Oculus

Harry, it is really you. What is this place? When am I? What are you doing here? How long is this before the beginning? Should I keep watching? This clutch within my chest, like something alien, will I be intruding? This grand white hall's walls crawling with living flames. Shapes always changing, shrinking, or growing, it is... mesmerizing. Harry... what were you doing before we met? I'm curious, is it wrong of me to feel this way? The others are moving following Harry's lead down this grand mystified passage. The cold stone against my bare feet feels almost vibrant, it is making my legs shiver, but I must keep following, even if he can't see me, even if it is yet to be I don't want to be left behind in a place like this.

This quiet, almost dragging time to a halt, how long has it been? The front, the back, they all seem to be the same, no living sounds except these footsteps and this insidious vibration from below. There emerging from the edge of darkness in front an archway adorned with a blue almost glowing substance, almost like the armor on those guarding the outside, but flowing like some incomprehensible stream tearing a doorway into this passage and from beyond there's some sort of strange light emanating, even with this dark clutch I can feel my wings twitch in curiosity.

Beyond the doorway... my feet are wet, below is now just a dark body of stone partly submerged, the water... it almost seems to be too pronounced, a deep yet clear blue forming a deeper pool towards the center, maybe it isn't just water but it does feel like it. This room is smaller than the hallway, it almost seems like something grown from the earth itself, it is circular, all from one full-body connecting every shape and symmetry, to the sides, there are five other archways glowing with their own distinct hues, some darker than others. And in the center encased in a subtle glow from somewhere above, the ground elevating into steps towards some podium springing from this cold rock turned towards something unseen ahead, something creating ripples in this fluid encasing my feet. My hands are shaking too now, is it because of what's ahead? The air is almost absent of smells, except for the faintly metallic scent of stone pushing against my nose.

"You have finally returned, I hope your information this time is most excellent." There's a man... where did he come from? Long white beard sticking out from a cloak adorned with dark blue gems, he must be carrying at least a hundred of them. Harry is stepping forward, what type of information is he bringing to this peculiar elder in this cave of almost other-worldly origins?

"Only a few things of matter your excellency. There have been ritualistic acts carried out by pagans in some towns by Willow Creek." Pagans... I've never heard that word before, the way he speaks, is it about bad people?

"They won't adhere I see. The Moon Blade will be dispatched to hand the appropriate actions. Continue." These names, never heard them, not in a single book...

"There has been a sighting of a Dark Regalia within the woodland of the damned."

"Those wretched relics of the dark ages, are you certain Colonel?" Colonel? Isn't that some high-ranking title? This man, his hands are shaking, could the Regalia perhaps be one of the reasons this world ended?

"I am confident in my network, nothing to worry about, action is already being taken."

"Good, make sure it is subdued over the next week. Anything else?"

"Nothing your excellency, consider it done." Did Harry fail? Is that maybe why he wears that mask? Just what... *!!!!!!* This rumbling, so sharp, every speck of sound piercing my being. What is this? What is going on?

"Oculus has given us a warning, there is no room for error." What is this old man talking about... Wait, is that the sound of bells?

It is there, rising from the depths surrounding the altar, that dark lanky shape, its skin almost draining the lights from the environment, an outline, tall thin yet its complete shape is ambiguous, the spherical shape that should be its head split open in a bright sphere absorbing every inch of its surroundings. No discernable legs or other appendages, just a mass of something incomprehensible and insidious. My heart feels like it has stopped, my breath caught in the middle of my throat, it is no longer just my hands and feet, it is my entire body locked in place by this unfathomable shaking. I need to get away, wake up, this thing, its oculus is gazing right at me, please, please! I want to wake!... It is turning its gaze towards Harry, what's going on? My hand, it is burning again, why...

Where did that dark tendril come from? Why is it jammed through Harry's left shoulder? His left shoulder is fine, it got to be, it was... Harry's knees their splashing against the half-submerged rocks, a dark red spot is forming around the appendage... Harry, Harry is bleeding, I, I must do something, can I do anything? This already happened right? The past is unchangeable but that means... there's another sound beyond the bells, heartbeats, and labored breaths, the sound of something giving in, my veins, where they replaced with freezing water just now? It's cold... oh so cold...

"Seems you bear some secrets Colonel, even from me, no matter he has trusted you with the mark, you know what to do." My fault... mark? Even before we met... my presence. Was this place always bathed in this unclear white?

The room, it's so unclear, I have returned... my eyes, hazed and burning, I can't see it but the soft linen of the blanket against my wet skin feels comforting, this lump in my throat, this tear in my chest... Is he okay now? The room is here, I'm here, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him... his fine, his fine, Harry's fine... right? He must be, nothing has changed, the past cannot change... But still, even if it hasn't I've caused nothing but trouble or pain... why... just... why? Why do I exist like this?