Argus

Inside of an endless pit of darkness, an abyss void of any light,

The space crumbled and suddenly blue lights emitted an incandescent glow.

What faintly glowed next was pillars slowly rising from the ground.

A crackling noise was heard and with a loud booming thud,

A thunder descended in an empty space.

It repeatedly echoed in the meaninglessly lifeless space, devoid of any color besides the glowing wisps of thunder.

Then, gradually the place was lit brightly, as one by one each pillar had its lamps ignited by the wisps of thunder.

The open space now looked like a giant circular platform and above it was an open circular ceiling in which the moonlight had suddenly shone its moonlit.

Then, intricate patterns rose from the ground,

it looked like a sigil, a crest but to be more apt, it looked similar to a mandala—discoid object.

Below the circular platform, numerous people in dark robes were seen kneeling unto the ground.

They numbered countless! Unidentifiable in a glance.

Some are small, some are tall, most of them had burly figures and some had slender statures.

Among them, Miguel awoke from his senses, he too had the same posture as the others—kneeling and their faces were buried to the ground.

The ground was an opaque slate of solid concrete, different from the circular platform above which the entire floor of it seems to be created out of fine marble.

It mirrored the sparks of thunder.

"Where am I?" Miguel mumbled but nobody answered him.

Instead, he was greeted by clicking tongues and scornful gazes from the countless figures that surround him.

Miguel shuddered, he felt scared in an unknown space.

He was again transported to somewhere he was unfamiliar yet felt familiar with...

And when Miguel turned to look at each of their faces, he was surprised and got himself crept out.

"Who the heck are you?!" Pointing his fingers at everyone's faces.

They all had their brows knitted together.

They were all clearly displeased at Miguel

But what's more horrifying to Miguel was...

They all looked similar to Miguel.

Their faces had the same special features that greatly resembled Miguel.

And Miguel felt a deeper feeling other than displeasure.

It was hate!

Hate that creeps out from the bottom of their bones, which had failed to hide from his keen eyes and senses.

"What's with those stares? Those eerily dark feeling...

And another layer of feeling?

A feeling of envy?

"Why?"

Miguel continued to mumble but was then interrupted by the sound of papers like it was being crumpled.

On the bosom of the palpitating air!

Yet the ear fully knows, by the angst and the breaking,

How the papers were slowly turned.

His ear could distinctly tell, that a page from a book was forcefully turned.

At the circular platform carved with a mandala where the marble floor crackles in wisps of thunder, a book levitated from the ground and shined with a blue light.

The moon had also illuminated the book with its moonlight.

Then, Miguel heard a loud voice yelling something...

"You! Where the heck is this place?"

"Who are these people?"

And when Miguel turned to look at from whom the voice was coming,

A slender and frail-looking young kid appeared.

He screamed in confusion at the sight of him.

"ARGUS?!"

"HOW?!"

"WHAT IS THIS PLACE?"

Miguel bellowed as numerous thoughts flashed in his mind.

And in the same manner, the figure of Argus also acted the same as Miguel.

"WHO ARE YOU, PEOPLE?!" examining each person that greatly resembled each other one by one.

"WHAT IS THIS PLACE?!" tripping his toes, getting up and shocked at the sight of what he's seeing.

"HOW DID I CAME HERE?!"

He also bellowed, was even more confused.

and so, Miguel slowly approached Argus.

"I have been using your body..."

"I..."

"I..."

Miguel scratched his head unable to tell how he should talk with this Argus.

And hearing those words, Argus was first startled.

Then surprised.

His eyes had opened wide and yelled.

"WHAAAAT?!!!"

And so Miguel told everything he did and introduced himself to Argus.

The two talked for a long while amidst the crowd of people that looked similar to Miguel.

Miguel and Argus who seemed to have formed their own world had exchanged a flurry of questions.

"And so? what happened?"

"Really?!"

"Toto?"

Argus who had no recollection of what Miguel did ask in a surprised tone.

And Miguel who had some of the memories Argus had could not help but relate to what Argus had also shared.

And that continued for a while before reaching an amicable atmosphere around them.

"You have suffered so well, you poor little brat." Miguel tapped Argus's shoulders.

"You too Old man" with snot on his face Argus embraced Miguel like he was hugging his own father.

Together they cried in silence for quite some time.

Then...

At the platform, two figures had appeared.

One had its robes fluttered in the same manner as ours.

The other was dressed in a fine white robe with golden linings and intricate white patterns on its blue sash.

The other one nudged at the man dressed in white garments.

The white-robed man had all of his hair white even his beard were all white.

On the other hand, the one who had the same robes as us had all of his hair dyed in black.

The white-robed man gave the man whose hair was dyed in black a set of dark garments.

And right in front of everyone, changed his robe into the new set of garments, instantly making him shadowed and dark.

Overall his appearance was the same as the white-robed man, with golden linings on his dark robe and intricate blue patterns on its white sash.

Together like day and night, they stood at the center of the circular platform.

Both grabbing the book by their hands.

And they stared at the roofless circular ceiling.

.

.

.

...

"So that's how you died, quite tragic for an old man..." Argus stared at me with solemn eyes that seem to pity me.

But then...

Our discussion was then interrupted when all the people that looked like me stood tall and stopped kneeling.

They all gazed at the ceiling of that circular platform.

Looking at them one more time before shifting my gaze towards the platform.

My mind could not handle the strangeness of what I am seeing.

There was a fat version of me,

A muscular version of me,

A slender version of me,

A handsome version of me,

They all looked like me!

Except for the other special features added on their bodies we all have the same appearance.

And Argus was the only one who did not belong to that category.

His eyes alternated between me and my other versions before a scarred face who scarily gestured Argus to Fuck off entered his vision, which then he helplessly shook his head of.

I gripped my hands tightly forming a knuckled hand as I prepared for what surreal things would greet me in this strange place.

But then...

As I looked below my feet, I noticed a tiny reddish bump forming around my hands,

I scratched and touched it repeatedly because it was itchy.

But I think, that only made it worse as it grew and expanded from my hands towards my arms, and to my shoulders and it didn't take long before my whole body got covered by these itchy red marks.

"What's wrong Old man?"

When Argus approached to ask, I noticed him glowing in blue light, his whole figure glowed intensely with incandescent blue light.

I could feel my brows knitting together

"What's wrong with you?" I replied

Then, it did not take long before the others noticed us, as our voices grew louder the different versions of me formed a commotion.

They circled me around with hate in their eyes.

Up to this point, I still could not figure out what was happening.

But then, I gradually knew why they all looked us with contempt and why I felt deep envy emitted from their auras.

I started to burn an incandescent blue light all over my body, the red itchy marks were slowly replaced with black patches and then it faded to a gradual shade of blue hue.

I and Argus stared at each other.

Wondering what could the blue light meant.

And then I don't know who exactly had started it but soon, echoes of the same statement filled my ears.

"HIM AGAIN?!"

"HIM AGAIN?!"

"HIM AGAIN?!"

They all screamed the same incoherent words in different languages!

Which strangely enough, I could understand!

"Why him again?"

"This was unfair!"

And I heard the two men at the platform clicking their tongues.

"Tsk. why him?"

"It was him."

Then my vision suddenly turned blurry as the endless pit of darkness, void of any light greeted me again.

It was the start of my peculiar journey with the man I considered as my lifelong sworn brother.

.

.

.

And his name...

Was Argus!