A Knight's Lilies

“Eyes, the eyes. There's so many eyes. It sees us. It sees us all! The eyes are watching, it can see us. It knows! It knows! Can't run. When it wakes, it wakes and it ends! All will be gone, gone, gone! All will be...”

- "Note: Records of Patient's Last Words Before Execution", Uranan Wellbeing Institute of Traxia, Doctor Cosmian Psellus

It could sense the wailing, the screaming and cries alongside faint gurgling. It was not expecting the disturbance, the sudden disruption to its brief peaceful millennia of respite had confused it. It was certainly not expecting guests, not here. Forcing its multitude of eye stalks and eyes to wrench themselves open proved to be a challenge as its time spent stagnating had lulled it to idleness.

The screams and choked gurgles sounded more frantic and with one last effort it forced its plethora of extensions to come back to life, its body vibrating with energy as the last of its weariness began to fade away. Yet, much to its growing confusion, a strange looking four limbed creature was busy flailing away, gasping desperately for something as it tried to make more noises. Behind the strange creature the last violent flickers of a portal flared to life before vanishing, provoking a stronger reaction from the small creature as it clawed at where the portal once was.

A small star flickered to life nearby and it turned over to stare in awe as one smaller one lit up its mind as its ancient memories slowly returned. The strange creature likely needed to breathe, and despite the small thing’s inferiority, it was curious enough at the intrusion and coiled its tentacles around it, secreting a preserving agent that it knew could keep creatures like the small one alive for a brief amount of time. Though the small thing squirmed intensely within its grasp, it shushed it by producing a light dusting of hibernation inducing mucus and coated the small creature.

It wrapped its limbs tightly around for a moment, then two, then a tension that filled its amorphous form as the creature stilled. Relinquishing the creature to its more sensitive limb it cradled the two leg, two armed thing and listened quietly to the barely detectable beating of a heart. Fascinated by the rhythmic thumps amidst the low hum of the universe.

Quietness reigned once more and the distant hum of the stars brought peace back to its humble abode. But it was curious nonetheless and trilled a pleasing song as a gnarled limb coiled itself around the small thing’s head.

Flashes and memories flowed in but an instant. Colours, sounds and tastes tickled its perception and it greedily drank from the well, the first real stimulation since its extended hibernation began. Like a star going supernova, the memories it absorbed were like a key to a secret chamber, and as the blast wave from the star flowed outwards, so too did its own mind begin recalling its own memories.

Extending a set of appendages outward, it painted the void with the strange sights and halls that it saw in the small thing. It crafted a world around itself as it revelled in the newfound experiences and it was glad for the small thing’s appearance. Tentacles soared as it weaved grand magicks, bringing the images and memories to life as it birthed from its powers a realm of its own. Only when it was done crafting its world did it grow to pause. It remembered now, how the other beings of great power had been disdainful of it, how they had thrown it into a prison of their making and now the small thing was with it.

It trilled somberly at the thought, it was not sorry as much as regretful that the small thing would no longer remember much. It had been too greedy and hastily brought about what the small thing had labeled a bed, and weaved it into existence using the very fabric of the stars. Unfurling its appendages it placed the small thing in the large bed and drew forth the essence of life from the emptiness of the prison, tearing through stars and gasses as it made the prison habitable for the small thing.

Clearly in error, the other caster of magicks in the small thing’s memory must have conducted a ritual in haste, though it too was quite surprised as how its prison had been so easily pierced by another. It realized the caster of magicks had done so in haste and their primitive rituals must have carried quite a few components for someone to get it so wrong. Yet it was also through the memories that it saw how lonely the small thing would now be, the sounds and pain from the ones around it in its last moment.

In the vast emptiness of its prison amongst the stars, it was not lonely, but it hoped that perhaps the small thing would understand the calm solitude of the stars. It opened its main eye and gazed down at the almost insignificant figure and felt a modicum of kinship. Knowing that the hurtful memories have been swallowed by it, it was reassured the small thing would remain blissfully unaware.

Taking in what little it could from the creature, it processed the memories and came to the surprising revelation that the world where it was from, was in fact, where it was also banished from. Intrigued, it considered embracing the creature wholly but at the last second reconsidered. Going through the new memories it parsed through the strange phrases and words before cross referencing it with its own memories.

Safi…So…Sofi

It drawled out the words and found the harsher sound of the creature’s name more annoying to trill than its superior, more well rounded tone. Pulling a few more ancient words from its mind it ran a thin appendage over the small thing, it now had company in its prison and it was now awake. It would preserve this new creature.

So…fi…rest…well

Looking closely at the memories, it began weaving the world and interspersing it with everything it could remember and what little fanciful details it decided to add.

Small…So…fi…thou…

It paused, wondering why it was even trying to emulate the speech patterns of the creature. Then it concluded that it had either gone insane or was more bored than it had expected in this prison. It trilled inconclusively and returned to the task at hand.

Thou…art safe…safe…now…?

A soft rumbling shook the stars as it drew upon its own powers, a millennia of disuse rendering the release chaotic and uncertain. Planets trembled as the fabric of the universe was torn into two, the darkness and the void collapsing into one as light flared brightly in the nothing. It found the small Sofi’s thread, one amongst uncountable trillions, and in a moment of mischief tore the thread away. A tiny gray amongst the tapestry of the other mythic beings, vengeance and boredom in equal measure as it freed the small Sofi from fate itself. In response, creation itself roared in anger and it could feel the presence of other beings, desperately trying to find out what went wrong.

All while it trilled softly to itself and the small Sofi, only in the void is both darkness and light absent. The tiny thread would remain forever unbound, and in a swift motion it absorbed the gray fabric. Amused, it came up with a new plan, a new way to irritate those that had imprisoned it, the small Sofi came from their world and with her it had the perfect means to interfere. Yet it did not know when she would return to her world, when another portal would make itself known to it. The prison was lonely and desolate, the thing’s arrival happened through pure chance, or so it assumed, and there was no telling how long it would take.

It however, was understanding and powerful, thus it drew forth great magicks to drain the life force of nearby stars, sucking their very essence into the void, churning, crushing matter itself into a substance to be manipulated by it. It was a fact that many such creatures like the small Sofi would age and possibly die, but now it would not be a concern as long as she was with it. To it, time was but a concept for the void, something to follow or not as it desired, and now it choose to share this gift. Satisfied, it looked down gently at its new ward, who was hibernating peacefully in the bed thing.

Safe now....here…I shalt…care…for…thou. Thou art...bound by fate…no longer.