2 Figment

It goes without saying that the roiling black sea at the heart of the unwinding world wasn't just water. It was water, it was fire, it was earth, and air.

The black sea was made up of the liquified essence of the liquified laws of countless dead and shattered worlds. Enriched and further strengthened by the putrefied remains of unfathomably beings that roamed the cosmos long before this particular slice of the omniverse had been spawned.

Being dunked in the waters of the black Sea was like being dunked in acid. Everything that you were was torn away from you. Melting in the roiling black waters. To survive the process one needed luck, will, and maybe just a little something extra.

In Danke's case, he clearly didn't have much luck. He'd been born as one of millions of unlucky souls on the shattered husk of a world that was being administered almost solely by dark gods. His mother had died at birth and the rest of his family, with the exception of his adoptive mother Silvia and his little Sister Jacklyn, were hateful cretins.

After finally dying, instead of getting to go to paradiso, he ended up being one of a not-small number of souls that ended up being smuggled into the unwinding world to his spirit plundered by the world's firmament and his soul mutilated by the dark waters of the world's sea.

It was very clear that if this were a game, Danke's luck start would be negative five (-5).

As for will. It was hard to say that Danke's will was strong. He was a normal man with normal wants and normal desires. He'd never been called brave or ambitious or bold. He was generally a go with the flow kind of person and the only person who's sake he'd ever stood up was his little sister.

Thus even if the boy's will wasn't weak, it wasn't so abnormally strong as to be of great aid.

In the end, the thing that saved Danke was his something extra. The troublesome, and wonderous, secret that dwelt in the core of his soul. The well of endless vitality and lifeform that was included part and parcel with his essence.

If the psychopomps hadn't whisked the boy away into the afterlife and his world's laws of death weren't so strong, Danke probably wouldn't have died. On a better world where the laws of life were stronger Danke would have been virtually immortal. Capable of surviving even without his head.

Had his family treasured him, and reared him properly, the boy and countless others like him that the bright gods, good fae, and angels sent to the lands of the dark gods would have become a great force.

Danke and his gifted fellows would have eventually grown to the point that they were able to overthrow the dark gods and save their world.

However, the worst thing about the hells and hellworlds was the people.

Thus most beings like Danke usually died pitiful ignoble deaths. If they were unlucky their secrets were found out and they were made into living artifacts for the evil beings on the dark worlds to rely on.

If they were lucky. They died. Passed on into better worlds and inevitably became the heroes that they were always meant to be.

In fact with Danke's death and the deaths of 320 others like him, that month, the various lords of light had simply decided to write of the world. Dark gods were shitty at keeping planets for the most part and the Angels were their enemies so naturally none would stay near the dark worlds to help maintain it.

That's why when on occasion they managed to take a place over, the more neutral gods and spirits just sort of shrugged. Knowing that in a few million years the world would be a burnt out hell hole with no life on it and all its positive laws decayed.

The bright gods would try to free said worlds as a favor to the angels and in the hopes of getting access to a handful of the treasured souls that were often seeded into the dark worlds to bring the downfall of the evil entities that dared call themselves gods.

Its laws of death and chaos getting been refined to the point that the world exploded killing off a few of the troublesome dark gods.

However, this was neither here nor there and no concern of Danke.

Right now, he was sinking to the bottom of the black sea. Letting its current carry him because he had a hunch that rising to the surface like some of the other souls were doing would lead to nothing good.

Eventually, the black water's flow carried Danke far inland. Carrying him through various rivers and streams till he finally reached a place where the water was still. He remained at the water's deepest point. Refusing to rise to the surface until he'd pulled himself together.

The pain of having his spirit and soul invaded and infused with the unwinding world's essence too much to bear. Danke passed out into blissful non-existence and allowed the monstrous, miraculous, power that dwelt inside him do its work.

An unknown amount of time passed before he woke up again. By that point in time, he'd long escaped any possible pursuers. He emerged from a dark swamp, a shivering blob of quadrupedal goo.

A voice in his head sounded out. Sounding soft and warm, and light.

"Greetings newborn." said the voice.

"Huh? Wh-, Who is that?" said Danke.

"I am Schoen. Your Puppe Unit. Your assigned caretaker and helper."

"Caretaker?" said Danke.

"All newborn figments of Abwickeln are assigned Puppe Units by the will of the world. The unwinding world has many guests and many immigrated races but the number of beings born directly from this worlds essence are few. Thus special care has to be taken. Thus us Puppes were created."

"Ah...Okay then." said Danke. Deciding to just go with whatever the voice was saying because he just realized that besides a few details here and there he had no clue who he was, what he was supposed to be doing, or where he was. Ninety percent of his memory had been erased.

"Um, What the hell is a figment?" said Danke

"A figment is a being born from the world's essence. An entity of pure magic that is created by the laws of the world. Destined to live forever, taking countless forms, and accumulating great amounts of power. As the entity grows strongest so too does the world. For the figments are world and the world is its figments." said the voice.

"Er...so just checking but does this mean I'm a figment?"

"Yes, master. And I am your Puppe. Created to guide you through this new life and aid you however I can."

Danke's view suddenly shifted and he felt himself step outside of himself. He saw a pale, gray, formless blob made of mud and sand and bits of grass. A strange light was pulsing from within the creature. There was something familiar about the little blob and Danke had a worrying feeling he knew who that blob was.

"I...Am I seeing myself right now?"

"Yes, master. And congratulations on awakening your spiritual sense so quickly."

"Spiritual sense?"

"Beings that are dead. Beings that have escaped the bounds of mortality. Beings that have opened their third eye. These are the categories of beings that have access to their spiritual sense and other spiritual powers."

"Oh...Er. Cool. How do I stop it?" said Danke. Growing nauseous and dizzy as he tried to move while viewing himself from a third person view.

"Simply will it so, master." said the Puppe.

It took, Danke a moment to figure out what she meant but after fifteen minutes of trying Danke's perspective returned to the first-person. His mind's eye returning to inside of his body where it belongs.

"Much better...Uh, thanks...You."

"You're very welcome, master." said the Puppe.

"Look uh...if you're gonna be around for a while, I'd kinda need to know your name?" said Danke.

"I do not have a name, master. Or rather my true name has been hidden." said the Puppe.

"Really?" said Danke.

"A puppe is either newly created or newly cleansed before an assignment to their figment."

"Mhm...That's kind of inconvenient. How about a nickname then?" said Danke.

"...As you wish, master. Though I would strongly advise waiting till later." said the Puppe.

"Nah, let's just get it over with. It'd be too tedious otherwise? How about Wis, short for Wisdom, because you A) sound kind of smart and B) definitely know way more stuff than I do?" said Danke.

His words were followed by an explosion of pain and noise that knocked the small little blood of its feet.

When Danke was able to stand again, he felt drained. Diminished.

"Uh...What happened?" said a very disoriented Danke.

"You named me, master." said the puppe.

"Huh?"

"A Puppe's true name is hidden. Adding a nickname reveals the true name via alteration. Altering a true name requires power. It's a wonder that you were only faded for a day or so." said Wis.

"Faded?"

"Figments do not die. They fade into dormancy. When their egos are suppressed they return to existing as mere world essence till their minds recover. Careful not to let it happen too often. Each time you allow yourself to be incapicitated or seriously injured, you lose large amounts of your worldly essence. Which can result in loss of memories, de-evolution, and a possible fade into permanent dormancy." said the Puppe.

"Uh...G-, got it. Fading is bad and I shouldn't let it happen." said Danke. His words accompanied by nervous laughter.

Danke stood up from the seated position he was in and realized that the voice hadn't just been coming from his head. He looked up and saw that a pretty paper doll with wings covered in shifting scrawl was floating above his head.

"Mhm ...Hey, Wis. Why do you have a body now?" said Danke.

"Altering the true name of an entity alters its identity and nature. You have named and thus I have become part knowledge-sprite."

"O-, okay. Cool. I guess at least I can be sure I wasn't just going nuts and talking to myself now." said Danke.

"On the contrary, master. Figments are living delusions. Tales that tell themselves. Telling the story to themselves and the world around them. Continuing onward and forward endlessly through time. You are madness itself. Your existence confounds common sense and that is why this impossible world cherishes you so. By existing as an even greater anomaly, you lessen the burden the world must bear for its own impossible nature." said Wis.

Danke wasn't sure what to say to that, so he didn't say anything. Instead choosing to move onto another topic.

"So what happens now?" said Danke.

"Your journey begins here, master. Travel. Feed. Feast. And grow. Cultivate your strength and let this world tremble beneath your feet." said Wis.

"Mhm...Sounds like a plan." said Danke. Futilely trying to shrug with his shoulderless body. Letting his new blobby form ooze forwards through the mud and grass of the swamp.