The world hovered in a state of unending calm. Perpetually ephemeral, it seemed to softly glow an inoffensive gray as brief motes of light glittered in the distance. Seconds, minutes, years, centuries, any amount of time could have passed in this unbounded space. There was no 'where', no 'when', no 'self' nor 'other'. Everything simply was.

Who are you?

Who was who? Who asked that question? To whom were they asking the question? Though the three words were but a memory now, their ripples echoed and swam, irritating disturbances in the otherwise placid sea.

The realization that I was a thing, separate from the world that surrounded and engulfed me, was impossible to deny now. And even accepting my existence did not quiet that unfortunate urge- now I felt my thoughts tugging at the question now. Who am I? What was my name? Why was I here? What did I look like?

I seized that last question in a bid to silence the ceaseless echoes and prayed that they would recede away and permit me to return. Right, what did I look like… I was… I was…

A mote of light flashed out of existence, turning into a formless blob that slowly grew. Glacially, limbs stretched out and gained definition, a rudimentary head formed and extruded something approximating hair, and swathes of skin shifted and molted into clothes. Unfortunately, the patchwork mutations did little to coordinate with each other, turning the figure into an unrecognizable mess of a man.

It halted its growth and transformation and I began to sculpt it. The hair was first to warp, cut back into its long but not unruly form that wrapped around the head. I willed each crimson strand into its proper location, sweeping the ends to the side- who had first cut it this way?

I pushed the unbidden question out of the way and turned my attention to the eyes. They burned like pools of blood against the pale skin- it was an unfortunate comparison, but the reason why eluded me. Before I moved on, I remembered the golden-framed monocle over my right eye, and the red gem that hung down off the end on a short chain. You were so sad when you saw your new eyes. What color were they before?

I turned away from the eyes, briefly remembering the studious look before turning to the mess of a costume the body seemed to be wearing. No, this wasn't right at all. I never really cared for the synthetic materials, but the black and red military garb with white accents wasn't actually my first pick- and the red gloves and boots were just the slap on the face that I needed when the requisition office turned them over-

I stopped again. Why was I at a requisition office? Who were all the people that were mocking me? Every time I tried to examine my thoughts, they fled away like the constellations in the motes of light. I kept feeling fragments of emotion, hints of history in the furthest corners of my mind, all which scurried away or evaporated the moment I tried to seize and inspect them. What was going on?

A faint clinking reverberated throughout the world and made my thoughts freeze. This was the first actual sound I had heard. What was causing it? My gaze turned upward- or what counted as 'up' in this expanse- and saw that ahead of me lay an orrery of blood-red glassy shards clustered in irregularly sized groups, dancing lazily to an unheard dirge and each marked with one of three symbols: two bars banded to each other, a line which curved back and over itself twice, and a belt which twisted and contorted in impossible ways. Interspersed between them were beads of liquid in an identical color, strung along in immaterial archipelagoes.

I watched as one of the clusters collided with the largest at the center of it all. As the individual shards chittered against each other, they sent out more sprays into the air around them. For a moment, the drops of liquid hung in the air like all the others, but a few scattered drops began to fall. A few fell past me, a few splattered impossibly midair, and a few landed on the form I was sculpting.

'Blood,' some part of me recognized, 'but not your blood.' The thought did little to comfort me and I turned back to the body to hopefully distract my meandering mind again.

I tried focusing on every detail I could find: on the materials, on the neat and tidy stitches, on the buckles on the left leg and around the waist, on the necklace with the dimly glowing gem, on the glowing pin sitting off-center on the chest, on the pouch wrapped around the arm. I refined every single detail I could remember and several I could barely recall. But on the edge of my mind or vision, I couldn't escape the blood; above, the crystals never stopped ringing.

I pulled back, praying that this would be it. I was now sure that I had put the final touches on the body and gave it one final glance. The boots were laced and tied, the pants were pressed and clean, the shirt straight but stained with the drizzling blood, the accessories were all placed correctly, the monocle was centered over the-

In one moment, I looked into the eyes. I blinked, and suddenly I was on the inside looking out.

The world felt different. The drops of blood stuck wherever they touched and the air was damp and chilled through my exposed skin. I could feel how well tailored every piece of my uniform was, how my boots squeezed around my legs, how my accessories clung to my body. Above myself, I heard the clinking and clattering begin again alongside another spray, the bright noises slowly deepening and reverberating into peals of thunder.

It stopped being a light rain. The motes of light about me slowly faded away from existence, taking what little ambient illumination they gave with them. The clusters of crystals, now numbering only four, began weeping openly now, not waiting to cast their droplets down. It was irritating, how much the blood clung to me as it trailed down my body and clung to every surface it was on, almost refusing to…

I brought a hand in front of my face. The blood running down my arm had trickled around my fingers, but had adamantly refused to drop off of them, collecting into a slowly growing mass. As if it were slowly forming a mind of its own, it began to turn towards me and extrude several fingers to reach towards my face.

In fear, I swung my arm wildly, trying to dislodge the chunk of blood. It held fast, but eventually most of the liquid fell and spiralled away. The reprieve did not last long, as I suddenly noticed similar masses of blood pooling in bubbles. They surrounded me on all sides, at various heights.

Tendrils of blood began to erupt from their surfaces, branching, reaching, and stretching towards me.

My mind burned with questions, with desperately forming plans. What is going on - dive under those ones over there, then - get the rest off of me - what is your name - why is this happening - strike, lash out at them - why am I here - can they even hurt you - hurry, slip through the cracks - don't just stand there

A rising, freezing fear seized me when I realized my body refused to answer my demands. My feet felt like they were turned to stone, not only rooting me to the spot but seemingly spreading the paralytic influence further upwards.

Lift my feet, it can't stay like this forever - what is your name - is it the boots - I can still squeeze between the ones over there - why - no stop - maybe I have something in my pockets - can I fend the blood off - why are you scared - help me, oh God help me - try harder, this can't be impossible - what is your name - shut up with the questions

The blood had finally reached me and slowly began to spread its fingers over my body, wrapping and crushing everything it could reach. Push it away, push it away - why aren't my legs working - kick, thrash, move, do something - what did they look like - what is your name - why am I so useless - get it off my arm - what did I do to deserve this - push back harder - why why why - what is your name - why isn't it stopping - what is your name - why is nothing working

I could feel the blood cover everything beneath my torso now and the paralysis spread, climbing up my spine seemingly invited by the impossibly steeled, cold grip around me. Panic burned in my heart as I struggled against the crimson tide, but my arms were unable to force it back. In fact, every movement almost seemed to usher it ever closer to my face.

Why me why me - what is your name - get it off get it off - I'm scared - what is your name - why is this happening - work harder you can still get out of this - why why why why why - what is your name - move get it away - I can still get out of this - can't I - what is your name - I don't want to drown - get me out of here

My individual thoughts burned and blurred together, the individual words becoming incomprehensible and indecipherable. As they began to melt away, one string of words kept running through my mind. What is your name - why - what is your name - what is your name - help - what is your name - what is your name - what is your name - WHAT IS YOUR NAME - WHAT IS YOUR NAME - WHAT IS YOUR NAME - WHAT IS YOUR NAME - WHAT IS YOUR NAME - WHAT IS YOUR NAME

It was impossible to think of anything besides those four words now. They kept looping over and over and over, again and again and again, searing into my mind. I found it harder and harder to push back against the tide as it swallowed my chest, then creeped up to my neck.

A single word forced its way through my mental maelstrom as the blood started creeping and grasping across my face. In a sudden fit of energy, I brought my arm up, ripped the congealing blood off my face, and pushed myself as far above the surface as I could.

"Caspian!"

Just as quickly as the moment of hope sprung from my mind, it came crashing down around me. The blood reached up and around me, grabbing at everything it could to force me back down into the depths. In the space of a heartbeat, I found myself sinking deeper and deeper, further and further down. A small chain of bubbles led up from my mouth and nose, up to the rapidly dimming light.

The crushing darkness closed in around me.