It was
really no more than the echo of a whispered breath that brought him abruptly
into wakefulness. Usually there was no sleep for him; the nights dragged on
into days until there was no difference between them. His mind ran rampant with
imagined scenarios, imagined answers to the questions that were branded into
his consciousness. He had been alone for as long as he could remember, but that
also posed a problem. He could not measure how much time had passed, and he did
not know when he got ... where ever he was. All he knew was that it was indoors
and it was massive. In truth he did not know with certainty that here was in
fact inside, but there had been no rain nor wind or any other indication of
weather so he simply assumed. He could not tell night from day, and all that
existed above him was a distant blackness that extended into infinity. Nearer
to the ground, and that term is used generously as what lay beneath his feet
was just as dark and expansive at the supposed sky above him, was some source of
illumination that seemingly had no origin. It simply was; dimly allowing vision
in every direction and in every direction there was nothing but more of the
same dim light that bled gently into the ground and sky.
He felt as
if his entire existence had been within this infinity. There was no way to be
sure though; especially after being awoken by a sound. The first sound he could
remember experiencing. It was thrilling, and terrifying, and it pulled at
something deep within him. A longing, as if there was something that he was
missing terribly and yet he could not bring this feeling into a complete
thought. It seemed to actively evade him.
Again the
echo of a breath resonated through the emptiness and he felt a rush rise up in
his body. No, he thought, that isn’t right; how could he feel it in his body
when... the thought again escaped him. All around, he searched for the source
of this new experience, one that he had never known in his endless time within
the expanse. As usual there was nothing to be seen.
Of course
there was nothing to be seen, you are just a...
He felt
frustrated. It was as if his consciousness was being suppressed or contained
and he could not get out. The breath came again, this time though it was
stronger, pulling him into a new place of existence. He tried to resist but he
found that he could not; the will of this force was overwhelming.
With a
shock he found that he could remember again. He had a body again. He was no
longer in the nothingness that contained him. Lying there totally still he
appreciated every sensation of skin and bone and flesh that was provided to
him. A warm wetness began to dampen his back, and steadily it rose. His eyes
snapped open in panic and the panic turned to absolute terror when he found
that he could not see. He was still confined, a box the size of a coffin. The
water rose. As he screamed the water flowed into his mouth and nose. As the
body began to release the consciousness that it had just gained, he began to notice
a slight illumination that had no real source. It bled gently into the ground
and sky.
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Interesting."
The
researcher was alone, so he made no attempt to stop himself from muttering the
word. There was no one but the vessel and the stored consciousness with him. He
made a note, and pressed the reset button. A timer started. In three minutes,
the eyes would open, and there would be a new person in the body.
-L
Read Novam Mortem for more of this story.
-L
Read Novam Mortem for more of this story.
