I look at the webpage in disinterest. I've run out of things to do and now I'm just kind of slinking through different web pages, no real goal in mind. Usually at this point I'd turn to fanfiction as a form of entertainment, but there's only so much fanfiction you can read in a day. So here I am, blasting Vocaloid at the highest volume and lurking on the internet. In truth it's not just any website, it's a low-key RP chat. I'm masquerading as my OC and two other people are their OC's, their huge Mary Sue's. I keep my character realistic, yet manage to stay caught up to their fast-paced adventure. I'm not in the scene in the moment and wondering who's going to win the ego fight going on in the chat when I get a new email.
Obviously email is much more important to me than my current company, so I check to see if it's anything worth looking at. I find a strange email from a GoDoFcHaOs@gmail.com, I look at it indecisively. With a name like that I know that it'll more than likely be troll mail, and that's not accounting for the annoying alternating caps. Alt caps, accounting themselves as a god of chaos, I decide that they must be some homestuck RP.
I look over the message and I find myself drawn to the proposal, it reads "Dear Starlet, or should I say Skylar? You've been especially chosen to partake in an experiment, please watch this video and follow the steps at the end. You will be rewarded for your efforts." What follows is a link to what I assume the video is, but I'm not so sure.
"First off, why should I trust an anonymous source that has a name like that? Second off, what is the experiment? I'm not stupid, how do I know you won't hack me or something?" I send off my reply, if it is a hacker then they shouldn't bother answering. Not a minute later a reply comes in.
"Why indeed. If I were to tell you the experiment or get you to trust me, that would defeat the purpose. What good would hacking you do? I have much better uses of my time." I look at the message in interest. It's not likely it's a hacker because it's become more personal, hackers don't do that. Usually.
"What do you mean by reward? How does it benefit me? Reward doesn't always mean the same thing." I reply, I get my answer in a few more seconds.
"I should have known you wouldn't be so easily persuaded. Always the skeptic, so sharp. Even better for my experiment. You see, you are not the only subject, you are merely becoming part of something bigger. Honestly, what have you got to lose?" The message asks, I tap my fingers against the desk thoughtfully.
"Why don't you tell me? Your dialog is starting to sound like some cheesy antagonist to some sort of story or film. Mysterious entity asking for mysterious results in an experiment? Not just that, but why me? What makes me such a special target?" I send off. The answer comes swiftly.
"Why not you? You have such an unjaded view of the universe, it's quite beautiful actually. You know the beauty and chaos of disharmony, you also know the possible horrors of harmony. You are a neutral party about so many things. There's also the fact that your broken, fractured inside. Don't you want to find out, know what, who, you’re meant to be?" I stare at the screen in shock before typing out a reply. My music fades into background noise as I think on all that's been said.
"If you know so much how am I supposed to trust you? I know next to nothing about you, yet you seem to know me better than most. If you know so much about me how am I supposed to help with your experiment?" I hesitantly type out.
"Simply put, a neutral party such as yourself acts as an untouchable variable. I'm sure that you're familiar with the workings of harmony? You act outside that, and that's a variable I need tested. So, what do you say?" The message reads. I lean back in my chair as the music flows through the air, I contemplate what I've read. There are so many impossibilities about this, one is the encounter itself. A mysterious person who just happens to know a lot about how I think and knows what I believe. Not only that, but he wants to use that in some sort of study. I know what he's talking about, but it seems impossible. Nonetheless, I'm intrigued.
The mouse wanders over the clicker as the music drones on, I listen to the vocals for a second. I hadn't even noticed the change in the song, but it'll go off as soon as the video starts. I idle for a second more before clicking the link. I have a second to reflect on how bad of an idea it was before a powerful energy engulfs me.
~
"Ugh," I shake off a splitting headache as I wake up. I keep my eyes closed so the light can't aggravate my headache further. I try to recall what happened before I woke up. There was a crappy RP, then a mysterious email. That email, from the mysterious sender. The email containing a video that proceeded to burst into energy, like an explosion. I shoot up as my brain processes this, then I lay back down as my head starts throbbing from the forced movements. I open my eyes slowly and stare straight up, I see trees. Thick trees blocking most light from getting through, yet a few small beams manage to land directly in my eyes. I scoot to the side and lift my body up slowly, looking around I see more foliage.
I shake my head slightly and run my wrist across my still bleary eyes in an attempt to soothe the headache, it doesn't work. A pink lock of hair falls into my eyes and I brush it out of my eyes automatically. Eventually my actions catch up to my mind and I grab at my hair, its long. I pull a lock of it in to my view and it finally registers that it's registers that it's pink, and about down to my waist almost. I look down at the rest of me and whimper a little. I look at my body in defeat and brush my hair out of my eyes.
"What's happened to me?" I ask around to no one in particular. Receiving no answer I return to looking at my new body, I take note of what I can. I'm female, and I'm wearing a long brown dress of some sort. I have sleek long brown boots on and longer black socks. The dress is open at a section, so the entirety of my leg is open. The top is sleeveless, but I'm wearing separate sleeves with multiple buttons. There's an arm-band on my left arm, and just underneath it is a tattoo depicting the numbers 03. I reach up and can feel headphones distinctly covering my ears, despite this I feel I can hear just as well if not better than if they were off. As I take this into account it's clear to me who I look like, Megurine Luka.
I shiver as I think about it, both from the realization and the fact that I'm wearing a fairly revealing outfit while it's cold out. It's cold, windy, scary, and I don't know where I am. I finally bring up the nerve to get up from the floor and brush myself off, I take a deep breath. I take a calm and collected look at my surroundings and calculate the best course of action. Its about midday, and I don't know where the sun rose. I can't navigate by stars, and I don't have a compass. So, I should pick a direction and stick to it. Try and find a path, maybe some people. Get my bearings, then I can worry about my unusual predicament.
I choose a direction and start off that way, I have a difficult time at the beginning because my center of balance is a little different. Eventually I adjust a little and sway my hips a little more to stabilize, it works and I continue on. I'm walking along and watching, waiting for anything to jump out at me. I hear a steady thump in the distance and I glance around nervously. The thump changes its pacing and I stop, waiting for something to come out. The leaves rustle and a steady note hangs in the air, I look around nervouslyotesear a couple notes in the back of my mind and I start to hum along to the tune, its hypnotizing.
The beat increases and I can hear more notes in my head, they're quickly turning into a melody. I can hear the music beating against my skull, my hand wanders over to my sleeves. Before I lose myself to the music I shake myself out of my trance, the tune decreases. I try to shake the remaining beat out of my head, but the tune sticks there stubbornly. No matter what I do, the tune plays softly in my head. It doesn't overpower any sounds, but you can really notice it when it's silent. I try to ignore it and keep a clear head about my situation, yet the tune stubbornly haunts me.
I wander aimlessly as time seems to meld together, I’d since lost that small amount of light that had been peeking through the top. The forest is dark, chilly, and humid. I shiver and rub my hands along my upper arms as I stumble through the dense forest. I’m not quite sure how long I’ve been walking, but my legs are starting to ache and I’m terribly hungry. The harshness of this forest is starting to get to me, and I’m starting to slow my movements. But I trudge on, without any idea where I’m headed and no idea whether I’m making my situation worse. I can only trust my sinking feeling that I have to keep moving, for if I don’t then there is no hope. I’m lucky enough not to have run into any wildlife, if any sort of predator came along while I was in this state I would surely be done for.
So I do the one thing I do know, I have to move. That harmony has been ebbing at the back of my mind the whole time, but fatigue and hunger muffle it slightly. None the less I can make out distinct sounds every once in a while, the tune is poisonous. The song seems to remove all my fears and inhibitions, promising safety and security. falling for a ploy like that in my situation could be deadly, so I try to focus my mind on other things.
I try to focus on the fact that my body is very different from what it used to be. All my limbs are different, but it doesn’t feel wrong. It just feels… strange. Despite the adjustments in my center of gravity and getting used to my senses feeling different, it feels natural almost. It also feels kind of strange, but that’s mainly the fact that my brain remembers my body feeling differently. For one, I don’t need glasses now, yet I keep on feeling that familiar tingle of them resting on the bridge of my nose. I even keep on reaching up my hand to push them back up, only to realize once more that I don’t have them.
Overall, the experience is surreal. In my thinking I’ve managed to deduce one thing, and that is that I only know of one god of chaos. But that is one big jump in logic that I can’t justify at the moment, I have to wait until more evidence is produced. So far the only evidence I have tells me nothing except that whatever did this was powerful, and that my suspicions have a very high possibility of being true.
I push on as my muscles scream at me to stop, I can only hope that my effort pays off. Thankfully, I was in track and I know that even if my legs are burning and my lungs are stinging I can still go on. Mind over matter, I just need to push myself. I need out, I need to get out of this forest. My legs are shaking as a bright light enters my vision, it’s not that far off in the distance. I shakily jog to the light and my head stings a little as my eyes try to adjust. I shade my eyes and look out at the field, it’s an apple orchard. Crisp red apples hang from trees, just in reach.
I walk up to a tree and look at the apples longingly, I contemplate taking one. I hesitate at the fact that this is an orchard, and it looks well maintained. That’s a sure sign that somebody lives here, and that taking an apple would be stealing. However hunger clouds my judgement and I reach my hand out tentatively, I snag one of the bright red fruits.
“I’ll have to stick around anyway to figure out where I am, I’ll make sure to find a way to pay them back before I leave…” I mumble assurance to myself as I savor the sweet sustenance offered by the apple. Only slightly disturbed by the strangeness of my voice as I finish off the apple. With some relief thanks to the apple I don’t have to worry as much about my hunger and my senses clear a bit, yet my fatigue still drags me down. I wander through the orchard until I see a sort of suspended building in the distance. I wander towards it while my mind fogs over and my eyes start to droop.
Even that tune I had been hearing seemed to slur in my mind, it seemed a very different song than the one I remember hearing initially. I force my eyes back open as I approach the barn, they’re threatening to close on me. My vision starts to darken around the edges and I focus on the ladder. I enter the structure and I’m met by an orange pony, she seems shocked. I don’t have enough energy to process this information, I just look at her in disinterest. I’m making sure to keep my eyes open when my vision goes black. I’m robbed of my sense of sight as I’m suddenly very light-headed, I hear muffled cries of shock as I stagger to my knees.
My vision starts to return and I attempt to stand, I can’t think straight and I’m sore all over. I’m struck with vertigo as I struggle to lift myself and fall to the floor, now that my visions returned I can sense that the world is spinning. I put a hand to my head in an attempt to stop the spinning, it doesn’t help. I can hear more muffled cries, drowned out by the soft sound of a piano playing. I smile as the song fills me with pleasure for some reason. Was I worrying before? It’s hard to imagine why. The tune is intoxicating as I drink in the feeling of fulfillment it gives me, I let my eyes rest. My mind floats as I try to remember what I was worried about before.
Oh well, it must not have been important.