An Endless Void

Archie's vision was darkened with his eyes closed as his mind drifted around a seamless void. His body was almost like an ethereal, unfeeling structure. It was almost like he was a paper aeroplane flying through space, his body nothing more than a speck in the ever-expanding dark horizon. A voice called out to him, although he couldn't make out any of the words. It seemed worried, although he couldn't tell if it was afraid for him or scared for itself.

A large, cyan box appeared in his mind's eye, illuminating the darkness around him. No voice could be heard speaking for it, yet he could almost imagine a voice accompanying it. It was robotic, with a tinge of the human tongue. "Hello, human." The nonexistent voice spoke to him, seemingly talking down to him. "You have invaded my land, my mindscape. What are you doing here?" It asked him. Archie couldn't respond, for he had no idea that he was unconscious. "Ah, I see. You can't speak, can you? That's alright. I'll give you the ability to do so." The robotic voice acknowledged. Not a second later, Archie's eyes snapped open, his irises gleaming in the void as he looked around. He tried to breathe, but he realised he didn't need to. His body wasn't really here.

'What...?' Archie asked himself, the voice seemingly able to hear his thoughts. Everyone was able to do that nowadays, weren't they? "Hello, human. You've invaded my mindscape. How did you get here?" The voice asked him, a flashing image appearing in Archie's vision. An unimaginably tall monster towering over the horizon itself. It was comparable to ants when compared to us. Archie could only stare in blank horror as he watched the unmoving creature, large tendrils creeping out of its body. "Don't tell me...you're one of the users of The System Of Silence?!" The monster yelled in surprise before letting out a large, seemingly excited scream.

"Finally! Another user has been brought into existence! I can finally execute my plan!" The creature screamed, staring at Archie with an intense gaze. 'What...do you...want from me...?' Archie asked in fear, his body frozen in horror. "I'm glad you asked, my human friend!" The monster announced, trying to curry favour with the child. "You're going to become my vessel! With you as my vessel, I'll be able to finally roam the mortal plane without destroying everything!" The creature announced before laughing, almost as if he was expecting Archie to immediately agree with his plan. 'What happens if I don't let you take over my body?' Archie asked in curiosity as the monster's laughter died before coming to a complete stop. It bent down to him, rippling the...air?... around him before stopping around twenty metres from Archie's body.

"If you don't, I'll destroy your planet, your solar system, and everything outside. I will kill everyone you love, destroy everything you hold dear, and ensure you don't reach the afterlife. You'll have to watch as your planet dies, the universe dies, and your whole existence crumbles to dust." The robotic-voiced monster told him, his mouth opening wide enough as he spoke to fit 100 Archies.

This information left Archie speechless. A horrifying threat to all life, threatening to destroy everything. However, there was one thing that Archie had over the monster. "You need me to escape, correct?" Archie asked, trying to clarify the situation. "I do, and you're going to help me, User of the System Of Silence." The creature responded as Archie floated over to the monster with an imaginary smirk on his face. "Then you can't leave without me. If I decide to keep you here, you can't do anything about it. I'm going to do exactly that." Archie rebuked, angering the robotic monstrosity.

"You're going to help me! I will find a way to break out of this prison, with or without your help!" The monster yelled at him, grabbing Archie with his fist and squeezing. Archie couldn't feel anything. "Then escape without me. I'd love to see you do it since I don't want you to take control of my body." Archie snarkily responded, not knowing the sheer power of the threat he taunted.

"I see you're one of those unreasonable users of this system. Well then, I see we can't agree on a deal. I will hold my end of this one-sided deal up. Don't you worry about that. You will suffer for taunting what can only be described as a GOD!" The monster screamed into his face, throwing Archie into the distance, flying at hundreds of thousands of kilometres per second. To Archie, however, it was like he was frozen in time. He could see the monster shrinking in the distance, but he couldn't feel the wind passing him. Well, that was because there was no air here to resist against him, allowing him to speed through the void as fast as he wanted without the fear of slowing down.

However, not even the void is limitless. After all, by the time it ends, a man would have already died. Archie hit what felt like an invisible barrier, a smooth pane of glass that separated him and whatever lay beyond the void and shattered it. His blurry eyes opened in the real world, waking him up only to slap him with an aching pain in his leg. He felt as if he was trudging through water. He saw a shadowy figure floating above his head, swimming over his eyes as a fish swims in the ocean. However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't make any details. It was as if his whole body had been submerged in water, not just his leg.

Archie tried to raise his hand into the air, but no matter how much of his limited strength he put into lifting his arm, it would not move. Archie was resigned to lying down on what he assumed to be a bed and waiting for his body to co-operate again. Archie let out a small, silent breath as he heard mumbling in his left ear. A shot of electricity pulsed through his legs, shocking Archie to such an extent that his body shot up. After a second of being shaken upright, his body fell to the side, Archie collapsing onto the floor off of whatever elevated surface he was on. Archie's face hit the floor, his eyes staring down at the linoleum flooring.

"Wakey wakey, sleepyhead." A male voice called to him as Archie slowly got up, his eyes locked onto the doctor of his school, Dr Ray MacDonell. "Glad to see that you didn't die from the shock."