Sorry in advance for the abstraction.
Sweet, sweet child. You're always so gentle with the young ones. The younger they are, the purer their minds. They always understand us better. They boys will be quick to understand. I worried at first about Sera, but he was clearly at peace with nature, and now I see his soul really is innocent. Indeed, he's simply a child that doesn't know any better. He will understand when he joins with us like you. Come, sweet boy. We know you want to understand.
The world is black. The inaudible words speak as if they are my thoughts, unreachable, potent. Each sound leaves a warmth like the feeling of eyes upon skin. I'm being observed. Gripped by the invisible. Connected.
Your life has been a tragedy. Humans fear their bond with the rest of nature too much, fear that nothing can escape the fate of becoming energy for another, it has caused you misery. Your own kind, too. But we will not contain you. We will make you vast.
The moment confusion surfaces within me, there is suddenly structure in the darkness. Simultaneously nothing appears, but an enormous sense of being manifests in the form of an organized entanglement, and energy swirls within it. Kind of like Nen.
You could say it is Nen. More than it is, we are. We are the energy of life. It is living. Feel it. Feel us.
A misty image fades in. The shape of a man, a grown, decent specimen with dusty light hair and skin scarred by the sun. His face never fully solidifies. Two delicate hands dig nails into the shoulders of his shirt, and a myriad of sensations burst into me like I've returned to the moment. There's noiseless laughter and mixed unease.
It is different from sex. We are always one. We are in constant unity and understanding. We understand you, Sera. Come understand us.
The image fades, and it's as if a heat has wrapped around me. But what is 'me'? Other than the still, giant being that gives no doubt to its existence, I can't feel even my limbs. There's only a pervasive numbness.
What indeed is the 'you'? Why must we be separate? Separation only leads to misunderstanding and destruction. Look, you get so frustrated with Killua, but it is because you don't understand. We can go past those boundaries. Here, take and understand.
…
This is…
He has also suffered greatly because of disharmony between creatures. Every living being has. Many times animals have unknowingly hunted other animals into oblivion, creatures unintentionally destroy the very world that sustains them. Hurt and tragedy can all be avoided if we are all one. If there is only one, competition will not exist. We will stand at the acme of the world because we will be the world. With us there will be no danger. You will be the most powerful. Everlasting. Come. Come join us, Sera. See that this is the best way to exist. We all take care of each other because each of us is ourself, so you will never want again. Join us. Come sweet child.
It's as if space is tingling. Even with the numbness, 'I' prickle along with it, as if everything is pulled taut with strings. 'I' am stretching. As great as 'I' grow, there is no emptiness. There is weight, solidness.
But even as the sensation takes hold, the faint perspective from before doesn't fade.
Do not dwell on it. You will understand it when you are us. There is no mystery.
There's more than vision to the perspective. Connections, emotions, knowledge, none of it tangible at all yet more real than 'me'.
And then there's a face.
A person, with polished white skin, except grime at the fingertips and feet. Slitted pupils in a sea of stark blue. White hair striped with black that frames a sharp chin. The gaze of a reptile. Watching. Ready to bolt.
Then words fall out of its mouth, as silent as the voices of that which calls itself 'us'. The more it speaks, the more the words resonate, the more sensations emerge from it.
You see Sera? There is so much you don't know, so much you have to learn. Join with us, he will as well, and so will Naii. We will reach to Chwara soon so you can understand them, and Alluka, and then beyond. We grow as they join, we can take more people in. We will make peace.
...but I still haven't won yet. I still have to dominate Killua.
You just want peace. You only want domination because you think being the strongest is the only way to have freedom, but you're wrong.
All of this...this peace and unity...there's no competition.
Yes, that's it. We are whole.
Killua, he…
His intentions are kind. He is a nurturing soul fit for us.
I don't get it.
You will. You are already joining us. There is more understanding the deeper we fuse.
This gentleness...is weird. I've never thought he was gentle, but all of these sensations contradict it. I don't understand! I…
I could capitalize on this.
Sera, relax. There is no need to take advantage of others. He will join us soon, too.
This gentleness, and those times he was attracted to me, too. There were more of those than I realized. That's it! I really do have a way to win him over!
The tugging suddenly doubles, as if I'm being laid thin, and I try to stiffen. I try to stiffen, but there's no me. There's just darkness, and everything, and I'm somehow melded into it.
Why aren't I here? Where am I? What's going on?
Sera, calm down. Everything is okay. You are fine.
Where is this? What is all of this?
What am I?
Blood.
The thrumming of blood.
You're a lost soul. We're here to show you everything. We will make you happy.
I am blood.
Thumping pounding racing hot freezing living blood. The iron taste seeping between my teeth when I bite into flesh. The warmth of it squelched between my fingers as I dig into my food. The syncing of pulses as I dive with another into pleasure. The fluttered current when Killua's finger brushed my ear.
The filled nothingness begins to thicken and swirl like blood.
Sera, there's no need for violence! There doesn't have to be a you! If there is a you and not an us, there will be suffering! You'll cause us pain, and yourself pain! It's no good! I told you we should kill him instead of take him. No, he just doesn't know any better! All of us know that! This is why we should be pickier, especially with Nen users! But he hardly knows how to use it, he can't actually do us harm.
Another illusory voice scoffs.
"Don't think just because you're a couple people mixed together you know everything."
The thickening blood begins to drum. Even without sound to hear it, there's no mistaking the scoffing voice.
A silent buzz accompanies heat that flushes through the bloody nothingness. Suddenly there's more than being. Everything...is alive. Electricity and blood. It floods throughout the being, swallows it from within, and the us' screams and terror churn into the mix as the original presence pushes back against the onslaught, but against raging and burning currents, the being is shoved and toppled and drowned, and with every bit of space taken my pulse runs harder, the blood surging more powerful, and the electricity making it boil.
Badump badump badump
With every beat my heart hits against my chest, and I open my eyes.
Instead of darkness, the shadows of trees filter in moonlight. Aching replaces numbness as I find my limbs again. Then there's exhaustion. The world is tinged with red, still swirling like blood. It takes me a minute of staring to realize why. I take some time to dam up my aura.
Nearby, a couple voices pant with me. This time, I can actually hear them.
The air carries a subtle chill brought on by the sun's absence, and drowsiness settles inside me as my heart rate gradually calms. Drained, and sensing no danger, I close my eyes.
A warm hand closes around my arm before I can fall asleep. I open my eyes and roll my head to the side. Killua lies a short distance away. His entire figure is obscured by shadows, but since I can make out his shape, I feel no unease.
After a second, he speaks with a dry throat. "We can't rest yet. They might still be around."
I close my eyes again. "They're gone."
"Even if we think so—"
"I ate them."
He doesn't reply. A smile creeps onto my lips.
"Or, consumed without eating. Destroyed. Crushed." I add, "We did."
He breathes out a long breath. "The hell even was that?"
"Dunno." No idea, but whatever they were, they were extremely unpleasant. Unity and peace, all that garbage just means no fun. If there's no danger, I can't gamble my chances, and I can't win if there's no competition. And they basically gave me a birds-eye view of Killua weaknesses. How could I just give up on dominating him after that?
Screw their understanding. Who needs it?
"Well whatever. That thing dared to use Alluka's voice. Even if it just wanted everyone to play nice, I say it deserved death."
I keep my mouth closed this time. Of course he'd get upset about the thing using his sister's voice, but before that…
Even if it was quiet, far in the distance, I can still vividly hear when it screamed in my voice.
Never has such a piercing sound come out of my mouth, but that doesn't change the fact that the scream was mine.
Even with my eyes closed and the sleep-inducing temperature, I have to banish the memory from my mind before I'm finally taken by sleep.
I love Sera so much, but he's also literally the most self absorbed person on earth. Even if the thing is creepy, peace and unity, Sera! You little minx! Only he would inadvertently destroy the thing not because he's suspicious, but because he literally just wants to fight with people. Tsk tsk. People, you chose the wrong guy to try to add to your ranks.