Pause... Play

My debut day on Earth proved to be nothing short of eventful.

Just as I ventured forth to meet the very humans whose tales I'd been tirelessly narrating throughout the last week, fate saw fit to unveil its grand spectacle of the peculiar and unexpected.

As the struggles of the two beside me ceased, I sank to the floor beside them, seeking respite and a moment of repose amidst the ebb and flow of life's tumultuous currents.

Merely hours had passed since the peculiar incident unfolded, yet the sun, that radiant orb of light and warmth, seemed to have vanished without a trace, leaving the surroundings shrouded in an eerie stillness, devoid of its customary brilliance.

The sky hung ominously overhead, bereft of any clouds to obscure its depths.

Its once blue hue had faded into a somber darkness, casting a pall of foreboding over the land.

But I didn't care about that. I was pretty sure these last hours removed a whole lot of years from my lifespan.

Despite the toll the recent events had undoubtedly taken on me, I couldn't help but dismiss concerns about the toll they may have exacted on my lifespan.

Logically speaking, there was no way that stress would affect me in that way.

With a lifespan stretching across ten thousand years, the notion of anything cutting short such an expanse of time seemed utterly improbable.

At least, nothing mortal or mundane is supposed to affect my lifespan in such a way.

It wasn't logic in fact. It was a simple fact.

At least, I possessed that morsel of knowledge about my kind.

It was gleaned amidst the labyrinthine corridors of the Great Library, amidst my relentless quest to find out the ends of the endless place.

But if you put something as flimsy as logic aside and put in the fact that living amongst humans wasn't as sweet as I thought, one could begin to think that the stress could indeed affect my lifespan.

You might be thinking "You've seen these stories countless times. Stories about humans experiencing stress in various ways and sizes. So why didn't you anticipate it?"

and yes, you're correct.

But witnessing stories phase through your consciousness every moment in time isn't the same as living through them.

At least that's what these few hours on this Deathtrap have taught me.

And the latest events didn't take it easy in teaching me that.

At the very least, I found solace in the novelty of my own experiences.

Though strange and bewildering, they offered a departure from the monotonous existence of merely narrating stories within the confines of the Great Library.

It was a welcome change, a glimpse into the vast expanse of possibilities beyond the pages of history.

Now, I could relish the dual joys of living out my own story while continuing to weave narratives for others.

Yet, as uncertainty crept into my thoughts, I couldn't shake the nagging doubt about whether Earth was truly where I belonged.

As I mulled over these thoughts, Dae-su Han stirred beside me, his eyelids fluttering open to greet the uncertain world.

And as if in synchronous harmony, across the vast expanse of the world, others like him began to awaken, their return to consciousness marking the dawn of a new chapter in their own stories.

They had different experiences of whatever just happened; some had it worse while others like Dae-su Han had it lighter.

As Dae-su Han surveyed his surroundings, a veil of confusion draped over his features, masking his countenance with uncertainty.

Though devoid of physical pain, the absence of recollection from the preceding hours left him adrift in a sea of perplexity.

With every memory of the recent past erased from his mind, he grappled with the enigmatic void that now occupied his consciousness.

"Why am I on the floor? "

Dae-su Han's voice cut through the stillness as he voiced his bewilderment, his gaze drifting to the mildly torn fabric of his clothes.

The confusion etched upon his cute, pale face mirrored the disorientation of someone roused from a deep slumber after enduring the rigors of a particularly taxing day.

Dae-su Han's initial question hung in the air, followed by a sudden, piercing scream coming from him as his senses sharpened to the world around him.

"Why is he on the floor? "

He asked as his eyes widened in alarm as he took note of his friend's state of nakedness, his accusatory words ringing out in the charged atmosphere.

"Did you do something to us?"

he demanded, his voice tinged with a mixture of fear and accusation.

For the first time since I've ever known about Dae-su Han through my narration and our now person-to-person contact, his face contorted into a scowl as he rose, his lean frame towering over me like a skinny lion that found prey.

"Calm down, dog. He's not dead,"

I uttered, mirroring the exact thoughts racing through Dae-su Han's overwrought mind.

The thought of something dire befalling his closest companion ignited a fiery determination within him, fueling thoughts of retribution directed towards me.

Every facet of Dae-su Han's appearance remained strikingly mundane, devoid of any fantastical embellishments that marked the awakening of others scattered across the Earth.

Unlike those whose emergence from the short recuperation bore traces of otherworldly essence, Dae-su Han appeared wholly and unequivocally human in every aspect.

As the bewildered masses emerged from their short recuperation, their transformations painted a kaleidoscope of anomalies across the Earth.

From the emergence of extra pairs of eyes and limbs to drastic changes in size, each awakening brought forth a myriad of mutations that defied comprehension.

In contrast, Dae-su Han's unaltered form provided a stark juxtaposition to the bewildering transformations experienced by others.

As the words escaped my lips, signaling reassurance to Dae-su Han, his mind grappled with a realization that defied the boundaries of human capability.

A flicker of something inexplicable sparked within him, hinting at a truth that transcended the confines of mundane existence, leaving him teetering on the precipice of a revelation yet to fully unfurl.

There was no way for a being like me to increase the height and bulk of someone.

Even if he was aware of my true nature there was no way for me to do anything except from narrating human stories and taking the various forms of humans, a true gift from the globe in the great library.

"W...W...Wh...Whaaat?"

he screamed as his mind finally registered a glaring fact.

"So slow"

I murmured to myself in an attempt to avoid further complicating the already complicated situation.

'He's taller and bigger'

He thought to himself as he watched his friend who was just slipping into consciousness.

That was quite fast, given what he experienced.

From my observations, it appeared that the tumultuous ordeal they had endured led them into a period of recuperation, during which their bodies, minds, and souls sought solace in a respite from the chaos that had engulfed them.

It was a fleeting moment of reprieve, allowing the different aspects of their beings to assimilate the bewildering events that had transpired and reconcile their newfound realities with the world they once knew.

Indeed, the rapid and unpredictable transformations witnessed among the populace served as a poignant reminder that in the intricate tapestry of the human world, no rule, theory, or law remained impervious to the capricious whims of fate.

The notion of evolution once thought to unfold over millennia, paled in comparison to the swift unraveling of norms and conventions that just ensued with a mere snap of the fingers.

It was a testament to the inherent volatility of existence, where the delicate balance of the world could be upended, plunging it into the depths of chaos or propelling it towards unforeseen realms of possibility, defying the very fabric of certainty upon which humans sought to build their understanding of the world.

As his friend stirred, a jolt of alarm coursed through Dae-su Han, his gaze fixating on the unsettling sight before him.

His friend's eyes shot open, revealing red-shot orbs tinged with disorientation.

Pupils darted erratically, their focus veering in myriad directions, painting a harrowing portrait of bewilderment and unrest.

In the absence of coherent thought, Jackson Lee parted his lips, unleashing guttural sounds that echoed through the stillness.

Like primal cries echoing across the ages, the utterances emerged from depths untouched by rationality, a haunting reminder of the tenuous grip on sanity after the chaos of transformation.

As the guttural sounds continued to escape his friend's lips, a slow trickle of saliva began to seep from the corners of his mouth, an involuntary manifestation of his newly transformed self.

As Dae-su Han's gaze remained fixated on his friend, a palpable shift occurred within him.

The flames of vengeance toward me that once burned bright in his eyes were extinguished, replaced by a creeping sense of fear.

His friend's altered appearance and erratic behavior cast a shadow of uncertainty, eclipsing even the peculiar sight of Jackson Lee's nakedness.

Jackson Lee's nakedness was no longer the strangest thing. In fact, it was the least of the problems.

"Hey hey, Jackson. Why are you doing this?"

He wasn't speaking English but was speaking his native language.

Fear etched itself deeply into Dae-su Han's countenance as his heart quickened its pace, a symphony of dread reverberating through his veins.

Something happened when he was filled with vengeance directed at me. His organs seemed to be on the verge of breaking apart.

With each throb, his organs seemed to strain against an unseen force, threatening to rend them asunder.

But now his whole being was trembling as an icy chill crept forth from the depths of his core, spreading its tendrils with sinister intent.

Despite the tendrils of fear tightening their grip around his heart, Dae-su Han mustered the courage to take a tentative step forward, drawing closer to the now-rising figure before him.

As Jackson Lee rose to his feet, his towering figure loomed like an inflated mannequin in front of a Western store.

Clumsy and uncertain, he grappled with the mechanics of his newfound body, each attempt at moving a testament to the alien nature of his transformation.

Sensations flooded his consciousness with an intensity previously unknown, his sight sharpened to a keenness that surpassed that of a mundane human, while his sense of smell delved into realms of olfactory richness previously unexplored.

Every sense, heightened and refined, painted a vivid tapestry of experience, signaling the dawn of a new existence beyond the confines of his former self.

As Jackson Lee's eyes gradually ceased their erratic movement, a semblance of stability returned to his gaze, offering a fleeting respite from the disorientation that had gripped him moments before.

Yet, just as he rose to his full height, an unforeseen calamity unfolded beneath him.

With a resounding crash, his newfound form faltered, sending his ass crashing to the floor in a thunderous impact.

The corridor, once a bastion of strength and solidity, now quivered on the brink of destruction under the weight of his descent.

With his total surface area and center of gravity shifted by the transformative forces, his delicate sense of balance was irrevocably disrupted.

The very essence of his being, now forged anew, rendered him vulnerable to the dance of gravity's pull.

His mind was the first to calm down.

Amidst the heightened senses and enhanced capabilities bestowed upon him, a disconcerting truth emerged: his once-okay intellect had suffered a profound downgrade.

Despite the upgrades bestowed upon his brain and other organs, for some reason his IQ plummeted to depths previously uncharted, leaving him grappling with a cognitive diminishment.