Mr. Zero

"Fuck", said Shapish

"Fuck!", said the other duo startled.

"Shouldn't I be Mr. 14", said Shapish.

"Oh my Goddess, you got to the 13th one...what an astonishing level of failure! It surprises even me...haha...Look at him, War!" 

"For once I agree with you, Priest...this is indeed unprecedented"

Shapish felt too humiliated to speak but curiosity got the best of him. He stammered while he spoke, "What are y...you  even talking about?-"

The priest replied nonchalantly, "There is no fourteenth reincarnation".

Shapish's mind went blank for a good few seconds before he was jolted awake by the two voices in his head.

He looked at the ground as he silently muttered, "Then who am I?".

"Who knows, I personally have never gone past five?", replied War.

"Even better, who cares...haha", replied the priest.

Why was this priest so shameless? Too aggressive! And why is his comic timing so off? As Shapish was sulking, he realized he hadn't asked important questions.

"I know I am Shapish, so may I know who are both of you?", he asked.

The priest looked at him in disbelief as he yelled, "My Goddess, are you total fucking newbie? You haven't awakened even once in THIRTEEN reincarnations!"

"It's more serious than I thought, priest!",  said war.

"I would have told you, but there's no point in telling you now!", said the priest as he sounded a little dejected.

Shapish found it a little inconsistent with the optimism of the priest he had noticed. He said, "Yeah, yeah! I get it...that I don't know anything at all. At least tell me about what's important..."

The priest stayed quiet as if he was too bothered to speak. Seeing that the priest refused to speak up, war said, "I didn't think there would be a day I would agree with this horny dog priest. The ruthless autumn arrives, and it takes away with it the blooming flowers of spring...this sort of thing is unavoidable".

"What the hell do you mean! Stop talking in metaphors for God's sake", asked Shapish.

"Goddess's sake", said The priest correcting him.

Shapish was annoyed at the duo while they were busy discussing contemporary poetry. "How are they so carefree?", he thought.

He was thinking of ways to get some information out of the duo when suddenly an idea popped into his mind. He wasn't a total newbie. He had lived far more tumultuous lives than one can imagine! He knew how and when to suck up to someone. One could say he had a master's degree in the art of buttering up people. If he wanted something from someone, he would even open his mouth for them to spit in it. Though, it must be stated that it wasn't out of some weird fetish. It was purely acting. Yes! A truly immersive and wonderful performance on the stage of this world.

But, he knew this wasn't a situation where he could cater to these people's egos. After all, he barely knew them at all! Also, the secret art of the sycophant should never be exposed. After all, a sycophant is more effective for people when they don't realize they are surrounded by yes-men. These people are the real treasure troves.

So, he decided to try another approach.

He tried to clear his throat to sound deep. It was kind of stupid because he was still a baby and they were conversing with their consciousness. 

He spoke in a low-pitched ASMR voice, "Do you know about the "enemies"? 

The duo stopped bickering all of a sudden. Shapish felt like they were staring right at his soul. Goosebumps appeared on his body as he felt fear...more significantly the fear the duo had for 'the enemies' was conveyed to him.

silence...

The priest spoke in a low tone," Don't mention "them" openly. They can always be watching us! "

Shapish fell silent as he felt a wave of horror brooding over him. Will these supposed "enemies"  come at him right after his birth? No, someone even tried to kill him before he was born. Isn't this too much?

Seeing Shapish being quiet for a while, war said, "It's not that "they" are always watching, it's just that "they" can always do that".

"What's the difference?", said Shapish.

"Rich old bastards want to fuck young girls all the time. But hey, you know what... they don't have it in their balls to do that...It's something like that.", said the priest. 

War sighed as he said, "Continuous surveillance needs a lot of resources. It's great even for them. Plus we are hidden well enough to keep the area of search relatively large."

Shapish was shocked by the priest's vulgarity. Why was this priest such a try-hard? 

"When you try hard, you die-hard", Shapish thought.

"He must have been a keyboard warrior previously",  Shapish lampooned inwardly.

"All that aside, how do you know about "them"?", said War.

"He didn't tell me who he was, but I met him in the womb", Shapish told truthfully.

"This is very vague. Do you remember anything he said?...anything noteworthy?", asked War.

"I didn't quite understand it but he said a lot of things like delusion is worse than the disease...but he was quoting me that time...oh...yeah, I remember he said something like..."

"It doesn't matter who survives"

"After all, you are me and I am you"

A wave of horror washed past The Priest and War as they were at a loss for words.

The priest visibly aghast spoke with surprise, " "He" spared you. My Goddess! You survived being deleted"

Shapish was shocked as he was left dumbfounded as he spoke, "Who did I meet? And why do you refer to him as "him" What the hell is "deleted" ?"

Suddenly, all the sounds in his vicinity vanished. Shapish felt inexplicable fear. Goosebumps!! It felt like reality itself tore apart as ringing sounds kept intensifying. He felt like his ears would burst. He had the sudden urge the tear down his skin with his nails. Tears flowed out of his eyes as he choked on his spit. 

Suddenly, everything came to a halt and he heard a voice,

"Shh"

He saw a man sitting on a chair covered up with smoke. The man barely looked human despite having a human-like body. Something deep within him told him that this was an unfathomable existence...something beyond his comprehension. 'His' voice was so deep that it was horrifying. Shapish wanted to pull out his ear and tear his eardrums but the voice kept echoing in his consciousness. The voice kept getting distant until it vanished completely.

Soon, everything calmed down and he heard the duo trying to talk to him.

"What happened to you?", said the priest.

War interjected as he said,

  "He must have met Mr. Zero"