#uh oh... they're getting along...

Torn apart, a soul drifts across the celestial void. Peaceful, yet Oblivious.

And then. It is violently awoken, ripped from it's delusion into a world not-quite real.

Another layer of hell.

Further and further, it descends towards Earth-Bread.

But something catches it before it falls completely.

A clawed hand of darkness reaches out,

ey e s g lim mer i n g l e e -

Hello?

Harlequin eyes peer down at what it had caught in its grasp.

A star.

OH! oh! I win, I win! The game is mine, mine! Hello, salutations, greetings, little Shepard.

The stars shift into something more… Recognizable.

It remembers.

He remembers.

What…? It's… You again. Why here-? Why… Now? What… Game?

He-heh! Me, little ol' me. And you. You. Here and now because it must be, here, and now. I found you! A little game you didn't know you were playing.

Many eyes curl up with amusement. But never blink, no, never in order.

Asleep. How has your voyage treated you, old friend? Is your time serving you well? Because it is serving me well. I am free! I am here. In the now. Maybe not in full, maybe not at all! But I am here. And now.

You… Of course you're free. I… Did I…? Set you free? I couldn't have… No. I remember… A puppet?

A puppet indeed. One of such value.

The Doll- No- You didn't.

Yes! I did! You are not to worry. Everything I have schemed has already come to fruition. I am not to harm you, no. Only to remind you that you played your part quite well.

My part-…?

In body and in mind. Careful where your steps fall next, Marionette.

You… I can't even think of anything to say...

The following acts.. I'm sure you can read them. You are but at the mast of your tragedy my friend. Have you forgotten the origin of a heros journey?

…I know. It was you who invented it. It was me who… Bastardized it. You… You took my mind. My darkest desires and made them reality. Gratifying in the moment. But now I see that… In the long run, great suffering is upon this world…!

The world you so eagerly left behind?

. . .

Desires are no less apart of you.

You…! I… Did. Didn't I. And you did not make me. My deal… It was one of the few actions that were my own.

Really? Your wish, maybe. That desire. Your actions are no less your own, even still.

. . .

I do not want you to follow in my steps. That was the point of everything. Fear is one of the greatest motivators. And so we brought them to you in the form of visions.

You… Failed. We both did. The whispers… The visions… The eyes…! The way you made my pilgrims turn against me so long ago. The way my- our power. Granted us infinite possibilities, possibilities that broke our minds. It broke me. You broke me, and then… I broke myself.

Those were just dreams.

. . . !

Those were the visions.

Past and future all the same.

Witches look at me… Cannot tell what is real and what isn't anymore… Cannot even tell if he's lying now, or was lying then… Or both. Or Neither. Or Never.

Trust. Luckily a fickle thing.

You are insufferable…! And unfortunately, I understand.

Of course you do. You know what they say about great minds.

They think horrendously alike. . . . Then you feel it. Our power going supernova once again. Bits of stardust, bleached of their original intention… My souljam… it's white…?

Seems I was mistaken. The cycle has already begun anew. Fragmented.. further.

I thought once was enough… How far can it go…? …I do not wish to find out.

At some point: it will be deluded into the natural workings of this world. It will be so fragmented that not even the shards of shards will retain their names.

Knowledge… Reduced to a shell of itself. A return to a twisted sense of origin…?

I'm sounding like a certain flour cookie.

Perhaps… It could spare them. Feeble cookies. A paradise in perfect ignorance. Perhaps… This is not such an awful thing…?

Ignorance is bliss. And so the eyes remain forever open.

But it does not… Have to be that way. There is still hope…! For them all. Even if it fails to for us.

Do not try to bargain with me. I've already made my deals with the absurd.

You…! Do not think it is possible, do you?

To free cookies of suffering? How naive.

You've suffered for so long… You have forgotten what ignorance felt like… A beautiful thing… A caterpillar before metamorphosis, An Oasis before it dries up…! A vow of prosperity before it turns to overindulgence, -a noble cause before it's twisted into something unrecognizable…!

Butterflies and caterpillars die. Their ignorance lies with them in death. But that is the curse we forsook upon taking on the burden of knowledge. Truth, wisdom. Or whatever it may name itself next.

It is true… Death. It transforms you. For most it is a simple oblivion to fear or look forward too. The end… For us, it is a step within a higher process. We know better. And even in death, our deaths. We still have the chance to act. Whilst others are being crumbled, re-baked, rejuvenated and crumbled again… We are doomed to watch and wait for the inevitable. Do you… Really want to do that? Death doesn't have to be our end. We don't have to sit and watch the same damn thing repeat over and over.... The very thought makes me sick I wonder how you bore such a burden…?

That was the point of bringing you to the spire.

It didn't work.

Did it really?

It didn't. And both of us know this. It didn't… At first glance.

Then the Cycle continues. A pointless carousel.

There are two minds within the other-plane. Many more just above this, where you'd pulled me down from. I don't wish to be a Shepard of knowledge anymore, I don't wish for there to be a wolf hiding beneath the shadows. She… I don't wish for there to be another Herald-, Hero-, Holder to be served upon a silver tray.

But It doesn't care about that, does it? It's not what the witches' haphazardly designed. It's imperfect.

It was wrong of me… To leave such a world behind. To leave all those cookies… To have my wish granted… Only for me-!

Oh how "wonderful" you have a way out.

Be QUIET i'm thinking-. Don't interrupt my MONOLOUGE-!

. . ? oh, how familiar.

. . . You irritate me… Because you're right by technicality…

Of course I am. I have had thousands of years to come to my conclusions. Your ideas are only in their infancy. They will grow and evolve as you do.

They are… Small now. But that doesn't mean they are any less of importance. You know me. You've known me all my life. You know I will find a way. I will. I will. I'll keep my promise. I'll make sure that wish is granted…!

Have I known you all your life?

Quiet. You have.

Wishing on something impossible only destined you for insanity. The reason I cause it. Is because it leads to the opposite. Everything is equal and the same. And without one, there is no other.

Then neither will exist.

All things will have an equal and opposite reaction.

For as long as there is matter, force will be able to act upon it.

Matter cannot be created nor destroyed.

…What if it never existed in the first place? What if… The bang never occured. The Human realm never fell. And the Witches never baked…?

Then we will cease.

Perhaps… Perhaps not. Only It knows, until I try.

Then try.

You tempt me…?

When have I not? he-heh.

Ah…ha… Fuck…

hehah.. he-hehh HAH! WHAT A GAME. BETS ARE IN, STAKES ARE SET!

Ahahahaaahaa!!! Hahaaaaaaa hahahaaaah-ah!! Oh…! Aha…! You are quite the riot, are you not? Ahahahaha!!! Aaahahaha!!! Aha!!! Ah…!

—

The laughter continued, and one clawed hand raised up as if to slap a knee. However it lands on the back of the Shepard.

Sending the both of them, the lamb and the wolf, hurtling back to reality.