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4

"Hello, child", a strange, hazy voice greeted me. I blinked a few times, adjusting to the light.

In front of me, was a strange, nearly formless being. It looked vaguely humanoid, with a black dust creating its borders. It smiled a hideous, large grin at me.

"Who are you?" I cried, stumbling backwards. I realized I was on the ground, crawling back like an insect.

"I am Truth," it sneered, or so it seemed. "You don't need to be so frightened. You won't be here for much longer."

I turned around, and two enormous stone doors opened up behind me. I could barely see the outline of a boy yelling and calling in my direction.

"What's going on?" I demanded, panicked.

"It seems something quite interesting is about to happen," Truth mused to itself, not answering my question. "I must say, I am quite excited as to how this will turn out. But first, let me show you Truth."

The ground opened up beneath me, and I fell into a massive vortex of sheer information. Down and down I fell, the knowledge and truth of the existence of the universe being shoved into my head. I wept and screamed in pain as writhing black hands enwrapped themselves around me. Until I reached a bright light at the end, and gasped at the revelation I found there . . .

"You have paid quite the toll," Truth's voice sounded in my head. "So, Violet, you will experience the ultimate Truth."

And with that, the desperate cry of a human being sounded up ahead, and instead of landing on solid ground a strong hand gripped my forearm as I fell. I was ripped through a void, and lost consciousness from there.

–––

"Gah!" I yelped as freezing water splashed onto my face. I spluttered and gurgled, stumbling backwards onto my behind.

"Ouch," I grumbled, rubbing my sore backside. I glanced upwards, to the see the strange, seemingly genderless figure of Envy standing above me.

"Sorry about the rude awakening," he said nonchalantly. "Father wanted to see you and it seemed you were pretty out of it." He smirked at me. "Come now, before I make you."

I groaned, making myself get on my feet. I wasn't sure how Envy had carried me, but it wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

"Who is Father?" I asked him as we walked down the alien hallway. There were pipes everywhere, covering every wall and space. It was almost blindingly dark, but some unknown source allowed light to filter through.

"You'll find out soon enough, we're almost there," Envy said unhelpfully.

I rubbed my head, trying to soothe the headache that throbbed there. What was I dreaming? I had the lingering feeling that I had some important dream, but I couldn't remember it.

"Was I saying anything in my sleep?" I asked Envy.

"Just yelping and the like," he replied. "Sounds like you were having some lovely experience."

"I think it had to do with Truth," I whispered to myself.

Envy stopped in his tracks. "Oh really?" He said, matching my volume. "Well, Father will be interested in that."

The tunnel we were going through opened up into a large cavern, where the pipes connected and spiraled into a throne-like chair in the center.

A foreboding man with long blond hair and cruel, cold eyes glared down at me from that throne.

I gulped heavily. For some reason, I hadn't felt as scared before. Envy was quite terrifying. But this man...he didn't feel like a human. A darkness emitted from him that didn't emanate from any normal human.

"Hello Father," Envy said happily. "I've found the girl for you."

He shoved me forward at the man's feet. I yelped as I fell to my knees, looking up at those awful eyes with trembling arms to push me up.

WIthout moving a muscle, I was thrust forward by the very ground beneath me. The ground lifted me until I was merely inches from the Father's face. I tried to stare back at him without the fear I knew was riddling my eyes, but I couldn't bring myself to meet his glare.

"Those white flames in your eyes. You've seen something no one else has, haven't you?" His voice was deep and as ancient and powerful as he appeared to be.

"I can't, I can't remember," I squeaked pitifully. "I keep having dreams that I think link to the Truth of something big, but I can't ever remember them properly."

He narrowed his eyes. "Well, I suppose I'll have to make use of you until then."

Fear was overwhelming me now. "Please," I whispered. "I don't know anything about this world. I'll work for you, I'll do whatever servant things you need me to do, but please, don't hurt me. I don't know anything about surviving." I hung my head, burning with shame and humiliation. "I'm not strong."

When I lifted my head, the one Envy called Father was smiling at me. It wasn't exactly a smile that warmed my heart.

"Lock her up," he commanded Envy. "She'll stay there until she starts remembering her dreams, or until the Promised Day comes to use as a sacrifice. Either will do."

"Yep!" Envy said chipperly, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me off my pedestal.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I wasn't cut out for this. I couldn't fight, I couldn't talk my way out of things. I wasn't witty or brave.

Who was I?

I had no memory of what life I lived, what kind of personality I might've had.

But something I did know, was that if I remembered my dreams, I would know a whole lot more.

I complied with Envy, and curled up in a corner of the cell I was thrown into. Two creepy creatures stood guard at the entrance to the cell. They looked like large, aggressive lizards. I shuddered.

"Please," I whispered as Envy made his way out. "Don't leave me alone." I swallowed hard, hating to admit my high amount of weaknesses. "I have terrors with the dark."

To my utmost surprise, Envy stopped, and turned around to look at me. One eyebrow was raised, and a slow smirk spread across his face.

"Is all you are made of is weakness?" He jibed. "If you really did have a breakthrough encounter with Truth, you're definitely the worst person for it."

"And you have no weaknesses?" I shouted back, not sure why sudden anger stirred within me. "Homunculus or not, you can't be invincible." I paused, thinking of something. "Your name is Envy, after all. That in itself, is a terrible, terrible weakness." I met his dark, tormented eyes. "I pity you."

"Shut up, rat!" He screamed. "All you humans do is suffer and bleed. You attack your own kind and then in your own naivety trust them later. It's why your species dies! You are all emotion, all passion, blood, and fury. You have no right to be talking to me about weakness!"

With that, he slammed the cell door shut and stormed off, grumbling to himself.

I curled up in a ball, terrified of the darkness closing in. The whispers of anxiety murmured in my ears, and my guard's eyes glowed and glowered at me in the darkness.

I balled my fists as tears formed in my eyes. It wasn't fair. If I had such an incredible encounter with Truth, why was I seemingly the worst person to have gone through it?

"I think you've made a mistake, Truth," I murmured.