Pokzi

Pullers and Pillars

Eventually, Pokzi felt the ground floating up under his feet. Maybe down over his feet, but as far as he could tell the floating was an under sort of floating, even though there wasn't much way to tell here. The Outside had a way of making things that were under feeling over and doing just the opposite with things that were over. As his feet settled against the ground, which he had decided was probably more likely on its side than anything else, he started to feel a strain, something in the air itself that made the ground ache even as he stood where he had fallen. Pokzi decided that this was a very bad feeling, and that he simply could not abide by it continuing in this horrid state for any longer than it had to. 

Following the ache to its source like one would follow tightness in a muscle back to the knot, Pokzi came across a massive circle of people of all colors, arranged seemingly by hue, all pulling on individualized ropes tied to the top of a massive pillar. This was the source of all of the tension, and Pokzi could already see the issue. Every person wanted the pillar for him- or herself, not for their neighbor, certainly not for the hue on the opposite side, but for her- or himself alone. Everyone was fighting everyone else, and any gain from a neighbor was capitalized on, but poorly, thus losing ground which was gained right back by the other side. 

Pokzi first tried walking around the circle and talking to each of them, but only the responses he could get were obviously fake, most of them just claiming that that was how it had always been and was how it was meant to be, with the ceiling on the verge of collapse and every person putting in their greatest effort to pull it down because it kept everyone else in check.

The insanity of the situation baffled Pokzi; there was no way that these people believed that pulling down the very thing that was keeping the Outside from crashing in and whisking them all into the chaos. The destruction seemed so imminent, but Pokzi walked around the circle twice, thrice, quadrice, each time attempting to convince the Pullers that what they were doing was dangerous, yet all the time the pillar stood. A blue woman told him that if she were to let go, the orange man on the other side would pull the pillar down on top of himself, and she didn't want that, so she didn't plan on letting go. Another person, the orange man that she had mentioned, likely, rejoiced when Pokzi told him that she did not want to let him be crushed, but stood firmer than ever before to ensure that she wasn't crushed either. 

On the verge of screaming, Pokzi ran around the circle, attempting to convince them that they could all drop it at the same time, but it was no use, none of them trusted the timing of one another, and so they stayed. Being utterly fed up at this point, he walked to the edge of the platform and threw himself into the chaos once more, unwilling to share the same air as these nonsensical people for even a second longer. Tumbling through the chaos, Pokzi quieted his mind. There was nothing in the entirety of the outside that made less sense than those deplorable Pullers.