NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: The Voice In The Dark
"Oh, cut the bullshit!" Zack said, laughing to himself. "You can barely fucking stand right now. In which world do you think that you have the strength to stand up to me?"
Wiping the blood clean from his lips, Logan kept his arms forward—even through the excruciating pain. They didn't guard much, but it showed his resolve. "That's where you're wrong, Zack. I can stand perfectly fine... not because it doesn't hurt, but because I know the pain will be far worse if I allow you to win and keep me from her.
You, and everyone else in the world will be damned if you think I'll sit idly by and lose everyone I care about!"
Zack sighed. "There you go again with that stupid talk. It doesn't matter how you feel, or how much you care about someone. True strength doesn't come from such trifling emotions, no. If you wish to own everything you desire, there's only one way..."
Both of his hands clenched—writhing for the immense power that hung in the air. "The Gift is that one road to strength, Logan! You would do well to learn that!"
The energy congregated most densely to his feet, then hollowed out to the space where Logan stood. The density was surreal, making itself visible even to the naked eye.
Logan understood that the strength behind its attack knew no bounds, far outweighing the ones before it, but as the striations of energy failed to be contained beneath the floor's hard material, he found himself almost enamored.
Still, he urged his legs to move, but the bone was too frayed. Never mind the numbing pain, even just the subtlest movement would cause a complete breakdown of everything that comprised them.
He could only bear witness to his own beating as the projection of energy slammed into him, trained at his sternum.
Thwam!
Within a moment too fast to recall, Logan was sent flying towards the domain wall. It reverberated from his body, catching him with a hard hum.
Dazed from the impulse, he clung to its dense energy that stood physical. That way, he could take some of the pressure off of his legs.
'Is this a side effect of his magic, or is my vision going dark?'
Hungrily, Logan clawed at his face, thirsty for understanding. His open cuts and sores stopped gushing blood—the warmth that had so disoriented him leaving along with it.
No, rather, it was replaced. Cold enveloped his being, forcing him to shiver at the sensation.
'What's... happening?'
"You're dying."
The voice echoed all across his mind, reaching a place deeper than his ear canal could ever allow.
No, it wasn't physical. Instead, he could feel its presence even heavier than his own thoughts. It made itself comfortable in his head, perhaps even more than he was himself.
'Who are you?' he thought back. The voice didn't respond, although another did in its stead.
"What's going on with you, Logan? You were just talking about standing strong for the ones you care about, so why don't you get up? Or... don't tell me—you're dying!"
Zack walked back and forth through his taunting, waving his hands freely like a mother caught in a phone call.
Although it was almost surely a detestable sight for Logan, he just couldn't muster the needed hatred. There was something else washing down his emotion, a feeling of calm, like returning to home.
"LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!" a voice screamed, guttural and real. It came from somewhere in the stands, but Logan didn't need to locate it to understand.
'Selene?' he realized, suddenly finding the strength to fight back against what was surely his death.
Even so, despite wanting to call out for her, he found himself helpless to the endless wave of apathy, blinking both his mind and the world to nothing.
Then, just actual nothing. He was floating free of any phenomena, left only within his own thoughts.
'Am I dead?' he asked, moving his hand through the plane. No, but he lacked hands, or legs, or a body. And this place wasn't a plane. Instead, it was exact 'nothingness.' Not the kind you would see when closing your eyes—for, you could still see black—but a real absence of being.
Whether it was an existential crisis or a random act of defiance, Logan shook his metaphysical head. 'This can't be... when I was so close to reaching my dream.'
"Close? You still have a long road ahead of you."
The intrusive branch of thought surprised Logan, but he wasn't scared. He wasn't certain he could feel in this moment.
'What is this, and who are you? Are you God?'
The second presence laughed with its metaphysical lungs, twisting with its metaphysical body and snapping its metaphysical fingers. 'Well, aren't you curious? How about you go and find out?'
Once it'd spoken, black bled into the realm. And, in the act of introducing being, so too did Logan begin to be.
His body sprouted from a single point, extending out to his original shape. Even though it felt as if his mind were disconnected, that feeling also dissipated.
Now, he was one single vessel.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking all around him for the source of this anomalous behavior. He was lost in all the black, but even beneath all that, he could feel the presence hovering over him, peering into his soul. It was invasive.
'Wait, invasive!'
Squeezing his face, Logan traced over the many conversations he'd held with a certain someone. He knew now just where he was, and why. "As this is my mind, I will you to show yourself!"
The realm reacted to his intent, forcing another clump of pale white to expand from a single point, slowly molding into an equal representation of a human body.
No, but this figure wasn't human. It was succubus.
"Pixel," Logan said gently. Then, with another pained expression in his face, he forced the disassociated mind into the vessel he'd created. "What are you doing here, and why now?"
Pixel stood tall, reacting to her new body. It was the same as when she'd originally ventured to his room, equipped with all the same... parts. "My, aren't you the intricate one? But, no matter. I'm here because you died."