Inai Ni Yami ((Within Darkness)) {{FINISHED}}

Chapter 45 ((Moderator))

Chapter 45

Who am I?

It’s a constat question in my mind, one that I can no longer answer. Why that is… It’s also a mystery. Everything in my life is a mystery. I am a mystery. What is a mystery… I know that. I know a lot of things, actually. Too much, that at points, my head starts to hurt, my mind goes blank and yet the thinking goes on and on. Infinite, to use a better work. 

And how great that is, seeing as I’m trapped in a black, black world with nothing but time to think. I don’t need to ‘eat,’ or ‘sleep.’ My body has stayed strong and healthy and it makes me wonder if my body doesn’t deteriorate as it should - or as my mind tells me it should. 

I’m not alone, though. There’s two others, always watching me, waiting for something I don’t know. They look different, but their eyes hold the same look. One has violet eyes, the color the twilight sky still reigned in by the sun.  Her hair is simple and short, the color a pale silver that stands out like a light in the darkness of the surrounding world And her body, it’s fully covered in a thin, tight suit that radiates power and destruction. 

The other one, slightly more regal, has long black hair that lays about her body and sprawls further out on the floor. Multicolored skirts flow right along with her thin, straight hair, a pool of satin that surrounds her and the beautiful corset she wears tell of riches and power. Her green eyes are empty and watching, always watching. 

The last one has deep blue eyes that watch with the same knowledge as the others. Her hair was short like the first one, but her was a dark black that bordered on blue. And her clothes was much different from the regal and the powerful ones. A simple shirt under a simple black sweater. Navy blue jeans covered over her legs and there was a bag at her side. Whether or not it carried something was unknown but curiosity always brought my eyes to the bag - and then her eyes. 

And I, how do I look? The color of my eyes is a mystery, just as my life is. But my hair, as far as I can tell is the color of storm clouds, a mix between black and white. My skin is almost the same in that it’s color goes between rosy and pale, alive yet so near death. I’m not wearing anything actually, but the nudity doesn’t bother me, even with the watching eyes of the others. To me, they’re nothing but empty vessels that used to hold the souls of these people. In the beginning, it was only me and the regal one. The came the one with the bag. The last to show came not to long ago, and even then she’s been flickering for a while, those violet eyes sometimes flashing with life and then muting. 

But now, it hasn’t been happening as much. Honestly, the last time it happened was too long ago as far as I could tell. Like the other two, she will stay in her frozen mind and body, never to move again even though her eyes will be forced to watch as her exact opposite thinks a mile a minute and moves the joints and muscles she cannot. How sad they have to go through this. So sad, yet so insignificant. 

Something moved. 

Within my periphery, I saw their hands move slowly at their sides, reaching out for one another. It was so weird an- 

There was another now, her eyes wide and she stared about the world. She looked much like the regal one, only lacking in clothes as I was, but her splendid long hair and bright green eyes were the same. The only difference was the life, and when those eyes flashed to me, it was as if a sudden connection had been made. “You’re the last step, the moderator, aren’t you?”

At once the meaning to ‘moderator’ came to mind, and with it confusion. What was I moderator to? I was simply a mind with knowledge and form, nothing more and nothing less. “I do not know what you speak of.” Said as I stood up, wrapping both arms around me now that real, living eyes gazed upon me. This was not of comfort, and I wanted this woman to leave. 

“I’m Diedra, the living counterpart to Eve. You’re the moderator, the one who can finish this all and resurect the Queen, aren’t you?” 

Resurrect… 

“The command you have made cannot be made at this time. Please ask again later.” 

No, that is not my voice, nor is that my mind. Someone else has spoken? But who else is there to speak-

“What do you mean it can’t be made? Resurrect the Queen, goddamn you!” 

“I’m sorry, the com-” That’s me speaking. But not me. Ignore the words and listen to the woman. She wants something. Something important. The bodies over there, their minds. Mayhap they’re the Queen? 

Still ignoring the voice that keeps leaving my lips, I walkover to the bodies and suddenly, this is nto my body, nor is it mine own mind. The body that is no longer mine sits down cross legged afore the other bodies, and without question gester for the woman to do the same, holding her hand when she sits beside me. The other three are silent as ever, but their bodies are moving now, especially the one to the center. 

Eve. 

More information pours in to my mind as I stare at them, one by one. The regal one, she is the true Queen, but she has been fragmented, as has the one to the other side with the bag beside her. The one in the center, she’s is the one that’s full yet empty of herself, carrying the fragments of the others. I must connect. 

The woman beside me. I must connect what is no longer to the flesh and living. Yes. That is my job. 

“Downloading, Start… Twenty percent… Thirty-nine percent… Forty-two percent…” As my voice went on with the counting, I couldn’t help but notice the way the bodies seemed to disperse, all into the woman. And she herself was being lost to the others, no longer the person she’d come in as. “Sixty-six percent… Seventy-three percent…Eighty-five percent… Ninety percent… One hundred percent.” The bodies were completely gone, as was the woman. I was alone, I was-

The darkness faded away, and it’s it’s absence a white room came to view, hundreds of shelves surrounding me. And there were more, all of them frantic and split into two separate sides of the room. One of them, a man, was completely alone, tied up and out cold as the rest yelled and cursed. There was a significant difference in sizes of the groups, one holding a little over six members while the other side held only three. 

In silence, I walked out into the center and watched the two sides, then walked over to the unconscious one. Immediately I recognized him, though the hows of that were unknown. “Daisuke Shiroi, wake up. The Queen has arisen.”

From behind, everything went still.