Glitching Green

Shamballa was a small town. It didn't take us long to leave it behind us. The path that led to the mounds was clear but crooked. I hadn't said a word to Lubbock, despite the fact that I had nearly tried to kill him earlier. I suppose I was burnt out. My body began to ache and I felt like all the injuries from the past week were beginning to finally hurt. I had almost forgotten that I literally fell down into Shamballa. Though, if I thought about it carefully, it made no sense.

"Hey Seraph", Lubbock seemed to hold no grudge against me, "Do you believe what Doctor said?"

He was talking about what she'd told us about Serena. How she'd made her and everything else.

"No", I answered in a low voice.

I certainly didn't think it was a lie but I could easily see the inconsistencies in her story. I just had that sort of feeling, that there was more to it than she was letting on.

"Right? I'm glad you think so. I wish things were straightforward, you know. I hate it when people don't say everything they should. I don't like incomplete, confusing things. Yes, that's right, I hate mysteries."

"You say that but you go ahead and do incomprehensible things regardless. And you don't even have an explanation for it, do you? In reality, it isn't a mystery at all. People simply aren't obliged to tell us their stories. Do you expect that people should just spill everything to us, explain and justify themselves and involve us in their lives just because we think we are significant? Get a grip man, you're totally in denial and so full of yourself if that's what you believe."

I was ticked at him still.

"I don't get what you're talking about. But I like to be clear. Lady said I don't have to explain anything to you. But I don't do things like that, so I'll tell you everything. But there's something you have to see before that", he went on dragging me behind him.

Honestly, I was too tired to keep walking straight. If not for him, I'd be groveling in the ground for a straight thirty minutes before moving on.

"Hey", I said, as I suddenly noticed the ground going weird on me, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, Lubbock!!!"

"What's the-"

"The ground...the...it's glitching! It's...look below you! It's disappearing on us!"

Indeed, the ground was disappearing in places. Like I said, it was glitching. And beyond that was nothing. Where even were we? I looked straight up ahead and then around me. We were on the mounds, alright, but this wasn't something I bargained for.

"Don't worry about it. Just keep following me and you'll be alright."

He was awfully calm about it. Meanwhile, the further we went on, the more the glitching increased until it wasn't just the ground, but everything around us.

"This is far enough, do you think? We might walk off this world if we keep heading straight. But it doesn't sound bad. You wanna try?"

"No way! Keep your weird ideas to yourself!"

"Ahaha! Well then, here will do. Sit down."

"No way!", I wasn't gonna sit around in that scary place.

"What, Seraph? Why are you so worried? I'm here with you."

As if that would reassure anyone.

"I've never been here before. It's a nice place, isn't it? I've always liked red roofs on houses. Even if the surrounding is all dappled in green, Shamballa is a nice place, isn't it? If not for a time like this, I wouldn't mind living here."

"What are you saying?", if he brought me here for that sort of conversation, I would simply blow a fuse.

"Hey, Seraph, don't you think so too? Everyone hates us here but it isn't our fault, is it? If a nice place has nice people in it, that would be nice, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it?"

I wonder if he really believed that. After all, it was totally our fault.

"Probably. But Shamballa is too small, it's not that nice."

That was a lie. I just didn't feel like agreeing with him right then.

"That's true. Sit down, Seraph. I'll tell you something."

His 'something' was a lot more than I expected. I refused to sit down at first, but he forced me to. In the end, even though I constantly felt threatened in that glitchy place, though he seemed to find it a perfect spot for long revelations. I decided to be as quiet as possible so we could hurry up and leave.