Art by  gabriellobodx and  Punkpop


Cold...
That was the first sensation I could remember feeling. That, and a strangely wet feeling. I was in an inky darkness, feeling not quite alive. For some reason, part of me felt cold, and I didn't know why. Slowly, though, I felt another sensation. In my peripheral vision, I noticed something dim. Confused, I turned my head. It was a soft, dim light shining in the distance. Curious, I floated to it. It felt like I was wading through dark sludge, and it wasn't easy, but slowly, I managed to get closer and closer to the light. As I neared it, the light gradually grew and became brighter. Oddly enough, I also began to feel weirdly colder and wetter.
What's going on? I thought.
Eventually, I finally got to the light. It was big, very bright, and I felt strangely compelled to go into it. Hesitating for a bit, I slowly pushed my way into the light.









...





Scrunching up my eyes a bit, I slowly opened them. At first, I was surprised by the bright light. After a bit, though, I managed to open my eyes fully. From what I could see, I was in a whitish room. Feeling pretty weird for some reason, I slowly got up. As my eyes adjusted even further, I was... put off, to say the least. Looking around, I saw that I was in a really weird place. There were lots of giant tubes, all of them shattered. Liquid was dripping from the broken glass, w/ a large pool of the stuff surrounding them. Some strange things that looked suspiciously like people, or something else entirely were either strewn over the bottoms of the broken tubes or on the floor. Much to my silent horror, there was blood splattered here and there. Immediately, I tried to get away from that horrible scene as fast as I could. However, though, I nearly tripped and fell on my face when I tried to do this. Something, or rather a lack of something, kept me from running!
What the?! I thought.
I then looked down and my eyes widened. I don't know how, but I could tell something wasn't right here. My body was white, though, somehow, I knew that was normal? The weird part, though, was everything else. For one, there was supposed to be a star on his chest, but, for some reason, the yellow thing there clearly wasn't complete. I also noticed, in shocked silence, that my left arm and right foot were missing! I looked down at myself in confusion and felt... unhappy.
"What... happened to me?" I asked softly.
Thankfully, my voice sounded right. As expected (though, I don't know how I knew all this), my voice was that of a confident hero. Sadly, though, that didn't do much to lift my spirits. Something was wrong here. Not wanting to stay in that horrible room any longer, I hobbled as quickly as I could out of that small hell. It was awkward to do so as my right foot was missing. As such, I had to stumble my way forward, using the somewhat bloody walls as support. Honestly, I was very much afraid at the moment. I know it doesn't sound very heroic, but I couldn't lie to myself. Something had gone wrong here, and I didn't know what it was, but whatever it was, it had brutally murdered everyone in this building. Aside from the blood and a few bodies here and there, there wasn't to note. That is until I came across a mirror. It was on the right wall, and when I took a peek at my reflection, my despair only grew. I had one complete curled left horn while the other was simply a stump. As for his wings, they were a joke. While the stalks and such were intact, for some reason, the membranes were gone, making the wings useless! Finally, while my right eye was as it should be (white w/ a red pupil), my left one had a smaller pupil, and there was a red circle around that. Seeing myself for what I was, my mouthless face fell and I felt dejected.
"What happened to me...?" I said as I touched my face w/ my only hand.
For some reason, I was in a very incomplete state. Where were my membranes? Where was my horn? Where were my arm and foot? Where was the rest of my star? What happened to my eye? Before I could ask more sad questions, I heard something.
"Hello? Is anyone there?!" A voice asked.
My head snapped towards the voice.
"What, what?" I asked.
"Hello, hellooo?!" The voice asked again.
The voice itself actually sounded quite pleasant in a masculine way. It sounded very rich and smooth, almost like velvet. Surprised that there was someone else here, I quickly hobbled as quickly as I could towards the voice.
"Please, somebody answer!" The voice said again.
"Hold on!" I shouted.
"*Gasp* Is someone there?"
"Yeah, I'm coming to you!"
For the next bit, we kept on calling out to each other. After a long while of running through halls, w/ some bodies strewn about here and there, I finally reached what I assumed was my destination and did a double-take. A large, dark blob w/ a purple outline slithered out from the corner. I looked at the thing w/ wide eyes.
What the hell...? I thought.
The blob turned its lumpy head as if looking for something.
"Um, hello?" I asked.
The blob then whipped its head (?) around. Its eyes were purple w/ white pupils and wide. The blob's eyes then closed upward in clear happiness.
"Oh, hello! It's a pleasure to meet you," The black blob said.
It then made a sort of limb form. I, feeling a little put-off, hesitantly took the pseudopod. The blob shook it a bit before retracting its limb.
"So... do you know-?" The blob began before opening its eyes.
When it saw me again, though, the blob's eyes widened as he looked me up and down. It then began to shake a bit. I backed up a little and got a nervous look.
"Um, wha-?" I started.
Suddenly, the blobby guy rushed back around the corner! Jumping at this, I was about to ask what was wrong before the blob shouted.
"DO NOT LOOK!" The dark blob said, "I NEED TO LOOK MY BEST!"
Taken aback by that, I stood back as the blob changed. I heard some weird squishy and squelching sounds from the other side. Trying not to shudder, I chose to make some crude shadow puppets. Because I didn't have my other hand, I had to resort to keeping the shadows simple. After a bit, though, the sounds stopped.
"I'm ready~!" The black blob said in a sing-song voice.
Hesitant and weirded out, I made my way forward. Before I rounded the corner, I paused for a bit.
What am I going to see, exactly? I mean, it can't be worse than how I look, but still, I thought.
Steeling myself, I turned the corner. What I saw left me starstruck. Rather than the dark blob, I saw the most gorgeous thing ever. It was a large, muscular humanoid dark man. He wore magician-style clothing complete w/ a top hat and wand. Many spikes rose from his back in a fancy way and, a bunch of cards orbited him. Finally, he wore a bowtie on his collar and his face was the same as that of the dark blob, except more handsome To call this guy a hunk would've been an insult. He was a downright Adonis! I must've been wide-eyed like an idiot because the Adonis chuckled.
"I see you like my new form~," The magus said.
Quickly, I slapped myself to stop the staring.
"You... you can't be the same guy!" I said in disbelief.
The buff magician chuckled again.
"Hard to believe? I get that. But yes, I am the same person ^^."
The magician then looked around.
"So... do you know what happened here?"
I shook my head sadly.
"I don't know. It was like this when I woke up..."
The magician gave me skeptical look.
"Likely story. What did you do?" He asked suspiciously.
"I'm telling you the truth!" I said w/ my arm and stump extended, "I have no idea what killed everyone here! Actually, wait, how I do know you didn't do this?"
The magus sighed and shook his head.
"The first thing I remember doing waking up to find all the bloodshed. I recall nothing else before that."
"Funny, I was just about to say the same thing," I replied.
The magus made a finger gun and put it under his chin, rubbing it in thought. He then shook his head.
"Well, either way, we should leave here," The magician said, "I don't have much of a memory, but even then, I can't tell that I don't enjoy seeing so much... death..."
I nodded in agreement. The magician then looked me over again w/ a more intrigued gaze until he saw my footless leg.
"You can't walk very well, can you?"
I couldn't help but be a little offended at that.
"Yes, I-" I started.
I was interrupted as the magician suddenly rushed over and picked him up! Words could not begin to express the shock I felt at that moment. On one hand, I wasn't exactly thrilled about being carried like a ragdoll. On the other, however..., MAN did this magician's muscles feel nice~. I'm not sure if I blushed or not as I could barely feel my face from the heat, but the magician made as best of a smiling face as he could w/o a mouth.
"Heh, hang on tight."
The magus quickly began to sprint through the halls of the hellhole. Startled by his speed, I wrapped my only arm around his back as best as I could. For a bit, we rushed through spot after spot w/ nothing but broken tech and corpses. Eventually, though, we finally found an exit. It might have once been the facility's entrance, but now, it was simply a huge crater. Wasting no time, the magus leapt forward and ran away. Once outside, the magician ran for a bit before stopping on a small, grassy hill. The two of us looked around in wonder. We were in a large grassy field w/ the building behind us. Some bugs were buzzing around, flowers blooming, the sun and sky were bright, etc. I had to admit, it was pretty breathtaking to see. Even better, there was a large city in distance. My partner seemed to think so as well as he stared w/ wide-eyed wonder as well. For a bit, we simply stared at the sights. Eventually, though, I snapped out of my stupor as I realized something.
Damn, I don't even know this guy's name! I thought.
I looked up at the magician.
"Um, what's your name?" I asked.
Snapping out of his own stupor w/ a head shake, the magus got a confused look and looked forward. For the next few seconds, he looked forward, lost in thought.
"You don't have a name?" I asked, confused.
The guy shook his head. After a bit, though, he spoke up.
"I think I'll call myself... Beauregard~."
"Beauregard?" I asked.
"Yeah~," Beauregard replied, "You like?"
I thought about it for a bit before nodding.
"Heh, well alright, then~," Beauregard replied.
He then began to rush forward again, sprinting towards the city as I hastily readjusted myself.
"By the way, you never told me your name," Beauregard pointed out.
I searched my memory. I could only find one word that felt right as my name.
"Neo. My name is Neo," I stated.
Beauregard got a strange expression as he ran. Quickly, though, it changed to a more happy one.
"Neo, huh? That's a nice name~ ^^."
If I could've given a smile, I would've. At most, I could give a blush. Smiling w/ his eyes, Beauregard rushed us towards the city, leaving that horrible facility in the dust w/ purple cards swarming around us.