Prologue - Into The Abyss
‘The sun shines brightly across the land, birds are chirping there merry tune, it’s a warm summer day.’
“It’s not warm it’s hot, we’re melting here.”
‘…There are many things that could be done on a day such as this, and what are we doing? Laying in bed looking out the window, daydreaming and doing absolutely nothing at all.’
‘Well we wouldn’t be staring out the window day dreaming if we closed the curtains last night, we’d be asleep actually dreaming.’
‘That’s beside the point, it’s clearly past midday, we should be out of bed and doing something, anything other than laying here.’
“We’re a night owl, you should know that by now.”
“Yet here we are wide awake, doing nothing.”
I turn my head towards the clock and notice that it’s almost 1pm. ‘We should get up, at least it will be cooler out from under the sheets.’
‘We usually sleep till 2:30… Oh.’
‘What now?’
‘Don’t we have a doctors appointment at 3?’
Sigh ‘guess we’re getting up then.’
‘Why so glum, isn’t that what you wanted?’
‘We’re the same person, I’m allowed to feel conflicted.’
After a long shower I’m finally ready to leave, I take a deep breath and step outside closing the door behind me. ‘Ok step one done the bus will arrive in 18 minutes and it takes 10 to get reach the bus stop, plenty of time to spare.’ Walking down the end of the driveway I check the mailbox, empty. I put my hand in my pocket, only to find that something is missing. ‘Where’s my wallet?’
‘In your right pocket like always, Wallet and keys in the right, phone and music in the left. You decided on that specifically, I would think we would know that by now.’
‘Oh, right yeah, to the bus stop then.’
Along the path we pass the usual scenery, there’s the dairy, then it’s Ms Peters house. ‘The garden looks great, she finally planted those white roses. I wonder what they smell like?’
‘Like roses. Pretty and romantic I guess? Everyone says roses are romantic, now focus’ Looking away from the garden I continue down the footpath, eventually coming across the park. ‘Why do they call it a park anyway, It’s really just a sports field with a waist high fence around it.’
‘We should walk on the fence.’
‘No.’
“But it’s fun, you know you want to...”
‘Someone might see.’
“And?”
‘They’ll think we’re weird.’
‘We are weird don’t deny it, there’s nothing wrong with that. Besides what does it matter if they do?’
‘…Ok just for a little while.’
“Cool”.
Walking to the bus ‘While walking on a park fence, can’t miss that part’While balancing upon a fence, worried I quickly check my phone for the time.
‘The bus will arrive in 10 minutes and we are 5 minutes away. There’s still enough time to get there.’
Looking up from my phone I see a tall woman emerge from a driveway ahead ‘Someone’s walking this way! Quick, off the fence!’ Jumping of the fence I stick my hands in my pockets and try to look normal. ‘Ok good, just don’t make eye contact. I hope they didn’t see us.’
Eventually we reach each other and as we pass I glance her way catching a glimpse of her face, she was quizically looking at me with a single brow raised ‘♪They saw us.♪’
‘Well shit.’
‘It’s fine I bet they don’t even care, so there’s a 1.8m tall bearded man balancing on the park fence, nothing new here they’ve probably seen it all the time. Hell if we did a handstand they might even pay us.’
‘You’re not helping!’
‘Sorry’ I shuffle along focus on my shoes, hoping for this moment to be over. Arriving at the end of the park I glance back noticing the woman walk round the corner and out of sight. Realizing all is clear my lungs release the breath I didn’t realize I was holding. ‘OK they are gone now, deep breath in, good now out, ok we still have loads of time. Everything’s fine, we have everything we need, the house is locked up and we’re almost there.’
‘Then why aren’t we moving?’
‘Did we lock the door? We definitely locked it, right?’
“Yep, locked tight.”
‘Are you sure?’
“...we are going back, aren’t we.”
‘We’ll make it if we run!’
After a mad rush I wind up standing in front of my front door, reaching out and twisting the handle makes a distinct click as it refuses to budge... ‘Ok the door was locked, good I guess.’ Grabbing my phone I check the time once more. ‘And the bus arrives in 6 minutes… Fuck.’
‘Run, we can still make it!’ I bolt down the drive as fast as my legs will carry me, hoping to make it in time.
My lungs are burning, my legs are screaming at me to stop, but my target is within sight. ‘Yes! We’re almost there and on time to boot, we will make it.’ Just across the road ahead is the stop, and respite for my aching body.
Slowing down to catch my breath a simple sight fills me with dread. ‘Annnd there’s the bus.’ The damned source of my panic speeds past me, racing me to the goal line.
‘Run faster!’
‘Outrun a bus, that’s your plan? Do you really want to run across the road blindly, especially that one? It’s always busy, we’ll die for sure.’
Sigh ‘No, but we needed to catch it or we’ll be late.’ I lean against a nearby fence, closing my eyes as I slide to the ground. ‘All that for nothing, I’m going to miss my appointment.’
‘You’re wrong about that though.’
‘Huh?’
‘The doctor is always running late at this hour, the perks of being a night owl, remember?’
‘She always is running late by the afternoon... Alright now what? The next bus doesn’t arrive for another 15 minutes.’
‘Simple we walk, Onward to the next bus stop!’
I take a deep breath, a crooked smirk forming on my face. ‘Alright we’ve calmed down and have a plan, time to get up.’ A blaring horn cuts my thoughts short, my eyes flash open to catch the front of a car hurtling towards me. The last thing that rushes through my mind is the number plate before everything fades to black.
My eyes bolt open as sit up in shock my heart racing, I look around in a panic, and see nothing but darkness .‘The hell was that? Ok deep breath in. And out. Now, where are we?’
‘We died.’
‘Yeah quite the nightmare huh, and it looks like we overslept.’
‘No we actually Died.’
‘Ha ha good one, can’t you just be serious for once. Now, what do you think brought that on?’
‘.....’
‘.......’
‘.........’
‘WHAT!?!’ I try to jump out of bed only to find my hands phase through the non-existent mattress. Looking down I find myself aimlessly floating amongst random pieces of land and buildings in an endless void. ‘Ok. Oh-kay we’re clearly still dreaming.’
‘Nope, we dead.’
‘And what makes you think that pray tell?’
‘A car colliding into us might be the biggest clue.’
‘A car... As in the one that I still think was a part of a dream?’
“Yep how bout we play a game to prove this isn’t a dream? Come on, I know you want to.”
‘...What’s the game called?’
‘It’s the “Guess the number plate of the car the that killed us,” game.’
‘Really?’
‘♪You know the answer though♪, come on give it a guess.’
‘FINE! GXF895... Fuck.’
‘Yep you won, you know what the prize is? Us floating here as ghosts, dead. Actually now that I think about it, we probably are ghosts… that’s actually quite depressing.’
‘So… we got hit by by a car then woke up here?’
‘Basically, like I said dead, as a door knob.’
‘And you don’t think that that is both a huge jump in logic?’
‘Nope.’
‘Really? It’s much more likely that we are in some kind of coma or hallucinating from a major concussion no?’
‘Nu-uh.’
‘How about the fact that we are both able to THINK! I’m quite sure if we were dead that would be impossible.’
‘My votes still on dead.’
As my internal turmoil begins to grow, a whimsical feminine voice echos through the endless abyss “Oh I definitely picked the right person, and technically you’re both correct.”
‘Who the hell was that!’ Snapping my head back and forth I look about the endless void to find the source of the unknown voice, yet find nothing “W-who ever said that, please, show yourself!”
“Hmm, that’s a little bit difficult, for you see I’m all around you. Hell I don’t even have a mouth to ‘say’ anything” The voice chuckles out, clearly amused by my choice of words.
“Then.. how exactly are we talking right now?”
“Oh it’s simple really, you’re speaking, I’m talking telepathically, my thoughts going directly into your brain”
‘Shit shit shit dont think anything at all, especially how freaky this is.Or how her voice echos through my skull is terrifying.... Wait did i just think that!’
‘Yes you did and her voice is super cute, I just ♫loooove♫ how it echos.’
“Thank you.”
"Wait, you can hear me!? I get to talk! You’re welcome pretty voiced lady in my head. Is my voice echoey for you as well? Echo, echo, echo..." Said my inner voice, but for the first time in my life it was talking to someone else.
“Stop that! Please! I-I mean, c-can ya please perhaps make uh, a physical form to talk with miss, um... what is your name anyway?” I ask, my sanity taking a hit from my new found pradicament.
“Oh how rude of me, I haven’t even introduced myself yet. You can call me... Conflict? Yes Conflict fits best, one second I’ll just whip something up. Be right back” She says before giggling.
As her voice fades away feel a pressure in the front of my skull dissipate, the area around me feeling somehow calmer yet also hollow. How this endless abyss could feel emptier I would never know, though one thing is certain, I’m sure Conflict has left. ‘How did we not notice that pressure?’
‘Maybe dealing with the fact that we’re dead distracted us?’
‘Point taken, Though if what Conflict said is true we may not be dead, yet.’
‘Though she said I was right, we both are, that’s a win in my book... Man I’m so conflicted. Get it, conflicted, hehehehe.’
‘Because I was right as well? And here I thought that find out that we may not be dead would be a good thing.’
‘Not that! Well kind of, on one side I’m right, on the other side being right means I’m dead. I don’t know how to feel about this.’
‘Could we perhaps focus on what’s important at the moment, Perhaps the fact that some mysterious being-.’
‘Miss Conflict.’
‘Yes, that “Conflict” was in our MIND! And not in a metaphorical inner doubt kind of way! That’s a major breach of our privacy and against our rights as a human!’
‘First of she most likely isn’t human so there’s that, secondly how do you know our rights even apply here. Wait do sorta dead but not quite ghost people have rights? Or minds for that matter?’
‘Well, dead people still have rights and I assume that the same would apply to their spirit so we should still… That’s beside the point! She could do a number of things to us, She could have erased our memories or put us under her control and not even know it!’
‘But she didn’t in fact she has been quite friendly, she even was willing to make a physical body so she doesn’t have to be in our mind. We need to be more trusting.’
‘And I say we need to be more cautious! We have no idea what her motives are what if-.’
“I’M BACK!” My chain of thought was broken as a bright flash of light blinded me, recoiling in pain I cover my eyes. Eventually my vision returns and look towards the source of the light. Floating before me is a girl, though she wouldn’t pass for a human girl.
She stood around 1.5m tall, barely reaching my chest, ankle high turquoise hair softly cascading down her back. Her skin was unnaturally pale, practically white as snow in contrast to her forest green lolita style dress with the trim that mimicked the colour of her hair.
With just these traits she could have passed as human, barring four simple details throwing the possibility out the window. First was the fact that she was grinning widely revealing pearly white razor sharp teeth.
Second was her long fluffy ears blending into her hair, jutting out sideways then curving up near the extra fuzzy tip, totaling around 15-20 cm long.
Third was the oaken hued horns sprouting from her forehead, wrapping back around her head mimicking a circlet. Looking over her head you could just set the tips of them peak over, apparently curving upwards behind her head.
The final but most obvious marker was the fact that she had no eyes, and I don’t mean the sockets were empty. No, instead two pools of blackness lay, miniature motes of stardust flickering in and out of existence within awakening visions of the very night itself.
‘Looky, she’s upside down, or we are, either way one of us is not the right way up.’
‘And the moments gone...’ Sigh ‘I don’t believe gravity exists here, so technically there is no “right way up”.’
Her melodic voice echos through my mind once more, beginning with a Mirthful giggle “So?” She queries, looking at me expectantly.
“So..?”
“So what do you think? I haven’t had a physical form for millennia and I’m wondering whether I look good or not.”
“O-oh, ummm. Ya look…”
"Absolutely Adorable" My inner voice quickly replies before i get the chance to speak.
‘And a just a little bit jarring, but we’re not going to tell her that. And before you ask, no we can’t hug her or keep her and call her George...’
‘I wasn’t thinking that.’
‘You’re me, I know what you’re thinking.’
‘But she’s soooo adowable.’
‘That’s neither here nor there, we would come off as creepy. Besides george is a guy’s name anyway!’
‘It’s an expression.’
‘I don’t care if it is… and no you can’t call her your squishy and have her be mine either!’
‘You’re no fun…’
A snorting chuckle echos through my mind effectively bringing an abrupt end to my thoughts. “Oh I’m absolutely certain I picked the right person now, and thank you so much that’s exactly what i was aiming for.”
‘And she is still reading my mind, great. Didn’t she make a body so she did not have to do that?’
‘Yes, and apparently not.’
“I made this form for you to talk to, never said anything about not reading your mind, if I did that I wouldn’t be able to get to know the full you. Speaking of, do you have a split personality or something? Not that I mind of course, just curious.”
“Ah, No I uh, don’t have split personality disorder. I just, well I have trouble interacting with others. One of us is the fun loving and eccentric side of me. The other is my worrisome, insecure and logical side.” I stammer out, barely able to keep eye contact.
“I-I kinda like to, well, run them through my mind separately I guess? It’s weird I know but it helps keep the conflicting sides balanced and, generally, working together” I say, which slowly drops to a murmur by the time I’m finished. My eyes squeeze shut as I look down towards my feet and wait. Moments of silence pass, though feel like eon, I wait for conflict to respond to my madness yet I receive no response. ‘Why can I never put into words how I am, she probably thinks I’m crazy now. I’m such an idiot.’
‘No we’re not, we are just a little weird and different, we are most certainly not crazy nor an idiot.’
I feel a crushing weight in my chest overwhelming me and curl up into a ball, tears welling in my eyes. ‘It was because of this that we died, why would anyone think of me as anything other than a stupid weirdo, I should have just stayed inside.’
‘Hey! Enough of that talk! I’m quite sure it was the car, not ‘cause we are different that we died, or sorta did but didn’t die. But that’s beside the point, yes, we are different so what? I happen to think that being weird is a great thing. Screw being normal anyone who strives to be normal is boring, and stupid for trying to be so. They should just be themselves and everything would be a lot more fun. Hell we were chosen by a magical telepathic girl called Conflict because of how we are, and I don’t believe she thinks we’re stupid.’
‘Heh, I guess so. Wait why did she pick us anyway, and what for? Most importantly we should probably find out the whole dead or not thing.’
“That right there is why I picked you!” I look up to see Conflict standing over me, a huge beaming smile upon her face.
"Hey we’re both right way up now." My Inner voice calls out with childish glee
“That you are.” Conflict says, pulling me into a hug “As for why i picked you, it’s because of who and how you are. You have so many conflicting thoughts and feelings, yet you manage to somehow make both sides work. It may not be perfect all the time but when something that would trip up one side, the other picks you right back up and gets you right back on track. That is why i picked you, you manage to use your inner conflict to overcome many other conflict. Well except that car, but no one can overcome everything, and a car to the face is quite the doozy.”
‘Ouch, she doesn’t really hold back does she.’
‘Hehe HAHAHAHA, I like her, I really do!’
“I like you too” she said with a chuckle, pulling me into an embrace and brushes the hairs out of my eyes. A gentle pressure presses down on my skull and begins stroking through my hair, ‘is she patting our head?’
‘♪Yep.♪’
“I can stop if you like.”
“N-n-no, it’s… calming, ya can continue doing it, i-if that’s alright?”
“We can stay like this as long as you need.” Overwhelmed by the events that had transpired i lean back, shut my eyes and let myself rest as Conflict hums a soothing tune.
After some time has passed my eyes flutter open and I try to stand up, Conflict backs away allowing me to get on my feet. ‘Damn, we must have been quite stressed to break down like that, especially in front of someone else.’
’We did sort of just die, and are floating in some kind of abyssal void of nothingness, and rocks. Can’t forget the gravity defying rocks now can we.’
‘Speaking of dying, we really should find out what happened to us’ I take a deep breath and ask “Um, Ms Conflict, ma’am, could ya possibly explain, well, ya know…”
“What happened to you?” She quizzically asks
“Yeah, If ya could that would help quite a bit please.”
“Oh that’s quite simple really, an idiot driver on his cell phone cut through a red light and almost collided with the oncoming traffic. Fortunately the other driver managed to react in time an swerve out the way. Well, fortunate for him and his family anyway, not so much for you since to miss that jackass he stove directly into you.”
‘Oh god this doesn’t sound good.’
“Left quite the mess to, I mean wow, of all the accidents i’ve seen this had to be in the top ten gruesome. The way your rib cage collapsed and burst open as you were pinned to that fence, blood and organs everywhere It was like a giant Jackson Pollock painting.”
My entire body went numb, the world around me fading dull and blurred. ‘No, this can’t be happening! Not now, not to me.’
’Quite sure it is happening to us, I mean I don’t feel like someone else, that or this is one trippy out of body experience.’
‘This isn’t the time! Oh god I think my heart dropped into my stomach.’
’Nope they’re on the fence, though it might be possible that they landed at the same place.’
‘Are you serious right now! This isn’t a joke you know!’
Clearly unaware of my distress Conflict continues on with her ramblings “...You should have seen the expression on the driver’s face, looking at your head poking over the bonnet. You looked directly into her eyes and get this, just before you blacked out I swear you made noise like ‘Bleh’, tongue rolling out your mouth. All the while her husband’s screaming like a little girl, It was bloody hilarious. Get it, bloody. Fortunately the kids in the back couldn’t see anything, well excluding the blood splatter on the windscree-.”
“STOP! Just stop..”I cry out in panic ‘One second more and I’m sure I would empty the entire contents of my stomach all over the floor.’
‘Again, no stomach it’s on the fence, plus there is no ground here. I wonder if it would either form into floating puke bubbles like in space, or plummet for eternity like an upchuck waterfall?’
‘…….’
“Right, I’ll just… shut up now.”
“Oh right, crap… I’m so sorry. Forgot who I was talking to for a moment there, I didn’t mean to put you through that. Again anyway, since you already got hit by the car… you know, before getting here… I did it again didn’t I, shit.”
Looking at her i could clearly see remorse painted across her face“N-n-no, i-it’s alright. While that was… informative, w-what I really wanted to know is how I, well got here.”
“O-oh, that, yeah... Well when I saw what happened I thought ‘well this can’t be right, I can’t just let it end like this’ and decided to step in. So just before you “died” I pulled your soul here into the void. So while you’re physically dead, you are technically alive, in a out of body kinda way.”
‘And one point to me.’
‘What! You voted that we are dead and she just said we weren’t! No points, no score no nothing!’
‘Well she said we were physically dead, but that’s not what I mean. I said this would be one trippy out of body experience, so point to me.’
‘That wasn’t a serious suggestion!’
‘♪Still counts.♪’
‘...Fine but since technically you’re me I get the point as well, game over, no one wins.’
‘Damn, I have been foiled, curse you transient properties of the scoring system!’
Despite everything I couldn’t help smirking at my own silliness, which soon developed into a chuckle and grew until I was rendered into a ball of laughter on the ground.
“Well someone’s feeling better” Conflict says with a chuckle.
“Yeah, guess I just needed some time to let is sink in. It’s not everyday ya find out ya, well, d-died” I stutter, trying not to break down again.
“You’d be surprised” She mutters to herself, clearly not intending for me to hear her.
“What was that?”
“Oh, nothing relevant. So, let me guess your next question ‘Oh the mighty and beautiful Conflict what am I to do next, am I cursed to float aimlessly within the endless void for all of eternity?’ Well, was I right or what?” Conflict asks, floating in so close our noses touch.
“Uhhhh not exactly how I would have put it, but yes that would be good to know.”
“Why that is a good question glad you asked, simply put it’s up to you, there are the usual options of course.”
’Simple options? I wouldn’t think there would be anything simple involving death.’
'Except the dieing part, dieing is apparently very easy' My inner voice retorts.
“Oh both ideas are right” Conflict says with a giggle “What I mean is you could take the normal options.”
“Boooooo!” My inner voice crys out, berating the very idea
“Now now, don’t knock it till you try it. The normal options are passing on to the afterlife, reincarnation and one of my favorites, haunting. That or floating here for all eternity like you asked before.” She states, gesturing with each option.
“Ya said that… not me.”
“Same difference, now please let me finish before any questions.”
‘Thats technically not a question, but i get the point.’
"It won’t happen again, honest" My inner voice once again replies for me, which leaves me unsure if I find helpful , or unsettling that I cannot filter my thoughts.
“Exactly, now those are the normal options but if you were going to take those paths their would be no point of me bringing you here would there. No there wouldn’t would there, what I brought you here for was to make you an offer!” she shouts thrusting one hand to the the sky index finger pointing, staring at me expectantly.
We stare at each other awkwardly, waiting for a response. Eventually she breaks the ice, snapping at me in irritation “Well, aren’t you going to say anything? I’m waiting!”
Oh crap she wants me to say something “O-oh, sorry, It’s just that, well… Ya said to not speak until you're done.”
“Isn’t It obvious that I’m done? I did a grand gesture and everything! So what’s your answer!”
’Ohh lets accept, please, pretty please, I’ll be your best friend.’
‘Woah, wait a minute there, we don’t even know what she’s offering. Besides I cannot be best friends with myself, that’s impossible, and really sad.’
“What do you mean, I couldn’t have been clearer! Do I have to re-explain everything to you?” she says, tilting her head sideways.
“Um, Miss Conflict-”
“Just Conflict, none of this miss or ma’am stuff, makes me feel old.”
‘Didn’t she say she was around for millennia?’
'Shhh she can hear us! Don’t ask a lady how old she is! Do you want to upset her?'
“You’re only as old as you believe, thank you very much!” Conflict snaps at me, crossing her arms while staring at me an irate glare.
"Oh, You weren't meant to hear that"My inner voice replies '♪Told you.♪ Think before you think. Wait a second... scratch that, don't think before you think? How does this work!?'
“Sorry! Sorry, what I’m trying to say, Conflict, is that W-w-well ya never told me what the deal was. Ya said yay had one, excitedly mind yay, and asked me if I accept. While I do get the feeling that ya want to help me, b-but I can’t just trust ya, or anyone for that matter, to accept a deal without knowing what it is. Especially when it affects my very fate, I-I’m sorry but i can’t accept, not until ya explain what ya want at least.”
“Wait, what do you mean I didn’t tell you what my deal was? I’m pretty sure I told you… Didn’t I?” queries Conflict, resting her arms behind her back. She begins pacing back and forth, slowly her eyes start to squint and nose crinkle as more and more time passes. “Oh damn you’re right, I could have sworn I told you. Sorry for the confusion, let us try that again.”
‘A bit scatterbrained for a millennia old entity, or maybe that’s the reason she’s like that?’
’It just makes her more endearingly adorable. Now, just... stop thinking ok, I never think and it works fine for me. Or do I? Well its either "always" or "never", I always forget which.’
“Ok, I’ll let that slide, and thank you, now where were we? Oh right!” She takes a few steps back, then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “OK… those are the normal options but if you were going to take those paths their would be no point of me bringing you here would there. No there wouldn’t would there, what I brought you here for was to make you an offer!” she shouts, once again thrusting her hand skyward.
“Instead of those boring old routes I can, drum roll please, send you to another world! Not just any world of course but a world that has quite a huge unresolved conflict. One that needs to be solved or their will be dire consequences.”
‘Woah, wait a second. Is she asking me to go to an unknown world filled with war? I’ll die, again!’
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like it would be fun.”
“Um, well as nice as that sounds-.
Any words I have to say get stuck in my throat by what I was witnessing. Conflicts face was contorted into the harshest glare I have ever seen. Her Nose was wrinkled in disgust, forehead and brows furrowed in barely contained rage. Her mouth was pursed and she was clearly biting the bottom lip. Clearly she was at her limit and any wrong moves would have Conflict unleash her unbridled fu-.
‘Wait! Is that... It is!’ I didn’t notice at first but her eyes, they’re flooded with pitch black tears.
“She’s not angry you fool, she’s crying! Apologize, apologize now! Hug her, just do something to make her feel better!”
I rush forward and embrace her tightly “I’m so, so sorry! I didn’t mean to upset ya.”
“N-No, It’s Alright, I understand. Wh-why would anyone want to go into a dangerous unknown situation just to help me-hee-ee” Conflict wails, clinging tightly to my arms “An-and you didn’t, even, let me finish Explaini-i-ing!”
I’m stunned, Conflict seemed like a strong powerful being, and here she is, weeping into my shoulder “No! It’s ok ya can finish explaining! I’m sure plenty of people would help ya in a heartbeat!”
“Really” Conflict squeaks, perking up as she looks up, gazing into my eyes “Then you’ll hear me out?”
“Of course we will hon.” My inner voice bubbly chimes out.
“Y-Y-Yeah, Go right ahead” I stammer, trying to sound comforting.
“Yay!” She exclaims, Bouncing back as she straightens up placing her hands upon her hips, looking upward over my head “Now, where was I?”
‘Wait, was she faking it?’
‘I think we got played’
“D-don’t be silly!” she stammers out, heat rushes to her face as her ears twitch frantically “And quit distracting me! Anyway, as I was saying I will send you to a world with a large unresolved conflict. Your job is to eventually resolve this conflict, after that it’s your life, you’re free to live it as you see fit. Oh, Don’t worry about jumping right into it, I’ve made sure that you have plenty of time to grow and prepare before anything big occurs. Small thing here and there maybe but nothing game changing, I hope” She state, muttering the final bit under her breath.
“Now I won’t be sending you there completely defenceless. If you accept I will give you… Superpowers!” She shouts, throwing her arms in the air, launching two stars spiraling into the air, showering the area in rainbow sparkles.
“You heard correctly, superpowers. Not one, not two. But five, that’s right five superpowers of your very own.”
"Yes! Take all my yeses, all hail the great and beautiful Conflict. Praise her, PRAISE HER DAMN YOU!" My inner voice cries out over dramatically.
‘Well, that will help keep me alive and with fixing the issues I’m meant to resolve. It all depending on what she gives us.’
“Ah alas that is the catch, I have no idea what powers you will get, it’s not up to me. Completely random you see, don’t like what you get, to bad cause I can’t change it. Wish I could, but them’s the breaks. So what do you say? Please say yes, I don’t think I could take it if you said no” She queries with a pout, eyes wide and bottom lip quivering.
‘Is she? How is she doing puppy dog eyes without eyes?’
‘I have no idea but she pulls it off.’
Sigh... “Ok, I’ll help ya” The next thing I know I’m spinning out of control, winded and a high pitched squealing reaching my ears.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!, you have no idea how long it took for me to find the right person. And now I have you, I was afraid that you would turn me down. But you didn’t, you said yes, YES!”
As we stop spinning I look down to see Conflict latched around my waist in a death grip hug, tears were streaming down her face, plastered with the biggest grin I have ever seen.
‘I honestly can’t tell if that’s unsettling or endearing.’
‘Its cute and you know it! Your denial shall only prove me right!’
Her eyes snapped open and she quickly releases me, leaping back only to be left slowly flipping on the spot in antigravity.
‘If I wasn’t dead already, I’m sure our heart would give out.’
‘Yeah she .is kind of adorable...’ Conflict eventually manages to straighten out, Brushes down her cloths and takes a deep breath
“Hehe, Yeah, let’s pretend that never happened” Conflict mutters, an obvious blush creeping across her face.
“Ahem all that’s left is to get you your powers, then i'll send you off to your new home in a brand new body. So what say you, shall we get started, or do you want to ask a few questions first?”
“Just the one question really if that’s fine?”
Conflicts ears fold back in response of my request. “Yeah I knew this was coming, Sigh, Go right ahead and ask.”
‘Ok, that was weird, she was so excited just a moment ago, i wonder what she thinks I’m going to ask.’
“When I’m in this new world will I… Would I be able to talk with ya, or will I be on my own?” Conflicts eyes widen, mouth slightly agape.
“O-oh, oh! Yes, that! Of course you can, I was going to give you a way to contact me. You’re helping me here, I’m not going to leave you high and dry” Conflict stammers out as she chuckles nervously, her ears are practically dancing with twitches and spasms.
‘Ok now I’m curious, what's she so nervous about us asking about?’
‘Clearly she doesn’t want to talk about it, I say we drop it.’
“No... it’s alright” She states, ears drooping. She grasps her hands and twiddles her thumbs “I was worried you would ask why someone named Conflict is actively trying to solve conflicts. I suppose you want to know that now” She states defeatedly, barely able to look in my general direction.
“No, it’s fine. I figured it was self explanatory so i didn’t bother to bring it up.”
“Huh?” Conflict asks, tilting her head to the side “How is it self explanatory?”
“Well it’s, sort of part of the nature of a conflict, conflict is a challenge to test someone, helping them grow by eventually overcoming it. If a conflict is ignored it ends up overcoming them instead. In the end everyone suffers if the conflict remains unsolved.”
"Plus life would be boring without the challenge" My Inner voice chimes in.
An awkward silence permeated throughout the void, a vacant expression resting upon Conflict’s face, mouth agape. “W-what? Did, did I get it wrong?” She has no reaction.
I approach her and wave my hand directly in front of her face. ‘Nope, still nothing, you would think i grew a second head by the way she is reacting.’
‘I think we broke her... lets draw on her face.’
‘I’m quite sure that would be a bad idea, besides we have nothing to draw with.’
’Boop her nose then, Think of it as a reboot button and restart her brain.’
‘I guess? Sure lets give it a shot.’ I reach out and gently poke her nose only for her to slowly fall backwards. ‘Great and now she’s flipping again, now what genius you have another great plan?’
'Yes'
‘And that would be?’
“See if we can spin like she is, it looks fun.”
‘You mean nauseating.’
‘Exactly, like I said, fun.’
I close my eyes and take a deep breath when I’m pulled into a light embrace. ‘And now we’re spinning as well, great.’
'And it’s fun! Weeeee!'
A familiar giggle once again bubbles through my head, I gaze down to see Conflict wearing a gentle smile, tears once again streaming down her face. “You really get it, don’t you” She sighs contently, before pushing me away. “Anywho let’s get this show on the road, this has taken a lot longer than I planned. So, powers, time to get ’em.”
Reaching out conflict places a hand over my heart before slowly floating back. I can’t help but wonder if something is meant to happen, when a pulsing pressure starts builds within my chest. The feeling is overwhelming, yet painless and somehow familiar. rapidly gaining in pace. bursting out in a plethora of colourful light. The luminous lights gathered together into five pulsing white orbs which began circling Conflict, slowly bobbing up and down in their orbit.
“Now, let see what we can get” Conflict reaches out and pokes one of the orbs, sputtering at her touch before turning a deep dull blue “Hmm, and that is… Imp Physiology? Well, that makes things difficult, or move things along swimmingly, but that’s really up to you I guess. Congratulations, you get to be a lesser demon. Good for you. Next power!”
The newly coloured orb rejoins the rest, returning to its orbit as she pokes the next one. This orb starts spasming, shimmering a multitude of colours seemingly unable to decide which one it wants to be. “Oooh shiny, and that’s... Fictional trope physiology? How do you have two physiologies, and the heck’s a fictional trope. On moment while I… ah hah.”
A thick yellow and black book appears out of nowhere and Conflict flicks it open to the back. I focus on the cover to see what it is called. ‘Wait... “Superpowers for Dummies”? Seriously?’
“Ok... you don’t get two forms, what I need you to do is pick a genre of fiction, be it movie, book or game and you get abilities related to it.”
“Oh, ok. What exactly do you mean when you say ‘abilities related to a genre’?”
“Simple really, say you pick cartoon and you get crushed by a huge rock, instead of getting smooshed you instead go flat as a pancake then pop back to normal, a-okay. Or pick action, you will be able to run through a bullet storm fired by a bunch of mooks and you won’t get hit. Your allies though I don’t quite know. Just don’t pick something like horror or tragedy, can’t see that ending well.”
‘Huh, ok that’s kind of tricky, there are a lot to choose from.’
‘I know, I know. Pick RPG!’
‘That’s... actually not a bad idea' "We pick RPG." With a bright flash, the orb stabilizes and rests as a pixilated grey colour.
“Weird, but I’m not one to judge, Moving on” Conflict mutters, poking the next orb. This one starts moving erratically, shaking violently one moment only to roll smoothly the next, then back to shaking. All the while it flickers yellow, lightning coursing through it.
“And that is… Motion magic. Is that magic to make things move, or magic that requires you to move to cast?”Confused, Conflict flicks though the book’s pages “Nope it’s magic revolving around all forms of motion, don’t think i need to explain that. Next!”
The fourth orb unleashed a gentle gust upon changing, turning almost completely invisible. the only thing proving it’s still there are thin strips of blue and green swirling around it, focusing on it I notice its radiating a slight breeze “Oh, I bet you this one involves the wind… Oxygen manipulation, I’m still counting it!”
I raise my eyebrow at her reaction “Don’t give that look, wind contains oxygen!”
“Okay?”
“Moving on! Ok, final power, lets try for something big.” At the slightest touch the final orb unleashed a burst of energy knocking both of us back, changing into a pulsing dark purple mass. “Now we’re talking! And your final power is!... Gyro-Telekinesis! Wait, the hell is that?”
Once again she refers to her odd book, rapidly searching for some information. “Gyro-telekinesis. Gyro-telekinesis, ah page one hundred and five… it is the power to… emulate telekinesis using gravity? So like gravity manipulation? Hmmm, It appears you can only use it to interact with objects so not quite, that’s useful, I guess. Your final power is to move stuff with gravity, Yippie. Have fun with that” She snarks, before throwing the book over her shoulder. You look past her only to see it hurtling off into the distance.
"The sarcasm is strong in this one." My inner voice replies snarkily.
“Aw come on, you have to admit that one seemed really powerful when I activated it right?!” Conflict whines with a huff.
“It certainly was a... dramatic activation I guess.”
“I know right, but it ended up something so, ordinary. Guess it’s more interesting than plain old telekinesis, but still I was hoping for something more “Ka-pow”, and this is more like pzttttt.”
‘Did she just blow a raspberry?’
“S-so what if I did.” Conflict squeaks, stumbling over the word, as she suddenly gains a lot of interest in her feet.
‘Daw, so you’re certain we can’t keep her?’
‘She is a sapient being with her own life, so no.’
“Enough of that! We’re almost done then you can be on your way. First things first, you can have these back” Conflict gestures towards me and all the orbs launch directly at me, colliding into my chest in rapid succession. As they touch each other they merge into one multicolored pulsating sphere, which proceeds to sink into me.
Energy courses through my very core as my body involuntarily spasms. It feels as if my very soul has been set ablaze as an intense tingling feeling tickles all my muscles. As much as I wish to scream, all that escapes is a torrent of endless laughter. Laughter and tears. As unbearable as it was the pain quickly begins to dissipate and and numbness washes through my body as I collapse, struggling to stand back up.
“Oh no, Are you alright! I didn’t know how it would feel, I’m so sorry!” Rushing over to me Conflict picks me up, slinging my arm over her shoulders “I was hoping that wouldn’t hurt, and when you laughed I thought it was fine at first. Please, tell me what it felt like?”
Gasping for breath I manage to wheeze out a reply “Like ya replaced my skeleton with lava then brushed hundreds of feather dusters over my entire body. It’s quite the conflicting sensation.”
“O-oh, I see… Y-you know I didn’t mean for that, right?” she asks, gazing up at me, Bottom lip quivering “I would understand if you hated me now.”
’Great choice of words. Conflicting, Really! You might as well have slapped her in the face!’
‘I didn’t think ok! it just sort of slipped out, I didn’t intend to blame her!’
’Well, we did, so now what are we going to do to fix this? Better hurry up and say something.’
“No! I-I don’t hate ya Conflict. You’ve done so much for me even though we just met, anyone who would hate ya for something like that is a jerk. Besides, A moment of pain for what you’re giving me is totally worth it tenfold. No pain no gain am i right?”
“O-ok” Conflict whispers, setting me down on my feet “Good, I would hate for my first underling to begin with such a bad start.”
“Underling?” I ask, confusion and caution entering my tone.
“Is that not the right word? You’re working for me so underling seemed to fit.” Conflict asks, quizzically tilting her head, ears perking up. “Employee feels too sterile, and calling me boss would just feel wrong. I guess since you’re assisting me you could be considered an assistant, or ally since you’re helping me, which would you prefer?”
I pause for a moment, unsure what to say
"How about friend, we could be friends, we would love to be your friend!" My inner voice rambles out.
“Aw, of course we are friends” Conflict chimes, her smile practically beaming “But we still need to have some sort of title for each other.”
"Hmm, how about apprentice and master, or possibly mentor?" I suggest, thinking out loud.
“Apprentice? That could work, part of me would like Mistress, but that throws a whole other issue into the works. Master Conflict, yeah I like the ring of that” She mutters gazing upward, a vacant expression on her face. She suddenly shakes her head rapidly side to side “O-oh, heh, don’t go round calling me that randomly. Unless you require some sort of title, feel free to refer to me as a friend or mentor. Well, it’s best if I send you on your way.”
‘You know, I just realised she hasn’t called us by our name once. Did we even give it to her?
‘Oh crap! How did I forget to introduce myself!’
"Ah, I Uh, w-well I know its, um-" I struggle to say, my nerves and embarrassment causing my to fail spectacularly. Fortunately she interrupts me before I could make a bigger fool of myself.
“Oh don’t you worry about that silly” Conflict quips, chuckling at my faux pas “There is no point focusing on that now, considering you’re probably going to have a new name shortly.”
"N-new name? W-w-what’s wrong with the name I have?" I stammer, still trying to regain fluent control of my voice.
“Nothing as dumb a reason as that, it’s your name embrace it, there’s nothing wrong with it. No, it’s just that you’re in a new world, new life and a new species. Plus I’m thinking you’re not the type who wants to stand out, no? So you get a new name.”
‘Ah, makes sense I guess.’
“Now, you have a few moments before your powers kick in and you drop off into your new world, so any more questions? By my calculations you should have a enough time for one or two more” She asks, reaching out to me with her palm open.
“Ok just two things comes to mind, ya never really mentioned where I’m going or what ya want me to fix.”
“...Oh hell! How’d I manage to forget that!” Conflict shouts her eyes opening wide “Shit, ok got a lot to cover and very little time. First things first, you should know where I’m sending you, your a fan of the world, of many different versions of it anyway.”
‘Wait, does she mean what i think she means!?’
‘Oh! Please, please, please mean that!’
“Yes, Equestria, one of the many versions anyway.” Conflict retorts, smirking at me “As for why... ah crap” At first Conflict appears to be slowly rise up, but when I look down a realize what put her in such a panic. It seems that I have started to seep into a rippling black puddle, slowly sink into the unknown.
“No time to explain. Ok key notes, angels and demons exist, neither are intrinsically evil or good. Not to say that some aren’t assholes.”
At this point I’m already up to my waist. In a desperate attempt to buy more time I push against it, only for my hands to sink in as well.’Gee, I don’t know what we were expecting, great idea by the way. Why don’t we try hitting a magical portal with a sledgehammer, maybe it will hit someone in the head on the other side.’
‘I panicked ok, give me a break.’ Ignoring my struggling, or perhaps because of it, Conflict continues to explain as much as she can.
“Now this is very important, you must not let Celestia find out you’re a demon or use dark magic. Hell don’t let anyone know unless you have to for your own safety, I suggest getting a disguise fast just to make things easier. If things go south get the hell out of there as fast as you can and get to Luna. She’ll protect you if she’s doing her job right.”
By this point the only part of me that remains outside the portal is my head, I gaze up at conflict trying to catch as much as I can of what she is saying, “Good luck, and please, live your life. As I said earlier, at least I think I did, you will have plenty of time before anything major. Just lay low and don’t draw too much attention and you’ll be fine.”
“Th-th-tha... Thank ya. I mean it, ch-cheers, for everything.” I manage to stammer out before being consumed by the darkness.
I lay back, waiting amongst the darkness. Moments pass, then minutes tick by. 'Ok did something go wrong? I would have expected to arrive by now.'
‘Maybe we broke it?’
‘Broke it? You can’t break nothingness, there is literally nothing to break! Nothi - Ahhh my eyes!’ A bright flash of light brings an end to my thoughts, painfully. Once my vision starts returning I look to find … a book?
‘Well, that’s anticlimactic don’t you think, and here i thought we were teleporting.’
‘Apparently not, guess we should check it out.’ I reach out and grab it, and take a closer look. It’s an old fashioned hardback book, cover forest green, with turquoise braided pattern made to resemble vines. The pattern followed around the border mirroring the same pattern on the back, the pattern also branches down the entire book’s spine leaving no space for a title. Upon the upper half of the cover rests the word journal, written in cursive mimicking the vine pattern.
‘Hey it’s the same colour as Conflict’s clothes, think it’s from her? Me thinks she really likes the colour green.’
‘That’s kind of obvious, we should probably read it.’ I open the book and a piece of paper floats out, text scrawling across it.
[Welcome to your journal, would you like to start your adventure?]
Two buttons appear beneath the words reading ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, I click yes to find many motes of lights flicker into existence around me, the number growing by the second. Soon there are millions illuminating the area, even the floor is a variable path of stars. Curious I reach out and poke the nearest bauble of light.
The reaction is instantaneous as thousands of nearby lights start to swarm, fusing with one I had touched. Before me floats a shifting form of energy, beside it rests a screen containing many different scrolling bars, text and numbers.
‘Is this… A character creation screen?’
’Oh Conflict how I love you! Eat your heart out Bethesda! RPG was the best choice ever!’