TRIGGER WARNING
There are blatant remarks to Depression and Violence. Contains spoilers for the game OFF by Mortis Ghost.
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My pallid paws peruse the metal beneath as a whisper passes through the peculiarly pigmented boundaries of Zone two. The smile etched onto my feline visage an ingenious façade for the writhing and screaming thoughts swirling behind my masked emotions. "My dear brother, to where did you disappear? Oh, do I miss you so," Crosses my lips as I continue to lose my mind to loneliness. My footsteps trace the Batter's as I'm led unconsciously towards the nothingness that melancholy offers tantalisingly; yet the smile on my face lingers ever longer.
I look down at the trail of crumpled and dissipating spectres, each strike from the Batter burned into a grotesque art piece on their spastically convulsing bodies. Traces of life swiftly exit the vile creatures, leaving them still and cold. "Oh dear," I step over the corpses gingerly. "Quite unfortunate..." I continue to ascend the steps of the Library as a steadily growing dread creeps into my thoughts. "My beloved Valerie, do not fret! For I shall find you soon."
As the Batter and I approach the roof of the Library, an all too familiar feline enters the reaches of my gaze. Joy soars in my chest and fights away the growing pain of loss. "Ah, Valerie!" As I step towards the figure of my brother, a high-pitched and highly annoying voice pierces my ears and I replace a step. "Valerie? That...is the name of the cat." Doubt and confusion surges back through my body, overpowering the now long forgotten joy I had felt. I open maw to speak, but they continue. "You must be confusing me for someone else. I am Japhet, the fire bird. Guardian of Zone two." An insistent plea escapes me. "Stop with these paranoid delusions, dear brother! Come with me to Zone zero. I have built a cellar where we can forget our sorrows..." "I am not your brother! I do not even belong to any race of predators!" My brother responds and advances aggressively. The pupils of my eyes thin and I continue to recoil. "Y-you must be mistaken," "Take a look at my real face, you poor, smelly cat!" He interrupts me once again. "Va-Valerie?" The skin of my brother's face crinkles and folds backwards to leave his mouth agape to unnatural size and a thin, sharp beak protrudes from his agape jaws.
"You do not understand, do you? I am not Valerie, I am Japhet! I have taken control of your miserable little brother." Horror washes over me as my thoughts reel. "No," "Unable to chew through a little bird, until the end." My thoughts shout and ring in my ears but my jaws do not move. I stand and stare dumbfounded and paralyzed. My thoughts speak again. "No, no, no, this cannot be so! My dear, sweet brother is fine, he is just lost! That is all, I shall find him and we shall be happy together once again and ever more!" Through the turmoil of my thoughts, my lips can only form one word. "...Valerie..." The Batter and Japhet rile their feud and engage in combat as my brother's small form continues to be mangled and misshapen as a large, heron-like bird rips through his soft muscle. I can hear my brother's weak body break bit by bit and I remain unable to do anything.
My mind has succumbed to the delusions of the mad and I resume to tell myself that my little Valerie is still alive and well somewhere, anywhere but here. "He is safe, he is well, I will see him again." Repeats in my head like a mantra as the scene unfurls before me. A shadow washes over me as the massive bird fully emerges from the gaping mouth of my brother, his flesh caught and dangling off of its' angular head. They rekindle their battle as only one thought remains and occupies my mind. "...Valerie..." White noise blocks off my senses as my eyes glaze over and I stand still, silent. My eyes refocus many minutes later to find that infernal winged beast fallen, twisted, and bloodied. The Batter completes his monologue and dissipates, I presume returning to the Nothingness, but I cannot dwadle on that now. I need to find Valerie.
I place a paw towards the disappearing guardian when a maelstrom of blindingly bright light crashes down on the Zone. A high yowl leaves my jaws unwarranted as I brace myself and watch petrified as the light drowns the color of the Zone and washes it away. Screams and whispers alike ring in my ears. "Help..." "It's better this way." "Please just leave me to die..." repeat in my ears and they ring madly from the deafening volume. I shut my eyes tightly and cry out in pain. It feels like it has been hours when I finally open my eyes once more to find a bleak terrain. Greys surround me and the whispers prod at me insistently. There is no breeze, no outside noises, no signs of life. I am alone. My brother is lost. This land has been purified. My breath has been stolen from my body as I peer over the ledge of the roof. Nothing has been spared.
A tear trails down the side of my face and multiple others follow, matting the fur on my cheeks to the flesh. I cry out, pleaing for response into the nothingness, but only an echo replies. That damned smile tainting my features ever more.