Chapter Text
Nothing.
All.
You.
See.
Is.
Nothing.
You look at your hands.
At least, you try to.
You see nothing.
You try moving your body—how can you tell if you are moving when you can’t see yourself?
You try to look down at your feet—nothing.
It’s as if you’re a spirit floating through an empty oblivion.
Has time passed? You can’t tell.
As far as you know, nothing has changed.
A voice. You hear a voice-but are you really? This voice is no different than the one talking in your head, narrating everything you think and do.
’You’re correct. I’m not different from the one narrating in your head.’
You frown. If you had a face. The voice is bodiless as well, yet it seems to have more and know more than you. You feel… small, even though there is no such thing as size or mass here.
’Hello, Reader. Is there a reason you entered this blank, empty, universe?’
You shrug. If you had the shoulders to. There was no particular reason on clicking on this particular post. It just looked interesting, and you were bored.
’Hmm.’
There it was again. A pause, or blank empty spaces between text. You notice you’re seeing a lot of those. I mean, what do you expect from a vast, empty, void?
’I’m sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I’m The Author, and I have full control over this space.’
The Author. Yes, you’ve definitely heard of that before, but this time, it seems different. Usually, authors are tied down by rules of literature and art, but here…
There is nothing to tie down. The Author… has absolute power.
The Author smiles, without a face.
’You’re right. I can do whatever in this universe. But… obviously, there’s nothing here.’
You feel bored. What was the point of clicking on this when it was making you bored?
’We can do anything here, you know. Anything. We can create whatever we want, as long as it is in our imagination. WE can explore imagination.’
Now you see it. This isn’t just an empty pocket in time and space, this is just an empty canvas! The vast horizon of creativity only an Author can have- the fact that an Author was offering to even share a portion of this clean sheet of paper is mind blowing to you.
‘So, where should we start?’
You think you might need a body first. Floating around bodiless in a void of nothingness was really making you feel depressed and nauseous.
‘Hmm, alright.’
Suddenly, waves of sound erupt in your ears, now that you have a pair. First, your heartbeat:
*THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP*
Second, you hear on top:
*PUMP PUMP PUMP PUMP*
And at last you hear a gale of wind circling inside on top of the unanimous beat of cacophonous noise:
*WHHSHHHH, PHHHHEWWWWWWW, WHHHHSHHHHH, PHHHHEWWWWW*
Your breath. You constantly hear your body, inactive and active at the same time. In this empty place, you are the center of noise.
*THUMP PUMP WHHSSHHHH*
It takes some time for you to get used to the noise. It’s still loud, but you’re glad. What a lovely thing it is to have a body, something to call your own that is so majestic in this vast emptiness. In fact, if you hadn’t come here, you’d continue to live your life, taking for granted the wondrous gift you have at your command.
You look at your hands. Your hands… these aren’t 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 hands. They’re YOUR hands. They’re a Reader’s hands, and they don’t identify as a specific person’s.
You notice this is the same for the rest of your body- Your bosom, your torso, this body is just YOUR vessel. This isn’t you 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺.
‘You seem confused. Let me explain. You, as a Reader, you get a simple cookie cutter body for an empty, spaceless world as this one. After all, this vessel is holding a number of Readers— that is, YOU. This body can’t look like a certain or a group of readers, as it will isolate the rest.’
You take your first step through the oblivion. The sounds are still rushing around in your head. Your muscles move in such harmony at your command. However, even when you move with your body, you seem to be getting nowhere. When you move forward, there is nothing there to indicate your movement. After all, there is nothing. It’s almost as if you are just walking in place.
‘It looks like you’re going nowhere, doesn’t it? We need something else other than yourself.’
(What are you going to ask for?)