A vague figure made itself known a few meters from Artemis. It was a shapeless entity, it traveled through the void like a blob and it glided through the slate underneath them both.
Artemis stared at it, he said nothing. He just stared as this ominous figure as it made its way towards him he only kept his eye on it. The figure stopped a few meters from Artemis, it was indeed a shapeless entity that assumed no permanent solid appearance whatsoever and just looked at Artemis with its non-existent eyes.
"You are afraid,"
The entity said.
"No shit,"
Artemis replied. He was arguably not in the mood for formal greetings and just decided to be blunt.
"You've changed,"
The entity continued, seemingly ignoring Artemis' reply to its assumption.
"Who are you?"
Artenis asked the entity. He was determined to get answers and he saw this as a chance. This entity answered his calls and he was ready to grab any opportunity to finally answer his questions about his existence.
"Well, I am the voice,"
The entity slid nearer towards Artemis. Even though it was so near him, he could not make out any form, maybe it was because of the darkness? Or maybe the shapeless entity was just really a voice and this seemingly shapelessness of its state was just an illusion that was made to fit his imagination.
"The voice? The voice in my head that forces me to do things that make no sense?"
He was angry and understandably so, frustrated and confused, he wanted to choke this 'voice' and get done with this pointlessness and live a peaceful life without responsibilities.
"It's harsh to call your responsibilities as things that make no sense,"
The entity suddenly began to float. The entity then made its figure known, rather, it manifested into a humanoid form composed of nothing more than a white faint line of light that drew the outline of a human body, it had no other features.
"Follow me, let's have a walk,"
The vague entity asked.
"Why should I follow you?"
Artemis replied, stubbornly.
"If you wish to get the answers that you seek, it's best that you follow me,"
The entity's way of speaking was seductive, not in a sense of a woman seducing a man, but it was powerful and somewhat twisted, it lured Artemis to follow it. Artemis did follow it and together, they strode through the void.
"So, what's the point of all of this?"
Artemis asked.
"It's to reveal to you something, since you asked for it to be revealed,"
The entity replied.
"When I was screaming and cursing you? Is that what you mean of me 'asking'?"
Artemis mocked.
"Yes, quite like that,"
The entity replied smoothly.
"Then why, why should I follow you? Why am I burdened with responsibilities I never asked for?"
Artemis threw his first question.
"You're a human, did you have a choice when you were born?"
Artemis was silent.
"No,"
Artemis replied after a minute.
"Then that answers your question, what's the next?"
The entity seemed to be playing with Artemis' curiosity.
Artemis was not pleased with the answer nor was he laughing at the entity's obvious motive.
"No, answer me, what's the purpose of this all?"
The vague humanoid entity stopped walking and turned towards Artemis.
"To fulfill your deepest desire,"
The entity answered and they continued their walk.
Along the way, Artemis noticed that the light beneath them was shining brighter but faint nonetheless.
"What's that light at the bottom?"
Artemis decided to let his curiosity do the talking.
"That's you, or what's left of the real you that you try so hard to forget, to wall off,"
Artemis was blank. He was hit with guilt, his decision to forget his true self manifested into a waterfall of unwanted emotions. Emotions that almost drowned him.
"What's my deepest desire?"
The figure grabbed Artemis by the shoulders and they both sat on the hard beneath.
"For you to understand it, you must first learn a bit of your past,"
Artemis stared at the entity in confusion.
"So, you're just gonna reveal my past? What kind of bullshit is that?"
Artemis was angry, he thought of everything as stupid and that the entity he was talking to clearly did not know what he wanted nor did it care about what he wanted. But he was wrong.
"If I were to reveal to you the full scope of your past, you will die,"
Artemis wanted to retort, wanted to debate this ill idea, assumption, this ill theory of him dying. But the entity revealed something he wished he never saw.
Suddenly, the void in front of him disappeared and a brief scene manifested itself. It felt as if Artemis was there, and then he saw it, those few seconds of horror.
He saw a city, well, the skyline of a city, they were sitting on top of a building. On top was an orange moon, probably they were in one of the human's colonized terraformed planets. Artemis stood and ran towards the edge of the building to see what was below. He looked down and saw people. The people were running in all directions.
He then looked to the sky and saw the brown clouds and black smoke from the fires that raged below. Jets streaked through the air as hovercrafts flew by, he saw one of them pick up civilians from another building, only for the building to collapse, killing the civilians.
He saw chaos everywhere and a loud growl suddenly echoed behind him.
The same black creature he saw from his flashback appeared, tentacles waving and body oozing.
And then the scene suddenly disappeared and they were back in the void. Artemis panted and curled himself into a ball out of fear.
The vague entity was still sitting on the exact same spot, looking at him.
"You see?"
The entity said.
"You're still too fragile to handle even a few seconds of your life, what more if you knew everything?"
The entity stood and placed its hands over Artemis as he began to sob.
"You sob in your own mind because you don't have the ability to do so in the real world, Artemis, heed my calls, you're still a fragile human regardless of how much you try to make yourself as a true machine, you will never be a true machine"
Artemis continued to sob uncontrollably. He grabbed hold onto the vague entity and wailed on its shoulders, he sobbed so hard that it echoed through the void.
The entity returned the favor and hugged him tight and patted him on the back.
"There, there, you're still the Zack I know deep inside,"
"I surrender,"
Artemis finally ceded and admitted defeat.
The entity suddenly giggled and slowly disappeared. Artemis panicked as the entity disappeared from his arms and turned into bubbles that floated away.
He watched as the bubbles glowed in the void and floated away from his sight, little by little they went away and little by little, slowly but surely, they disappeared from his sight.
Artemis again sat down and looked down. The light below was now small once more, back to its original form. Maybe I was near? He thought, trying to guess what happened. He stayed in the void for long, he sat, he walked and he even jumped like some child.
Or maybe he was?
Nope.
Gradually, he was beginning to forget this experience, unbeknownst to him, he was finally awakening from this chaotic event. Back in the real world, his body began to red, the cracks in his body started to glow once more its red hue and his eyes were beginning to activate.
He noticed that he was forgetting the experience, he now did not know what happened before he entered the void but he still remembered the feeling, his suppression was finally returning and his facade was once again switching on.
He came to this realization.
He must have had a lot of experiences similar to these, pain and suffering, talking with this invisible entity, an event where his emotions pour out from the walls he himself set up to contain them and inflict him the very same questions, doubt melancholy and depression he experienced now.
Maybe he's done this, or has happened thousands of times for the past centuries and that he does not remember any of it because of his suppression, because he wanted to forget. He did not want to admit this now but a few minutes ago he did, now he was starting to forget once more and now he does not admit it.
He hides in a shell.
He does not want to face the truth, the reality, the pain.
His psychic manifestation has begun to fade and he knew he was waking from this experience and he understood clearly that he will forget about this experience and never remember any of it, only the feeling of it would linger in the deepest reaches of his heart.
Suddenly, the voice spoke again.
"Are you ready?"
It asked.
"Am I?"
Artemis asked back.
"Make yourself ready if you don't think you are,"
The voice replied.
"Will you come back? You still haven't answered my questions, all of them at least,"
Artemis asked again.
"I know you have thousands of questions that you wish to be answered, the answers will come in due time, for now, just continue and eventually you'll reach the finish line,"
"That finishing line, is within a cave inside a treacherous cave full of beasts that want me dead,"
Artemis stated.
"Indeed, now get going,"
The voice concluded and once again disappeared.
The void began to light up, Artemis accepted everything that has happened and as the light engulfed his whole, he forgot everything.
Artemis' eyes glowed red and blinked a few times. He was back in his room, destroyed objects littered his surroundings, he knew he was the one who did it but the reason of him doing so has been lost, forgotten.
He stood up, he menacingly glowed in his red streaks of lights that came from his eyes and tiny cracks on his body, he shook his head and felt a bit of pain inside his head.
"Odd," He whispered.
There was no turning back, he has forgotten everything, he felt what remained of the event within his heart but he has decided to suppress it along with the rest of the other experiences, emotions, and humanity he has.
He was back to being the Artemis he knew, he liked, he was pleased about.
He dusted off the dust and rubble from his uniform and pulled his collar. The door in front of him opened, the light from the hall shined in as Caitlyn and her guards ran in.
Artemis stared at them, seemingly dejected of any emotion as always.
Caitlyn then suddenly ran towards Artemis and wrapped her arms around the bewildered Overall. The Androids then surrounded Artemis as if they were guarding him from something.
"You disappeared," Caitlyn said.
"What?" Artemis inquired.
"Your presence, your presence disappeared for a brief moment, where were you? What happened to you!? why is this place such a mess?!"
Caitlyn was hysterical.
Artemis was also as confused as she, he did not remember what happened so how could he provide an accurate explanation or answer? All he knew to do, was to hug her back. He did not see them but outside his tower, below the foundations and the skyscraper, hundreds of thousands of Androids were gathering around it, hovercrafts and Gunship Drones flew round and round in what would be remembered as when the Machines were looking for their king.
From Earth to this world, the power, the might, the folly of this newly emergent power shall be felt in both worlds, the people will tremble, the skies will shatter as the deities quake in fear. Artemis' journey had just begun, his journey to greatness, to conquest, for himself.
"I am sorry,"
Artemis wrapped his hands around Caitlyn, a gesture that Caitlyn did not expect.
But she was happy nonetheless.