Chapter -62: Dimensional Shadow
"I feel it..."
"Time and space wrapping around me. Pushing me..."
"My fragile being is getting dispersed across infinite darkness, reforming and then parting again and again..."
"Who am I?"
"I feel I know who I am. I was the star of my show. No...I was second fiddle, the one who props up the main character on the stage."
"Who am I?"
"I see fields of green. Strange...yellow blocks...A man in red."
"Every time I see bits of who I am, I hate it. My heart burns, like the stars of incandescent light gleaming down."
"My heart is warped, twisted, malign. It holds onto me and pulls my body back together."
"Who am I?"
"I know who I am...who I was. So my memories suggest. But I want to be somebody else now..."
"Yes, I am like a doll. Skin like plastic, a body shaped like all the rest. Put any clothes you want on me and that makes me a different person."
"I don't speak like this."
"I am not this person."
"But I want to never be who I was again."
"I'll remember that name, that face...those hills of green, that man of red...that princess...that love..."
"So I may never be that person again."
"The stage is set for a grand entrance."
"The curtains rise and the darkness is lit up by the light of an unfamiliar sun."
"And I, the main character of this show, shall fall from the sky, reborn into something greater..."
"But the question remains...Who am I? ...What shall my new name be?"
…
In the land of Obscura, Solomon finds himself surrounded by the monotony of his usual days.
The beast of burden lays to his right, napping the days away and only offering his voice to give a biting remark to whoever may disturb his slumber.
That parasite remains caged in his jar to his left, his whispers of darkly seduction doing little more than bouncing off the sides of his helm nowadays. Though curiously enough, he has been wearing that smile of his with more prominence these days...
That spider has become a daily fixture in the palace, meticulously running by the day by day details of what's going on outside. He speaks of interesting events conspiring that surround Sarajin's place in the world, talks of a killer slipping into one of the other Tribes being the most eye-opening tidbit. Solomon's heart stirred and for some brief moments throughout the week, he wondered how the world would change with this element implemented into the conflict.
Otherwise, the spider was a bore. He had eloquent speech patterns and spoke with an honest voice. A part of him almost wished that he would let a lie slip, just so he could have something to engage with...
Then there was the Vizier. Solomon had kept the woman around because it amused him but lately, that perception has changed ever so slightly...
She's been squealing less, acting more compliant to his wishes. Her body has been lathered in a deeper darkness, one with a pitch black scent.
The "How" and "Why" eludes him. It's unimportant anyways.
Just like every day of his life...unimportant.
It was more engaging to think about this unrelenting monotony than take part in it.
People are born for a purpose. Was his simply to sit on this false throne, puppeteered by the darkness, until his body decayed to dust and bone?
He felt the pull of something greater. He had a name. He had a body. Yet does that qualify as an "identity"?
What made him..."Solomon"? That he tolerated the presence of these voices in his domain? That he sat subservient to the legacy of those before him?
Any thought that strayed from the usual led him towards that same face, that same name...
This obsession...pulling at him like gravity on his soul.
But he was on the path to an answer.
Solomon simply refused to gaze its way.
More monotony, more voices both inward and outward...
Perhaps today would be one of those days that would introduce a little...chaos.
It all began with a quiver from Xiark that aroused him from his slumber. The subtle shockwave from that made the rest in this palace flinch, even the parasite.
The spider spurred his present speech to face the door and mutter in an observant tone, "There's been a shift in the darkness..."
Xiark immediately cast shade towards the parasite, who retaliated with a resolute, if admittedly mildly shaken tone, "W-Why do you suspect me? I am merely a worm trapped in a jar of dirt..."
Solomon had this to say, "No. This is different from a normal incursion through the shadows."
Granted most of the Titan's power, he had perspective the others did not, though Xiark was quick to pick up on what he was saying and illuminate the point to the others.
"This feels like it will be a problem..." Thus he laid back down on his paws and merely brushed one up towards the king, "Deal with it, would you?"
"Hrrrmm..." Solomon growled deeply but did not hesitate to rise from his throne and march out the door.
His body carried the presence of a man enticed by intrigue and for once, his voice was stimulated by desire, "I wish to observe the source of this phenomena with my own eyes. Vizier, I may require your dark magic."
All this spoken without pause.
The Vizier bowed their hand before their chest and chuckled, "As you wish, my Lord."
Then she stepped along behind him, sinking into his shadow like a flight of stairs had been erected in the darkness.
Atrax took this cue as a sign that he was unneeded but chose to remain behind in the palace, uttering an eerie warning to Solomon as he left through the door, "Be careful...I sense something amiss with this one."
It was worth pause for consideration and little more.
The source of this disruption was close, enough that even some of the villagers were being pulled towards it.
Solomon thrust his hand out towards the march of the crowd and they were obedient, awed by the initiative he took.
He kept pressing onward towards the ghost white forest, where leaves had been shaken off the trees, and pieces of distorted colored electricity still pulsed through the branches.
All of it projecting off a body in the center of the forest that twitched and throbbed like a bulk of flesh gone awry.
Solomon's approach had him arming himself with a faint aura of darkness, concentrating a greater amount into his right hand.
When he reached the body he hovered his hand over it...and stopped.
This wasn't a creature, another invader to be dealt with.
It was human...in a sense.
The features on its body would qualify it as such, with the vague shape of an ear, the appearance of hair, and the right color of skin.
But it had a more bulbous nose and this...overall latex coating to its clothes and body.
It was hard to describe. Even the vast abyss of knowledge he could plunge into didn't offer any answers.
This was a person that did not match the "feel" of this world, and there was more to dissect beyond that...
Their body was covered in the remnants of fire. Ash over the clothes, the left side of their face burnt black. There was a notable degree of green and blue on his body.
They appeared comatose, a hand laid over their stomach.
As the disturbance in the air subsided, the Vizier emerged from the shadows and marched on past him with a regal air.
There was a discarded item resting at the back of the person's head that was half scorched. Seemed like it used to be a hat. But none they've ever seen.
It was mostly flat with a slight extension off the edge, green but with one circle of white and a single letter inside of it..."L".
Solomon felt his darkness being pulled away from him towards this body in strands as small as hairs. His eyes locked onto the body and with his gaze hollowed of intent, he closed his hand and let the darkness around his body fade.
The Vizier turned to him and twirled the hat atop her elongated fingernail, "What shall we do, my lord?"
Solomon looked her way and uttered his order with an echo, "Bring this body back. I seek answers. And I will lose the chance if the body is destroyed."
"Hmm, as you wish." The Vizier then crunched the hat in her hand and pocketed it, taking the body into her arms.
They then returned to the palace where he went back to his throne, and the Vizier laid the body upon the ground in the center of all their company.
Atrax was the first to bend down and observe them. He stuck one of his appendages out and prodded the body's chest, immediately retracting it and rising to his feet.
"They're alive." He uttered, sending a chill throughout the room.
The Vizier wondered, "Alive, but half-dead. How is this possible?"
"..." Atrax went silent, eyes focused towards the person's face.
The parasite then interjected itself into the conversation, its spectral tongue oozing with curiosity, "Fascinating..."
Solomon gave the parasite its undue attention with a tilt of his head and forceful remark of, "I will allow it. Speak."
"Oh, it's nothing much," The parasite grinned, "It's just very...interesting, how a human of this form has appeared before us."
The Vizier sprung to life with their teeth biting down hard, "A human?! That's ridiculous!"
Xiark then muttered, "Of THIS form...?"
The parasite then continued on, its audience captivated by the dark whispers of secrets churning in his fractured abyss, "Humans do not appear in consistent form across the universe. Some worlds only create a caricature of the true shape of humanity. The world before the one I was born into had many planets with inconsistencies in the human design..."
"Even YOU all...aren't really the true shape of humanity."
Atrax then turned up and said in a haste, "Silence, demon."
The parasite trembled, while Solomon digested this information, his heart stirring with heat, "The shape of our interloper is not relevant. Where did he come from? His body lays at our feet with the scent of darkness shrouding it."
The parasite gave an honest assessment in a cheeky tone, "Beats me."
Xiark raised his head back and glared his way.
"Have I done something to upset you, kitty?" The parasite chuckled back.
"This disruption reeks of your kind." The Titan remarked in turn.
The parasite's smile turned downward and he sighed, "Need I remind you AGAIN that I am trapped in this jar. What do you expect me to do? And not to mention, I am just as surprised as YOU are that this human is here."
His smile then returned full force as he chuckled, "You're deflecting...You KNOW what is happening."
Solomon immediately panned his gaze over to the Titan, whom threw a passing glance back before looking back at the parasite and his condescending attitude...
"But of course the great and mighty Xiark would never reveal his secrets to the ears of liars and thieves."
Atrax gestured at him and chuckled, "Of which, only you qualify."
The parasite turned his smile at him, "Oh I wouldn't be so confident of that."
"You better have confidence in yourself, demon, I have no control over what will happen to you in the next few minutes otherwise."
"ENOUGH," Uttered Solomon to these bickering children of shadow. He then locked his gaze onto Xiark and made his demands, "Speak, beast. What manner of phenomena has breached our lands?"
"Haaaa..." Xiark crawled off the steps and approached the body.
"There are multiple backdoors in the universe that allow travel across the layered plains of reality. Some were made intentionally, others not. The latter category are referred to as the 'flaws' in design. Rarely, the 'flaws' will poke through to reality in the form of black holes, warp gates, etc..."
"This one's coated in the scent of the energies from the dimensional bypass, which ignores the governing rules of distance and allows one to travel anywhere they please so long as they have an idea or otherwise, an instinct pulling them towards a destination."
"But..." Xiark stopped and sat on all fours, glaring at the body with a haunting cold filling the room, "There's more. The darkness in its heart is so dense, that it causes the body to be steeped in dimensional energies."
The Vizier muttered to try and hurry the conversation along, "In other words...?"
"They're an unstable presence..." Atrax chimed in, a hand propped against his chin, "No, it's more appropriate to say they're a presence that shouldn't be here."
"All living things have an aura. It is functionally the proof of birth. But this aura...I can see it, but I cannot feel it. It's an aura far removed from the general perception of what we know it as nowadays."
Xiark then muttered following a sigh, "Then it is as I feared..."
"Indeed, oh noble Titan," Atrax then delivered the key component in this whole conversation that would rattle their hearts to the core, "This being ISN'T from our time period, but rather...the future."
"Impossible...!" The Vizier growled.
"Oh, time travel IS possible, I know that for certain, rest assured..." Atrax spoke with confidence exuding from his poise. As he flicked his hand out towards the body he continued to say, "But usually it requires a tether, something that can assure that you make it back to your original destination. This one, however, plunged so deep into the dimensional bypass that it forced itself into a one-way trip."
"What could be the chief cause, I wonder? Madness? Despair? Something great, something...negative must have forced him to make this journey."
"What does this all mean?" Solomon wondered aloud.
Xiark turned to look at him and in the most serious tone he could put on he remarked, "You need to dispose of him. That's what."
Atrax then joined in his assessment by saying, "He's right. It's not normal for a body to take in enough dimensional energy to invoke time travel, especially in that of a human. Even as we speak, their body adjusts itself to this new power with rest. Once it awakens though, who knows what they'll do with that power."
"I'm agreeing with an Aurian...truly we're at the end times," Xiark said with his usual smarm, "Meddling with dimensions is dangerous. It could invite problems that aren't meant to be perceived."
"Now hold on just a moment..." The parasite spoke up, "Sounds to me like you're just being your lazy self once again, kitty cat. I find it fascinating that this being has appeared before us in these circumstances. And yet...you want to kill them?"
"You object to this only because it's amusing for you, creature." Atrax spoke back.
"Well, if I'm being honest..." The parasite grinned and chuckled.
But his ill intent aside, the parasite's opinions were being weighed in Solomon's mind as he looked at the body for a prolonged period.
He then shifted his gaze towards the Vizier, who whispered in dark words only he could hear, her face laced with an elongated smile, "This body was brought before us for a reason, my lord. Why not...add that power to our cause?"
Power, that tempting word...
Solomon felt something...else when looking at this body though. Not temptation, murderous intent or even danger...He found the one thing that defined his existence thus far...Curiosity.
One snap of his fingers and the body would be reduced to a smear on the floor. Problem solved.
And yet his body felt empty at the prospect.
His mother's visage clambered up his back and then hung over his shoulder like a cape, pressing her cheek against his as her whispers scratched at his mind.
"The traveler was pulled here by a desire...And those who are lost are welcomed here. You should let him into your life. It'll give these days a little added...spark."
Solomon narrowed his gaze until there was pressure exuding off it. He then rose to his feet, silencing the words of the others that speared the atmosphere.
He then extended his open palm towards the body and made his decree, "I will take full charge over the body. Its fate rests in MY hands, and if any interfere my judgment WILL be swift."
Xiark grumbled, "You're making a grave mistake, Solomon."
"Then if you object, take your seat upon this throne, beast," Solomon said with his hands firm at his sides, his eyes wide and bright as crimson, "Otherwise, go back to your rest."
"Hmph...! You'd be wise to listen to your elder sometime, but fine...I won't pass down an invitation to sleep," So Xiark went back towards his usual spot, but whispered one last remark before passing Solomon by, "I'll deal with your consequences in the morning."
Solomon narrowed his eyes and then continued to march down to where the body was. He reached out and scooped them up in one hand, then faced the Vizier.
"Should I prepare a barrier around your room, my lord?"
"No. I will handle this myself." He said, making his way towards his room floating above the palace.
There he would lay the body on the bed and wait at the chair in the corner of his room.
It could have been days before they awakened, even months. Yet the presence of less extraneous factors seemed key to helping this figure awaken.
They smacked their half-dry lips and began to rise, not just off their head but off the sheets entirely. Their body levitated, separate from the laws of gravity.
And they continued to rise like this until they were on their feet.
They then floated off the side of the bed and towards the floor, where they opened their eyes at last.
They lacked irises and pupils but still retained the blood vessels. The eyes hadn't been reversed; rather, their most prominent features had been erased.
"This place..." They spoke, with the crack of an accent fading out on a parched tongue.
They floated around the room with prying eyes focused on the arrangement of masks placed along the walls. They were the remnants of Solomon's mother's artistic mind, holding no significance to them beyond it.
This was the first time he'd even cared to look at them, simply because this stranger seemed to find value in their appearance.
After a while of wandering eyes, the two found their meeting, and a spark igniting between them.
The floating half-dead body inched closer, bobbing as they moved. Their smile seemed to raise like a waning crescent moon, devoid of teeth.
"Who are you?" He asked.
"Who are YOU?" Solomon pressed back with emphasis.
The body flicked out a quick snap of their fingers and chuckled, "To be or not to be, that IS the question of the day..."
Solomon felt he was being taunted and increased the intensity of his glare in response, causing the body to shiver.
"Ha ha, the truth eludes me like it does you, in other words. I know who I want to be, and who I don't want to be. So I ask...Who is 'me'?"
"...Do you have any memories from before you arrived here?" Solomon leaned towards.
"I do, but I think I shall ignore them."
"That is not your choice to make. I have questions that need answering."
"So do I. Who made you the authority on answer taking?" The body raised the back of their hand to their mouth and laughed, "Answer me, and maybe I'll feel tickled to return the favor."
"..." Solomon bridged his hands under his chin and leaned in closer to this body, "My name is Solomon, lord of these lands of darkness."
"Darkness, you say?" The body dropped their hand flat before their hip, "I thought I recognized that cold scent. Oh wait...that's just my body. Ha ha."
"You're a jester..." Solomon said in a dismissive tongue.
"I could be, haven't quite decided the role I'll play in yet," He then snapped his fingers again and chuckled, "But you. Lord of these lands. You think very highly of yourself."
"...Hmph."
"No, rather...You don't. Fas-cin-ating." The body floated closer, craning their head in to look deeper into Solomon's eyes.
Solomon glared back, until it wasn't possible to be any colder towards his company. Yet the body persisted against his disdain and let out a senseless chuckle.
"Actually, I like you."
"Interesting," Solomon remarked through a stubborn growl, "How...aware are you, of your present circumstances?"
"Pardon moi?" The body retreated.
"I am to kill you. Your present existence is considered a hazard."
"Ah, so I am like the rat that began the widespread plague. Cut me at the source, before my terror spreads..." He then snapped his fingers, his tone drowned in a more grim outlook, "But this rat has a bite. Now, I am not violent by nature but what this body used to be now? He carried the torch that burnt his whole world to the ground."
"And that should frighten me?"
"It doesn't," The body dropped the tough guy act immediately to chuckle, "Well met, Lord of Darkness."
Another snap of the fingers, "Pop quiz. Who in this room wants to kill me...?"
There was silence.
"Ah," Spoke the body, "So someone else wrote the script and you're being directed to follow the lines."
"My decisions are my own." Solomon uttered firmly.
"So you want something from me? Ah, but everyone wants something. So's the nature of the beast. Tell me...What could a faceless king seek from the nameless jester?"
And again, Solomon reflected the question back upon his company "What do YOU want?", unknowing to how it echoed unto his heart.
"Ah, why...I believe I seek what anyone does: Recognition."
"Yes. The spotlight evaded me for so long. I was but a bit player cast in the shadow of history's main character."
"But I don't have to be in the shadows anymore. I am...liberated. This drama is mine to write, the players cast at my discretion."
"There are no strings on me..." The body slipped into a more sinister tone, before returning to the jovial nature jokester at the drop of the hat, "Now if only I could figure out what role I wish to slot myself into."
Solomon heard this insanity, and understood it. It spoke to the inner yearnings of his heart, penetrating deeper to the faintest pulse of warmth in his soul.
"Is that what qualifies as an 'identity'? When you wrest full control of yourself?" He uttered to himself.
And his captive audience answered, "Our roles are decided from birth. 'I' am not 'me', 'I' am 'He', standing in 'His' shadow."
The body put his hand over his heart and chuckled, "But unbound from common sense, no longer encumbered by the flesh...I am free."
"Yes, a new show shall emerge from my brilliant mind, the ultimate show, with my wonderful visage cast in the spotlight. You're welcome to watch it when it airs, Lord of Darkness."
"Then where shall you go?" Solomon pondered aloud.
"Wherever I want," They answered, "Isn't that a wonderful feeling? Ho ho."
As the body seemed content to turn and float away to parts unknown, Solomon suddenly arose from his seat and held his hand out.
"Stay," He spoke, forcing the body still, "Here. This land of darkness can be your new home."
The body turned around and fanned their hands beside their hips, "What could that offer me?"
No words exchanged, only glances, and the body turned up their smile once more with a shiver wrapping their entire being.
"Hmmm, perhaps...I am acting in haste," The body snapped their fingers and chuckled, "A good script requires inspiration. Perhaps I'll get some watching another play unfold."
"You may seek whatever you wish here, but you WILL obey my rule." Solomon demanded.
"Very well. In all honesty, I get this feeling I'll be allowed greater freedom under your reign."
The body then turned around and levitated towards the masks on the wall, drawn towards a particular one split half white, half black, stylized after a theatrical mask.
"Hmm..." With another snap of fingers, a two-dimensional plain was drawn around the mask. It then flipped around, removing the mask but leaving the rest of the wall clean.
The space above the body's hand repeated the plain, and put the mask in their hand.
Then they applied the mask to their face, making for a perfect fit.
"Ho ho ho, yes, this is perfect. For now, I shall take on the role of a silly clown..." He then turned around towards Solomon and waved his hand out, the other placed before their chest, "I think we will have fun times ahead of us, Lord...Solomon."
Solomon turned aside and with his hands clenched, the intensity of his eyes glowed as he asked, "I require you to have a name, jester."
"Yes, the further and sooner I depart from the 'I' whom I was before, the better. Hmm..." The body put their fingers up under their chin and then laughed, "Ah! I've thought of a perfect one. As I am now a being who can shift through the dimensions, you shall refer to me as...Dimentio."
"Now then, let us progress to the next scene!"
Next Time: The Sun and the Scorpion