Chapter 4 - The Darkness

Slowly, she drifted into a deep sleep; her body and mind had been drained due to the changes it had undergone.

The body of the girl wasn't very strong to begin with. She would often require long periods of rest or not have the physical capabilities of a normal person her age or even someone younger.

Having woken up in the middle of the night and moved around, even the little movement she did had put a little strain on her weak body; plus, while she wasn't aware of it, the mental rush she had due to the fusion of memories and souls had caused a strain on her body even further.

This left her very tired and caused her to quickly drift into a deep sleep the second she laid down.

Yet it wasn't any normal sleep because as she drifted away, she found herself waking up in a pitch-black space, empty for as far as the eye could see, which wasn't a lot as everything was dark.

She was able to move around as if in her body; however, no matter which direction she turned or how she moved, everything looked the same. Endless darkness; even the floor she walked upon was pitch black as if nothing existed within the endless void.

"Where is this?"

She spoke aloud, her voice echoing as it entered the infinite nothingness that was the space she roamed around.

The girl decided to try walking in a straight line; maybe she would find something if she did that; she had no better idea since she did not know where she was or what was going on.

"Did I die again?"

Was this what death was like the girl pondered; she was worried, but she didn't panic. If this was death, dying the second she got reborn would be quite the change of pace, but this didn't feel like death.

It didn't feel like death for that exact reason; she could feel. She had never experienced death before to the extent she could remember it, but death shouldn't have feelings, right? 

At least, she didn't think so.

The girl walked and walked and walked. 

She walked for so long she had lost track of time; it felt like minutes, hours, days, even weeks, all blending together within her mind. Time seemed non-existent within this endless space. 

Everything was the same; she didn't feel tired or hungry, she had no needs, and everything was the same from when she entered to now as if nothing had changed. 

It felt as if she had made no progress, yet she kept walking. She hoped she would eventually find something, and even if she didn't find something, walking was better than sitting with her thoughts.

Walking kept her distracted from the panic, from the fear, from the thoughts that would send her mad. Being stuck here for as long as she had would send any normal person mad, yet she hadn't gone mad yet.

She didn't know why. Maybe it was because she distracted herself, or maybe it was because she didn't feel the flow of time. She couldn't understand it herself, really.

Weeks turned into months, months turned into years.

She did nothing but walk for years on end; at this point, even the strongest of people would go insane within this space of infinite nothingness. 

It was dark, she was alone, she had nothing, she felt no hunger, she didn't feel thirst, fatigue, weakness, she did not age, nothing.

She was starting to lose hope that she would ever get out of this space, her fear, doubt, and panic mixing together to cause her mind to slowly lose itself.

The only thing holding her mental state together right now was her memories. The memories from both her lives played in repeat in her mind, over and over; she tried to remember each one in detail, and each second of each memory, she relived them as if she was there.

This kept her from going insane, at least just slightly. 

It wasn't as if the fear, doubt, and other negative emotions had vanished from her. She still felt them; she felt them clawing at her mind, her sanity, but she tried to ignore them. She clung to her memories the best she could.

As the girl walked further, she knew deep down that she would not be able to hold on for much longer; she would eventually break, and she did not know what that entailed.

She hoped something would change soon, something would happen. There had to be meaning to this space; it clearly had a purpose, she just didn't know what.

But she kept walking.

More time passed, and at this point, she stopped trying to count it. Time had grown meaningless to the girl as nothing had changed. She had finished reliving each version of her memories countless times; she knew each one in such detail that she no longer felt any difference between them.

She was neither people anymore, she was someone new. Her beliefs, her emotions, her ideals— all of them had changed over the course of time, and she was no longer the same as when she went to sleep.

Yet, all that existed around her was darkness.

Her steps slowed as she lost meaning in walking any further; nothing had changed or happened since she had begun walking, and there was no longer any purpose to it.

As her steps came to a halt, a voice echoed out in the darkness around her, one that sounded very familiar to her.

After all, it was her own voice.

"Giving up already?"

The voice said in a somewhat elated tone, as if happy she had decided to give up.

Slowly, the darkness before her changed, moving as if coming to life and taking a form before her. It was herself, a reflection of herself that had been made from the darkness.

"What are you?"

The girl asked with a wary tone as her eyes glanced the reflection up and down. She didn't know what was happening, but whatever the thing was before her, it clearly didn't have any good intentions.

It seemed happy to see her fail, and from her knowledge of fantasy stories, beings that looked like you and were happy to see you fail weren't good beings.

"Me? I am you."