Against the Universe - After ONE 18

THREE | A Wrap

Liam wasn't sure where he was. Everything was confusing, to say the least. All around his view, weird shapes were exploding, changing colour, merging and dissolving constantly only to arise again. But most noticeably, a storm raged inside him. He felt howling rampage and bloodthirst, like he could murder a thousand, no, a million people and enjoy their suffering. And then go on and on, forever, because he would need MORE and MORE and MORE, because he was horribly empty and watching others' despair was somehow filling him for a second.

At the same time, he was scared stiff. He could feel his heart shake from too much of this new emotion, until it wanted to escape him, never reside in his body again. He screamed in desperate agony, calling it back, and when it listened, he felt a little bit relieved.

That's when the ray of dancing colours began to fade and his senses started coming back.

First, he realized something was cramping him, as if he entangled himself in some stuff; fortunately, the grip still allowed him to breathe. With wobbly legs, he tried to feel the ground, but he couldn't find it. At last, his vision stopped being all blurry, enabling him to see what kind of a situation he has got into.

Suspended in the air, wrapped up in vines, dizzy from the chaotic dream - that was his situation.

Liam looked down... wrong decision.

His heartbeat was getting faster. He took quick, shaky breaths as he tried not to lose it. Okay, Liam, breathe! Don't panic... just stay calm!

He was tied up high in the air and this thing could do anything it wanted with him...

Liam looked around him to find anything that could help, and he noticed that the hand from yesterday was still patting him, just very slowly, so he didn't recognize it at first. He froze in place.

Are you... comforting me or holding me hostage? he thought and tried to evade it.

Surprisingly, it reacted immediately by moving away from him.

"What do you want?! Let me go!" growled Liam. He observed the palm, expecting some sort of a reaction, but it didn't signal anything. Instead, the backpack... felt many things.

Heavy sorrow, burning desperation and promising... joy?

The feelings somehow overshadowed his fear, and it faded out... He was left in confusion as to what was happening. And then it looped, the same emotions pouring into him.

Wh...what was going on inside him? Why was he feeling all of those things randomly?

And then, a sprinkle of rage from earlier. And right back to the loop.
Sorrow. Desperation. Joy.
Sorrow. Desperation. Joy.
Sorrow. Desperation. Joy.

It repeated, repeated, he didn't have control over it. This only made him more dizzy: he wanted to rub his hands on his head. Oh wait... he COULDN'T. He winced and tried to break free.

Only to be presented with an even stronger wave of emotions.

Power to do anything. 

Fulfillment of any of your desires.

Liam stopped wriggling and listened.

And then, something beyond a feeling - a single thought coated in a thick layer of calmness slipped into his open mind.

You will be happy if you surrender.

Liam tried to process it with his brain scattered... when a second one came.

I'll give you a cure for loneliness.

But I'm not lonely, he thought right after in an attempt to block it.

Liam blinked, failing to understand. It seemed almost like he gained a split personality disorder. Was he talking to himself? Was he one or two?

He glanced at the plant again.

Or was it... the forest speaking to him?

Before he could ponder on that further, calmness filled his heart; he went numb for a minute, caught up in the feeling. When it faded out, he felt like he was waking up again. He squinted... and a horrible realization entered his mind.

Those thoughts and emotions weren't his. They were alien, foreign, intrusive.

This entity was inside his mind. It could dictate how he felt. It could make him act like it wanted, make him do things he'd never do, make him fulfill that bloodthirst from before that he assumed was its own.

Chills ran through his body.

This was the cause of that weird 'hallucination' event a few days ago...

He peered at his surroundings, but again found nothing useful for this kind of a situation. Suddenly, he remembered the Plane left in the cave... his friends were all alone. He needed to get out of here, now! Liam wrestled violently, but to no avail, the vines were holding him too strongly, too tightly for him to win against them.

Need to watch others suffer. The feeling from the dream, the sheer fury returned with even more intensity, fighting to stay in him despite Liam pushing it out.

"I don't need that! GET AWAY FROM ME!"

The vines tightened and Liam couldn't breathe anymore.

Five seconds - and they loosened again, making him loudly gasp for air and cough into them.

"what... in the... world... d'you want..."

Need to watch others suffer.

"I'm not... letting you, understand?...you... freak...!"

To his fright, the pressure increased, the vines were strangling him again. Dizziness and drowsiness crept over Liam when the air started to run out once more.

Let me go, PLEASE! he screamed in his mind in a last-ditch effort.

But it didn't listen to him. It wanted to choke him unconscious, because then he wouldn't protest. Because then, anything could be injected into him without his mind firing all defense mechanisms at once.

Not only was it squeezing him physically, he felt like the same was being done to him mentally.

Liam was losing touch with reality.

getting tighter...

tighter...

tighter...

...but then, the alien force met an obstacle, or... another force. Something awakened inside him, strong, fierce and familiar, and it exploded with power, countering the collapse. It pushed the intrusive energy far away, where it couldn't reach Liam.

The lianas were no longer holding him, they retreated. It worked, he was free!

That's when he realized the ground was rapidly approaching him.

No no NO!

*CRACK*

Shock overwhelmed Liam.

Instinctively, he looked down and there hit him a sight his mind had learned to forget.

His left leg... bent in multiple places.

Horrible flashbacks and panic struck him, adding to the physical shock... and Liam fell limp and unconscious.

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A/N

Do you have any theories about what happens next? Tell me in the comments, I'd love to hear them! See ya :)