CaptainWacky
I want to smell dark matter
It had been years now since he'd last seen Chloe. Their last convesation had been surprsingly short.
"Just leave me here."
"That's it? After millions of years together...you just want me to leave you buried?"
"Yes."
"Do you see it as a punishment, for all you did?"
"I never hurt you."
"Never...hurt...me!?"
"I never forced you to do anything..."
"You turned me into a mindless zombie, powerless but to do anything but watch as you slaughtered the entire human race. And you want me to thank you for never raping me?"
"I...I don't know..."
"And now you're back in your hole."
"Like I said, just leave me here. It would be for the best."
"Okay. I will. I could try to kill you but I doubt that will work. So yes, I'll call your bluff."
"It's not a bluff. It's safer if I'm here."
"Enjoy eternity."
And she was gone and there was only darkness. He was back in his hole as she'd said, stuck in his weak human body. He remembered space. He remembered being the entire Earth. Except...he was stuck in a small, human brain now. Too small to conceive of what he'd once been. So he began to forget. He could no longer imagine what it had been like to be an entire planet. It did not seem possible. Had it all been a dream? His puny mind could not grasp it. He knew how the Squid God had felt, trapped inside him. Unable to make him understand what it had been like to be a God.
But he never attempted to escape his hole. He knew he belonged there. It was his penance. It was his fate. It was where he belonged.
He thought less and less. He couldn't hear the Squid God's voice anymore. Maybe he was just a man now. Maybe all his power was gone. Maybe he'd finally die. But not. He could feel the years turn into decades. He thought about Chloe one last time. She'd be dead by now, or at least very very old. So human. He envied her so.
Eventually he became nothing. He couldn't remember any of his lives anymore. It all disappeared. And he was strangely content.
Then there was light again. At first he didn't understand. He was blinded by it, but couldn't even think. His mind could no longer forms thoughts, words. Slowly though, he realised what had happened. Someone had found him, someone had opened his prison again.
It was Chloe and she looked exactly the same as she had the last time he had saw her. Her remembered her and nothing else.
"Chloe."
"You're still here. All these years..."
"How long...how can...how..."
"Two hundred and sixty years. And how? Because of the Time Demon."
"I don't remember..."
"You've lost your mind? I haven't. I remember it all. I still have nightmares about being with you in space, about the ink-eyes, about the starwhale. But it was the Time Demon who did this to me. I noticed I wasn't aging. At all. People around me began to notice. My wife, my friends, they all noticed. I had to leave them. I couldn't have them discover what I was. I figured it out myself. The Time Demond took me out of time. I was a living paradox. The human body wasn't built like that. So I became something else. I exist outside of time now. It's the only way the universe can make sense of the paradox. I'm immortal. I'm like you."
"You came back..."
"Yes. I didn't want to. Not for a long time. Didn't want to see you again. You still sicken me...but I know I'm like you. I've done things, over the years, things to protect my secret. It becomes easy to think of normal people as...lesser than me. As I see them age and watch them die. That will never happen to me. Because of the Time Demon. Because of you."
"Chloe..."
"You really are braindead, aren't you? Maybe it's a mercy, what I'm going to do to you."
"What..."
"I'm going to kill you, Squidinator. I'm going to kill you and take your power. Then I'm going to find the Time Demon and kill it too. Then I'll be the only one left. The only one truly alive in the universe."
"Chloe..."
"Oh, DIE."
And she jumped into the whole holding a rock in her hands, bringing it down on his head.
"Just leave me here."
"That's it? After millions of years together...you just want me to leave you buried?"
"Yes."
"Do you see it as a punishment, for all you did?"
"I never hurt you."
"Never...hurt...me!?"
"I never forced you to do anything..."
"You turned me into a mindless zombie, powerless but to do anything but watch as you slaughtered the entire human race. And you want me to thank you for never raping me?"
"I...I don't know..."
"And now you're back in your hole."
"Like I said, just leave me here. It would be for the best."
"Okay. I will. I could try to kill you but I doubt that will work. So yes, I'll call your bluff."
"It's not a bluff. It's safer if I'm here."
"Enjoy eternity."
And she was gone and there was only darkness. He was back in his hole as she'd said, stuck in his weak human body. He remembered space. He remembered being the entire Earth. Except...he was stuck in a small, human brain now. Too small to conceive of what he'd once been. So he began to forget. He could no longer imagine what it had been like to be an entire planet. It did not seem possible. Had it all been a dream? His puny mind could not grasp it. He knew how the Squid God had felt, trapped inside him. Unable to make him understand what it had been like to be a God.
But he never attempted to escape his hole. He knew he belonged there. It was his penance. It was his fate. It was where he belonged.
He thought less and less. He couldn't hear the Squid God's voice anymore. Maybe he was just a man now. Maybe all his power was gone. Maybe he'd finally die. But not. He could feel the years turn into decades. He thought about Chloe one last time. She'd be dead by now, or at least very very old. So human. He envied her so.
Eventually he became nothing. He couldn't remember any of his lives anymore. It all disappeared. And he was strangely content.
Then there was light again. At first he didn't understand. He was blinded by it, but couldn't even think. His mind could no longer forms thoughts, words. Slowly though, he realised what had happened. Someone had found him, someone had opened his prison again.
It was Chloe and she looked exactly the same as she had the last time he had saw her. Her remembered her and nothing else.
"Chloe."
"You're still here. All these years..."
"How long...how can...how..."
"Two hundred and sixty years. And how? Because of the Time Demon."
"I don't remember..."
"You've lost your mind? I haven't. I remember it all. I still have nightmares about being with you in space, about the ink-eyes, about the starwhale. But it was the Time Demon who did this to me. I noticed I wasn't aging. At all. People around me began to notice. My wife, my friends, they all noticed. I had to leave them. I couldn't have them discover what I was. I figured it out myself. The Time Demond took me out of time. I was a living paradox. The human body wasn't built like that. So I became something else. I exist outside of time now. It's the only way the universe can make sense of the paradox. I'm immortal. I'm like you."
"You came back..."
"Yes. I didn't want to. Not for a long time. Didn't want to see you again. You still sicken me...but I know I'm like you. I've done things, over the years, things to protect my secret. It becomes easy to think of normal people as...lesser than me. As I see them age and watch them die. That will never happen to me. Because of the Time Demon. Because of you."
"Chloe..."
"You really are braindead, aren't you? Maybe it's a mercy, what I'm going to do to you."
"What..."
"I'm going to kill you, Squidinator. I'm going to kill you and take your power. Then I'm going to find the Time Demon and kill it too. Then I'll be the only one left. The only one truly alive in the universe."
"Chloe..."
"Oh, DIE."
And she jumped into the whole holding a rock in her hands, bringing it down on his head.