The Endless White

"The hell are you doing here?" I open my eyes. The world is pure white, and the only thing I can make out is a person just a few feet away from me. The form is recognizable…disgustingly so. Joshua looks at me with annoyance.

"I can ask you the same thing. Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"How the hell would you know about that? I killed you before you got that far." He sounds surprised.

"I was that demon you were looking at, jackass. It was just my power in effect." He seems caught off guard.

"S-shit, really…that's kind of cool." He scratches the back of his head before looking away. "Still, fuck you."

"Fuck me?! Dude, you're the one who tried to kill me first!" I give him all the lip I can muster.

"Sh-shit…" He sighs, folding his arms. "Well…yeah…I guess you're right." 

"You guess?" I feel my eye start twitching.

"Well it hardly matters what I think now right?! I'm pretty damn dead! Though, I guess you are too, if we're both here." He scratches his chin. "Dying twice in one day? Bad luck."

"I was…enjoying some time with a girl, and now I'm here."

"Enjoying time…with…" His lips curl into a grin. "Hehe, well, I hate that bitch, but I gotta admit, not a bad girl to spend the night with."

"I should gut you for talking about her like that." I sigh. "Whatever, If I'm dead, so be it at this point. No way I'm getting out of it this time." Looking around, I catch no sign of anything besides the void. "Still, this really sucks." I let myself sit down, when I get a strange, nagging feeling in the back of my head. "Hey, what the hell were you trying to do anyways? Some kind of evil master plan?" He sits down as well, looking contemplative.

"What do you care exactly? Wanna rub in how hard I failed?"

"Jesus, I'm just curious. What are you, the king of assumptions?" I spit out at him, which he surprisingly laughs at.

"You know, maybe I am." He lays down, hands behind his head, looking up at the endless white sky. "...I wanted a world I could understand. It's really as simple as that."

"Seriously? What was so complicated about the last one? You do good, you don't die." He snickers at me.

"So simple…yeah right. What about a world where you don't know the rules is simple? You say do good, but do you even know what 'do good' means?" He looks over at me. "Just because gods represent ideals, that doesn't make them any less human. In fact, it just makes them more so. They'll be hypocrites, exaggerate, do whatever they need to so they can justify their perfect world. Can you really tell me that a world like that is one you want to be at the mercy of?" He looks at me seriously.

"I can't say…I think your world would be any better." He looks at me darkly. "Don't give me that. Do you really think you're any less human?"

"I-If i understood everything, then I would be able to create a world better than this. That's what my powers could-"

"You know what that sounds like? Like the only one who would understand is you. Is that really any different than what we have now? Or…had…till you killed it." His face goes pale.

"R-right…still…I could make things easier. Make sure people really know what they need to do."

"Until someone pisses you off."

"Then I'll have someone keep me in check!"

"Until you get pissed at them."

"Why are you so against me?!"

"Because you killed me." He bites his tongue.

"I…did do that…yeah…"

"More than that…you sound like you really just want this to make things more bearable for yourself."

"W-what? Are you gonna say there's something wrong with being selfish?"

"Not at all. I'm selfish. Really selfish." I look down at my hand. "It's what you do with that selfishness that counts. Will your desire for total understanding benefit everyone? It could, but you don't even care to truly perceive how, do you?" My words seem to have cut him deep. He opens and closes his mouth multiple times before gritting his teeth.

"Don't tell me how I perceive things…god damnit…" He looks down at the ground. "So I'm just pathetic then, huh?"

"Yeah. Not because you feel inferior or your powers are shit or anything. More so cause you threw a genocidal tantrum." He chuckles. "You're sense of humor is fucked."

"Yeah, not the only thing fucked about me I suppose." He sighs. "Well, whatever, whether you're right or not, you are the winner of the day, so I'll let you have your moment of satisfaction over me." He laughs with more passion, making me roll my eyes.

"...uhm, hey, that wasn't always there, was it?" He looks over to where I'm looking, and seems to be caught by surprise.

"That's bizarre." He stands up. "A way out maybe?" He starts walking toward it, me following close behind. The thing we're approaching looks to be a well of pitch black. It lets out gentle spurts of something just as black, mixed with color formations that could only be described as galactic. As we arrive just a few feet away from it, Joshua seems to freeze. "Wait…this is…the hole I used to enter my recreation of your town."

"Our…what?"

"I couldn't just take over the original town. So I layered my own version of it over it and did as I pleased from there."

"S-so take down your recreation!" I say, suddenly feeling a rush of relief. Maybe the town was still just fine?

"No, it melded with the town. Whatever was destroyed in here was destroyed out there. This isn't a win for you. More importantly, however…it would seem something has overtaken the town outside this recreation." His serious tone causes a chill to go down my spine. Are you serious, are we really not done with this shit?! The black stuff seems to react to my thoughts, coagulating together as we both back off.

"Joshua, what the fuck is happening?!"

"I don't know! It must be some kind of angel? A form of judgment?" I click my tongue. The thing slowly starts to take shape. Its body is long, thin, and covered in legs. A massive centipede. "Fuck, run!" We both turn away, running as far as we can as the body slowly starts to give chase. I turn my head to get a better look. Its body is pure black, mixed with the color of shining stars. What could be considered its eyes are really just piercing lights surrounded by endless looking sets of teeth.

"D-damnit! Joshua!!!"

"Relax, we've got this!" Joshua stops his run, doing a quick turn and placing his hands on the ground. "Yes, we're golden!" The white just between us and the beast rises up, creating a barrier. It does little as the thing ascends with the speed of a bullet.

Don't forget about what you can do Marcus. I'll give you some control. Just do your best to think of what you need and I'm sure it'll happen.

"Thanks Chloe." I whisper, smiling. "Joshua, I got an idea!" I yell to him as he keeps ascending the barrier to keep it from getting over.

"I'm all ears!"

"Get that thing stuck in one place, make me a weapon, and launch me into the air!"

"You dumbass, it'll just d-oh, right. Good idea you fucking maniac!" He laughs manically. "Alright then, let's show this thing who the fuck we are!"