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The Void had long been something of a comfort, almost. The ever present, ever encroaching Void. Uncomfortable for some, surely- the sight of it often a sign of impending danger, but for Gem? It was a constant in an ever changing, lonely existence. A part of every world, filling in the in-between, Void. Yes, the void had long been something of a comfort- so why now, in the middle of The Games, did it feel so…
She shook her head of the thoughts as she studied the portal frame. Open the End Portal. Let the Void into The Games. There weren’t enough Eyes. And yet, it felt like there were so, so many. Open the End Portal. There weren’t enough Eyes. Open the End Portal. Let the Void in.
Use the eye. Open the portal.
Think. Think, think, think, she couldn’t think but for- Open the portal. The book inscribed with The Task weighed heavy in her pocket- use the eye- and her head was throbbing- Open the portal- she had an eye- it hurt- it hurt and she couldn’t think-
Her eye
Burned.
All too soon, she came to realise what she had done. For the eye now sitting snugly in the last slot of the portal frame..
Was not an Eye of Ender.
There was a crater in her skull. An absence. A nothing where there should have been a something. It rung with a sense of phantom pain, and as she stumbled backwards down the steps leading up to the Portal a boom emanated from it, whistling through her body and into her very soul. Her communication device started pinging. She tore it off and threw it to the floor as her back hit the wall. Her eye. Her eye. Void, her eye. Gone- it was gone, it-
Ginger curls came into vision as she curled in on herself, clawing at the place her eye should be. Her eye, that was currently nestled into the portal frame. Shaking, she was shaking, What Had She Done-
Void. Void, Void, Void. Why was there Void all over her hands? She grabbed at her wrist and forced her remaining eye into focus. There was no blood- in its place, Void was leaking from the new absence in her skull. Void. Void.
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She replaced the eye. An Eye of Ender was still an Eye, was it not? Nobody questioned it. Weird things happened in The Games all the time. It was temporary, the one in the red jumper assured her- scars don’t last outside The Games. It wasn’t really a problem, though. Sure, it freaked her out when it happened, and now she could only see from one eye, but- not a problem. It’s only temporary. Scars don’t last. When I leave, it will go back to normal.
So, she replaced the eye. Unfortunately, this only seemed to encourage the Void. It fell from her eye, and it spread. Imperceptible, at first. A mark of Void on her face that she presumed had not been wiped away, the subtle creeping of it as it spread further. By the time a week had gone by, it had trickled slowly down her neck and across her shoulder. Void. Tangible. Intangible. Void.
Perhaps, it was the Void that directed her actions that following week. An army of her own, to face the dragon. In the realm of the Void. Why did it feel so important? So necessary? The one thing she knew for certain- she was not going through the Void. Thinking of that room- the Portal, with the singular slot containing her eye- No. She put on a pumpkin alongside the army she was gathering, and continued on. It helped, she thought- the pumpkin- her thoughts began to feel her own again- at least for a short while.
A group stood, small but strong, in the room with the Portal. She was there, too- she had to lead them there- and she stood, back facing to the place her eye laid, hoping none of her army would comment. She checked the group over, ensuring they were well prepared- and the Void whispered to her. It reached through the Portal and called out. She ignored it. But- but, but, but- the part of Void that was on her, that was part of her, reached out, calling, longing.
Her army jumped through. She secured her pumpkin and left the Portal behind, steadfastly ignoring the calls that were no longer whispers, but wails of despair and longing.
That was when the Void began to hurt.
Ever punishing, ever present, hurt.
And with the hurt came more Void. It began to spread rapidly, like an infection taking root, and she found that she could not think but for the pain. Slowly, too slowly, and yet all too quickly, it covered half of her body. And she
began
to
forget.
What was she forgetting? She was forgetting something, she was sure of it. Many somethings. But what? Void, what was she forgetting? And the Void
answered.
It answered in her own voice, and it said she was here to play The Games, to win The Games, and that was all that mattered. To do that, all of these players needed to die.
She was forgetting something.
Her ally, the one with the blue hair- The Star, the Void supplied- asked her often if she was alright. Was she? She felt fine. So she fixed a smile on her face and relayed the information. Tried to act more like her. Because she was still her.
She was forgetting something.
Void. Void.
The one in the red jumper- The Sun, the Watcher- looked at her strangely. She noticed. Certainly. But they were not friends. She did not know him She Was Forgetting Something she did not know him, not his face nor his name. Only the titles the Void provided. He looked at her, almost… sympathetically. There was nothing wrong. Why did they all seem to think that?
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The Void thrived on violence. And she was full of it. The Tasks inflicted upon her a curse, and the Void grew a little more.