Ava looked out towards the light emanating from the darkness, the void. Never has there once been a light in the void. As the waves of light hit she wasn't sure to be ecstatic or to dread it. People gathered around the garden of darkness, now basking in light. A man to her left fell on his knees, tears streaming down his face. His eyes lit up, resembling the light itself.
''Angels!'' He screamed. ''They're here! At last.'' He sighed and fell unconscious.
Ava turned to her right, a woman of her age was frozen in time. She didn't blink, she didn't seem to think. There was almost no reaction to visibly see, only her eyes gave it away. She was frightened. Her eyes didn't light up but instead remained in darkness, darker than her pupils might ever be. As Ava turned to the light again she saw shapes and colors. It was moving by using the sound it was resonating, which was a sort of hymn. It reverberated in your head like an alarm clock. While others wept some stood petrified, not being able to witness it.
The hymn grew louder and louder, it switched forms again now in the shape of a ball. It seemed like the sun was rising even though the sun was already up, hiding behind the moon. The temperature dropped several degrees when the darkness was trying to fight back. It didn't seem to care, it just coped with the darkness. Like a predator swallowing its prey, nearly all the darkness vanished in an instant.
The void, present for 100 years, vanished. A screech could be heard, deafened by the hymn. It grew louder encapsulating everything you could see not to be heard but to be seen, it demanded you would hear through your third eye. An impossible feat made possible by the unfathomable. There was no shape, to describe it better is to say there it was all the shapes you could possibly imagine.
It washed 100 years of Ink away in a millisecond, humankind no longer trapped in selfish needs and their own belongings. But merely accepting the moment. Not to find happiness of course, because that doesn't exist. The people who were rejoicing the light quickly got back up and opened their eyes.
Ava's eyes were still staring at the ground not being able to understand the images still in her head. Her imagination tried to distinguish a pattern, maybe a shape, maybe a color, but to no avail. It was making her go loopy of the possibilities. The same man who was unconscious earlier quickly approached Ava and started shaking her shoulders. Madness glaring in his eyes, because he didn't understand either.
''You've seen it! You know of its power! Darkness no more we are free!''
He paused. He was out of breath, sweat dropping off his eyebrows into his eyes, he didn't blink though. He couldn't blink anymore. The light was stuck in his eyes, his eyes couldn't handle the strain of the lumanition and was starting to get red at the edges.
Ava didn't know if this blinded the man or gave him more vision. She felt left out because she didn't feel saved but scared. The light was still present so she didn't mean to disrespect it by looking away but if it gave the choice for her to look away doesn't that mean she doesn't have to, or is it a test merely to see if she is ready to face these 'angels'. Has she reached her end goal? Is she ready to believe now? These thoughts all in those seconds of silence.
''You know now! You know now! You know now!''
The man kept repeating, and repeating it. Apparently convinced that Ava knew. Spit was flying out of the old man's mouth going everywhere. Ava tried to break free of the man's grasp. He seemed to be possessed; there was no escape of the light. The old man seemed to age in front of her eyes, his beard grew gray, his teeth fell out one by one. Ava fell down now. There was no man anymore. She was grasping dust. There was dust everywhere in her eyes, in her pockets, in her mouth. It engulfed everything, the dust did. Much like the light just now it was like a darkness swallowing her.
''You know now!''
The dust called. Trying to retain the form of the old man the dust switched back briefly into a hand. Ava grabbed the hand out of instinct. It pulled, it pulled harder than any sort of pull she ever felt. Her arm was almost torn off until the dust finally settled.
The dust blew up, this led Ava to look to her right again. She saw the woman again, in the exact same position as her. But in reverse. It seemed like someone was using a flashlight to constantly flicker a light off and on. So she could barely see the events that were just happening to her. The woman was being shaken by a man to then form into dust and backwards.
The scene would repeat accelerating every time it happened. Suddenly Ava was also standing up again. The hymn resumed, the absolutely deafening sound she almost forgot about. It felt like her ears were about to pop. The man stood up again grasping her shoulders with the same message that she knew. He then became dust, she tried to help him again but he flew away again.
She was turning psychotic, she knew the results but tried doing it the same way as she did it the first time. She wasn't even able to help herself, she felt forced to repeat it like the Earth rotating its axis, it's a never ending cycle only able to be endured by those who have no mind. She started crying and fell down to her knees.
''What have I done in my life to deserve this!'' She cried out. The light seemed to listen as the hymn grew softer. No longer popping her ears but more like a ballad. Not an enjoyable one but calmer nonetheless. The man was not crying anymore, he just looked at Ava almost like how you would look at a toddler who fell but you know isn't really in pain, but desperate for attention.
''Come now child, the first tumble in the light will always hurt the most'' The old man looked of in the distance again. His eyes not full of madness anymore but clear, very serene.
Ava looked up, salty tears were streaming down her face, ruining her make-up in the process. The cycle was not repeating itself, was she not able to anymore or did she fail? The old man gave her a look.
''What?'' She said, the old man gave her a look again but finally spoke.
''You truly do not understand, maybe it should've let you be'' The old man sighed, he thought she would be the one, well he didn't think so, he knew so.
''You were the one doing this?'' She asked, her face started to scrunch up in hate for making her suffer so much in such little time.
''No, I'm merely a messenger, a guide, if you will'' The old man looked her dead in the eyes. This stunned Ava to the core, if he wasn't doing this then who is? Who could ever posses so much power to make an object bigger than the moon. Was it another civilization? Were they Gods? Ava truly didn't know.
''Who's doing this then, who's making the entire Earth light up, washing away the 100 year Ink like that. No man can do that, it must be a God'' With every word Ava started to shout louder, such events were not possible, not in her mind atleast. It just didn't make sense.
''Not really a matter of who's doing this it's when and it's a matter of it really happening or not. Who knows, maybe it's all in your mind. Like this.'' The man started to shift shape again, now not turning into dust but he grew shorter, his hips were wider, legs longer. He turned into a woman. But not any woman. He turned into a replica of Ava. You couldn't distinguish any differences. The same mole in her or his neck. The same smile.
''But that's not possible'' Ava's pupils widened, her heart started to beat faster. She stood there in disbelief. She couldn't fathom how the old man just turned into a replica of her, standing right infront of her. It was like she was having a fever dream.
''Possibility is relative, what is possible for one person isn't possible for another, some don't have the money to buy a yacht but some do. Therefore possibility is relative.''
''That doesn't count for these kinds of things'' Ava shook her head violently. The old man wasn't making any sense. Possibilty is only relative for beings who aren't humans. And still you can't break the rules of space and time.
''Does it not? Who made those rules? You are not able to hang upside down like a bat or run as fast as a cheetah, but science makes all things possible. With a rope you can hang upside down like a bat. With a car you can far surpass the speed of a cheetah. So how's it not that we can far surpass the minds of humanity with science.''
The old man stood up and turned to her. Wisdom in his eyes but clearly not his wisdom. He was taught something by someone or something. Ava wanted to know what taught him. How could a person contain so much knowledge without their brain just imploding. The old man must be something else. He must be. This kept repeating in Ava's head.
''That's because science is made by humanity so it's bound by human limits.''
Ava's knees were getting sore so she sat up properly looking at the man. He wasn't so frightening anymore, just old. Very old. He seemed ancient. His face was still looking away from Ava, not worthy of her sight. He only looked at her to make a point or to scare her.
''Who told you that science was made by humanity''
The old man smiled at Ava knowingly. The old man lifted his hand and ran it through his grey hair, even though there was not much left. The old man finally looked at Ava in a non-hostile manner. This gave Ava time to look at the man properly.
She was too occupied being scared before to look at the man features properly. He had deep green-blue eyes, like the ocean's deep. His dark pupils made his eyes look even more mysterious just like the ocean. Every feature complented another feature. His face structure was thin with a long but crooked nose. Almost like he used to be a boxer or got into a bad fight once.
That was the last thing Ava saw and heard before she woke up.
- Chapter 1 -