For The Prompt Lovers, CDM Presents: "What Happens Next?" 😯

@SirenOfSerenity

Sam froze. It was dark.

Suddenly a bang echoed from somewhere else in that castle, followed by someone cursing. A different voice.

"Oh there you are!" the first voice said as he walked away from the spot near Sam.

"We need to hurry up if we don't want to get caught." said the first voice.

I had to come up with my own thing for this, because I had so many ideas and I wanted control over everything lol. Sorry this is a bit long and probably not worth the effort reading, but here is my continuation.

Sam ran around in the dark, trying to find a way out. Had she known that a ‘little adventure’ would lead her to get locked in an ancient castle, she would have never left her house. Her foot banged against something solid and she tried her best not to scream in pain.

“You finally made it.” A mechanical voice spoke from behind her. She did not dare to turn around. In fact, she could not do so much as move her head. There she stood, fixed onto the inky darkness below her. She focused onto the strange engravings in front of her which decorated the walls with faint glimmers of light. Peering into the darkness, she glimpsed the layers and structures shifting restlessly, pulsing with some strange energy - as if the walls themselves were alive. Sam looked once again at the glyphs: maybe she could try to translate them, maybe she could extrapolate some meaning from this place. She reached into her pocket for her notebook.

"It was only a matter of time, wasn't it Sam?"
She froze. How did this thing, whatever it was, know her name? What else did it know about her? She remembered her notes - her life's work of research. She recalled a story she found, written long ago by civilisations before her. It told of ruin and havoc - all caused by one thing. A machine whose sole purpose is to cause chaos.

"Mectus." She blurted out the word without realising. A cold, draining feeling flowed through her skin. She willed her shaking hands to clutch the notebook; she regretted ever coming here. What did she think her bold and daring quest for knowledge would lead her to? It was stupid. But even now, still, her mind thirsts for more - and she began flicking through pages, looking for translations.

The machine seemed amused by this. "You've been a busy little bee, haven't you?" The whole castle shuddered with echoes of its disjointed laughter. Sam looked at some symbols, desperately looking for translations, desperately trying to decipher the meaning behind the intricate strokes and lines. She picked out some symbols - 外現実. What did they mean? She flicks through her notebook. Mectus seemed intrigued by her struggle. "Even now you're desperately flailing around for meaning. You humans are all the same."

Her eyes lit up with she saw the familiar strokes on a page. Below it was the words 'Outside reality.' What did that mean? More questions swirled in her mind. "Always wanting more, more, more. The powerful want more power. The rich want more money. And you..." She felt a burning curiosity - a deep desire to meet eye-to-eye with this being. She turned to face it.

"You seek yet more and more knowledge." The being was indescribable. The air crackled as it spoke, and it seemed to be always shifting and changing. It seemed like something that should never have existed, but yet has existed through all of time. Sam could notice various cogs and wheels, but next to them were circuit boards, wires, transistors and other technology which seemed to be entirely original. Its circuits seemed to ebb and flow with power.

Two luminous eyes started back at her with a blank expression. Various lights and colours emanated from them, focusing their twitching beams on her. Then, it seemed to gradually change form, as tiny parts of circuitry moved around with jerking motions, changing colour. Familiar features formed - a torso, black joggers, a striped top. It was her.

Sam looked in horror at the uncanny realism. She saw the orange hair which flowed down like lava, and a small nose similar to a fox's. She had been described throughout her life as being like a mischievous fox - always hunting for adventure and danger. Well, look at where that got me now, she thought.

It spoke in her voice. "Now, you be a good girl and stop this pointless quest. I can't have people disturbing my peace and quiet here." Sam was not sure what Mectus was planning, and why it had not killed her by now.

"No, I don't need to dispose of you. I already know that you'll eventually doom yourself."

@SirenOfSerenity

Sam clenched her teeth and focused on her breathing, swallowing the pain in her foot and trying to stay calm. It was better not to face it. She knew he was everywhere around her anyway... It would be worse for her sanity if she had to look at it again.

Her hair stood on end as it made a click of a tongue, and somehow knew it was smirking.

"You were right Sam, it's better not to turn around... And much better not to run. At this moment, I've actually manifested into the true form... But I'm still untouchable."

"What...are you?" She said in a voice much quieter than she meant it to be, almost in a squeak.

"I'm old and very powerful... Older than this castle. I take hosts, and you'll keep seeing me as soon as I touch you. Once I get you once, it will never stop."

"Why are you doing this? Nobody wants to keep looking at... That. Your true form." She said, feeling oddly more interested in its response than fearful of what it meant for her.

"My apologies, it's not my true form personally, and I mean no harm... You know that deep down, or you wouldn't be staying here as you feel me moving closer. It's not your fault, and it wasn't mine... People like us, we have to look at it. Part of us will always be coming back here to look at it."

Her eyes started to tear up. "Will you... Look at it with me?"

Instantly she felt like she was wrapped in a warm blanket, despite the fact that her skin was broken out in goosebumps.

"I'd like that very much", came a reply in the same voice, but sounded much softer and more human.