"Alethi"
a working of character
Gary Baker, (date unknown, sometime within the last few years)
Bright light; blinding,
searing. An intense ripple of electric pain, so great that it seemed to
drive toward insanity, until that blessed moment of sure-to-be
emptiness.
Then something changed.
A slim, faded blur of
green wisped across and then gone. Curiosity peaked and then came the tantalizing rub and tug of flesh on bone, of liquid within the flesh
morphing it's shape just slightly enough to turn the skeletal
fragments housed within. Then the glidingly easy, lubricated
sensation of that bone turning on cushioned cartilage.
...and the green blur
appeared again.
Focusing on the green
enabled more, and the painful white existence became numb. The green
began to grow, sharpening and gaining contrast with itself, forming
new shades and slashes of darker tones interspersed like stones in
the sand.
Continuing still, the
blur dissapated into shards with shadows generating the darker hues
while spots of glimmering light generated brighter tones. As if in
response, the green region grew, reaching the sides of the visible
white expanse where it then sharpened until it became visibly soft.
At first the green
appeared fur-like, but with second thoughts coming from an unseen
zone of being, came the notion of grass. The green shards were grass.
But what was this
'grass', really? And how was this known?
Surely knowing such would be impossible to something nonexistent, yet
sensation overrode doubt and existence, too, was known... though not
how.
The
thoughts crept out more, touching the place where the bone and flesh
sensations had emanated, in that far-off point in space, and found a
sturdy, unseen force in the way. The force had a cushioned quality,
with the idea of connectivity to something larger, though displaced
by invisible fog, and hinted at a more in-depth force of being than
was currently known.
In
shock and curiosity both, the thoughts felt onward, driven by a greed
to have as much of this knowing
as possible before it slipped away again. They imagined five-pronged
appendages with more of this amazingly addicting bone and flesh feel,
though why five was not yet known,
where each struck out from two larger lengths and everything within
cognition was contained within a slightly oily, slightly dry, not
very sticky but not gripless surface. The thoughts imagined eight of
these as small projections containing an overwhelmingly greater
number of points where they could relish in the sensation of flesh
and bone turning and pivoting with the help of oily cartilage.
Somehow, from those same thoughts came another realization that these
chaotic instruments were known
as hands, and that
these hands had four fingers
each with an opposing thumb
off to the side.
The
hands returned to the point of origin to find the same feeling as
before, only now more intensely felt through comprehendable
fingertips and fleshy
muscular pressure. The fingers pressed and prodded, all at the
thoughts command, creating the image of moving liquid within the
fleshy origin, so near to the wonderous lumescent green and yet so
very far away.
The
thought came to find the end to this new idea, and through unspoke
commands the fingers once again slid away, deep into space beyond the
origin, finding more bony structures beneath more flesh and padding.
An Array of bumps caused by long, horizontal-but-curved bones beneath
more flesh, then quickly faded beneath separate mounds of piled flesh
ever-so-slightly more padded to the touch than the other fleshy
regions thus far explored.
Continuing
still, the fingers relayed signals of more beyond as the flesh
dropped away in a deeper curve than that which had started these
mounds, until once again bony flesh came to pass. A series of
ripple-like bones beneath a thinner layer of flesh slid beneath the
exploration and ultimately gave way to an unexpected flaw. The
fingers paused, hesitating as they found themselves without command
whilst the thoughts tried to comprehend why it was the bone had
suddenly gone away, replaced by a full region of space where only
flesh could be found. Worried, the thoughts sent the fingers out
again, frantically seeking a return of these lovely structures of
bone.
It
was then that the smallest of the fingers, a twin of the smallest on
the other hand, dipped
into a sudden divot. The thoughts reeled, both ecstatic at such a
find and terrified that this was the beginning of the end, that from
here on there would be no further space to traverse into. So they
made up for it by sending all fingers at once to push and shove their
way over and into this tiny point, discovering a short drop ended
with more crevaces than there were fingers, all smaller than the
thoughts could imagine as being possible, yet there they all were,
held together by a tiny mound at the cratorial center.
After
much deliberation, the thoughts became coherent enough to send the
fingers out further, to seek out more of these elusive nuances.
Continuing, the fingers reached an unknown substance further below
the lone divot, where tiny spindles of corrosive fibers splayed out
with no intended direction, as though this form of chaos was normal.
But
why? Why enable chaos on a perfect existence? Curioser still, what
would the spindles of fiber be intended for? And by whom?
The
thoughts grew ravagingly more greedy to find out the answers, and
pushed the fingers further, pressing into what could only be imagined
as wiry grass that grew from the flesh beneath, where they finally
reached a sharp decline. On the sides of the fiberous expanse the
flesh moved onward without delay, yet within the area of the fibers
the flesh fell away dramatically. Pressing onward to sate a curiosity
of their own, the fingers delved into a point where both the flesh
and the innermost fibers felt warm and wonderfully moist. Further on
this warm flesh then became folded and rippled, and more moisture
seemed to appear the longer the fingers pressed onward.
The
thoughts became ecstatic again, decidedly knowing that
this point in space was where the flesh originated from. There was no
other explanation for it. They revisited the divot above and came to
a similar conclusion, though chose instead that this was an older
point in existence, one that had been used for it's course and had
simply became outdated in time. Further review brought the thoughts
back to the mounds, where flesh seemed to be stored, kept within
reach until the need for growth became tangible and in one swift move
the thoughts declared this space to be known with truth.
There
was an unmistakable doubt lingering within the thoughts, like an echo
hailed against a cavernous wall, but the more important matter of
discovering where it all ended still remained. Returning to the
origin point above, the fingers responded to this matter by moving in
the opposite direction with renewed vigor.
First
came the sharp incline of incredibly bony flesh followed by an
ever-so-slight decline with more flesh deposits beyond. Pressing with
all ten appendages, the fingers found several openings to more
moisture, the largest and closest to the sharp incline resembling a
horizontal version of the opening beyond the fibers below. Above this
existed two smaller twin openings on another sharp incline, and two
more beyond that.
Moving
further, the fingers reached over the two latest openings and the
thoughts could only watch as the glowingly trance-like grass became
obscured by deep shadowy blurs of darkness.
Instinctively
the fingers drew away quickly to keep the grass within view, but
curiostiy peaked again and the thoughts turned the structure of bone
and flesh to move the fingers back into view below the image of the
grass. Once again the shadows hovered there, moving when the thoughts
commanded the fingers to, and faded into clarity with the prolonged
exposure. The light dimmed slightly as the shadowy fingers came into
reality, declaratively seen through the oval holes above the point of
origin, and the thoughts chose to know
that these figures were the very fingers that they controlled. Of
this, there was no doubt.
Then
came the details, so many wonderful details. The fingers were pale,
but not too pale, the thoughts somehow knew, but more pale than they
lighter grass tones. Over the places of cartilage, creases were
visible in the outermost layerof pale flesh, as if merely there to
remind of the magic-like structures within. They all seemed to hint
of more and, sure enough, as the fingers flexed toward the ovals that
enabled vision, a new texture could be seen hiding on the back of the
fingertips, seemingly made of a glossy flesh that drove into the
first joint of each appendage.
The
grass flickered slightly and the thoughts pulled their new-found gaze
toward it once more, to see a tiny figure resting where one had not
been previously. The figure wasn't anything like that which the
fingers had explored. Instead of a patch of fibers, the new figure
was covered completely in white and muddy brown red splotches. The
figure stood on all four limbs with it's head tilted to the side,
curiously.
What
is this? The thoughts wondered,
coelescing into one lone voice with all the vigor of much-needed
comprehension, while pushing into lower limbs of it's own extending
below the fiber-covered opening and swung them aside like larger
fingers. Something touched the limbs where the vision could see them
end with five more digits per limb and when the voice within tried to
understand what it had been, something exploded in the space between
the two figures. A painfully loud bellow of a high-pitched yelp
seemed to emanate from the four-legged figure in the grass and
instantly the hands reached for the sides of the voice's own head, as
if this could block out the sound.
Unfortunately,
however, upon clapping to the head the hands created loud 'pop'
sounds of flesh hitting bony flesh again, followed by a painful ache
within the voice's head, swimming around the source of the thoughts
with pulsing irritation and a 'ping' that eventually gave way to an
endless high-pitched ringing.
As
cognition returned, the fingers suddenly became aware of more fibers,
less coarse than those down below, but more greater in number and
apparent length. Following the ends of these fibers, the fingers
reached across and over the ovals of vision once more, pulling the
long strands of pale whitened-tan fibers into view. These fibers
seemed to draw in the perfection of the existence beyond them to
display it all with glittering realism.
Entranced,
the fingers reached up and meshed into the sheer immensity of how
truly thick these fibers clustered around the origin of thought.
Again the fingers brought these forward so it could gaze at what the
unheard voice kept hinting at as being hair,
and pure joy rushed in, starting within the inner thoughts until it
reached out and drew into the flesh of the head. Muscles tugged at
the sides of the horizontal opening and ecstatic joy overflowed the
thoughts into a twitch that reached through all points, explored and
unexplored alike, ending in a sudden exhalation of air through the
horizontal opening that sounded like a toned-down version of that
which had come from the figure in the grass.
Suddenly
the voice declared itself a figure
and witnessed in awe as the mind-generated thoughts began to connect
pieces together with a knowledge of unknown origin; recalling folds
of flesh between it's lower limbs, the mounds of flesh above the
divot and the intensely long hair, to bring the notion of womanhood
into being. With this in mind, the figure reached out to an
intangible sound somehow already known: she.
She
reached out again, concentrating on what to call the figure in the
grass, coming up with only 'it'. Frustrated, she pushed harder,
delving into the expanse of knowledge contained within her thoughts,
focusing on the figure to bring clarity. Finally she hit her first
clue: she was nearly bare of the fibers known as hair,
whereas the other was covered entirely. Somehow this meant the other
wasn't a figure at
all, but a... thing?
Yes. But no, it was something else... a... creature?
Yes! That was it.
'She,'
she mouthed, 'it.' Her face contorted the muscles to somehow give her
more clarity in thought and then brighened suddenly. 'Cre – ture'
she mouthed, then pushed harder with an exhalation of breath like
something hinted at from the back of her mind, while instictually
contourting the muscles within her neck. “Cr – ea – t – sur.”
No, that wasn't quite right. “Cr – ea – jur.” Still not
right. “Cr – ee – ch – ur.”
Another
wave of ecstacy pulsed through her body and she knew she'd gotten it
right. “Cr – ee – ch – ur,” she exclaimed, “cree –
chur.” With excitement as her fuel, she finally pushed to speak it
faster “cree – chur, creechur! Creature!” The low-toned yelping
sound came back again with more joy that she couldn't help but
release and she began to scream with this sound that her mind told
her was known as laughter.
As
she let the convulsions of amusement roll through her, her mind began
to wander, stuck on the idea of all this knowledge coming so very
fast. What was this knowledge? How did it know these things? And why
was a four-legged being known as a creature?
For now it didn't matter as all existence of her body, the grass and
the fluffy creature before her exhaled in an outrageous fit of pure
wonder and joyous laughter.
“Creature!”
She yelled, “it! She! Grass!”
The
fit continued even as she stood from her seated position in the
still-white expanse and took her first step toward the grass. The
step pushed the feeling of tiny, sharp, loose stones and dirt into
her mind, where the feeling seemed painful as there hadn't been any
just moments ago. Still laughing, she took another step with slightly
wobbly balance and then another and another and another, each time
she came ever-closer to the furry creature in the grass.
When
she was only a step away from the grass, she turned to see how far
she'd come by this new sensation of walking
and saw that where she'd stepped was no longer white, but a deep
brown and black with dark grey stones scattered within each
footprint. Amazed, she knelt and put her palm to the ground and felt
the stinging sharp roughness of the stones and the smooth, silky feel
of the soil.
Then
the sound of the creature panting brought her attention over and as
she turned to it, she grabbed a handful of the soil. Moving toward
the creature again, she slowly set her foot down into the grass, sure
that the sharpness of it all would cut her wide open – but as she pushed her toes down first, they seemed to slide into the soft,
hair-like tufts of greenery. In awe, she nearly let go of the soil,
until she concentrated hard enough to keep it in her fist as she
knelt to touch the blades of grass with her free hand. Her fingers
pushed into the grass much like they had in her hair – now hanging
around her neck to barely touch the back of her grass-covered hand.
The
excitement returned, and she convulsed with laughter again, causing
her to fall over and let go of the soil. Her right shoulder hit
first, landing easily into the lush fur-like foliage with a soft
'shush' sound, followed closely by her back as she rolled to laugh
hysterically at the sensation. Feeling the energy of the moment, the
creature ran with small leaps until it landed beside her and shoved
it's soft head into her hands.
Smiling
broader, she grabbed the small figure and hugged it closely, gently
stroking it's fur. With tears in her eyes, she repeated “creature”
over and over while it wriggled within her arms.
