Narcissus' Folly
I fell.
Gravity pulled me asunder against an endless expanse of nothing. With no direction to go to nor direction to which I would land with my perpetual fall, it was just silence.
Pure, never-ending silence.
The last vestiges of strength I had were no longer present. My arms and feet were numb to the injuries that I had taken. My body no longer responded much to my wiles and even my own thoughts were about to share the same fate.
Fate, yes fate… I believe I was always destined to fail. To be the antagonist of a hero. To be the foil to which good would triumph over to supersede that which the audience would consider guilty. A fickle second note to the smiles and joy that the winner received at the ending…
It was bull, all of it. What little thought remains in my head grabs onto what rage or anger it could latch onto as each memory fades into obscurity. I feel angry about those thoughts, all of the attached emotions to them were still fresh in my mind…
… But I no longer feel as if I remember what particular event caused them.
How long has it been?
How long have I been falling until my existence eventually disappears?
Who was I completely when I reached my apex? When I finally became the last obstacle that the protagonists would beat? Did I even enjoy being finally free?
Did I enjoy that the torment and all of the suffering were now about to be erased…
Forever?
Sigh. If only I could still grasp such memories still. I want to see what these emotions were attached to. What the slew of images remaining in my head meant to me. But perhaps that is too much to ask.
Perhaps I should just continue to smile as I remember seeing, even for just a glimpse, that perfectly blue sky against the clouds.
Maybe this was all a dream. Maybe the faces I still remember finally found their happy ending.
… But I would be lying to myself if I found joy in that.
No, I believe I shall continue to smile. I do not want to ruin what little existence I have left as this story concludes with the final set of words and sentences that the author wishes to convey.
It would be tasteless if in some way I did not have the last laugh.
Ah… I wish I could remember what name lingers in my mind. That single name that makes up who I am, the reason for which I exist and continue to fight for my existence.
I wish she was real. Even for just a moment so I can happily close my eyes for one final time.
"Ugh."
This was discomforting. Everything felt horrible. Everything felt distasteful.
The smell was horrendous, and the cramped space made everything worse than it already was as I tried to move my body, but it was far too small as my arms and legs already braced against my chest. The delirious smell was most foul and what sound the items in this confined space made only alluded to how wasteful and incorrigible this entire affair was.
I tried to rid myself out of this prison that traps my form… but then I realize something as soon as I felt my fingers move and my sense of touch and smell finally opened my eyes to a discovery that I did not expect myself.
How droll.
My thoughts were returning to me, no longer were they fading away into the void alike the rest of my entire self. My body was sore but it was no longer unfeeling or numb. Everything started to make sense again. It felt as if I was back in some shape or form.
Yet… my memories. Fragmented.
I can remember names. Child of Prophecy…
Faerie Queen.
Britain.
The context was still lost to me, yet the emotions and feelings within said names and a few more still linger as if wounds fresh from battle. Though my head was now clearer, memories slowly mending themselves from the brink.
Ah yes… here I am again, at the very beginning.
It was disgusting. The odor, the stickiness of blood and sweat conglomerated and reopened swift memories back into my head. The cocoon once again enveloped my accursed form.
How shit this entire affair was. To think that whichever wrote the fate of the stars above would return me back to this hell.
I felt a sneer come to my face as I felt my foot forcibly kick what felt like the door of my imprisonment. I hear the sound of metal being forcible broken from its hinges as the lid was thrown very far away as it skidded against the floor with all its tones.
Then I heard it. That very disdainful sound.
I groan as I stretch my arms to reach for the edges of the newly created exit. It was a slow, egregious process as I heard that very familiar sound enter my ears the more I scurried forward.
My skin was very sticky and wet through the various fluids encompassing my body. Webs of said fluid clung to my fingertips and skin as I move ever closer to freedom.
The very moment I arrived at the floor; the sound quickly escalated. The damp and filthy bits of my hair clung lazily by my sides as I lay there. Their little skittering legs now walking all over me.
The sounds of a sea of vermin that welcomed me as if they had any sort of higher thought gradually increased, as if they were delighted… no, enjoyed seeing my misery again come to full fruition. The sounds of their various songs and cries reverberated in my head.
I felt myself sneer. My eyes are already downcast and filled with misery as I try to sit up.
A cockroach crawled along my bare, nude body and rested itself on my palm. Its eyes stared back at me with full intent as the others started to do the same. I frowned. Wholly uninterested in the whole affair as I violently closed my hand with indifference and felt the bug die upon my palm.
It's remains I wiped on the floor next to me, yet the rest continued to skitter to my presence.
"Hmph."
As my vision slowly returned back to its normal state, it was only there that I notice I had spectacles upon my eyes. I quickly took them off, wondering why they were there in the first place as I finally stood up.
My foot touched the floor and I felt the spectacles being crushed under my foot.
I started to look around. Wondering where I was, I began to finally walk, nude and without dignity as I was along the strange corridors that I believe to fit nowhere in my current set of memories. I do not recognize them nor care to fully determine where exactly I was at that moment.
With a steady pace, even against the slight chill of the air, I began to notice the peculiar hallways I was walking on. The sea of vermin continued to follow me wherever I went but it was still bizarre compared to the places my mind used to see and experience. Fragmented as my memories were, I still could not recognize where I was.
Continuing on within the very pale, dimly lit hallways, I stopped suddenly when I arrived at a glass-encased mural or board that was attached to the wall. My reflection is now seen full by my eyes as I contemplate it.
I no longer had white hair. I no longer possess a face that I recognize in the mirror.
I only see a nude, ugly young girl with long black hair looking back at me with that very prominent and empty-looking frown. Many vermin crawled along my unremarkable skin as I see the faint traces of my wings behind my back, still sticky from the prison I once came from.
And then I suddenly laugh at my own reflection.
"MWAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…"
My laughter echoed ominously along the hallways at full force, and it felt as if the vermin followed along in what sort of sound they can conjure.
I felt my abdomen almost hurt from the fierceness and power of my laughter until I finally lost my breath. My breaths became ragged as I tried to recover.
The irony. The complete irony set my soul ablaze.
My laughter was then completely replaced with a scowl as I thought deeper about it.
It was painful. Too painful.
It was painful to acknowledge that it was all a dream. A fiction.
Titania was never meant to be… and this sick joke of fate finally landed on his lap. Memories started to return on that topic, that I was the supposed fictional Faerie King…
And my quest to find my Faerie Queen ultimately led me to turn into this.
CRACK!
The glass instantly shattered as all hope and belief eroded from my mindscape. I immediately directed my attention at something else as I wanted to rid myself of the thoughts on my current predicament.
There was a poster within the glass-encased mural, an artwork… or an image.
It showed men and women in this strange clothing. Taking back my arm after I shattered my own reflection, I lamented at the stupidity of it all as I continued my walk against the hallways.
Inevitably, I reached a door that would lead to an exit. Forcibly shoving it open as the lock broke into pieces, I finally felt the eerie and slow breeze of the outside world.
Breathing in with my arms outstretched by my side, I saw the sea of vermin around me grow bigger in size like an audience watching a demented and perverted play about my plight.
It was sickening as I watched the dull and boring landscape of a city overlooking a bay within my sight… then I started to finally wonder what I should do next…
Given that I had no purpose to fill anymore.
…
"Hey girl! A-Are you alright there?" I heard a voice say as I turned my head toward its source.
It was a man, concerned and horrified at what he was seeing.
He was unremarkable.
Yet as I continued to watch him, a small memory floated back inside my head.
The answer to what purpose I should fulfill before I was cast into the void.
I felt myself smile as I see the man back away in horror.
Yes… I remember now. What purpose there is that remains.
My giggle was heard in the air as I saw the man flee.
Finally, I no longer had to lie that I felt delighted with my new discovery.
FIFTEEN MINUTES LATER…
"This is Armsmaster." Colin said in response to the call that came in. He continued to move his motorcycle around the streets where he usually patrolled until he suddenly urged himself to abruptly stop.
The frown on his face became worse as the operator on the call continued to relay to him what just happened, but as soon as he wished to respond to the call he stopped momentarily when he saw a white moth, the kind of species that were not present in the bay, land on his speedometer.
Colin immediately paled as the distinct sound of something ominous entered the air.
He looked up.
His jaw opened slightly in awe and horror as a biblical plague of insects of various kinds almost covered the sky of Brockton Bay in full like a signal of the end.
It was haunting… and almost beautiful.
THE END.
AN: Cue "Chapter 30 of Lostbelt 6" music on full.
Hehe. I'm glad Mothman was kind enough to come to my Chaldea. Fucking Fox had me using my goddamn credit card to get her after a disastrous 500+ SQ roll… but hey, I'm happy enough that I got him and now I'm content.
As for this story, well it's not exactly an alt-power? I just found the two parallels very odd and almost beautiful between the two characters, so I asked myself, hey why not let fate decide? I might continue this… might not. Depends actually if I have the feelings to hahahahaha.
But anyway, if you're wondering what happened to Taylor, she's definitely dead and what remains is just Mothman being flung into another misery-filled world. Who knows what he'll do next.
I do hope you guys enjoyed, short as this was and feel free to read my other content on this site as well.
