U.S.S.A Alice

Epilogue

I was encased in something somewhere, I felt no pain, no sadness, no suffering, nothing, except a dark absence.  I didn't know if this was real or a nightmare to torture me in, was anything real anymore? Or was everything including my life fiction? While I couldn't see anything, I could feel around and almost but not quite touch something, like it was just out of reach. I kept trying until I was too tired, then I stopped to catch my breath; the afterlife isn't quite what I thought it would be. Not exactly heaven but not oblivion, I felt like a baby in the womb, that's if a womb were a vacuum. I could hear were my rambling thoughts, I didn't even have the energy to gasp or speak, If I could make a sound, I hadn't heard it. Is this where everyone goes when they die? Stuck in a pitch black void, separated from everyone you know, trapped with only your thoughts for all eternity? I suppose it's second to burning in hellfire or the complete loss of one's essence.  

Time had no meaning here, to me, there was no difference between a day or an hour, a billion years could have gone by and I'd be none the wiser. Time is a funny thing for an anthropologist, you spend most of your time studying what has already happened, and you can end up consumed by a long-dead and gone past. Perhaps I should've just left well enough alone and spent my days safe at home with Damien, then we'd both still be alive. I admit I was wrong about Damien before, I should know better than to assume he'd end up like me, but there was a lot I was wrong about him. I thought back to what Umbra'Kesh had shown me, the awful things Damien had done, the person I saw and the Damien I knew were completely different people, I wasn't sure who the real one was. I wasn't used to questioning a living person's identity, hell, I was beginning to question my own, maybe I'm going crazy or something. 

Something was different now, I could feel the air around me, it was a comforting warmth that surrounded me. I could feel a slight gust of a breeze but I couldn't tell where from, I was just happy to feel anything at this point. What would I have done differently if given the chance? This question keeps popping up in my head but I couldn't find an answer, I suppose I have one now. I would've sent that artifact back where it came from, even if it only delayed the inevitable, all the places I saw, all people I met, all the friends I made...I wouldn't trade it for the world. What would have gone differently for Damien and me once we returned home? Would things have gone back to normal, would we have settled down and had a family, or would I have discovered what he really was and left him? 

I was finally able to put my hands on my face, to feel any kind of contact on my skin was a godsend. I could freely move my body now, it was like I was floating but not like zero-g, it was much different, more stable. I moved my hands through the dark emptiness but there was nothing to touch, It was just me inside this place with no one else, it was like dreaming in a sensory deprivation chamber, this felt like the most vacant dream I've ever had. As many things as I have to think about, I can't think ad Infinitum, I had to find a way out, but how? There seemed to be no up or down to speak of here, I could only describe moving in her as trying to swim in space, if only there were stars to look at here. 

For the first time since I've been here, I thought I saw something move, it looked like light distorted somewhere in the distance out of the corner of my eye. I felt a chill shoot up my spine, there was that feeling like I was being watched, but by what? A minute later and it moved again, now closer, warping the darkness behind it. I tried moving away but I either wasn't moving fast enough or I wasn't moving at all, it seemed whatever it was, was about to catch up with me. I could see two small glowing orbs getting closer, they were eyes...those hungry eyes.

The two orbs separated and then formed into what looked to be a portal. The light all but blinded me as the light from it illuminated the abyss I was trapped inside, I could barely see the large figure sitting on the ground, almost unmoving...until they saw me. "Hello!"  I called out to them. They slowly got up and stumbled towards me, they said something but the sound was distorted, they reached an arm out into the portal and extended a hand to me. It sounded like Damien but when he peered in, it looked like a demon. "Damien?"  I reached out to grab his hand. When I grabbed his hand, my skin started changing into a color I'd never seen before, then something from the other side of the portal began violently sucking me back. "Damien don't let me go!" I screamed out, what was happening? He gripped my hand so tight as to almost crush it, he held onto me so tightly and tried to pull me out but it wasn't enough and I saw my arm get ripped off. "Damien! Don't leave me!"  Was all I could get out as I was swallowed by the portal. The last thing I saw was him jumping in after me to wherever our destination would be.

I opened my eyes and saw what could only be described as a mind-numbing rainbow cascade of colors, I zoomed through the wormhole at a blazing pace, I swear I could see galaxies...no, universes briefly as I peered out into the distance. I couldn't even focus on the pain as my mind was too overstimulated to even feel it; I exited the portal and was immediately ejected and hit the ground. I coughed up sand and struggled to get up with only one hand, I heard something land behind me, it was my arm. I sluggishly stumbled over to it and picked my arm up off the red sandy ground. Oh god, where was I now? Why does this keep happening? My arm socket wasn't bleeding, which was very strange, I also noticed my arm was much bigger than before, like an Olympian's. I walked out into the sun, I stood frozen at the sight of the large red star shining down on the red desert. I didn't see any signs of civilization for kilometers, not a thing. "Hello" I called out, my voice echoing out into the barren wilderness. I was alone again, I was going to have to survive on my own until I found help. Please find me, Damien.