Following my audacious declaration was... silence.
The air pressed in around me, and I could hear a breeze creep its way through the empty street.
"You could at least clap."
"Clap? I'm unfamiliar with the term."
I sighed.
Walking out into the median, I turned toward the side of the street with the cat mailbox house. With one hand, I felt my jacket pocket to ensure that the orb was secure.
I shook my arms loose, bounced on the balls of my feet, and readied myself.
"So that's the side you'll be choosing?"
Cacophony strode up before she stood behind me, her shoulder blades lightly brushing mine. I could feel her breath—slow and regal, even in the act of breathing. A faint scent lingered on her body; it was strange and unfamiliar.
Having been stuck in a coffin for centuries and now wearing a dress that was formed from the threads of said coffin's inner lining, I guess something like this should've been expected.
'It's the scent of death.'
Standing backs pressed against one another, the time to test my theories was quickly approaching.
'A portal or a Möbius strip...'
The answer would decide our fates.
"You ready?" I asked without looking.
She didn't answer.
Instead, she exhaled through her nose, and I heard the faint clink of her foot nudging into place against the pavement.
In a way, that was more reassuring than any words could've been.
"Okay," I muttered. "I'll count down. At zero, we'll run."
My muscles tensed.
"Three..."The word came out steadier than I expected. My heart was pounding, but there was a strange calm beneath it, like the eye of a storm. For yet another instance, I was glad to have the Empress's tranquil presence.
"Two..."My fingers curled and uncurled, unseen vitality flowing just beneath the surface.
"One..."I closed my eyes for a heartbeat. I had nothing to worry about. A Dark King rolling the dice, just another day.
"Zero."
My body shifted forward as I launched myself forward. I kicked my legs back with wild force, and my arms swung out like pistons. By no means would I consider myself to be a runner. Hell, by no stretch of the imagination could you even describe me as athletic, but even still, I poured everything I had into my stride.
The world blurred instantly. My breath ran ragged in my throat in a matter of seconds, but I didn't slow down.
Behind me, Cacophony fired off in the opposite direction. While I couldn't turn to look, I could tell a lot about her dash simply from the sounds of her foot against the pavement.
It was clean and fast. She wasn't breathing hard at all, and yet she sped off at an incredible speed.
It was incredible, and I was tempted to turn around and take just a peek.
Keeping my head straight, I resisted the urge.
I couldn't have possibly hoped to match her speed; I just needed to focus on doing my part.
The street unfurled ahead of me endlessly, an asphalt tongue reaching out into infinity. My lungs were on fire, but I had to continue forward. I focused on the familiar landmark—the cat mailbox, but it came and went. Even the broken-window house blurred by. Then another house, then another, and then—
More of the same.
The bland houses continuously rolled on by.
No matter how fast I ran, the world refused to change.
I clenched my teeth and pushed harder. My entire body burned.
In the Null Streets, time itself was altered. Every moment blurred into one another, distorting the senses.
Time had become abstract; I couldn't even tell how long we'd been on that street, and I also couldn't tell how long I'd been running.
It felt like an eternity, but at the same time, it felt like the blink of an eye. Each second just kept going, stretching out and folding back in on itself.
Still, even as I ran through the pain, I couldn't stop thinking.
'Portal or Möbius strip?'
'Portal or Möbius strip?!'
I hated how much it mattered. It made each step maddening, even ignoring the exhaustion that had begun to creep its way into my muscles.
If it were the portal option, then there would be a point. A boundary. A definable edge where the trap swallowed me whole and spat me back out on the other side.
But if that boundary didn't exist and this space had been contorted into some impossible shape...
I shook my head, sweat stinging in my eyes.
'No! It has to be a portal! That has got to be the case!'
It wasn't one or the other.
It had to be the first option. It had to be so that we could escape this disgusting insult to reality.
I turned my gaze in an attempt to fixate on something—anything else.
'Same. Same. Same.'
As far as I could see, there was a stretch of copy-and-paste houses. Each was made in the exact same style, each was unkempt, and each was eerie.
I kept going, on and on.
Somehow, that infinite street felt even longer than before.
Sweat stung my eyes. My legs trembled, and I could feel my thoughts beginning to scatter, my grip on linear logic fraying with every step.
Keep pushing forward. It will appear. It will certainly appear.
A shimmer of hope—the boundary of this street.
But the longer I ran, the more it felt like I was chasing smoke. My feet were pounding the pavement, but with every step, my chest hollowed out further, like my heart was getting left behind.
'Where is it?!'
I was running myself ragged on blind faith—on the absurd hope that if I just wanted it badly enough, the universe would reward me with a crack in its logic.
But that's not how this place worked.
The Null Streets didn't care.
There was no line in the sand.
So when it finally happened, I almost didn't believe it.
I blinked—and she was there.
Cacophony.
Right in front of me.
She came with such intense speed that she almost collided with me. If she hadn't swerved at the last second, she really would have.
Instead, she clipped my shoulder, causing us both to stumble.
She emerged from nothing, stepping out of a ripple in the air that hadn't existed a breath ago. One moment, there was an empty street, and the next, she was cutting through it like she had peeled back a curtain I hadn't even seen.
It was clear to me in that instant. What I'd been running toward, the street that had been in front of me, wasn't real. There was something invisible there, like a painted curtain made in the image of the street.
And passing through the curtain, you'd appear on the other side without ever realizing it.
Steadying myself after our collision, the only thing I could do was watch her.
My hot, heavy breaths hung in the air.
She peered up at me as well, and her eyes met mine.
A hint of emotion showed on her composed face.
"Found it," she said smoothly.
My breath hitched.
Then, a wide grin spread across my face. "I—I never had any doubts."
Without another word, Cacophony pivoted on her heel and bolted back the way I'd come.
My grin withered. "Wait—what?!"
I was hoping that we'd at least have a moment to celebrate, but I guess not.
By the time I'd even spoken, she was already back into her stride.
The moment for celebration was gone, snatched away before it could properly blossom.
My lungs ached and my legs felt like they had no blood flow... But we're way too close to give up now.
The chips were down, and the bet had been made. It was time to see it through.
I pushed off, stumbling at first, but I caught myself. Everything in my body protested instantly. Giving myself a moment of rest and halting all of my momentum proved to be a mistake.
Picking back up again was far more difficult than simply maintaining.
Though just maintaining is its own hell.
I lurched forward; stopping wasn't an option.
It wasn't enough to find the boundary once or to pass through it a couple of times. We had to rupture it by abusing the mechanism behind this world until it was no longer able to keep up.
Even as my body ached and begged me for mercy, I couldn't give it any.
I continued forward until I reached the boundary that Cacophony had just come out of.
Then it happened.
I passed through.
There wasn't any fanfare. It felt as though nothing had happened.
'Was that it?'
That question flashed through my mind, but I knew the answer. The space that I'd just crossed was certainly the boundary, and just as I predicted, it must've teleported me to the other end of the street. Perhaps I'd expected some grand scene, some big explosion of light or special sound effect or something. But now that it had happened, I hadn't even noticed it.
My feet hit the ground just like they had a thousand steps before. The wind in my ears didn't shift. The houses lining the street didn't rearrange. I simply kept running, almost completely blind to the fact that I had just passed through the veil myself.
It all made sense when I thought it, but I still had a yearning for some kind of grand moment.
I gritted my teeth and hurled myself forward, forcing my burning legs to keep moving. I didn't slow down and allow myself any time to get caught up in unimportant details.
'This plan will work!'
In my mind, the thought 'you crossed it' morphed and transformed. Soon, it became something else entirely.
'Cross it again!'
Even as every muscle in my body screamed as though they were being bathed in acid, I pushed myself.
I pushed harder than I ever had in my whole life.
For another dreamlike eternity, scores of lifeless, nearly identical houses blurred in my peripheral vision.
Once I neared the end of the street, I saw her again.
Cacophony.
She burst out of the air just like before, this time on my left. Without stopping or giving me so much as a glance, she flowed right past me.
And we continued on.
Again.
And again.
And again.
I wasn't sure how many times we repeated the motion.
At the beginning, I did my best to keep track.
'Two...five...ten...fifteen...'
But that proved to be an impossible feat. Not only was my physical and mental state on the brink of failure due to the running, but the number got so large that keeping count felt pointless.
I wasn't sure how long we'd been running. Countless mini eternities weaved together, and time itself felt meaningless.
I just keep on running, passing by Cacophony countless times.
We were running a circuit. A cruel loop of boundless sorrow.
By now, my eyelids were half closed. My jaw hung open like it had a loose hinge, and a few strands of drool dripped from the edges.
I stumbled on a rock and barely managed to keep myself upright.
The border was right in front of me. If I keep going for only a few more steps, I'll cross it again...
'Cross it... Cross it... All I need to do...'
My steps were weak; it might've been faster to crawl my way there.
Even so, I dragged my body a few more steps. As long as I only think of each movement as only a few more steps—only a few more steps until I'd be done—then I'd be able to keep going.
And somehow, with that mindset, I crossed over.
Krrrk
My foggy mind was confused for a moment. I had so many things going on that I couldn't even form a guess as to what that sound could've been.
Whatever it was, it came from above me.
With shaky eyes, I peered upward.
Something cracked above me. A thin, jagged line tore through the sky, like a hairline fracture on glass.
I blinked—and the crack was gone. But I knew I hadn't imagined it.
Suddenly, the taste of iron coated my tongue. Quickly, I wiped my face.
It was just another nosebleed.
I didn't care to question it or linger on it. We were getting close. The world was starting to warp from the stress.
Our idea was working.
Each pass through the portals at the ends of the street churned the world a little harder. It was like overloading a computer with an excessive amount of programs. At some point, no matter how high-tech the machine, it wouldn't be able to keep up. The result was right here, reality itself twitched at its edges as something unable to be seen broke down.
I kept running, and by now I think I've lost the ability to stop.
Once I got further down the street, it happened once again.
The sky, once a lifeless gray sheet, developed hairline fractures that pulsed like veins of lightning. The clouds jittered like bad animation. The moonlight itself flickered in a slow, rhythmic spasm.
Even the houses around me, the dull monuments, began to distort.
After crossing the boundary another time, I was met with a shocking sight.
The once identical houses now each had their own unique flavor of madness. The porch on one stretched out, twisting sideways like it was being pulled by invisible fingers. Another stretched out unnaturally toward the sky, its entire structure disturbingly elongated.
Nothing on the street seemed to be spared.
The sparsely placed palm trees and light poles were twisted together, forming a forbidden double helix.
The street was finally beginning to fall apart.
Reality moaned under the pressure, and with every step, I could feel the seams unraveling. The sky no longer resembled a sky. It looked like a shattered dome, stitched together by lightning and desperation.
I crossed the threshold again.
The moment my foot struck the ground, I noticed the air get thinner. It was getting harder for me to even breathe. I gasped for air.
'It's almost... It's almost over... Don't... lose hope.'
My vision spun. I could barely see what was in front of me.
I couldn't even tell if I was running anymore or just falling in a straight line. My arms flailed uselessly at my sides. My feet barely lifted off the pavement. At this point, I was just throwing my weight forward and hoping momentum would carry me.
I kept moving forward, even as my knees buckled and I nearly crumpled onto the road like a discarded puppet.
And that's when I saw her again.
Or rather—felt her.
We collided.
Not gently like before.
My head struck something solid and warm—her chest, maybe, or her shoulder—I couldn't tell. All I knew was that I slammed into her at full speed and bounced back like a ragdoll.
A sharp gasp escaped my lungs as I tumbled backward and landed hard on the concrete. My breath fled my body in a single violent gust.
The world wobbled. My ears rang.
For a moment, all I could hear was the pounding in my skull and the hum of a universe fraying at the seams. Sounds of crackling thunder came from the sky, even though no lightning could be seen. Indescribable sounds of things moving and breaking in ways that they shouldn't, screeched from places unseen. It's like they were just around the corner, but even if one went to look, they would never find whatever it was that they originated from.
It was jagged chaos.
A melodic voice cut through it all.
"That was unexpected."
I peeled my eyes open.
Cacophony stood over me, her crimson hair catching the flickering light of the fractured moon. It was slight, but she was panting.
She reached down and grabbed my wrist with delicate fingers, then pulled me up with ease.
"You've done well.", she said simply.
I couldn't even respond.
Looking past her, a small smile appeared on my face.
We'd arrived back at the house where we'd started this mad dash—the strange home with a backyard full of plastic swords.
We'd circled back.
Oddly enough, unlike every other house on the street, this home was the only one that had been untouched by all the alterations.
I chuckled. Feels like fate.
Staring up at the ruined sky and the shimmering threads of unreality pulsing in the distance, a strange emotion tugged on me.
We'd done it. We were right.
The crackling moonlight flickered across the broken pavement, and I let my head loll back with a soft, disbelieving laugh. My knees trembled, but I managed to keep myself upright. Somehow.
There was still a question that needed to be answered.
Now that this world was falling apart, what was going to happen?
Would we survive and get sent back to the real world? Or, would we end up in another mess altogether?
I wasn't sure on the details of what could potentially happen, but some of the options didn't seem too great.
Maybe we don't get sent back to the real world after this one falls apart. If that happened, we could wind up floating in a void of nothing. No space or time, just black emptiness.
It was a dreadful idea, but somehow I wasn't worried.
A grin spread across my face.
A big, stupid, giddy grin.
I felt like a king who'd just declared war on God and came out on top!
We beat the odds once, who's to say that we wouldn't be able to do it again? This time, I wouldn't even have to do anything; I could sit back in the Empress's arms and relax.
I'll close my eyes and open them to find that everything's alright.
I turned to look at Cacophony, ready to deliver a grand, theatrical monologue befitting the occasion.
"You see? You see, Empress? As foretold by the myths of the mountain monk, I've attained what none thought to be possible!"
Cacophony regarded me with a tilted head and the barest trace of amusement. She didn't laugh, but the look in her eyes said she was pleased.
I was basking in it. My grin grew wider.
The air shimmered with anticipation. Lightning cracked soundlessly overhead, and the fractures in the sky deepened further.
I opened my mouth to continue—
—but the words didn't come.
Something seized in my chest.
A sharp, hot pain shot through me, as if a spear of glass had driven itself through my ribs.
As it ran through me, it broke off into shards that ran amok and pierced through every organ in my torso.
My mouth snapped open, but it wasn't to let out any words, instead—
Ghrrk!
A violent burst erupted from my mouth, and I doubled over as a torrent of blood sprayed from between my lips. It splattered against the ground with a sickening slap. A puddle of viscous, scarlet blood formed at my feet. Losing my balance, I staggered forward, nearly falling into it.
My lungs convulsed, but I couldn't draw air.
I gasped, or tried to. But I couldn't seem to breathe anymore.
My knees hit the concrete.
I collapsed, trembling. More blood poured out, an even richer color than before.
My hands rose instinctively to my face, but when I touched my nose, more blood was already flowing. Before long, warm liquid rolled down my cheeks in steady streams as I began to cry tears of water diluted with blood.
Then my ears gave out. The ringing was deafening, and yet there was no sound. Just the wet, thudding pulse of my heartbeat slowing… distorting… becoming a low, gurgling dirge.
'What's happening to me?'
I wanted to say it aloud, but I wasn't able to speak.
My vision blurred.
But it wasn't just my eyes.
Even reality seemed to blur. Everything trembled in time with me, the street vibrating like a tuning fork struck too hard.
Cacophony rushed to my side. Crouched down, she held me by my shoulders. There was a hint of concern in her eyes, and she was saying something, I think. Her lips moved, and her body language seemed to scream a sense of urgency, but I couldn't hear her. It was like I'd been sealed inside a vacuum where no sound existed.
My body was failing me.
I was trapped in a body that couldn't move, couldn't breathe, and could hardly experience the world around me.
Collapsed on the ground like a dying animal, I looked up past Cacophony, whose silhouette trembled against the shifting light.
And then I saw it.
The sky—no, the ceiling of this twisted mockery of a world—split apart like a curtain being drawn from the center.
Right where the moon should've been, a massive slit tore through the firmament.
And from within that wound in the heavens, an eye emerged.
It blinked once.
And when it opened again, the moon was gone, replaced by a monstrous, glassy pupil. Circular, depthless, polished like obsidian. Its iris swirled with impossible colors, all swirling inward in a violent whirlpool of energy.
It was absurdly large, covering all of what used to be the sky.
And even in this crumpled, half-dead state, a single, primal certainty pierced the fog of my mind:
As I stared up at it...
It was staring down at me.