Everything was dark.
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Jessica's breathing quickened as she blinked into the void.
"Am I... in the fourth dimension?"
Her voice trembled, reverberating faintly, though there was no ground, no walls, nothing to catch her words. She looked down at her hand ..it was whole. Perfect. Her heart raced.
"My hand… it's back to normal,"
she muttered, her tone flickering between disbelief and elation.
The memory of her ascension stirred in her mind, an explosion of clarity and power that had flung her beyond the physical. She clenched her fist, testing her strength. Her fingers glowed faintly, as if they were made of spectral light. Her body was not what it had been; it was more. She felt... unchained. Thinking of her triumph filled her with a sharp, giddy excitement.
But then the realization struck her: there was nothing. She tried to extend her senses outward, reaching for something anything in the void. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, willing her power to ripple out like a sonar pulse. She expected the sensation of air currents, vibrations, or at least faint echoes of energy. Instead, her powers faded into an oppressive nothingness.
It wasn't just empty it was absolute. No matter, no energy, no sound, no texture, not even the concept of space. She was adrift in an endless abyss, unmoored and disconnected from reality. She could feel herself the glowing radiance of her body but nothing beyond that. Her presence alone broke the void, like a single star in an infinite, black sky.
She glanced at her body, inspecting what she had become. Her hair, once a vibrant pink, now shimmered with an otherworldly luminescence, the strands shifting between white and silvery-blue like threads of moonlight. Her skin, soft and unmarked, glowed faintly, its light gently pulsating with each beat of her heart. Even her eyes, if she could see them, felt like they burned with new intensity, as if they were no longer windows to her soul but stars in themselves.
She drifted, weightless and radiant, in this strange, oppressive void. A part of her marveled at the purity of her new form, but another part felt vulnerable, exposed. She clenched her fists, trying to steady her thoughts. She felt like she had transcend beyond humanity She tried to speak again, but her voice was swallowed whole by the void
And then, out of the abyss, she saw them.
Two enormous eyes appeared, piercing through the darkness like twin galaxies in motion. They swirled with hypnotic patterns constellations and black holes entwined in an endless dance. The eyes were so massive that Jessica couldn't comprehend their full scope. They filled her vision, pressing against her thoughts, their size and power making her feel insignificant.
And then they spoke.
"Child."
The word echoed, vibrating in the core of her being. Jessica's breath hitched as the sheer weight of its presence settled over her.
"Follow me. My master is waiting for you."
Before Jessica could respond, she felt a force vast, overwhelming wrap around her like an unseen tether. She was pulled forward, dragged through the void by the colossal snake. It was only then she realized what she was seeing: the pair of eyes belonged to a serpent of unimaginable size, its form stretching infinitely, coiling in and out of reality itself. It was as though the creature was the void itself, its body composed of stars and shadows.
The sensation of movement was disorienting, yet eerily smooth, as if she were gliding through space. And then, just as suddenly as it began, the pulling stopped. Jessica was deposited before something... incomprehensible.
She stared at the being and felt her thoughts begin to unravel.
The figure was humanoid..at least, it appeared that way. A young girl sat before her, cross-legged and serene, her pale white hair cascading down her shoulders like liquid light. Her skin was luminous and impossibly smooth, as if sculpted from marble, her face ethereal and otherworldly in its perfection. She wore a simple white blouse and a flowing skirt, both so pure in color they seemed to absorb the surrounding darkness.
But her eyes… they were wrong.
Twin voids stared out from her face, pure black and depthless, radiating an energy that defied comprehension. Staring into them felt like being pulled into a chasm that had no bottom, no end. They weren't merely eyes they were the absence of light, of space, of time. The longer Jessica looked, the more she felt herself slipping, her thoughts scattering like leaves in a storm. And then the eyes blinked, and the spell was broken.
"Don't be so nervous, child,"
the being said, her voice soft and lilting, yet undercut by something primal and eternal.
"I mean no harm. Jessica, right?"
Jessica staggered backward.
"H-how do you know my name?"
The being smiled faintly, an expression that should have been reassuring but only made her more uneasy.
"It's only natural. I know... everything."
Jessica's mind spun.
"What do you mean?"
"It's impressive,"
the being continued, ignoring her question
"that you succeeded in ascending to a higher dimension."
"Ascend?"
Jessica repeated. Her voice felt small, insignificant.
"Basically, you're dead,"
the being said casually.
"Your spirit has entered this realm."
Jessica's chest tightened. Dead? That wasn't possible. Was it since she had never felt so alive before?
"But,"
the being continued, her tone almost playful
"you managed to achieve ascension through your own natural power. By gaining enlightenment, you've kept your abilities intact."
Jessica's panic ebbed slightly at that. She wasn't powerless here, at least. A flicker of relief coursed through her.
"Then... where am I?"
"You're in the void,"
the being replied. Her tone was light, as though discussing the weather.
"This is where I reside. My pets live here too."
Jessica shuddered at the word pets. Her mind immediately went to the massive snake that had dragged her here. Were there more creatures like that?
"What was that thing?"
Jessica asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Oh, Ouroboros?"
The being waved a hand dismissively.
"He's the World Eater. You could say... he's my pet."
Jessica's stomach churned at the words World Eater. Somehow, she knew they were true. The snake wasn't just massive; it was cosmic, a force of destruction beyond comprehension. And yet, the being before her treated it like a mere plaything.
She swallowed hard, forcing herself to meet those endless black eyes.
"What's your name?"
she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
The being's lips curled into a sly smile.
"My name? It's #̶̨͚̣̦͇̬̞̜͔̮̳͔̰̗͖̮̲̟̼͚̠̤̦̋̽̎͊́͗̏̀̎́̆͒͌͑̀̒&̶̯̝̠͈̟̟̖̟̽ͅ$̵̡̧̧̛̜̦̰͎̻̰̦͇̝̖͔̩̖͉̯͕͔̗̞̗̤͖̙͕̃͐̅̎̉̓̅̔̍̍̓̇̃̐̅̌͗̽̀́̿̑̚͝͝ͅ&̵̭͖̞̭̳̮̥̫̼̪̗̗͓͔̫̞̫̠̞̒͗͋̌͒̽̓̈́̔̿ͅπ̵̨̞̬͎̠̖̠͔͇͚̻͎̺̩̤̫̫͇͎̹̺̮̹̪̖́̋́̑͌̋̐̈́̅͂̎̃̒̔͑͆͠͠͝͝§̸̢̧̟͎͈̱̞͙̞̲̝̤̜̬̰͇̞̼̭̫̥͔̩̈́͒̈́͗̍̀́̈̕͜͝."
The sound struck her like a lightning bolt, a jarring symphony of incomprehensible vibrations. It wasn't a name it was an assault on her senses, a cacophony of shifting tones, colors, and concepts that bled into one another. Her mind reeled, desperately trying to latch onto meaning, only to spiral deeper into confusion.
Her chest tightened as a pressure built in her head, a sensation like her very thoughts were being unraveled. She clutched at her temples, her glowing fingers trembling as the sound echoed endlessly in her mind. It wasn't just a noise it was a truth too vast for her to contain, an idea that threatened to shatter her.
The being laughed lightly, a sound that rippled through the void.
"I know you can't comprehend it,"
she said, almost amused.
"In human terms, it's closest to 'eternity.' Or perhaps 'infinity.' You may call me Fin."
Jessica gasped, the absurdity of the name clashing with the immensity of the being before her. A cosmic entity capable of unraveling reality itself had chosen such a simple, almost playful moniker. It made her want to laugh and scream all at once.
"Then where is everyone else?"
Jessica asked, trying to steady her thoughts.
"Why am I alone here?"
Fin chuckled, the sound both warm and unnerving.
"Ah, sorry about that. I brought you here. Normally, spirits move on to the spirit realm."
"Why?"
Jessica asked, her voice rising slightly.
"Why drag me here?"
"Because I was bored,"
Fin said simply.
Jessica's jaw tightened.
"Bored?"
"Yes."
Fin chuckled softly, a sound that seemed to stretch across dimensions
"Imagine,"
she said, leaning forward slightly,
"existing outside time itself. Imagine experiencing every fraction of a second stretched out infinitely. Every heartbeat, every blink of an eye lasting longer than entire lifetimes. Every moment feels like an eternity. But not just one eternity... an infinity of eternities stacked upon one another."
Her dark eyes seemed to pulse as she spoke, the void within them growing darker, deeper.
"Every moment, every thought, every feeling experienced not once, but infinitely. Joy becomes unbearable, pain becomes ceaseless, and boredom... it becomes a torment unlike anything you can imagine."
Jessica felt her knees weaken. Her glowing hands trembled as she tried to process Fin's words. The thought of it of time dissolving into an endless, repeating loop was maddening.
"Imagine,"
Fin continued, her tone soft but piercing,
"that you are conscious through it all. No relief, no pause. Time doesn't just stop it ceases to matter. I have lived through infinities, Jessica, and each one is both everything and nothing at once."
Jessica's breathing became erratic, her glowing form flickering faintly as her mind strained under the weight of Fin's description.
"How... how do you endure it?"
she whispered.
Fin smiled again, the expression filled with something both ancient and playful.
"I don't,"
she said simply.
"I grow bored, and I find ways to amuse myself. That's why you're here."
Jessica stared at her, stunned into silence.
"Now,"
Fin said, brushing her white hair back as if Jessica's terror were an insignificant trifle.
"Enough about me. Let's talk about you, child. I want to know about your life how you lived it, what brought you here."