I slowly backed away, fear beginning to take hold. I had no weapons on me; if that thing spotted me, it was all over. I observed the creature—it had no mouth, grey skin, and two red eyes on both sides, very separated. It was humanoid in origin but very skinny, with bones seemingly sticking out. It had black sclera in its oddly shaped eyes and no ears; if I were to guess, it was deaf and had no sense of smell. How had it growled with no mouth? Oh wait, it had a slit on its chest.
Wait... I noticed the slit opened and closed a little. Was that its mouth? How horrifying.
The creature seemed to be looking for something as it slowly felt the ground and crawled around. It had very sharp nails, which it used to feel the surface. What was it hunting for? I had no idea. I observed from a distance away, my heart pounding in my chest. As I tried to distance myself a bit from the creature, I noticed a small white particle on the ground, glowing faintly. I decided to bend down and pick it up, my curiosity getting the better of me despite the dangers in front of me. It was a prism.
The prism was see-through, about the size of my hand, and it glowed a deep white as I touched it.
How curious, a compound I have never seen before—nothing like what we have on Earth. I wondered what it was made of. It felt like cool glass and was see-through, but it also hummed very powerfully, unlike anything I had ever felt before. It probably wasn't a good idea to pick up unknown elements, but at this point, what did I have to lose?
Suddenly, without warning, I felt something shift—the creature began looking at me with its red eyes. Oh, did it want the prism I had in my hands? Maybe this is what it ate? The creature let out a growl as it began sprinting towards me on all fours, its sharp claws threatening to rip me to shreds.
I cried out, startled. Dammit, I should have gotten away when I could. I had no means to defend myself against such an unknown creature. Thinking fast, I threw the prism towards the creature. It stopped in one place, catching the prism in mid-air. Its hideous maw opened wide, revealing row after row of razor-sharp teeth as I heard it eating the prism. The sound was akin to the crushing and swallowing of glass. It was horrible, inhuman, beyond anything I had ever seen. How could this creature eat such a thing? What must its teeth be made of? What must its body be made of? I would kill to study it, but for now, I have to run.
I thought the creature would attack me, but to my surprise, it merely finished eating and crawled away again. It didn't even see me as a threat. It didn't even see me as potential for nourishment? It began crawling away. Did it only attack because I held one of the prisms that it considered food? Remarkable. If I ever get out of here, I need to study these creatures once if I make it back to the lab. Oh, first, I should give them a name. I debated on the name for a while as I walked forward again. Finally, I settled on the name "Transfigures." Surely, if they are able to adapt to even this environment, they are deserving of such a name. Was it just a single creature, or were there more in this deep darkness that expands seemingly forever?
I walked another hour; I was beginning to feel parched. I had only brought my lab supplies with me; I had no idea I'd need water so desperately today. Thankfully, the technology I had on my person was made with batteries I crafted myself. They are a new type of battery that can last years without needing to be replaced, so I am good on that for now. It was one of my many inventions I made when I was younger, and one of the several inventions that made my name known. I needed to find an exit to this place quickly, though. I wouldn't last very long in an environment like this. As I walked, I began to notice humming coming from my right; it sounded like the prisms from earlier. Weird. I decided to follow the sound; it was my first source of stimulus in a while, and the humming was getting closer now.
Finally, I stumbled on a small prism again; this one was blue in origin. How curious. It was also a bit smaller. I decided it was best to keep on the move since I could meet another Transfigure, and I now understood they ate these prisms. It felt similar at first touch, but something was different; it felt soft? No, fragile was a better word. It felt like if I touched it the wrong way, it would break. Just as I thought that, I accidentally broke it in my hand; pain surged through as the small shards pierced my skin. Just as I was about to yell, the pain quickly left my brain, and memories flooded in that weren't mine.
I felt my mind being transported somewhere far away; the prism was breaking me from the inside out. Suddenly, I was in a throne room far away from here. I felt a knife in my back; I was bleeding profusely. I felt older; my grey beard had blood on it, and my hands were shaking as I grabbed the wound instinctively. A man with a dark tan, neatly combed blonde hair came up in front of me—the assailant was still at my back. The man in front of me had piercing blue eyes and a frown on his face as he looked at me with disgust. He had a certain handsomeness to his face, but I could tell he wasn't a very kind man. He put a hand on my shoulder; I felt surprise that wasn't my own as the man stated coldly, "This is for the best, father. You are incapable. The Kingdom of Kilvaria deserves so much better than you. I warned you, father, not going to war was the biggest mistake you'd ever make."
My mouth began to move against my will as anger seemed to take root, "Tyrune, you stupid son of mine! You'll bring this Kingdom down with you, just like my father almost did. War is never the answer." The man named Tyrune mocked me, "No, I will bring glory to our people and the Kingdom. Something you could never do, father." A mocking smile plastered his lips as he looked at me, my vision growing hazy, "The best part is our people will rejoice when I tell them a rogue from the Empire of Lutz has killed the king!" The assassin removed the blade from my back, and I fell in a pool of my own blood. I muttered one final curse, "Tyrune, your glory will be built upon the suffering of our people, and they will curse your name. I will also curse your name from the afterlife..." The memory cut off just as I heard the man Tyrune begin to cry out for guards to come quickly.
The memory ended, and I returned to my own body in the black void. How surreal. The memory didn't seem to come from Earth; those places they mentioned aren't in any history books. My hand still throbbed a little from the cuts, but I removed the shards; it wasn't anything serious. I had just formed a theory: were those prisms, at least the blue ones, carriers of memories? Another terrifying thought entered my head: he mentioned the afterlife. Was I dead? I mean, it was possible. How could I survive falling into the White Spot otherwise? I quickly shrugged off the thought; I refused to believe this was some kind of afterlife. I would have to keep walking ahead; I still needed to find a way out of this place. My mind was thinking of dozens of possibilities as I walked.
These prisms... I thought back to the way the creature earlier had broken the white prism with its mouth and ate it. Maybe the key to leaving this place was these prisms; perhaps breaking them holds some kind of effect that differs each time. This is my only lead so far, and I needed to be quick with leaving this place. I had no idea what kind of dangers lurked in the darkness of this realm, and despite being a scientist, I can't say I wanted to find out. As I walked, I thought back to how I opened the White Spot in the first place. I just basically compressed particles together in a theory I had about the way elementary particles could be used. That's when a flash of realization hit me. I smashed and compressed particles. These prisms needed to be smashed in order to access their effects. I began smiling; what if I smashed these prisms into each other? What kind of effect would I get? In the heart of this cosmic labyrinth, the key to escape seemed to lie within the shattered fragments of these enigmatic prisms. With renewed vigor, I began to listen and look out for this new hope in the darkness of an endless night.