Chapter 2: Lucid In The Void
Artemis's eyes shot open to reveal darkness, she tried to move her head but it wouldn't budge; instead her eyes darted wildly around trying to focus on something in the empty void. Her mind felt disconnected from her body, she felt nothing but was aware of her physical existence. As she strained to look down at her body she noticed that her clothing and limbs were floating in nothingness, almost as if she was submerged in water.
"Where am I?" Her thoughts echoed in the empty space.
"Wait…I've been here before." She stared straight up into the nothingness.
Artemis couldn't tell if the darkness was directly in front of her or if it stretched out for miles ahead of her. Her ears yearned for some sort of noise, but nothing could break the painful silence in the void. Her mind was blank, but she was extremely aware of her surroundings.
It felt as if hours, or maybe days had passed when unexpectidly her daydreaming was broken by the sensation of piercing cold shooting up her spine. This was the first thing she had felt since waking up in this world; the first thing her mind and her body both acknowledged. The sound of mechanical humming began to surround her body, she struggled to tell if it was directly next to her ears or somewhere off in the distance.
Artemis focused, trying to find exactly where the sound was coming from when suddenly the faint sounds of screams and crying joined in behind it.
"Hello?" She thought to herself as the words violently echoed around her.
Her eyes strained to look down at her body and she noticed tiny droplets of water on herself and steam was rising off her body but, she felt nothing. The humming seemend to shift around the void before stopping in front of her feet, a green light flickered where the sound was.
The darkness began to move around the light, the flickering stopped and became a bright glowing green circle. The humming noise grew more complex and the sound of clicks and beeps loudly joined in, hiding the cries in the distance.
Frozen, Artemis had no choice but to stare at the light as the darkness morphed into a solid structure around it. The creature had no head, the light was imbedded into what looked like the top of what would be its body. Long arms with jagged fingers morphed out of its circular body and twisted through the void towards her.
It floated over Artemis until it was hovering above her, the humming noise rattled her entire body; its green light stared down at her as if it was a big eye. The creature began to move towards her face until the glowing light was inches away from touching her nose. For a moment, Artemis felt that the creature was docile, and she stared up into the green light blinding her eyes.
Hypnotized by the light, Artemis failed to realize that the creature's arms were hovering around her body in a striking position. With inhuman speed it grabbed her arms, digging its long fingers into the skin. Artemis felt them travel under her skin through her shoulders and down into her chest. The discomfort turned into heaviness and extreme pain, her gaping mouth gargled trying to emit sound and her eyes widened in horror. This was the first bit of emotion she had felt since waking up in the void.
Her vision began to go red and she felt immense pressure in her brain. The creature grew closer to her body until its hands were completely inside of her.
Violently, her entire body seized and her skin stretched up towards the creature as her veins rose out of her body wrapping around its figure. Their bodies were morphing together.
Artemis saw her chest ripping apart until it was wide open, her organs suddenly came into view and blood particles flew out into the void. The creatures' darkness connected with each bone and each muscle staining them black.
"Help me." Artemis thoughts echoed around her.
the creatures green light panned from her face and moved down her body before stopping in front of one last organ that it hadn't touched. Artemis stared in horror and noticed the last piece of her in front of this monster, was her heart. The green light emitted a high pitch hum and began moving around her heart, studying it closely.
The creature made a pulsing robotic humming noise that almost resemble a bird chirping before gently leaning into the heart, pressing its light against it.
A white flash flooded through the void breaking the darkness before disapating. The world itself shook around her and the monster as it began to collapse on itself, reality started to flatten.
Artemis's head was filled with noise and her eyes began to roll into the back of her head, her body vibrated faster as it also began to flatten with the world around her.
The creature pushed the rest of itself into her heart, disappearing into her body. Artemis released an ear-piercing scream before becoming paper thin, and eventually vanishing.