The Quest for Power

Prequel - A night in the life of a theorist.

writer note: The following part can be read as a background to the narrator of the story, or as a separate short story. Feel free to skip it though, it doesn't really add much to the story itself.

-

It was late that night, I haven't slept for a while. I couldn't.

There was so much more to find, so much more to learn. So much more to uncover.

I was on to him.

I knew this time he won't be able to hide his secrets anymore. I deserved to know, WE deserved to know.

The lights have been flickering for the last couple of minutes. I've gotten used to it by now.

Keyboard ticking echoed through the corridors as my heartbeats grew stronger. I was so close.

So close to making sense of it all.

A notification showed up on my screen. I saved my progress and switched the tab.

"Still writing?" I looked at the message.

"Yeah." I typed down. "I found some interesting st-" Sudden silence made me freeze in place while I stared down the black screen. The power went out. The darkness swallowed me but I was staring blankly at the monitor, so glad I've made a backup of what I was writing.

I sat in the dark, with only my heartbeats to fill in the silence. It felt like an eternity but soon enough the power returned and the computer turned back on.

I've opened back all of my tabs, not bothering to reply the message this time. I had to finish my research.

-

I wasn't tired anymore, I looked at the clock ticking away and returned my eyes back to the screen but then I've heard a sound coming from one of the tabs. I opened it, surprised to see I had no messages at all.

I laughed it off and refreshed the page, staring at the page that went blank all of a sudden.

"Tumblr is being stupid again." I sighed. I didn't have the time for it.

I returned back to the forum I was reading just before the lights went out. It all was finally making sense.

My head started aching and I looked at the clock, it was past 3am.

"I should be done soon." I told myself.

My neck was throbbing in pain, but I knew soon enough I'll go rest.

Another page and another, my eyes were running through the text. It all clicked into place. Everything finally was clear.

The pain in my neck and my head grew stronger, spreading towards one another and meeting around my eyes, throbbing and aching.

I had to finish soon.

I opened YouTube again, probably for the tenth time this night. I've placed my headphones on my ears and watched the glitches on the screen. I knew there was something right under my nose. I had to find it.

The lights flickered again.

"That's it." My heart raced. I realized what I was missing.

I started typing and my vision has gotten blurry. I rubbed my eye, it has started twitching from the pain.

-

A noise came from outside. I stood up and looked through the window, only to see an empty night street.

Sitting back down I was met with only my desktop to return to. My browser and all of the tabs I had opened were now gone.

I sighed as I opened the browser back up. Luckily it managed to recover my searches.