It was black. It was all black. Everything present in front of me was a shade of pure black along with nothingness, it was not dark; the darkness, the shadow it had a feeling, a cold shiver-like chill, an almost moist and humid sensation on the body. But not this darkness, this one was wrong, my body felt alright, normal, like everything was fine and I was on my bed resting, but this darkness around me told otherwise. This feeling was unlike something I knew, unlike the cold chill in the middle of darkness or the fuzzy heat in your bed with a quilt during the cold. It was both yet at the same time neither.
"You have awoken, I see", a voice called out to me. It was slightly high-pitched and definitely one of a girl.
"I turned around and saw a floating hologram like thing. It was sky blue in colour and looked like the floating outline of an eye attached to a box, it's parts twirled around like one would see in a sci-fi movie yet it position stayed still. It lens was not watching me but I had a feeling it could definitely see me and was in fact addressing me right now. The hologram drew closer and it made me even more uncomfortable. The thing had no glow even when it was close to me, even in this deep darkness the thing was visible yet it was not a source of light. It had no lines of radiance stretching across its borders and no glow. Yet it was visible to me, like it was there and I was able to see it. It felt unrealistic but it was happening.
"All your questions except a few can be answered whenever you want, so please ask away", the hologram addressed me in a cordial manner, and there was no haughtiness or superiority in its voice, in fact it sounded like expectance and subordination. Its voice and mannerism felt truthful and I had an instinctual feeling of trust towards it.
"Who are you?"
Even though I felt a strange level of trust towards the floating borders of blue, without any context of origin or intention, it would have felt weird to trust it. Some context about my source of information was necessary.
"I am the guide assigned to you; currently I have the designation EM-1205."
"Guide, am I dead?"
Its words about being a 'guide' immediately gave me the wrong kind of vibes. I was already worried about my family, friends and home but it's mere utterance of the word 'guide' made me think it was the afterlife.
"Dead is a very complex term, we could debate about situation for quite a while but understanding the intent of your question I can say- no. You were definitely not harmed, or hurt in a physical or psychological way which would ordain to 'death' before you arrived here."
The floating eye gave me a mix bag of words, it did not outright tell me I was dead, but it was definitely telling me that no such thing which could kill me happened. Its words were understandable but, I could tell they were carrying layers of complexity and coupled with my situation, I was really having a hard time keeping up. In fact, I was amazed I did not panic yet.
"Where am I?"
This seemed to be the right question I would want answered, my current situation and circumstance pertaining to it were important if I want to find a way back.
"You are at the blank slate"
"What is the blank slate?"
My mind was now feeling frustrated as the situation started to settle in and my patience started to crack. The 'blank slate' was clearly synonymous with this place according to the hologram but it was not an answer which helped, not an answer I desired.
"It is the state of true nothingness, the true blank slate of space and time, it is the absolute base state of the universe and the entities and mass that are beyond it."
"So everything around me is nothing at all."
"Yes the blank slate is the true meaning of nothingness, if everything in the universe is the blocks of a building, then the universe is the building's foundation and the blank slate is the land below the foundation."
It was little context and useless on top of that.
"Why am I here?"
"Because you were alive"
"What?"
"Would you like me to elaborate?"
"Yes"
The hologram started to float higher, its virtual-like parts started to rotate around much faster, it almost looked like human mannerisms, when you straighten yourself and modulate your voice before starting a deep explanation.
"Your world was created by one like you; a being, conscious, aware and sentient. But the creation of the world is like a cycle, and the creation is merely the beginning."
I listened intently to the words, the dark seemed less of a bother now and the words seemed to find a way inside my mind, they carried a different level of impact and even if this situation turned out to be bad dream I felt that these words won't leave me soon.
"When a being creates a world, they are the undisputed monarch of that world. Their position undisputed and power non-challengeable. They hold authority over every spec of that world, from individuals to time and space. Even reality and logic is not beyond their grasp. For only they hold authority over the blank slate and the power to reduce the world back to it."
"You mean to tell me the creator of my world destroyed it"
My mind was in dread upon those words, to think my world was destroyed it was scary, no it was unthinkable to the point my fear could not be quantified.
"Untrue, please let me finish. Yes, the creator holds that power but your world's creator did not employ such a means of destruction upon you, in fact he merely completed his duty and reaped the fruit."
My thoughts were stopped as the explanation continued. I had to stay focused if I desired the truth.
"For creation of world, a creator is needed, the creator must be as I have mentioned before must be a being, conscious, aware and sentient. To carry forward the cycle the world of the creator become a stage for the creation of similar beings and when the time is ripe they become like the creator and create another one which would belong to them. The same has happened to you, your entire race after eons of existence have reached the point of creation."
I did not understand or I did not want to understand, the words the grand standing it was all foreign to me. I had never experienced something like this; all I could comprehend was that I was the joke of this situation. I was not a creator; I held no supreme authority, status or power. I did not even deserve this. I was normal, my family was normal; this had to be a mistake.
"Then this is my world"
I asked but I hoped it was not true, that I was having perhaps the weirdest dream of my life.
"Yes, this is the blank slate of your world, what to do with it is upto you."
I started laughing, I was convinced this situation was false, a dream something far apart from reality.
"Yeah there is no way this is real."
"I assure you reality is but a mere whim for you now."
I just shaked my head and settled down in the void. I was due to wake up sooner or later, plus dreams this vivid don't tend to last long.
So, I waited and waited and waited and soon I started to feel a conflux of emotions- at first it was anxiety, then it was fear, then it paranoia and finally realization. After waiting for it to end, I started counting believing it would end eventually but when I reached numbers in the sixth digits i knew this was not ending. Not soon. Not ever.
"Where is my family?"
This question plagued me for the longest time, with every digit I was pleading to see their faces, to feel their reassuring hand their crushing embrace but the nothingness never ended.
"They are just like you, they have also became creators they hold the reigns of their own worlds now."
Those words were hope. They were out there, alive. I could see them again.
"How do I meet them?"
"Not possible"
The answer came just as quickly as the question. The cruel words pierced my wish brutally and left me to only ask more.
"Why?"
My words were filled with venom and I was livid, the hope after despair was a deep sting.
"Creators are bound to their worlds, escape is impossible."
The answer made a sense; absolute power like this must be coming with a price. But my heart could not simply yield to logic.
"There must be a way"
"The world functions on your will, everything can be created here with your will, but the command of escape will only bring you what is present in this infinite void. Nothing."
I took a step back, the saliva in my mouth felt dry but I swallowed nonetheless. My anger turned into fury, the frustration with my situation grew furthermore. I needed a vent and there was only one thing present.
"And how the hell do you know everything, what the hell even are you!? You said nothing should exist without my will yet you clearly do, tell me?"
The hologram's lens twirled around, bits of it moved around and then it answered.
"Because your creator loved you."
"What?"
"Your creator knew it very well, the confusion, the desperation the attempts to return which ended with failure every time. He knew it well, hence upon acceptance of his position and the knowledge of your destiny, he created every being with a guide hard-coded in their DNA. That guide being me, since I was a part of you I was able to exist with you in your world to quench your curiosity and to spare you from pain which comes with seeking the past long gone."
The guide moved closer to my face.
"I was activated upon you witnessing the blank slate and thus, do I exist."
The explanation sounded ludicrous to me, something living inside of me all this time was impossible.
"Bullshit."
I called out immediately.
The floating eye merely turned its lens again.
"In second grade you had a crush on the girl who sat in front row, but you never even knew her name because you understood the importance of names later down your life. You once had a friend named James but you broke your friendship with him because you found his attitude weird, but now after growing up you realize that he acted like an average fourth grader but you broke your friendship with him because you wanted something different in your friend circle. During the vacation …."
It was one after another, my memories, my experiences, my secrets the voice spilled them one after another. I tried to stand up only to lose my balance and tumble, my legs were shaking and so were my hands. The shiver of realization was no subsiding as I continued to tumble.
"This is not possible, this is not possible.", I repeated to myself again and again.
"I see that you are distressed." The voice called out.
"No shit." I whipped back.
"Perhaps I can be of assistance."
The darkness disappeared, it happened within an instant like it was never there. The world felt similar now, the sunlight creeping out of windows, the books littered one over another on my table, a dirty rug and an overly comfortable bed.
"This is my room." I said with a relief washing over my voice. It felt surreal the darkness, the eye all of it gone. It was really a dream.
"Yes it is."
I turned around to see the holographic thing again much to my dismay. It was in my room and made my dream theory a bunk.
"How are you here, what the hell is this?" I called out as I took a few steps back.
"This place is a world created by your power over the blank slate, it is a copy of your universe. Everything to exist in your old world from history to culture, from people to every single-celled organism even every atom present in the world and their point of time is the same as the one it was in the original world before your departure."
"A copy?"
"Yes, a perfect one with no difference, is it to your liking?"
I clenched my hands so hard that they turned white. My teeth grinded each other and I lunged at the orb flinging my fists at it only to collide into my table and chair.
"Your distress over the unsatisfactory result is noted" the damn thing simply adjusted its parts to turn its lens towards as I lay on the ground.
I put my knee down and pushed myself up, thinking how I can use my so called powers to kill it.
The door of my room opened as I stopped my thoughts and my eyes widened.
"Hey breakfast is ready." My dad called out as he simply closed the door again. I heard his steps leave and they sounded the same as I remembered.
"As I said from every organism to every atom, it is all the same." The floating bastard said knowingly.
I dug a claw into my shirt where my heart was and turned around to simply say.
"This is not real."
"It is." the thing simply repeated.
"No, it is not! This entire world as you call it, it is not my world it is just a copy, a fake created by you. My parents, my friends, all my loved ones they are not here it is just a copy, an imitation. This is not real because the ones I had a real connection with are gone."
The thing simply stared at me, its part moved as trying to comprehend what I said. Then with a jolt all parts assembled and the lens seemed to suddenly enlarge.
"I see, you don't want this fake world."
The words came and with them came a distortion of scenery, the world started to change as if the entire background was water going down the drain and it was being replaced with a new one. My belongings on the table changed, my clothes on the bed moved around, my closet suddenly opened and the light from the windows disappeared.
"What happened?"
"Look and see."
I gulped at those words as I realized there was definitely something wrong. With a shaking hand I turned the doorknob and walked down the hallway one step at a time. I soon picked up pace and approached the living room. I could hear voices coming from there, I approached and found my parents shuffling around to collect papers and my uncle was at the key rack picking up the car keys a batch of paper in his hands as well. I moved closer to them but my father rushed in my direction only to pass through me. I moved around but everything present passed through me, the only thing I could touch was the floor but for some reason even the floor felt as if I was walking on air.
My uncle leaved the room and my parents soon followed after him, I tried to call for them but my calls were all left unanswered. I tried to stop them but they passed through me. There was only one thing I was able to hear before they left.
"I hope he is alright."
I searched the house trying to understand what happened; the hologram was silent simply leaving me to do as I wished. I searched but since my entire body was intangible with my surroundings I was only able to look at the things lying around. The plates in the sink were more than the usual amount, the laundry was unwashed and the clothes were not on the line to dry. It was unusual for my house since mom was always a clean freak. All things were weird but they did not give me a reason, in the back of my mind I thought that this was because this world was fake and in turn it distorted my parent's personalities.
But then in the living room I found a paper hanging off the table's edge. It was probably missed in my rush to find the answers; I approached the table and gave it a look only to feel a sudden burst of unnatural nausea. It was a missing poster with my face and details, at the moment the change made sense in a gritty and hard to swallow way.
"This is the same fake world." The hologram finally talked after its uncanny hour of silence.
"This is the same fake world, that you saw mere moments ago only with two changes." The thing continued without giving me a chance to question.
"This is the fake world without the true you and a month in the future."
I understood what happened with the information, the blanks filled up and the present made sense now.
"Why did you do this?" I asked it gritting my teeth.
Why hurt them? Why make me disappear? Why do this at all?
"Why are you sad, this is a fake world, a world undesired by you? This is merely this world's future which you have decided, without you present this is the truth of this world. A grieving family trying desperately to find the lost son, but all efforts in vain because the lost son does not exist. Because the son is real but the family is fake."
The words were like arrows and its intentions were clearly understood, it was using my feelings for my family and blurring the line between the real and the fake.
"Fine, take me back." I answered it.
It hurt, the loss of family hurt but the familiar faces, the homely feel and the realistic touch I felt when I was originally in my room. I could not abandon that, especially after seeing the sadness on the faces.
"Just wish and it will happen." The hologram told me.
I did not answer or question, I simply closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I imagined the room again, the house again, the reality again.
And I was there, with simply a thought I was there again.
"Always remember the power I hold I a mere drop to the ocean within your palms." The voice said as it floated in front of my face.
"My purpose is to teach you about the ocean, nothing more and nothing less."
"So can I trust you." I asked it a simple question.
"My purpose is your well-being; your trust while not necessary will be a great asset." It replied simply.
"I see, what was your name again?" I asked feeling weird to continuously refer to it as hologram.
"EM-1205."
"Well EM, let's hope we can get along." I said to it but it was more for myself.
I really hoped being a god did not get to my head.
Author's note: This is my first attempt at a fan-fiction. Early warning i will try to go for a 'That time i got reincarnated as a slime' approach to the story. I hope all of you guys can be patient with me as we go through this journey together. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and life is treating you well.