In Medias Res (4)

'Holy shit. What the fuck just happened?' Let me just collect myself. There was cake, then I saw my dog get run over, then my vision came back to see the burnt corpse of Thalia, then a kid and a pen walked in and resurrected her, then an old guy walked over to a wall and revealed a huge fucking room, then it turned into a forest. 'Yep! I'm sane!'

Julian sat down next to Thalia. "You feel anything weird? I mean, you did just die." "It really didn't feel like I died though, it was like I was in a lucid dream, I could feel myself, I could sense things, mostly a burning feeling-" The image of Thalia's singed husk flashed through my mind. I held back a gag. "-as if my very soul was being purged." Upon closer inspection Thalia was much paler than usual, don't get me wrong, she's always pale, shying away from people and responsibilities. But she is open to those she's familiar with. This was different, her eyes had lost their luster. She looked like someone had ripped away her happiness, left in this state of desolation. Julian was comforting her by rocking her back and forth.

Argo was sitting on the countertop examining his scars, I had heard a little about them from Julian, but all he told me was that he had gotten them the same day that the house was burned down. Everyone in town remembers that day, the black cloud rising out over the rooftops, the people shouting, the sirens blaring. 'The town of Amphisbaena was never the same after that day, a house burning down usually wouldn't scar the people, but this was the house where-' a slam from the bathroom door disrupted my thoughts.

Harrison opened the door, his face completely drenched. He turned to Kendal, and asked: "I'm not dreaming right now, right? I mean, I could taste the ash and soot." Kendal nodded, taking a long forceful sip of water from a glass. "As far as I can tell, this is real. Look." She gestured to the new door. "That Midas guy just added a whole ass park to the building." "What." "Just look." Harrison walked to the door and carefully pushed it open. Through the slight crack in the door the splendor of the forest reappeared, Harrison paused for a moment to smell something, I took a whiff and was caught completely off guard. The smell of Thalia's scorched remains were being fought back by the smell of fruits and nature, now, I'm no stranger to natural environments, but these smells, all of them were unfamiliar to me. Sweetness enveloped the air and stuck like honey, the scents were overpowering, but not aggressive, akin to the urge to take a nap after a long day of partying. Harrison took a long time to open the door all the way.

The park-scape had changed. The trees looked as if they were thousands of years old, knots writhed the bark of most. The forest floor was covered in completely unfamiliar flowers, the skylight had changed to a lucent seafoam green, the pathway that had previously been marked with only gravel now was braced with an iron fence at either side, warm yellow lanterns flickered every few pickets, leading the way into this enchanted land. The walls weren't as high now, in fact, I could see a sun peeking through the canopy. It's open air. 'What the hell.' I brushed past Harrison.

Walking inside, (outside?) I could instantly feel the change in environment, from the cool airconditioned bookstore to the slightly humid but amazingly comfortable forest. Walking along the path I heard running water, not like a faucet slowly dribbling into a basin, not like the water gliding along the roads after a rainfall, no. This was rampant, like the festival of skies. Like the air was filled with an impossible to follow tempo. It was glorious. Before me lay a chasm that weaved and weft amongst the trees and paths, a bridge spanned the chasm, no, the rift. Water churned below, I saw waves lapping the cliff face, there were deposits of crystals along the walls which became denser the closer they got to the rapids. The bridge was... odd, it was a rope bridge, fitting of the simplistic and natural design of the path, but the whole structure arched upwards, as if defying gravity. I carefully took a step onto the bridge, my weight caused the plank below me to sag, it felt like I was walking on a wooden balloon. Each step caused the bridge to sway, the rhythm of the bridge would've been relaxing, if it weren't for the fact that, instead of my weight pushing the bridge down, the bridge was lifting me up. At the midpoint, I stopped, and looked down. The river below was rushing along, the crystals took in the light from above and shattered it. From the green sky the crystals created paintings, colors bounced within the rift, water provided the music, before was glorious, now, paragon. I sat on that bridge for a long time.

I felt the bridge jostle, letting me know that someone was approaching. Standing up, I turn to face ahead. Nezha was slowly walking toward me, looking over the railing into the rift. He looked up when he noticed me standing. "What do you think?!" he asked over the melody of the rift. "It's amazing!" I yelled back. "What?! Hold on!" He reached into one of his many pockets and pulled out something round and rough. Sand? He lifted the ball of sand and, with a force vastly disproportional to his stature, he crushed the sphere. The sand exploded outward in all directions, I closed my eyes and put my hands up to block an onslaught of grains, but it never reached me. I felt a chill rush past me, and as it did, everything went quiet. Slowly, I looked. We were inside of a massive geodesic sphere of sand, pulses of energy and light slowly emitted from each grain. "There, much better." Nezha triumphantly claimed. "Now I can ask again. What do you think?" "This, is, awesome!" I couldn't contain my excitement, not after seeing all these magical and magnificent things. "Glad you like it, because I'll be in you, and your friend's care for a while now." "What." I stared at the private. He stared blankly back. "Uh... explain please?" Nezha began to sway with the tempo of the bridge. "I'll be acting as a sort of assistant to the six of you. You'll have jurisdiction over a good deal of what I can and can't do. And I'll be required to help you out whenever things get dicey." "Uh-huh. And what does that entail?" "I can do almost anything as your assistant. I can create something out of nothing (sort of), I can give you powers, I can pause time, all sorts of things." "So, you're a god? 'cause that's what it sounds like to me." Nezha seemed a little bit concerned with where the conversation was going. "I'm not a god, exactly, but that's not important, what is important is that you have this 'not-exactly-a-god' at your beck and call." "What did we do to earn this?" "It's not about what you did, but what I did. I was sent to this universe to collect that dagger and bring it back to the rig. Of course, I made a mistake which resulted in you and your friends living through amplified versions of your traumas. So now, as penance, I'm here, and not leaving for a while." "How long is a while?" "Until all of you die." I was stunned, but him? He didn't look fazed one bit, as if an entire lifespan wasn't much of a big deal to this pseudo-god.

"Can't you resurrect the dead?" "Yes." "Then doesn't that mean you'll be here forever?" "It would be pretty stupid of me to revive one of my requirements to leave." For a moment I wanted to go back to that splendor of the rift below me, to forget what he had just said, but I knew I couldn't. "Don't worry, I'm supposed to keep you alive no matter what. Well... I'm not supposed to revive you if you die of old age. But otherwise, you're safe." That doesn't make me feel better. Grabbing the railing to steady myself and keep appearances. He could just break those rules. No, maybe not. He looked like he feared the captain. He took this time to glance around the inside of the sphere. What's stopping him from killing me over and over again, for decades? Like a doll given to a child, theirs to shred and eviscerate until it finally goes missing. Nezha looked over the edge of the bridge, he started humming a tune. Then why would he bother to explain this to us? To toy with us? To let us indulge in whatever we desire as our death creeps closer. Wait, if we can only die of old age, then we can't kill ourselves. Oh... please no... "Are You done yet?" The false god had creeped up to me, undetected. His rhythm now a direct opposition to the swinging of the bridge. "What?" I stumbled backwards. "You were thinking about how terrifying this could be, right?" Nezha had let me walk to the edge of the sphere. "Take your time." He gestured for me to leave, turning back to view the rift. "No one sane would take this at face value. So, try your best to calm down, and think about what I could do for you." The private smiled. I walked along the path, heading back toward the bookstore. I felt cold.