleged deaths? What did the plasma slime do?", asked Toshihide, readily absorbing the ridiculous facts being thrown at him as a matter of course. While a pragmatist, he was always a little disconnected from reality in his life, spending the waking half of it engrossed in a world of magic and science fiction... which is why he couldn't deny the chuunibyou accusation. It did however have the now apparent benefit of letting him deal with insane situations like this.

"Oh the poor thing didn't do much on its own.", replied the girl.

"Your brain was special. It became special. Those long hours next to your experimental chamber infused your brain matter with a stable form of anti-matter. Your experiments created plasma of equal part anti-matter and pro-matter. It's all a matter of matter you see!"

She continued despite the self-explanatory pun. 

"The following electron-positron annihilation produced radiation which doped the arachnoid mater inside your cranium, which soon became host to a pre-cursor of mana, a small fraction of which was spurred on by your embarrassing fantasy spell-casting theatrics. It became a kind of... virtualisation of mana. The closest thing to pro-mana to ever exist inside a living being in your world."

"..."

Toshihide was speechless. It made sense, and at the same time it didn't. Toshihide was a trained scientist, with some basic knowledge of human anatomy he picked up while attending one if his colleague's lectures. He was suspicious, but the situation likely wouldn't change dramatically if he flat out denied whatever reality he was in.

"I know it's a lot to digest, but bear with me. When the slime got to munching on your brain, its anti-mana core and your brain's pro-mana met in explosive, unholy matrimony!"

"... explosive?" said Toshihide, intentionally paying no heed to the girl's questionable sense of humour.

"Yes, but not just a normal explosion. The mix of slime juice and your special brain juice created a huge foam bomb – has a nice ring to it huh? I've never seen anything like it."

Did she actually look impressed for a second there?

"The foam engulfed the lab, the university, the town, the surrounding area and eventually that entire country which so gracefully funded your research, and some not insubstantial parts of the surrounding nations."

It is at this point that the weight of what had happened truly descended on Toshihide. If the gothic loli wasn't lying this meant a great loss to science. His colleagues, his boss. They were all brilliant people. Never mind the places of learning and research which were probably wasteland right now. He found some comfort in the knowledge that his home, Japan, wasn't destroyed. He tried to feel the gravity of the overall loss of life, but it did not reverberate in him. Toshihide had long separated himself from everyday society. He valued knowledge and ability above all. Science could always rebuild, science could also soothe the pain with the products of its pharmaceutical branch. But if the knowledge and expertise was gone, all was lost.

The girl paused.

Did she look pleased just now?

"The foam set very quickly around its victims. It was impossible to put a scratch on it, even with the best of technology available to your Earth."

"So what happened to all those people?"

He had to ask, she was skirting the subject as if savouring a meal.

"They died of course. Agonising deaths. Some were quick, others took years. It was all quite deliciously gruesome... the despair, the unceasing moans, and the cannibalism especially!"

Was that a glimmer of drool in the corner of her mouth?!

"Those millions of people found themselves in a maze-like dungeon sprouting out of the pathways of your dying brain. The foam, it set into a massive dungeon. Deadly traps and treasure chests and everything! Well everything but monsters, but those were to be found too, after a while. Interesting what hunger and greed do to people... A beautiful palace of pain is your parting gift to your world!"

"How..."

The girl's gaze whipped at Toshihide. At his centre, the centre of his being. A fearsome aura enveloped her and rippled out in all directions. The diffuse light illuminating everything got darker and the impossibly solid walls now shook violently. Ice begun to form in the corners of the room and a sudden chill came over Toshihide. It was undeniable. She was the peak predator of any and all universes. Her beautiful face now contorted like an animal ready to rip into her prey.

"Oh and for your 'B': where the hell are you?! You're in my Palace of Pain, you're in my hell."

She said this and the aura was gone, everything was back to normal. The girl smiled with an innocence Toshihide thought was reserved for angels, if they existed. Her black lipstick parted.

"And I really need you to become the Demon Lord, in another world, if you will. Tee-hee!"

Did she just say "Tee-hee"?!