Prologue: Pointlessness In Reality
“People of many species including, the press, leaders, mentors, and officials of this school, and, of course, close friends, today I shall do the impossible, an experiment that shall never be matched ever again!” His voice boasted. “This experiment will change all of creation itself.”
I cheered with him as I do for all my friends. They considered me as someone who laughed at the end of every conversation. Yes, I am exactly the kind person you think I am. Call me annoying, rolling your eyes, but will continue to cheer. I stared out to them all today, for this was the greatest moment of their lives. I had no idea what would happen next. I only knew what was happening at that moment. The mad scientist and his shimmering pearl by his side. The nerdy rival looked in utter annoyance as if she knew this wouldn’t work. The teacher, an honorable bird that was just as amazed as me, shouted for everyone to get into place as one of our lessers got the camera ready.
Standing guard should things go wrong were me and my shining knight. No, that was to presumption, Centaurea, my shining beacon, but I would never say such a thing out loud. Especially that demonic mother of his that was enterprising in this project. Something was off, Centaurea was shivering, his breath so cold despite his surroundings. Yet, he kept watchful eyes on the events, hoping this would be a success. Longing for something deep in his life to finally end.
I always hesitated, even now long after the event that changed all our lives. I wanted more than anything to rip him away from his pains and agony. To hold him so tight that his evil mother could never reach him. But I failed every time, just like when this experiment happened. This day could have been so different, as I saw the boldness of the mad scientist completing the experiment. My heart jumped a beat to see him kiss his shimmering pearl of a woman.
Just as they were experiencing this significant moment together, I too, wanted to experience it with someone. My shining knight. I reached to Centaurea, longing for him to see me. I urged in weak whispers for him to say my name at this moment I just wanted to call out to me so I could be his hero. Before that shining knight could see me. Without warning, a bright light beamed out and sent us all back. An agonizing scream filled the room as everything went black.
Moments later, I awoke to find the room covered in green flames. A voice crackled me from my silence and sank deep into my flesh. A sound that distorted the reality around ame nd forced my eyes away from my shining knight. My vision struck upon an impossible shape and form. It hovered above my teacher. The honorable bird could only fall in place, hearing this voice so much more clearly than I.
“I need you to find...” a voice so kind, yet filled with venomous laughter bouncing across the room. The voice wasn’t meant for me, nor did I fully understand what was going on until I saw my shining knight’s eyes. Tears, rage, and sorrow mixed back and forth at a source I couldn’t see. I wanted to look back at the impossible shape, but everything told me it made no sense.
My eyes couldn’t process anything about its details outside of utter confusion, even remembering now. Standing place where the mad scientist and his shimmering pearl stood was a purple vortex shooting out green flames. My teacher reached out to it, speaking words I could barely understand. A language long dead to all but one.
Even the possibility of losing them wasn’t what trapped this memory deep within my soul. It was that voice and its source, far scary, and more maddening. Details were impossible now, just as back then. But I will try my best to articulate what happened. Just what was I seeing? It was as if a massive chunk of reality refused to replay in my eyes. The only thing I could infer to its shape was a strange tentacle-like figure stretching down, not from the ceiling, not even from above, but as if beyond this reality itself.
“You will find it for me...“It stabbed violently into the teacher’s back. His shrieks in pain made me throw one of my arrows. His pain was the only thing that told me to strike, with no certainty at all that the impact would even happen. Instead, it reflected the attack, flying my arrow back into the shoulder of my shining knight
My heart sank, but Centaurea was unbothered by the wound. He understood my target and broke the arrow with ease. He raised his gladius, just as confused as I was upon seeing it. “What are you?”
“Don’t be so foolish, dear, Eclipse...” The venomous laughter echoed out a name that didn’t belong to my shining knight at all. “I’m an ally, never a foe. I am here to complete the circle.” Seeing our teacher’s body going limp, we forgot the words and rushed forward.
An unknown force threw us back far harder than the light ever could. The tentacle laughed at our efforts as if this was just a game, a play that they had been doing for all eternity with many like us. Despite this, it moved with seemingly endless calculations, sitting us down carefully back in the same place we awoke.
“Always rushing into the battle. This will never change in you, not for ten thousand years. A minute amount compared to the eons of the circle’s existence.” The tentacle dropped our teacher’s body like trash and continued to repeat a mysterious name to my shining knight, leaving me utterly confused. It traced over his face, bringing sleep to him. “Do not worry, your teacher won’t die here. So stay in place and keep to your duty of protecting your sister...”
The tentacle wandered over to me next and mocked me, “You, I don’t care about at all. You are so utterly pointless to the circle...” It did the same to me, making my eyes heavy and my body weak. Sleep wanted me, but I knew nothing of what the tentacle wanted, nor what it did to my teacher. “There will be one tiny purpose you will serve one day... when you meet the Little Bird.”
The honorable bird’s body faded into the same chunk of reality that my mind found so confusing. The tentacle faded too as the vortex closed below it. The green flames slowly fizzled out. The shimmering pearl returned, followed slowly by the mad scientists. But suffered gruesome wounds from the project’s utter failure. The horror I witnessed that day was nothing compared to the horror they witnessed on the other side of that vortex.
My final moments awake were spent with eyes on my shining knight. While the mad scientist wanted to change history, his nerdy rival wanted to be proven wrong, the shimmering pearl wanted to stand by his side, all I could want was a small bit of success if it meant my shining knight’s shivering would end. I reached out to Centaurea against the scars he always kept hidden from all but me.
Venomous laughter echoed out a final time as everything faded completely. The tentacle’s voice howled out, “Everything I do is according to the circle. It is the will that controls all, and it must continue!!”
