enigmatic_soul

Am I dreaming?, you ask yourself. This isn't the first time you've felt this way, felt as if you floated in some deep void never known by man and long since forgotten by gods, where the light never reached. Yet, as eerily familiar as this situation feels, something feels... off. That fogginess that envelopes your mind whenever you dream simply isn't there. You stretch out your arm, even extending your fingers, and it feels like it always does. You reach over and pinch yourself in the side, and feel it sting, the sharp pain contrasting the stillness you experience around you. You yelp, not expecting the pain, but the sound simply dissipates in the realm. You're not sure anything even resides here, but you feel self conscious about that sound, as if it were sacrilege to even disturb this silence. Your mind begins to wander now, starting to imagine what could even call this place home. Could an eyeless beast be stalking this place, being lured towards the sound of your voice? Would it be humanoid, or more animalistic? Would you even be able to comprehend its shape? Its noises? Perhaps you'd simply be wrapped by hundreds and hundreds of tentacles and crushed. Maybe you're already in the mouth of the beast, and it's only deciding when to chomp down. All these thoughts rush past your mind, each one leaving you feeling more fear than the last. 

As your panic begins to hit its peak, you feel it. A hand? No, something else, touching your shoulder. It's cold, colder than anything you've felt before. It feels like it's leeching the heat out from the very place it's touching. And the texture feels as viscous as molasses. Its grip is solid, no amount of moving would be able to free you. Attempting so may simply end with you having a dislocated shoulder. You freeze, fearing the figure that awaits you centimeters behind your back. Slowly, you feel a ringing sensation within your skull, it builds and builds, and with it the pressure. You can't take much more of this, starting to grunt in pain, but as quickly as it starts, it stops, possibly reacting to your pain. You hear a harsh sound, a sound close to industrial machinery. You can't help but wince again, but suddenly you hear a voice.

"My, you're finally awake, human." 

Underneath those words, you can feel the ringing in your head, but it's more distant now. It's difficult to pinpoint anything about the qualities of this voice. It seems to shift, as if this creature is having trouble maintaining the cadences required to speak with you. Even though you feel as if it may understand you, your fear prevents you from attempting to speak. You try to feign unconsciousness, hoping it may move on to something else, something it would find more interesting or tasty, yet, it doesn't budge an inch. It leans in closer, and as it does, a wave of nausea hits you from the stench, a pungent smell of sulfur and rotting flesh. "I can tell you're conscious, no point in trying to lie. Unless you want to be silent, permanently". Any sense of tranquility you felt in her words before vanished, replaced by bloodlust. You decide to ask where you are, but are immediately cut off. "Ah, so you are alive. For as many times as your consciousness brushed the outer limits of my realm, this is the first time you ended up this deep, while awake no less. Congratulations, you're the first in centuries to achieve this". Suddenly, that feeling of familiarity makes sense. You remember having flashes of this place, before ending up in another of your dreams. Even so, your fear doesn't diminish, knowing that you were this close to your potential doom so many times. 

"W-what are you?", you ask, managing to choke out the question before gagging, as you get a lungful of that scent. "What am I? You humans never change, asking such rude questions.” They scoff, clearly annoyed with you. “The closest approximation your kind would call me is an elder god. I, specifically, control this realm of dreams, the collective consciousness and unconsciousness. And my name", they say with some contempt, "is ---------". You couldn't comprehend it. You ask if there's any way to articulate their name in your language. They seem to stop a little, a bit confused by the request. "There really isn't an equivalent in any language you'd be able to understand. As such, call me as you'd like. It's only fitting, considering I subsist on your kind's thoughts. " You struggle to come up with a name, one that wouldn't end with you in pieces. As you think, you feel them becoming more and more impatient, that appendage on your shoulder starting to quiver. As their impatience reaches its peak, you interject. "What about Zero"? "You feel the grip on your shoulder loosen a bit as they contemplate, and attempt to look at it, but your vision blurs before you can make anything out.

"Zero? Hmm, that's acceptable. Pleased to properly make your acquaintance, human. Especially after seeing all your interesting dreams while you passed me by oh so many nights. Perhaps you'll be able to perceive...this form." Zero finally lifts that appendage off of you, and slowly, you start feeling the heat return to that spot, letting the numbness subside. You feel them slowly move away, and you slowly start feeling relief, your fear fading, the void it leaves being filled with a growing curiosity. What could they mean by "this form"? Zero said they fed off our thoughts, but does that really mean they can shapeshi-. As you finish that thought, you hear a strange sound behind you, as if you were listening to raging waves of slime crash against a shoreline. You freeze up, remembering just how much danger you might be in. "Go ahead, turn around," Zero whispers, "You'll appreciate this." You want to refuse, to continue staring off into the distance, but your body won't listen to you. It seems Zero wasn't simply lying to you about themselves. 

It takes an eternity, but you finally face them, and are stricken breathless. They chose to remain androgynous, as you thought they would, but their features... you've seen them before, on many, many nights. "The person of your dreams, human. In the flesh. Do you like it?" You can't help but nod, finding too much difficulty in speaking. Zero smirks. "I thought you might. However, I'd much prefer taking...this form." You turn  away, expecting to hear the same sounds as before, but nothing of the sort happens. You turn back, and see a person with medium length, shaggy red hair that grows over their ears, with bangs covering their left eye. The eye that you can see has a golden iris, but the pupil seems slightly slitted. The nose is somewhat small, taking on a button shape. Zero's mouth, currently still smirking, has thinner lips. They grin a bit when they see you look at them, and every tooth you can see is fanged. Their body still leaves you wondering if they have a proper gender, especially draped in darkness, obscuring your view, but in general it's somewhat skinny, but not skinny enough to see bone, if they have any. The arms themselves have some muscle definition to them, while the legs are somewhat scrawny as well, but long. In all, Zero is somewhat shorter than you, but you feel intimidated all the same. You start trying to compliment her, but end up coughing instead, and blood starts running down your cheek, dripping off of your chin. Your focus starts to fade as well, and Zero quickly takes notice. "Ah, right. Humans can't survive this space for long. Well, it's about time you left anyway, but we'll see each other again, don't worry about it." The very thought of seeing Zero again makes your blood run cold again, but you're already losing consciousness...

You wake with a start in your own bed, your heart beating out of your chest. You check to feel the blood on your chin, but it's not there. Seems it was all a nightmare after all. You check the time and see it's only 5:32am, but at this point, it's as good a time as any to get up. As you make your way to the kitchen, ready to get some food into your aching body, you hear it. That voice, that same voice with the underlying static speaking to you oh so softly from the kitchen. You walk in and see Zero again, just as promised... As you start to faint, you hear them say, "Going back to sleep so soon? Sweet dreams, human..."