"Speech"
'Thoughts'
["Speech Through Technology"]
||
…
Washing my bloodied hands to the best of my ability, I dried them and exited the customer restroom.
Waiting for me behind the counter was Ashley, her eyes studying me as if I was a weird piece of art she couldn't understand.
"What?" I muttered loud enough for her to hear and even turned to look behind me to make sure it was me she was staring at.
"What are you?"
The question took me by surprise. I hadn't a clue what she was trying to insinuate.
"I'm me? What are you trying to ask? Don't be cryptic. I'm not trying to guess right now." As I said that, Ashley crossed her arms and continued to stare me in the eyes.
The height difference caused her to stare up at me and almost caused me to scoff due to how I could barely take her act seriously.
"You know what I mean," Ashley said as she pointed at me. "You're some kind of monster, aren't you?"
"You think I'm a monster?" I said as I began acting shocked, looking around the restaurant as if someone else was the problem.
"I don't know," I quickly turned to the reflective counter and began rubbing my chin. "This guy right here, he's pretty handsome. I don't think he could be a monster."
"I'm being serious, Dante!" Looking back at Ashley's serious and anguished expression, I froze. "If you are a monster, then don't try to be my friend, don't try and manipulate me, just kill me already. I can't hope anymore."
She looked defeated. It was as if an entire world of pressure had landed on her shoulders, and she wanted to fold immediately.
"Ashley," I took all the playfulness out of my voice and looked her in the eyes. "I'm human. I always have been and always will be. Why do you think I'm not?"
I'll admit, it was a half-truth. I know Dante from Devil May Cry was half-human. I knew I very well could be a half-demon, but a white lie like this wouldn't hurt anyone.
Ashley paused for a second before she gave an answer.
"A human can't beat a monster, Dante. What you did in that alley wasn't human! I don't even think a human with a gun could have killed that monster." I could understand Ashley's logic.
"You're right," I straightaway admitted it to her. "That monster was intelligent enough to understand dangers and would never come out of its ambush unless it was sure its prey was in kill range."
Staring into Ashley's eyes, I paused.
"But could you handle the truth?"
I kept my expression blank. Truthfully, the question wasn't for Ashley herself to answer. It was a question I, myself, was debating.
'If I don't tell her, she'll definitely search up the supernatural and try to find her own answers. In doing so, she'll definitely run into some cognitive hazards or something that'll find its way to me. I should probably—'
"I'm already in too deep." Ashley's words broke me out of my internal thoughts. "I know that there are things out there, but not exactly what they are. I need answers."
There it was. This girl was too curious and in need of answers that she'd unknowingly bring some monster to my doorstep and definitely get herself killed.
I turned around. Bringing my hand up, I made a "follow me" gesture with two waves of my hand.
Sitting at one of the corner tables, I waited for Ashley to take a seat across from me. Not even five seconds had passed before Ashley had sat down.
'That was quick as hell!' I thought, my eyes almost going wide with shock, but I held it in.
Was she the curious type? Or was it something deeper than that?
"Explain."
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything."
I felt the urge to hold my head in exasperation. People always wanted to know everything about something but never understood the dangers of knowing.
"Firstly, what I am about to tell you is classified information. Not the government type of classified but the 'you shouldn't know this' type of classified. Are you ready?"
Ashley nodded her head, a serious expression now on her face. I took a breath to ready myself in the way I was going to word this.
"The supernatural is real." I could tell Ashley was about to speak, but before she spoke up, I continued. "Every story ever told, every myth ever spoken, every crazy recounting ever made, every child's nightmare ever given, they all exist."
Ashley froze. I could tell she had something to say, but she just ended up opening and closing her mouth again and again.
"Is… God real?"
"If you're talking about the Christian God, yes, he exists. That includes the Greek, Norse, Indian, Asian, and other pantheons. That also includes angels and demons."
After finishing the basics, I stopped speaking and allowed Ashley to take in my words. For a bit, all she did was look at the table with a complicated expression.
"What about the monster that attacked me?" Ashley asked cautiously. "I haven't heard of any type of monster like that from any myth or story before. Are you telling me that's some sort of child's nightmare?"
"No. But that does have something to do with what we're going to talk about." From my dead-serious tone, Ashley brought her gaze from the table to my eyes.
"That creature was most definitely of Eldritch origin. Basically, it was born from some spawn of a deity outside of this universe or born from a creature born outside of this universe." I decided to let my words sink in before continuing.
"These are the most dangerous types of creatures due to the fact that you'll never know if they're higher dimensional or simply some ugly spawnling. The deities are the most dangerous type of deity to mess with because not even other gods want to mess with them." I saw the way Ashley was looking at me with confusion when I mentioned higher dimensionality.
"I'm not here to explain higher dimensionality or 'what' exactly those deities are," I said as Ashley was about to say something. "The reason I decided to tell you about the supernatural is because curiosity kills.
If you were left alone with your questions, you would find answers. And that would inevitably kill you and endanger everyone else around you. Especially if you ran into a cognitive hazard."
I could feel Ashley's confusion about many of the things I said, yet I only nodded and spread out my hands as if to say, "Take it away."
"Ok…" Ashley hesitated before speaking. "If those creatures are spawn—children of deities, wouldn't the mother of it be mad? And what the hell is a cognitive hazard?"
"They're not children of the deities," I instantly shot back. "They're spawn. Gods of Eldritch origin usually spawn creatures just by existing. Think of how if we go to another planet, the planet would now be exposed to not only us but the bacterial matter we carry.
And a cognitive hazard is a—I've never had to explain it this way, so forgive me—think of a hazardous bit of information or sight that will cause harm to your mind just by seeing it."
Once again, I paused to let Ashley absorb the information.
"So you're saying if I were to search online for information, I would run into one of these 'cognitive hazards' and die instantly from it?" I could hear Ashley's disbelief. The thought of her dying instantly from seeing something must have been a lot to take in.
"No, most cognitive hazards make you do things like spread its existence around to other people and then make you commit suicide. Some entities possess the ability to manipulate information about themselves written down, so you can never know too much."
I saw Ashley's eyes go wide. She abruptly stood up, causing the chair she was sitting in to scoot back a little.
"So we can't even keep track of all these creatures?!" Ashley almost shouted as loud as she could, but with a gesture from me to keep it down, she half-covered her mouth. "How would you even explain all these creatures to me?"
"I won't."
"What..?"
Ashley looked shocked at my response. The difference between my calm expression and her agitated expression made for a massive contrast from an outsider's point of view.
"How am I supposed to protect myself if I don't know all of these creatures? That's like asking for me to die, not knowing what's coming for me!" I could tell where Ashley was coming from, but knowing was not going to help her at all.
"Ashley. You may not understand it, but I'm protecting you." I could tell she didn't believe a word I was saying. "Some of these—"
"Dante! I have to know!" Ashley moved from her side of the table and grabbed my shoulders. "I have to! You don't understand—"
"I understand perfectly, Ashley." I grabbed her wrists and slowly but surely removed her hands from my shoulders. "If you know of these creatures, then some of them know of you. It's a 'look into the abyss and the abyss stares back' type of deal."
"There were people like you, Ashley. They felt that they had to know every single thing and went insane trying to understand what they couldn't. Don't be like them, Ashley."
I could feel Ashley trembling a bit through my grasp on both of her wrists. "Sit back down, Ashley," I said, completely understanding how she felt. The inability to live with peace of mind.
Ashley slowly sat back down after I released my grasp on her wrists.
"Let's get back on topic. From what I know, certain creatures form from a mass gathering of ideas. Most ideas aren't powerful and need a massive number of continuous thoughts to bring them to life. That's why a child's nightmare given to many children would form quickest.
The spawn from deities are seen mainly as bacteria or lesser than that by most deities, and saying the true name of a deity would make them aware of you immediately.
These deities have the power to wipe out all life in the universe if they're summoned to our reality. You shouldn't need to worry because it takes millions of sacrifices to summon even a vision of the greatest of them. They also have a rigid hierarchy."
"Ok," Ashley said a little more calmly. "So they're impossible to summon and are super strong? That means I won't have to deal with them in my lifetime, right?"
"Wrong."
"WHAT?! HOW?!"
"As I said, they have a rigid hierarchy. The ones I'm talking about are the strongest of them. Currently, one such god should be sleeping at the bottom of the ocean or chained up there.
Gods such as the entire Greek pantheon fear him so much that they let him rest, and that God at the bottom of the ocean is just a priest that can't even see the Gods I'm talking about." As I explained further and further, Ashley went from serious to tense to full of anxiety.
"Then what the hell am I supposed to do about that?"
"Nothing."
"That's it?!"
"Yup!"
I flashed Ashley two thumbs up. I could feel her dumbfounded despair hitting me like a truck, but I just ignored it.
"Well," I said as I took out my phone and clocked out of my shift. "My shift is over, but considering I gave you all this information that people would pay me thousands of dollars for, can you do me two favors?"
Ashley looked sick of my shit at this point and just sighed. "What is it..?"
"One, can you get me a new uniform because this one is kinda bloody? Two, can you wash this one and give it back to me later? I don't feel like washing the blood out." I smiled as I spoke while Ashley looked ready to smash her head against the table.
"Why would I—"
"I saved your life~"
"Ughhhh... fine."
'Let's go! Free manual labor!!'
…
Ashley had gotten a spare uniform from the break room, and after changing and putting my old uniform in a plastic bag, I gave it to Ashley.
"Also, you might want this," Ashley said as she handed me a small white envelope.
'Oh! Money!'
I quickly snatched it from Ashley's hands and ignored the borderline disgusted look she had as I ignored her presence because of the sweet, sweet dollar bills.
"Lucas told me to give that to you. As you may know, it's your paycheck." I quickly nodded as Ashley spoke.
"Thanks, Ashley, I'm gonna get outta here now. Peace!" I quickly waved at Ashley as I bolted out the front door of the restaurant.
"Wait, Dante!"
Quickly pausing and turning around, I was met with Ashley. Plastic bag still in hand, she raised her other one as if to grab me from afar.
"Are you going to explain more to me later? I-I want to know more about the world."
"Of course," I said as I flashed a smile, causing Ashley to momentarily smile slightly. "I only work the weekends, though, so you may have to wait a bit."
The realization caused Ashley's hand to falter, her slight smile fading. "Oh, alright…"
"But, when I do come back, are you gonna tell me what you've been hiding?" Ashley's eyes widened, and she pulled back defensively.
"What do you mean?! I'm not hiding—!"
"Come on, Ash," I said quickly and coolly. "It's obvious you have something to ask me."
"So, how about this," I put both hands in my pockets, looked her up and down, and flashed a smirk. "When I come back to work, we'll finish talking about everything you want to know, and you'll tell me what's been bugging you for so long, deal?"
I saw the corner of Ashley's lips twitch for a second before she finally spoke up.
"Fine, you got yourself a deal!" She quickly said before making her way back into the restaurant.
'Do I still have the dark skin in me?' I thought as I rubbed my chin. 'Who knows?'
Alas, I continued walking, but only after a minute did I realize something was wrong.
Turning around, I frowned momentarily before picking up a light smile once more.
"What are you doing?" I asked Malo as she was walking silently around ten feet behind me. "Come on!"
I reached out my hand toward her. She flinched from the suddenness of her being involved in the situation. Slowly, she put her hand onto mine.
Clasping her hand tightly, I pulled her to my side and continued walking. Realistically, me pulling her should have done nothing, as I can't truly move her, but I guess she has a thing for not making me look stupid.
Truthfully, I knew what her problem was. Malo was a spectator even in her own world. She never had the chance to be seen as the main conversation.
So, even when given physical form, she didn't know what to do or how to maintain actual direct interaction. Resigning herself to looking onward in happiness as if she was watching an anime instead of viewing through her own eyes.
But I hated that. Her being forced to be pushed into the background, especially when my conversation with Ashley happened.
I didn't want her to be a spectator! I wanted this fluffy furball to break out of her shell and be a player two! She should live her life and accomplish her directive of helping others!
So, as I held her hand, I continued our conversation as if I had never let it go.
"Didn't you say you wanted me to finish that story?" I said and quickly received a half-hazard nod. Malo was still unused to being the main conversation. "I also have something to tell you when we get home. You should like it, but if you don't, then you'll probably like the second thing."
I continued walking with my invisible ghost wolf-girl. I'd give her all the attention and acceptance in the world if I could. Sadly, she'd just have to settle for my acceptance, but I'm sure she'd say it to be the best thing in the world.
After all, she's my player two!
...
(A/N: I am moving in a few days. I've been doing things in the background but that DOESN'T mean I'll allow kirby to take my top spot. This chapter was double the length of the usual and I should be uploading consistently as long as I get my background information done quickly. I should have uploaded this earlier but decided to constantly revise it.)