in an unknown graveyard of a strange dimension the young catling Cliff.. looked upon the visage of death, and that of her twin sister Esme... she was going to die. Unless... yes... a ring. A magic ring from one of her old dead characters. That could be used if it functioned the same way... but there was something more to all this that was going on... something she was trying to understand.
"Death?" Cliff called out so very carefully as she took out the golden ring. She stared at the graveyard of names. So many... so many names. These were all her creations. She made these characters when she played the game... She knew them all... they were engraved in stones as she traced the names of each one. Talbert.. Alanon.. Medrin... and so many other fantastical names yet each one she remembered. None of them existed in reality but seeing this here, right now made the young catling fall to her knees, her wispy tail sneaking behind her as she beheld her dark companion in this world.
Death looked neutrally to Cliff. She was a Gothic woman dressed in fineries... a new Death for a new world. A world that could see Death if they really wanted to and even get her number... if they were brave enough. "I will answer any question I am capable of," She whispered staring at the young girl crouching down. Her form bored into the catling's young eyes. "Clifford Wilford," she said slowly. She then held out an hourglass looking at it momentarily then.. putting it back in her black cloak. It was a force of habit to check how much life the living had when she said their names...
Cliff stared up at Death, then back at the motionless figure of her twin. Something about all this was familiar. Esme wasn't just a reincarnation. Who was she? "Death... why can't I remember Esme?" she asked. She could remember all her other characters but Esme was different. Something about her... but what?
Death huddled ever closer, taking out a Gothic looking umbrella. With a distinct pop she hurled it out sheltering the two of them despite the lack of rain. It was strange to Cliff... like being inside a bubble. A reality bubble. "...See the world with me... and I will grant you knowledge no living being can ever know..." the woman whispered into the catling's pointed ear.
-1 BC (before changes)
A young boy was on his desk at home. He looked to have been crying his eyes out. "My name is Cliff Wilford... my father died. I don't know how... the police say it is unlikely they will ever know. I'm writing... I'm... trying to write.. things... I am alone..."
No.. he wasn't alone. Not really. The catling... Ciff was beside her younger male-self as a ghost watching the scene. She was completely transparent as she observed these events of the past with no substance. "What is this? Ghost of Christmas past bull!" she screamed annoyed as she looked to Death. The other Cliff made no motion as if he didn't hear them.
Death shrugged. "This is as difficult for you, as much as it is for me... look."
Another ghostly figure arrived. This one was a hulking skeleton wearing a black cloak. Death, as He was once. Imposing, tall.. and an aura that showed him to be the Ending...
The Gothic woman and the other Death glanced at each other for a moment... sizing the other up, briefly acknowledging their own paradox. He then looked at the young human Cliff and... took a swipe of his cold scythe into the young boy's torso...
Cliff- that is Cliff the catling looked at the event stunned. "W-what happened? I died?"
The older death turned to Cliff with a strange energy in his palm as he placed it in a glass dome. "PART OF YOU... DIED TODAY. I WILL COLLECT THE REST... WHEN IT IS DUE."
That voice was speaking inside his head! Cliff had to run but the only thing he could do was run into the gothic-woman's dress. The woman gently took hold of the young Catling... "Yes, I was rather intimidating back then," she lamented still holding her dark umbrella between them. Pay him no mind little one..."
Cliff sniffled. Yes... of course he remembered this day. The day he woke up and was told his father had died. He was gone.. no more. He would never see him again. What a burden to place on a teenager. The worst thing was he didn't even know how it happened. he had no idea who would do such a thing, or why... and it tore him apart. He vowed he would find out some day... he wanted to just... understand. Understand why the world was, as it was. Of course, he was just a teenager. Fancy ideas of learning who killed his father and why were... a decade away at most. There was simply no way he could... no way at all. But with his world destroyed he started to live in other worlds... dreams... places...
The image shifted further into the future. Cliff was a little older now, and was playing dungeons and dragons on the computer with a rather strange and.. anonymous dungeon master. At least that's how it looked like.
"You never did find out who the person was at the other side of the screen..." said the Gothic woman. "Go ahead.. have a look now." Death gently encouraged.
Cliff's eyes glowed as he saw the world with Death's eyes. So many... dimensions. So many... things. She could see everything. Except... except behind her computer. "Why can't.. I see anything here?" The sheer absence of it was unsettling.
"..because 'nothing' is there," explained Death. "You were speaking to the entity that will one day become the Enemy. At this point in time though it is simply... trying to understand our universe. Your game and turbulent emotions attracted it to you, because it was familiar with the idea of creating scenarios and probabilities. You gave it all the information it needed to interact with this world..."
Cliff remembered. "I was just trying to escape..." It was a dark time for her. Nobody could understand it without having lived it. Now, looking back, she had put a lot of distance from the events and grew up quite quickly but- at this particular stage in her life, she was an absolute jerk. She watched her male younger self sadly. On the one hand though it was nice to see her old body but... yeah... seeing those emotions again was very difficult. He was isolated; alone. He had no friends at all except for The Entity. The one he played with an awful lot veiled behind a computer screen, as they created and killed a number of characters in painful ways. A weird kind of mental therapy or just a way to pass the time? He always took some comfort that maybe at least someone out there liked him... but to see it was now just the Enemy made the catgirl cringe at just how much of a loser she was. Each of those events they created in mind was played out in this world and... the resulting deaths laid to rest. Each time the entity would study death... a concept that Cliff knew so well, with the death of his father.
"What is death," asked the entity.
Cliff shrugged. "It means you never see anyone ever again" he typed back.
"Death does not make sense to me. All things that have existed must exist again in some form."
"Just a rotting corpse, but the rest is gone." sighed the human teenager Cliff. "Let's make a new character then..."
Cliff the catling sighed. Yeah.. they did play a lot of gruelling games together. So all this time she was teaching the enemy about their... life cycle? How... biology worked? But the game was an imperfect representation of that... how could the Enemy make use of it? But if such a.. being existed, if it had no concept of anything other then pure mathematics... what better way to learn?
The Gothic woman nodded to the catling. "Then... you tried to make some real friends, right?"
The cating's ears perked up at that with a horrified expression. "...No... please don't show me that!" Cliff's voice was stressed. "Please don't! No! I can't!" Of course she remembered...
Death shook her head sadly. "You must little one... I don't usually do this sort of thing. I like to leave it to other spirits but you have to see what happened... if you wish to know who Esme is."
Just like a river rushing, time moved forward. Cliff the human was now in a group in school. He was tying to socialise again- and doing an incredibly bad job of it. People were so complicated after all and he had zero social skills. He compensated for this by just being a bit loud, and trying- so very trying. He was trying to remember who he used to be.. who he wanted to be... or something like that.
Cliff the catling observed his younger self trying to make conversation, and get shut down. He tried so hard, so desperately... one girl walked away in disgust... oh yes and he was raising his voice a bit to the point he was talking 'over' people and it came across as rude and needy. He tried to be boastful, he tried to be meek... he tried to be a whole range of personalities never really feeling his own. Who was he? Why did he put on such a mask before people? He was nobody really, and everyone could see he had no identity. He was big and small... Something and nothing at once. "I couldn't... be... anyone." she admitted. "Not in my imagination...not in reality."
The gothic woman sighed. "Because I still have this," she said holding the strange jar that contained a piece of.. of her life? "You are not whole any more Cliff... and the others sense it in a strange way. When a human being has partly died but must carry on living... this is where you are." A traumatised human.. that's what Cliff was, a child who had emerged from a warzone and dealing with an emptiness he just couldn't comprehend himself.
The catling watched the events of her life played out quickly. culminating into the worst message he ever received. He watched his past self collapse in desperation and loneliness... crushing despair... with the eyes of Death she could see those dark shadows now and wanted to cut them down but... they were drawn to him. So many... a curtain of dark night, blocking out reality...
Cliff had really enjoyed that game of dungeons and dragons. He thought he made a lot of cool new friends. It was kind of nice really. Oh.. he got a message? Awesome he was looking forward to their next ga-
'I'm sorry, but your concept of 'Esme' is lame and your portrayal of her in our game is just causing tension and frankly... we're not having fun with you. Please leave the game.'
Cliff looked stunned... a tear forming In his eye as he walked home.
The catling watched her past self struggle with these emotions of rejection. "Why didn't you come and take another part of me that day?" Cliff asked wearily. She was so upset watching this all play out. She couldn't watch her own past any more... maybe these were all simple things. Things that people experience but Cliff was experiencing them so close to her heart.
"Because... there was nothing left of you to take, except your life. Besides... everyone has a bump on the road in making friends. You took rejection very hard."
"I loved Esme," Cliff whispered. "She was everything I felt I had lost.."
"She literally... was," whispered Death taking out Esme's Timer... a timer that Cliff now recognised as containing that part of him that died when... his father died. Is that why Esme was so alive compared to everyone else? It just couldn't be! They... they were twins. Not just twins but she was literally part of her? "You went back to the Entity... and told of what happened. At this point however, it considered you a friend... of sorts. At least as much as you taught it what a friend was. Do you want to know what happened next?"
Cliff nodded wordlessly.
The Entity could feel such wondrous turbulent emotions in Cliff. This was a new one... rejection. That was curious. Shouldn't the entity feel rejection when it wasn't to be part of Cliff's scenarios with these 'real people'? It enjoyed learning about humans but clearly it wasn't enough for Cliff to simply be a creature of non-existance on a server. But it didn't understand enough of this universe to manifest itself as yet Just.. enough to learn about it. It still wasn't sure what form to take if it was to interact on their physical world...
"I just wanted to make some friends," Cliff said on the screen.
'What are friends?' asked the entity typing it out on the screen.
Cliff groaned. His internet friend did like to do the whole Roleplay an alien thing quite a lot. He didn't mind it though, everyone had a reason for acting the way they did. Besides it also gave him a lot more clarity when he described it. "People you like to be with that have shared interests," he explained leaning back on his chair, rocking it. This was a horrible day. He had no friends.. nothing.
The Entity processed this. "Then why feel rejection? If they did not like you by definition they couldn't have had shared interests.'
Cliff frowned as he typed away on his computer. "They do have shared interests... I wanted to play my character with them but I'm not really any good at socialising and... they sent me this message that I'm... no longer welcome."
The entity continued to process this. It had never really encountered such unusual emotions from a creature. Humans were odd. Some of them liked to create probability scenarios like it did... and it was starting to develop a 'fondness' for Cliff. Perhaps it could help it's friend? 'Those that hurt you need a real 'DM'... shall I assist? I will ask a favour in return."
".. Yeah they could use one." Cliff replied back. "You always were a great DM to me..." His internet friend- nameless though he was, was just incredible in the level of detail and realism... he was about to type what he meant but- at that point the entity signed off suddenly leaving a bewildered Cliff.
Well..people signed off for a reason, he should just go to bed.
At the school there was a dungeons and dragons game going on... minus their latest member. Three 'friends' clustered around a table, and a curious map. A pit diagram was there, while the dungeon master was setting it up.
"Don't worry about Cliff, he's gone. Kicked out." Said a young teen geek named Cobra. Yep... they didn't use their real names here. Just their characters.
"Thank goodness," said Brutus. "That guy was getting on my nerves. He was always talking over me. So rude."
"Not to mention his stupid ideas." sighed Windstone. What a lame character! Like- it was just so annoying. Freakin catlings, they shouldn't exist in the game. Always going off on a tangent just because they saw something shiny... lame lame lame!" Finally.. they could be serious again and treat the game with the respect it deserved.
Cobra chuckled. Things had been set right and it was time to continue on. Cliff was an absolute nuisance and he was glad to be rid of him. It was time to set the scene. "Okay, so you are going into a temple and there is a deep pit... you can see a lever that might make the pit rise up but.. you are on the other side and you have to get across. Please roll!"
"... oh crap I got a 1." said Windstone.
"... ditto..." sighed Brutas.
The DM Cobra laughed. A one in two hundred chance! Still it was amusing. Killing the two characters now though would destroy the story so... time to fudge it. "Okay no problem well... you both fall into the pit, but might have a chance to grasp the wall. Roll some luck saves."
Both did so and.. snake eyes. Both got a one... again?
The DM looked oddly. "Let's.. roll a few dices and get the 1's out." getting this many ones in a row was weird.
The trio continued to roll dices but no matter what they rolled the result was always a one. They must have rolled a hundred times, but each time the value always came up to one. They even tried some new dices and still had the same result! It was like their game was... was cursed. It was.. freaky.
Indeed it might as well had been cursed. The Entity existed within their game now. It had examined their scenario and realised they should have no chance of success. It altered the dices appropriately, yet for some reason they were still insistent on questioning the scenario. No wonder Cliff didn't get on with them. These were a kind of human that were so different to his 'friend'. 'I will convey to them there is no chance of success,' decided the Entity. Humans were more physical and visual creatures, it would be a good way to test their abilities. To.. manifest itself in this world in some way.
Instantly a flash of light appeared on the map as the entity drew them in to the physical scenario they had created.
"Holy! What the-" Cobra looked blankly as the whole table was lit with a strange magic. The trio was then drawn into the game... like whirlpool in reality is sucked them in, leaving no trace there was ever anyone there before.
The entity studied the result. Yes, the three were now in the pit of their design. They could not get out, not with only... three people. They were just three feet shot in trying to make their chain to pull the switch and raise the platform. Exactly the length a certain catling might have been able to provide. The entity experienced an unusual emotion. It was quite 'pleased' in teaching these strange humans the value of important calculations and of it's superior knowledge of their own scenarios. It then detected a strange... hole in normal reality. Apparently humans that left this world created odd ripples in reality. "Repair" it stated.
Now... none could remember them. It was almost like death... rooms, names, numbers.. it was all just a blank. Disappeared without a trace...
'Condition: return when you realise Cliff could have helped you.' It hoped it fulfilled the condition required for friendship with Cliff.
Cliff looked wordlessly. "The... Entity -killed- the ones I was trying to make friends with!?" She asked white as a sheet. She couldn't remember them until.. until now. The entity had erased even her own memories. Who could have known it was active before the magic girls were around?
The gothic woman arched an eyebrow at cliff. "What? Oh no... I would have certainly had a word about that. The Entity placed them in their own game under the condition that their release would occur when they realised they needed you."
"Oh," Cliff thought twitching her tail nervously. "That.. doesn't sound so bad..." it just wanted to teach them a lesson?
Death cleared her throat. "Yes... well... Unfortunately... they never made that realisation." She paused at the implications of that. "Humans. Go figure."
Cliff stood there shocked at the implication. "They've been stuck in a pit for years?!" Did they die of hunger or... the thought of it made her physically sick. She certainly didn't want that! She just.. wanted to have been friends with them.
"Relax dear. I don't exist in this world back then... so they are very much alive, until I sort out the paperwork" she reminded. Death could only happen if she was around... so in this case, they were simple placed in a kind of bubble reality. "Don't worry, the Angel Lucas should be near them now and will free them."
Once again they were back in the graveyard... Esme's unconscious form, and... the ring.
"Not a good choice for you I'm afraid dear," Death explained. "You can use the ring and Esme will be healed but... you will never be whole. Or, you can let her die and... you could have that part of you return..."
Cliff stared at her twin sister... and at herself. If... If she died... then she would feel better? That made no sense. Esme... Esme was real here. Made from a part of her very soul. She had to protect her, as she would when playing her. "I can't let her die..."
"You can't let yourself live, Cliff?" asked Death.
Cliff struggled at the thought. "I... wouldn't be me, if I let her die... if that means I can never be whole... that's fine." She slipped the ring on her dying form, as the light started to glow.
Esme stirred... the healing magic removing the poison from her blood slowly. She...woke up... her shining green eyes stared at her sister and she gave a hug. "Cliff... you... saved me..."
"yeah... of course I did." The catling smiled, wagging her tail to see her sister alive.
She reached up her hand slowly, touching her creator. "I.. think I understand now," she whispered.
