I am...

The screaming sounds. The hundreds of voices. They wouldn't stop.

They were all saying thousands of different things. All begging for different things. All goading one way or the other.

I was seemingly standing behind this glass wall and no matter how much you pound or scream...It wouldn't ever break.

This blinding white light about sixty feet away overtook everything. There might've been a yellow center in the white. It wasn't' clear.

There was also...snow. And these mountains on both sides of the light, fifty feet apart, spiraled endlessly into the shroud of falling snowflakes. The mountains formed a path in between them covered in snow...all leading towards the white light.

I looked back. There was nothing back there… No white light. No snow. No mountains. No endless blank horizon… Not even blackness… Just nothing. Zero… Zeroes.

The snow began to become blurry. I kneeled down. No stinging coldness. No warmth. It felt like nothing. Like zero.

The voices morphed into this chant. Some begging to move back. Some begging to move forward.

"Do you remember what you are?" A prominent voice said. I couldn't make out what it was. The tone. If it was male or female. How deep it was.

It wasn't even a noise… It was just this feeling. Like fingertips slithering across the skin. Their vibrations forming into words..

All the others seemed to quiet down. Turned into the echo of the passing wind in the mountains.

I didn't respond. Couldn't respond. Choked on every word.

"That's alright. We'll help you remember." The fingertips said.

"Who are you?" I finally got out. It hurt to speak. Like a dagger piercing the throat.

"Vergil."

Vergil… The name sounded familiar but every time when the memories began to surface the dagger moved from the throat to the head.

"..Di...Divine Comedy?" I replied. That sounded right.

"Here to guide you to ascension. Fitting in this instance."

"I don't...what do you mean?"

There was a sharp scream. Unhuman. Horrific. The dagger moved across the body, slicing the skin. Deep in the flesh.

I screamed back in agony. My voice was indisgustionabale from whatever that was. Blindness covered vision. I fell into the snow. Buried my head to block the light.

"That is...concerning." Vergil said…. The daggers said.

Greatest…. Not the greatest achievement… That's what I am.

...I wanted to be strong, keep you safe.

I'm sorry. I can't.

The air seemed to be sucked from the lungs. This suffocating snow… It began to pour into the mouth. Wouldn't stop.

Grabbed onto the hair. As if to rip it out. The voices started again, joined the scream. This time a non-rhythmic conversation, each trying to edge closer and closer.

I wailed, screamed, moaned. Anything to stop the noises. The dagger was ripping my vocal cords apart. There was sporadic twitching and spasms across the body, jutting in unnatural directions.

I tried to suffocate in the snow.

"But nothing that can't be fixed." Vergil said. The voices suddenly stopped. The daggers were gone… The fingers were gently caressing where it hurt most.

It faded. Quickly at Vergil's words… It all faded.

The body...my body was in a horrifically unnatural position. It felt like my arm was about to break. Moved my face from the snow and let it lay there. The shaky breath exhaled into white steam. It seemed to melt the snow. I remained there. Ready for the voices to come back any second.

"Do you know where you are?" Vergil asked.

It took me a long time. I didn't want to set it off again. Maybe...five, six hours passed. I wasn't sure… Time was...hard to tell. When the voices didn't seem like it would come back soon I shook my head no.

"The heart of Zero-Zero. Does that sound familiar?" Vergil immediately responded.

"Like...like what's behind me?" There was the dagger again. Pierced the throat. It wouldn't go away.

"No."

Another moment of silence.

I finally got up. My joints creaked... The light seemed to grow dimmer.

"You were here before. A long time ago." Vergil said. "It's gone now. You destroyed it."

"Why...why would I destroy it?" The throat felt like it was being closed.

"There were many reasons. All justifiable. It wasn't the place itself, but what resided in it. You picked to be in this place now. I wonder why."

I took a step toward the light. There was a rumbling sound from above. Something flew from the sky…from the zeroes.

It passed me. It was a green ship. Four wings. Two on the front on both sides. Two on the back, like flippers. Smoke was coming out of it. It was going down.

It kept flying… Flew into the light. I heard the sound of a crash and the dying of the engines.

"It was the last time you felt safe, wasn't it?" Vergil said. "One of the last times you felt secured, wasn't it?"

I could hear the voices again… They were whispering this time. They were...different. There was only two...three, no...four voices.

I recognized them. Didn't know from where. But….it flowed. It was some type of conversation.

Their tones, the chilling sound of falling snow and the echoing wind, the emptiness, the words they used…

It was strange, but it sounded like the end.

The way...the world...ends.

"...I didn't pick this place." The cold. The numbness. I began to feel it all. Feet blistered. Every flake that hit the skin hurt. I grabbed the arms to protect the chest.

"Yes, in fact. You did."

The four voices were growing quieter. I could hear two pairs of footsteps as they began to shuffle in the snow.

"You've been through quite a lot." Vergil said. "It would've broken everyone else of our special nature.

"You've faced a lot of hardship. A lot of pain and death. It's unfortunate to say but… You'll face a lot more. A lot worse on a larger scale. It's doubtful you'll survive."

"...Why?" The body trembled. The cold air burned the lungs. Everything began to feel numb.

There was a muffled banging sound. Gunfire… And there were… screams. Not the screams heard before. No. They sounded like they were distance. These were deep, animalistic, monstrous. All coming from the light.

"It's because it's what we need you to be." The fingers were losing their touch. Like the voices, the pain...they were beginning to dwindle. The cold was replacing them.

"What? What do you mean?" I asked, begging for an answer.

There was no response. I could feel Virgil's presence disappearing.

No.

"We? Who's we? What do you need me to be!?" I yelled. On the verge of tears. A shaky voice trying to keep it all together.

The fingers stopped. No more senses. Vergil was gone.

There was a loud explosion and more screaming. Violet, angry screaming from the light.

My body began to collapse again. I felt the pain coming back...

And I was scared. And the voices. The thousands of voices were coming back. To scream with them. With me.