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It had to be a dream. A nightmare. There was nothing else it could have been. He saw Scott next to him, pulling him backward.
“I don’t want to go in there!” Jimmy cried out.
He was recalling his power. Was this a mockery of that? Were they punishing him like Lizzie had said?
Skizz sat on the ground, staring up at the tower. “It’s the entire universe…”
“I’ve never been more unsettled in my life.”
Jimmy looked up at Scott. They had seen a lot of things in their lives, the two of them. This was in fact a nightmare. Though Jimmy was very unsure if he would ever wake up.
“Welcome to the Cosmic Tower of Creation,” Grian’s voice boomed in the darkness. “Get me out!”
And suddenly everyone was gone. Scott was no longer holding Jimmy’s hand. Skizz was now staring in awe. Impulse was not staring in fear. Jimmy stood alone in front of the tower. The void made him sick. He slowly approached the tower and traced his hand along the barrier until he felt the give. Just as he had time and time before, he felt lost as he entered the void. He was floating, aimlessly until he found the door. Then he was falling. It was the wrong move. Eventually he climbed through the doorway and into the cozy interior of the house, sitting momentarily on the couch.
The void was creeping into the house. Into the windows and the fireplace. Was this what Grian’s mind was like? No wonder he was so unhinged all the time. No wonder he was driven to run death games. Jimmy made his way through the tower, slowly getting frustrated. Slowly getting more manic.
* * *
Skizz pulled himself up onto the shelf and rested his hand on the mannequin’s shoulder. “Found you, buddy.”
“That’s not me…” Grian’s voice echoed.
Skizz rolled his eyes moving away from the object, tripping over his own two feet. The void surrounded him. He was consumed. This was the power he had been searching for. The thing that held the answers and yet he had none.
He threw his arms in front of himself. “Am I still falling?”
“No but you should be…”
His body tipped backward, as his he had been poked in the check. He feel rapidly through the void, landing in front of Grian in the little room. Where he had been calm a moment a go, the endstone under his feet began to crumble as he dug his heel down. He lunged for his friend, trying to grasp the man’s collar in anger.
“Tell me what this is?” He screamed, as he fell on the stone, unsuccessful.
As he hit the stone with a thud, he sat up in bed. Letting out a final, guttural scream, loud enough for the entire mountain to hear, he flipped his bed upside down and went on a hunt, not even attempting to fall back asleep.
* * *
Impulse dove under the water, holding his breath. He emerged on the other side, coming face to face with the tiny room. He sat in the chair for a moment, taking his time to think. He stared at the Shulk sensor waving in front of him, hypnotizing him.
“It’s fun to watch, but it doesn’t do anything.” Grian’s voice came out of nowhere like a complaint.
The sensor reacted to his voice, though Grian wasn’t looking at it from wherever he was; he was looking at Impulse. The engineer pocketed that knowledge and stood up, leaving the little cave within the tower within the void.
* * *
It felt like a trap. One minute Scott was holding Jimmy’s hand and the next he wasn’t. One minute he had eyes on Impulse and the next he didn’t. He felt comfort momentarily, then he felt horror. He had been in the void plenty of times. When he won. When Pearl won. When he died. When they pulled him out of his worlds. When they taunted him in his dreams. The void was like an old friend… an old toxic friend.
He crossed through the tower, angry and cautious. He was burned and starving. He wasn’t paying much attention but he felt the hurt in his bones as he clumsily climbed up the shelf staring at the void space around him. He backed off the edge haphazardly, dying on impact, Grian’s face the last thing he saw.