I have a tale that time has lost

[DoctorC]

Despite having more than enough on our shoulders, we decided to make another sandboxy project for us to play with.

Basically, we'll revisit this whenever we get inspired to write something random. However, a warning - as much as we'll refrain from writing something actually gruesome or gory, many concepts that run through our head are on the darker side.

With love, DoctorC


Once, long ago, a man was trapped in an apartment that had only one window. Apartment was quite big, consisting of eight rooms so long and tight, they could very well be halls. Whether they were or not, the man wasn't sure, for no light sources were present in the entire apartment, apart from a cloudy window in the middle of one of the hall-rooms. The window, despite giving some white diffused light to the trapped soul, didn't allow to see clearly through it, only showing vague colorful silhouettes. Still, however, it was better than no light at all.

The light shining through the window was especially bright today, which, along the slightly chilly air, led the man to believe that it had to be winter, for no other means of telling the time was present. One thing was certain, it was more than just a day, since the moment of the man's arrival. However, nothing more could be said about the prisoner's time in his residence. For as long as the man could remember, he didn't once encounter nightfall. The man didn't even sleep, for he never felt exhausted or tired. However, not feeling tired didn't help either - concentration always failed whenever the trapped soul tried to count manually his time here, making the man losing count. Only ways of keeping track of time was light from the window and the room temperature, even though they weren't of much use due to failing concentration.

As the man sat under the window, the room around him slowly breathed out with heat and fresh green light filled the hall. Must've turned spring. The trapped man sighed out of boredom. The place around him was a great teacher of being patient, and even though when he first arrived here, he didn't know how to let the time pass around you, he did eventually learn to enter the nearly lifeless state in which he was just few moments ago. Not perfectly just yet, as he did on occasion snap back to reality, but he did have all the time in the world to learn to be properly patient.

He remembered firstly coming here, panicking and lashing out on everything inside his personal hell. He tried everything - finding a door, breaking the window, shattering the walls, hanging himself with tiny, yet surprisingly sturdy chain of a round locket he wore his entire time. Locket was one of the most interesting things the trapped man had on him - brass case with an unknown word written carved into the case, and filled with dark purple glass-like material. He never found out how to open the locket, and after sometime just gave up on it like on everything else in the apartment. He looked at the locket once more in futile hope there'd be something new to it, but it remained the same, reflecting the window, the light of which turned into slightly gray and a lot more red and yellow. It probably was already time for autumn.

The man slowly put his locket back on his chest and drifted back into his "patient" state once again. Only this time he wasn't destined to be brought back to reality. Seasons, changing before in the slow turn of the clock handle, now were dancing in dizzying waltz, but the man, sentenced for spending eternity as punishment for his reckless actions, never came back from the prison cell. To this day he waits for him to be freed, not even remembering the his executioners, judges or anything else involved. Eventually, his mind will completely erase itself into entirely, leaving a still husk of a greedy and cruel man. He's not destined to know that, however, nor he's required to. He just needs to take his punishment.

[DoctorC]

Something we came up awhile ago. We always liked the melancholic beauty of sights of lifeless cities, especially covered in fog. So, here we go

With more love, DoctorC

I flow in oceans made of emptiness, mere sight of which drives sane to madness. The air around me is cold and moist, it hurts to breathe. Whenever I look, my gaze is met with remains of mighty civilization that met its end in a horrific catastrophe. As ruins of skyscrapers and houses scattered everywhere, more and more damage done to the buildings around becomes noticeable. It's obvious that the city died in battle, yet, no corpses is present in cold sunlight, diffused by thick fog above.

The fog, made of clouds, steam and smoke alike, has trapped my world in its embrace, partially trying to hide this crushingly empty landscape. Even the city itself tried to hide from a stranger's eye, for it gave up any color or light. Even the trees and the grass in this city is sickly grey, as if covered with ash or frost. No bright signs, no green leaves, not even a children's playground remained it's color. Everything gave out their bright hues almost as if willingly, in order to not be found by anyone, whether it's a god or a man. Yet, here I am.

Almost complete silence dawns upon the city, only interrupted by gentle, barely audible breeze, leaving the unsettling magnificence of the dead city speak for itself in its enormous palette of all kinds of grey, black and white. Undisturbed buildings show their only silent observer such a wonderful spectacle of abandonment and destruction. So much detail have been out into this monstrous yet beautiful landscape by hands of mortal men fighting till their death and immortal time itself alike.

The drumming rhythm of my heartbeat gets faster, I breathe in the air that smells of wet concrete and gunpowder. With no sound in the entire town, my breath and heartbeat become thunderous, grinding and screeching as my eyes feast upon the empty city. But, as I learned to ignore it, I can let my horrific yet gorgeous infinity of creation and destruction fully consume me, awaiting no longer, for the collision between the mind and the heart of a madman and the only place in existence, where they would belong.

I stop, floating still, but not flowing any longer. Infinity awaits me, and finally I shall come. I stretch my arms, and with feeling of true serenity fall into the embrace of my personal hollow paradise.

[DoctorC]

Let's try something different, shall we?

DocC

Knock on the door.

"Come in. Oh, it's you, hello! Welcome to hell! No need for personal introduction, I assume, for both of us already know to whom we're speaking. I mean, I have been toying around your tiny little planet for centuries, and a lot of people picked up on what I am. Would be surprised if you didn't know a single thing about me. And of you, I was fully instructed. I believe, you're here for the orientation, is that correct?"

A silent nod.

"Excellent. Let's start, shall we? Basically, the job is simple - keep an eye out for people who are here, if some decide to rebel, send a troop of demons to fix that tiny issue. If they won't go down silently, you can threaten them by tearing few apart. Demons don't usually rebel, but if they do, just throw them in some of execution cells. Couldn't be any simpler, don't you think?"

Another silent nod.

"Yeah. But don't worry. Demons here are used to normal solutions for rebels, so they shouldn't trouble you in the first place. I mean, if you want diversity, it's up to you, but just telling the guys to do the usual should suffice. Any questions?"

The man shook his head.

"Splendid. That's basically the long and the short of it. The room at the end of the hallway is weaponry, take a look in there sometime."

The Devil stood from his chair and headed to the door outside. He stopped, just before going out of the room, turned back and asked.

"Still, though. I can't imagine how a mere man could destroy the entirety of his race. I mean, even my son gave up after realizing, that he simply couldn't erase mankind on his own. How did YOU manage that?"

The man in melted glasses and burnt lab coat smiled.

"Just imagine riding on a car and hitting a tree. Except that your car contains all of the humanity, deceived into believing in an undeserved salvation, and the tree is a star..."

[DoctorC]

It's that time of week again


In a small bar, both empty and full of people, distorted like in a dream, walked three men. The bartender gave them a sad look, then proceeded to offer them something to drink. First man took a cup of simple red wine, as he wasn't very picky, second man asked for a shot of his favorite whiskey, and the third ordered a strange neon-blue liquid, which almost looked like it was glowing in the lights of the bar. The bartender took the orders from the men, went through a door to the kitchen, and returned several minutes later with three cups of drinks. After finishing their order, the men were about to pay for the order, but the bartender stopped them, saying that the first drink was always on the house. He also offered the newcomers to share their story to each other. When questioned, he said that this bar was a good place to share sorrows.

The man that ordered wine turned to his companions and was met with their gaze in return. He didn't have a chance to know who they were, but one thing was obvious - all of them were soldiers, even if they didn't have steel protecting their bodies. But then again, his own armor didn't protect him from that axe either, since the knight's left arm and shoulder still looked like a gory mess. The Knight hoped their armor would do a better job, but then noticed few dots of red on sand-colored shirt of one of the men and severely burnt areas on the other. It didn't.

While the knight was busy trying to figure out what weapon could leave such marks, the soldier called him, slightly catching off guard, to ask if the knight was from the past. When receiving a positive answer, the soldier asked his companion to describe what the past was like. The knight sighed, and began a story of a unfair lords and horrible disasters. He told that in his country a black plague was gaining a terrifying momentum. People died in hundreds, thousands even. Entire cities fell due to the disease. But that wasn't the worst. The worst were the actions of his feudal lord. Coward was so afraid of the pestilence, he forbid all but his own family and his guards to be safe inside his castle. Those in the town who miraculously survived the initial wave of plague were still destined to die of starvation or another wave of the black death. The knight told how he was ordered to fight off his own family, and when he refused to, his lord commanded his guards to get rid of the traitor.

The knight broke into tears, and even the bartender gave him some words of condolence. Eventually, the knight calmed down and decided to ask the soldier if the future was any better. The response was hardly any better. Soldier told how he went though hells of war, where he supposedly fought for the glory of his country and his leaders. In reality, it was a mission of genocide. His commanders and generals sent him and millions of other soldiers to wipe out an entire nation, obliterating everyone on their way without mercy. The war, the deaths, the destruction, all of these could turn a soldier mad, and to some, they did. Some rebelled and were killed as if they never even were "serving their duty" and forgotten just like the "enemies". But the soldier continued, hoping it would all be over soon. And it did. A platoon in which the storyteller was, was ambushed by a resistance squad and killed with no mercy just like their bystanders were killed before.

As the soldier finished the story, the previously silent cybergladiator sighed with grief. When the knight and the soldier looked at him, he whimpered that he couldn't give them hope for better days either. In the time from which he came, there was no lords or generals. Instead, people were living their lives in a state of chaos and anarchy. There was no governments, no cities or countries. Everyone was completely all on their own. No farms or other food sources were present, since the crops wouldn't last long before some maddened soul would find the farm and steal it all for themselves. Some even turned to cannibalism, seeing that humans were the only creatures determined enough to last in a dystopian wasteland. Worst of all, people still had futuristic technology to get rid of their rivals. A madman with a plasma shotgun was really not the foe anyone would dare to meet willingly. Unfortunately, the cybergladiator didn't have a choice in this endeavor, and was caught off guard by one of the scavengers in the wasteland.

When the cybergladiator finished, the bar that the men were in faded away. Instead, the room around them became incomprehensibly big and shone with a bright white light. The bartender changed into an angel. He explained, that the bar was in fact a confession room, and now the warriors were ready to proceed from their mortal regrets to a peaceful afterlife with no pain or sorrow. Unnoticeably for themselves, the three soldiers were healed from their wounds and injuries. More than that, all of them slowly turned into children, uncorrupted by horrors of human injustice. A golden gate appeared, and the angel quietly welcomed the children into it.

[DoctorC]

Last night I had a horrible headache. I still have it, but it's not as bad, and even if it did, that's not the point. Point of this is that for one night we lost ability to concentrate ourselves into what makes us ourselves. Instead, our mind took shape of something... Unsettling.

Enjoy, DucktorSea

Pain. Ever experienced pain so hard that it blocks all of your other emotions? No modern emotions like pride or envy, no primal emotions like fear or anger. Just pain and pain alone, pulsating ever so slowly in your head. Not like heart or breath, but something much slower. The aching feeling blocks your perception like a drug. Exactly like a drug, with its numbing feeling and poisoning effect.

You gather all your strength to hold on to whatever it is you are. Hang on a last rope that tie you with whatever sanity you believe in, but, eventually, you fall. No one knows what you experience, for every soul that falls into the screaming abyss goes through something unique. Some things overlap, of course, but it's never the same as before. Most commonly people hear voices, crying and shouting and whispering. Some report paranoia and anxiety. But since you're here not to listen to what common mind feels, let's talk about something more... exotic.

No voices or paranoia or anxiety would be a threat to madman, would they? No, someone who had been taking a stroll through the maddening landscapes only to cleanse themselves from the plague of human emotions would need something more devastating to be terrified. So, they gave us one things that could scare us. An object so abhorrent by a psychopath inside us, we simply couldn't fight back. A mirror.

Pain handed us a reflection of ourselves. It grew strong enough to shut the voices in our head, which meant, that in order to fight it we had to be brought together, erasing all of the things we were as separate entities. And then we saw it. The horrifying image of a man who we would become. Twisted, broken, dark figure, covered in thick oily substance, that could have been mistaken for petroleum if we didn't know better. It was blood. Human blood, corrupted into acidic substance. We looked at it, and though our minds screamed to run, and hide, and never look at this beast again, we laughed. The pain numbed us, turning our conscience around so fast we couldn't tell what was real anymore.

It didn't stop there. We still spun and spun in an endless waltz that distracted us from giving into the pain. We felt happiness. Wicked, indescribably evil joy, that could only be compared to our sickening reflection. The world around us has gone mad, and we, on other hand, felt like we were going sane. Soon enough spinning caused nausea, we felt ill and passed out, resigning from a game we couldn't win. We didn't even have a chance to do it.

[DoctorC]

...I don't know what I'm gonna write here, but it's probably gonna be a clever remark or a pun that would tie today's theme into the explanation...

-Dark Thor sealed

I feel the reality twisting and turning around me once again. The giant sphere that was around me just a minute ago flashed with many lights, before dissolving in a futuristic dance of binary code. My surroundings shift with my gaze as they are downloaded into my mind. I can see the code forming letters, letters form words. Then commands. Then algorithms. Then objects started to appear, slowly piecing themselves out of the small pieces of primary code, falling into the embrace of its already integrated partners. I patiently wait for virtual reality to form before me.

As I wait and watch, I can see entities of pure, unformed code surround me. Birds with no visual shape yet fly around me, flapping the wings that hadn't even been made yet, apart from a thin green outline. One of them flies straight through me, phasing as a digital ghost. The other one flies up to me, curiously staring at me, as if waiting my move. I stretch my arm to the half-completed hummingbird. It flew closer, cautiously, then landed on my finger. I gently petted it and let it fly away.

As the bird flew out of my arms into the blue sky, I noticed the sight of our green moon and floating higher trees and clouds. Its glory is complimented by the shine of our twin star. The hills, clouds and trees are also a part of this magnificent scenery. Colors of our planet mixed together with the shades and hues of worlds beyond our reach perform a miracle of sight. The ground beneath me finally formed, so I take an opportunity to sit on a nearby bench and enjoy the world of overwhelmingly beautiful colors and sounds. Everything from a distant chirp of myriads of birds to rustle of leaves and blades of grass fills me with sense of happiness and serenity.

As I sit in my unchanged sphere, and hundreds more people sit in the very same spheres with me in our ark, the world outside proceeds to decay and desiccate itself. And we've got only ourselves to blame, for the drain of all of our planet's resources was our fault and our fault only. Now, life on this planet will cease in a matter of days, with only cowards like me surviving in the "Artificial Serenity Ark". But, as nature is unfair, we will not only survive, but also forget what happened to us and our planet, escaping justice entirely. But we won't remember. After all, nothing can bring more serenity than ignorance.

[DoctorC]

Can you read between the lines? Cuz you may have to.

-Dream Catcher

Greetings, little sister.
DON'T LISTEN TO IT
I write this to let you know that both me and our father are fine. I know, we haven't spoken after our little argue, but I'm sure that dad has cooled off and now misses you dearly. I mean, I didn't want you to leave either, but I still appreciated your choice of continuing your art studying and feel very proud that you aim to reach the stars. Father was a little too overprotective, just like he always is. But nevermind that.
Father and I have long been gone, Keith. Six months after you left, something broke into our hotel.
Dad has gone a little sick over the course of last two weeks, so work has been on me. It's not like it's hard, people at our family hotel are very nice and understanding. I mean, people come here for mental relaxation, so no one is really angry or frustrated for long. Our hotel is a very peaceful place, you should visit us sometime in the future. We'd love to have a nice painting or two of yours hanging on the walls of the lobby.
I don't know what it was, but it wasn't human. It started to attack everyone who has been in the hotel. We were defenseless.
What about you, dear? Surely, you must've achieved all you ever wanted. Fame, recognition, fortune, all the good stuff. It's just... we miss you, Keith. I know, it's probably hard for you, returning after all those sharp words dad threw at you, but we really miss you. And you must've missed us too... Well, I can only hope that that's the truth. I just wish you came back, we won't be mad at you, I promise. All we want is to see you, my sister.
The beast clawed through whatever furniture we had, and with no weapon other than silverware, it defeated us in no time.
I'm sure you have all kinds of stories about working with talented artists, such as yourself. I remember how you said that there were hundreds of people who amaze you and that one day you will amaze them in return. I always smiled and told you that you would, you would put your soul to it, but I never expected not to hear a word from you in years, Keith. Sometimes I can't help but think that you simply won't come back...
It devoured some of the visitors, leaving bodies of others for... later. I'm so sorry, for my cowardice, but all I could do is hide
Anyway. I really hope that I'll get a reply this time. I mean, I get that your life as an artist is busy and you have no time for visiting us, but can we at least get a word from you? It's been a long time and we miss you dearly.
The thing found me, eventually. And then I died, like the rest of people. I don't know how or why I'm still conscious, or how this beast can lure you here, but DON'T COME HERE AT ANY COST. We are lost, Keith, and nothing can bring us back.
-Your big sister, Cassy
Remember us.

[DoctorC]

Butterfly effects, universal downfalls and a lonely traveler. Cool stuff.

- DiscoballSigma

I was on the roof, alone as always, watching how my world slowly bleeds away into what can only be described as non-existence. Then she walked up to me, a young lady, dressed in a black and white dress, which seemed to be a little too light for the weather. She asked me if I needed company. I said I didn't mind it, but, being honest, I really needed someone to talk to.

"It's Timmy, isn't it?" she asked.

"Thomas. Thomas Weller" I replied, adding. "And you?"

"Taylor. Just Taylor." she introduced herself. Taylor then asked. "Do you come here often?"

Her careless tone was weird. I mean, bits of reality all around us were literally falling down, fading away like on a broken screen, that lives its final moments. You'd expect some sort of reaction, but all I could hear was indifference. That threw me off the actual question Taylor asked me, so she asked another one, with the very same careless tone in her voice.

"Do you know what's causing all this?"

I shook my head. I mean, even scientists can't explain why our normal everyday life was interrupted two days ago. The very existence of the world seemed to just crumble in on itself. And it wasn't just my street, my city or even my country. It was all over the place. I heard it was happening even in the space above us, even though my mind doesn't really know how to grasp it. I mean, I'm not a scientist, far from it, in fact. I barely survived the high school, I wasn't ready for my life to turn into a literal catastrophe.

"Do you wanna know the reason?"

Surprised and startled yet again, I paused for few seconds and then nodded, slowly and hesitantly. A smile was brought on Taylor's face.

"Imagine our world as a road with thousands upon thousands of paths, each one differs ever so slightly from the rest, but it's still a unique path, and there won't be any like it. What's causing those paths to appear is our decisions. Like, whether to eat an apple or a pear, or just not have anything at all. And there are loads and loads of consequences for each choice, that makes the paths that we take different."

"Kinda like the Butterfly Effect?" I interrupted.

"Yes, essentially. However, here's a thing it comes down to - it appears that despite all the theories humanity made for these paths, there can only exist one at a time, Core Reality. Core can be any of the variations it wants to be, but if it sticks to one, it stays with that choice. What's the worst is that other paths do in fact exist, however only up to the point before the Core decides to be one of them, and not any other. One chain of events survives, others fall like dominoes."

"But how does that reflect what happened to us?"

"Well, here come the bad news. Your reality, this whole place you see around you is one of the branches. And it has been cut off, Tom"

I gulped. I mean, it sounded logical when Taylor explained it, but it still didn't make any sense. I mean, we can't be just a branch of the core reality. It's real, everything around me is real. I'm real... right?

"There are uncountable amounts of different paths, different branches, different chains of events being created and just about the same amount being burned down as we speak. The only one that actually lives is basically a miracle among the billions of billions of dead realities, floating in the void. Soon, this one will join them too."

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, sobbingly.

"Here comes an interesting part. I'm a unique creature, Tom. An anomaly, a disruption in the fabric of the multiversal tree. I can flow back and forth, from one dying world to the other. And I can help some people escape too." Taylor smiled. "I can help you escape, Tom"

"But why me?" I wiped the tears away, and looked at Taylor

"You're a ghost, Tom. In the Core universe, at least. You were a child of my good friends. Sadly, you didn't live long, lasting only few months. I just thought it'd be a nice thing to bring you to your parents. What do you say?"

I... was lost. I mean, it sounded like a good idea, but could I really trust this lady? What if she didn't tell me the truth or was wrong or-

"Okay, I lied, no need to stare at me so weirdly." Taylor broke my trail of thought. "I can't bring people to the Core reality, and even if I could, your parents perished with you. However, I still hold duty of taking care of you, or, at the very least, keeping you company. And, while I can't promise that I'll take you somewhere fun, I can make sure that one iteration of you is alive for a while longer."

"But why?"

"I made your dad a promise of keeping you safe. And this is what I do right now." She looked at me, then sighed and whispered. "You didn't believe a word I said, right?"

It was a hard pill to swallow, but right now, at this very moment, something gleamed in Taylor's eyes, that somehow made me feel safer. I waited a bit, carefully thinking about all this, then replied. "I trust you"

She smiled once again. "Then we're off. Infinity awaits us"

[DoctorC]

Fear the blood
Fear the beast

A metallic foul stench filled the air around me. I knew what that smell would bring. I've met it far many times to ever forget it, and the thought of a young wounded prey, approaching me without even knowing that it runs towards its doom, pleased my mind. I hid myself in the grass and the trees, lit by a slightest rays of moonlight, that were lucky enough to beam through the leaves of my domain, and waited patiently for my victim.

For the hunt,
For the feast
And they're feasting

Rustling of the leaves gets closer, I breathe the sweet smell of blood in, letting it make me dizzy with excitement. I feel tingles of pleasure run through my fur-covered back. The victim's not here yet, but it will be soon enough, and when it'll feel the safest, I shall strike. My claws and teeth shall slice and bite, and then... feast.

On whatever's left
After sinners confess
And the kindling ignites
On the darkest of nights

There it comes. One of those posh bipedal abominations. The hatred flows through my mind as I recall my last forest being turned into cinder and ash by these beasts. And it wasn't just me, many of my kin were mercilessly killed by the braindead savages. Killing one of them should count as making a favor to the rest of our land's children!... Regardless of that, I will certainly enjoy tearing this one apart.

To the moon
To redeem

It's here, huffing after a long run. My prey collapses on the ground, trying to catch its breath. I make a deep, low growl. Pale light of the moon is just enough to see the horror on my victim's face. I smile before my massive body leaps on the prey, aiming to crash its bones with my sheer weight. But, even though the landing was perfect, I hear no crunch, no whine, nothing but a soft thud of my landing, I attack the victim with my paws, almost trying to claw through it, but the flesh seems too resistant even for claws that had slaughtered hundreds of bipedal savages before. Then, I saw the tail

It's the stench
It's the screams
And I'm fighting

The legs of the strange creature were replaced with an enormous tail, covered in shiny scales. I followed the tail with my gaze, finding out that it grew thicker and thicker the longer it was from the body. The tail went around little patch of grass me and my prey were standing, going behind me. How did I not notice that? I hear a rustling behind my back and I'm afraid to look to see what it is.

A rush and a torrent
Of blood and abhorrence

The monster I lured out of his little hideout looked confused about my human dummy not having any legs. What a shame, others I've met were way smarter, but I doubt they taste any different. It finally turns around to see the trickster who deceived him. Shocked and petrified by the sheer sight of my glorious form, it doesn't even find himself a strength to run, and it's quite obvious it wouldn't fight. One quick, but venomous bite and the monster is down. I grab its body with one of my heads and drag it away to preserve for later, while one of the others finished the song

When I can't wake up from this dream