//------------------------------//
// A Guest 
// Story: What Am I? 
// by LordOctavianStark 
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The beast holds your muzzle in his claws and stares into your eyes for a moment before finally releasing you. He stands to his full height and takes a step back before pacing back and forth. His massive size amplified from your prone position. Causing fear to rise in your heart. “You shouldn't still be here. It should've worked. Why didn't it… Why?” It continued to ramble to itself incoherently. Finding it impossible to follow along with his verbose speech you roll yourself onto your stomach and push yourself into a seated position facing the apparition.

“What- what do you mean I shouldn't be here?” You ask as you shake the daze from your mind. The attempt was in vain. The creature somehow vanished from its position and reappeared in front of you almost immediately, as if teleporting like you had seen Luna do hundreds of times. This causes you to fling yourself back, his sudden appearance nearly scaring your soul from your body.

“I mean,” he pauses to take a step towards you. “That you shouldn't be in here.” He taps a finger to your skull. “The spell should've been broken and you should be gone. I should be back in control instead of this acid trip spirit guide you see.” Each word was punctuated by another tap against your skull. 

You smack his claw away confused. He should be in control? You mull his words over until it clicks. “You, you were trying to kill me!?” You shouted with a voice laced in venom. You fling yourself into a standing position and spread your wings in a defensive stance. Crouching low you stare daggers at him.

“Yes, I should be in control. Jesus fucking Christ. No way I'm this fucking dense. How does he not get it yet!? Did they take away my common sense when they turned me into an abomination!?”

You brush off the fact that it seemed that he had read your thoughts and continued. “You certainly love to talk to yourself creature.” This causes him to fling his head in your direction with a scowl that could kill.

“Well, I have been locked in my own mind for SIX FUCKING YEARS! So yes, when you have no one else to talk to you tend to talk to yourself.” He shouted in pure anger, causing you to fold your ears back in response. “They took everything from me. My humanity, my body, my life, my own name, hell even my death. Then locked me away, as I watched some masquerade of myself go about life in my body!”

“Your body!? Just because you failed to do to me what the Nightmare did to Luna does not make my body yours!” You shot back. You knew Luna had sound dampening spells on her room but you pray that maybe she'd hear you and come to your aid.

The creature facepalmed with an exasperated sigh. “God you are stupid. You saw the memories did you not?” You remain silent but nod in response. “Don't you think it's strange that my memories and yours are together? That when you went through the history that should have been yours you found mine?” your eyes open in realization. Why were my memories with his? You think to yourself as you mull over it's meaning. “Don't even bother thinking of it. You're to dumb to piece it together obviously.” 

Dread sets in. “You can hear my thoughts. What… what are you?” You say aloud. It wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact. The thing only hummed in response.

“Of course I can. I am you, and you are me. We,” he motions to himself then to you, “are human.”

Realization suddenly hits you. “You're not really here are you?” You ask as the implications of it finally sink in. 

“Of course I am, I'm just not here physically.” He states then taps a claw to his own skull. “I'm up here.”

Your eyes widen. “By the Old Gods. I'm going insane.” your voice trembling as you say it. 

“The ‘Old Gods’? They even have you worshiping their fake deities. Y'know, I prayed to a lot of gods in my life. But at least they were all gods of men.” He squats down to eye level with you. His posture becomes relaxed and it seems to ease some of your fears of him. “Look, I'm gonna level with you ‘Star’,” he uses his claws to make quotation marks around your name. “I've been locked away a long time, and my plan to get free didn't quite work. But you can still help me get back at the bastards that did this to me.” He finishes with a soft smile.

“And why the buck would I do that beast?” You ask, your tone dripping with hate.

The creature's smile then grew demented in nature. “Because, you are me. Listen closely and don't interrupt.” he stood from his squatted position and began to pace agian. “Six years ago the Princesses tried to do something horrible. They tried to take away my humanity. I couldn't accept this obviously, and took an out. I flung myself from the castle tower and committed suicide. Atleast, that was the plan. I laid in a dream, thinking ‘oh, fuck. I'm in a coma,’ well that was until you woke up. They had turned me into one of them and locked me away in your subconscious.”

Coming back to you, he looks down on you with pity. “You never crashed during a late night flight. You never lost your memory because of it. You are a version of me that had his memories stripped away until the barest bit of my personality remained. Then you were fed lie after lie. Your life is a sham and I truly am sorry you had to find out like this.”

You want to call him a liar, you wanted to rage against the story he had fabricated. But deep down, you knew it was no lie. You knew deep in your heart that this was the truth. “I destroyed the world as I knew it.” The words barely choked out as tears began to run down your cheeks.

“Pandora's Box, it's a bitch and a half.” The creature takes a step even closer and sits to the left side you. Letting you cry silently as your world came crashing down. All that you couldn't explain suddenly made sense. Every question that gnawed at you finally had an answer. It did not give you joy as you had hoped. It left you broken and hollow. After a few moments the human apparition draws your attention by bumping into your left side with his shoulder. “Hey, there is something that will make you feel better.” He says, staring forward.

“What's that?” You ask, no emotion in your voice. Your gaze still planted forward. Not looking at anything other than empty space.

Out of the corner of your eye you see him turn his face to you and you respond in kind. Looking into his eyes you can see a glee in them. His mouth cracks into a crooked smile before he speaks. “Revenge.”