1 Rafflesia Of The Void

The last of my friends died today.

Or mayhaps it transpired upon the preceding day? Alas, I am bereft of such awareness.

For after all; each sheet of space and existence within this 'Void' manifests with an altogether divergent essence of time. Something that's very different from the world of the 'being' I extracted several centuries hence.

Huh, I ponder from which moment I started using numbers, days, years and such as a measure of time…

Well, much like the occasional emptiness of this place, I usually care nary about the things I absorbed. But seeing how different I was from my earlier state of consciousness—now that I think about it—sparked quite the engagement in me.

Nonetheless, I shall be using this familiar reference of time from the memory of that 'being' from now and onward, ufufu.

Speaking of this peculiar 'being', their perspective held me quite transfixed.

Hitherto for them, my existence practically defied verbal connotation—ineffable, as they would proclaim.

Verbal epithets attempting to describe me—failed; sensations attempting to forge a connection with me—withered; and recollections striving to recall my essence will instantly succumb to finality.

Indeed, such seemed to be the shared plight of the denizens populating this vast expanse—this Void. As those indigenous dwellers too remained inconceivable to the cognitive faculties of the aforementioned 'being'.

Ah, before the furthermore—I rummaged through my current mental recess once more.

Through those trinkets of shelved memories, I rediscovered that they referred to their own kind as 'Human', or 'Humanity' as a whole!

Such an adorable name, no?

I'm curious how it originated, because the man that I extracted barely has any clear information nor understanding of its own kind's origin.

As for me, I remain unadorned by a name; bereft of lineage nor an origin that would tether the notion of my existence to the realm of reality.

Even those whom I deem as my cherished silent companions—they only bear naught but a distant semblance; a resonance so faint it eludes my connection to them. Yet, each of them, like me—harbors merely the faintest glimmer of purpose etched upon their very core.

The Void is a lonely and cumbersome place, after all.

Henceforth, I could absorb others with nary a single afterthought.

Yes, those friends of mine; they met their untimely demise; forsooth—ensnared by the 'roots' and 'thorns' that I thrust upon them.

I took their chances to experience life forevermore.

Regardless of the course it took, I found myself acquiring those from whom I ended; their memories and essence while offering them a timeless repose in return.

Give and gain, a mutual consent from both parties within the candid shot. Or something along the line-- Hmm, this human vocabulary really took a huge effort to craft…

Regardless, I personally perceive no greater source of stimulation than delving into the threshold between existence and nonexistence.

This I believe—to be the concept of death.

So maybe for this same reason, myriad beings dwelling in the Void appear to seek my presence, yearning to partake in the denouement of their own existence—or so for what I have theorized from observing their behavior for many years.

Well, just what's so much to understand when they just rush towards me like a running horseless-carriage the moment they sniff my existence?

Should I procure further wisdom from these sage-like entities known as 'humans', the intricate puzzle would converge into a discernible whole?

After all, thanks to the essence and memories of the human I extracted, I'm able to process my thoughts in a much more organized manner—an effect of considerable magnitude, I daresay!

For ere my encounter with a human entity, my past self possessed a much more—incomprehensible, volatile, and perplexingly capricious quality. Though I remembered that I had absorbed the native denizens of the Void before that human, their contributions proved insubstantial, devoid of profound import for my conscience's growth.

Maybe 'they' too were just too volatile and incomprehensible for me to understand, hence the lack of the transformation I gained.

Hmm, referring to the denizen of this Void lacks any notable flexibility as of now––

For now, let's refer to those who originate from this place as 'void-dwellers' from now and onward––!

Of course, this human I absorbed already had a name for those who lived within the void. I just don't feel like carrying their shadow yet.

Without knowing it, I slowly began to revere humans as the most awestruck and magnificent being within my limited bubble of wisdom.

Still, I didn't even know how and why I extracted a human in the first place—which even the human himself didn't possess any memories of me consuming him.

But I'm sure that one day, I'll be able to meet with one of them once again.

As the man I absorbed believed that understanding the Void would lead to the advancement of humanity as a whole.

Verily, the humans will come back, somewhere, and sometime; in the future.

Till the ruler of everything devoured every existence in the billow.

And thus, I decided to earnestly wait for their inevitable arrival. As nary a single memoir of my mind forbade this wait for naught.

Then, days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months.

Ultimately, about thousands of years had passed since then––

Hmmmmm, I'm already used to this lonely narrating voice I had in my mind—that constructing an even more compound prose would be more of a nuisance.

And not like anyone would hear it either…

So, to part with this abstruse speech, I began to use what I deem to be much more precise and simple words from the vocabulary of human's tongue. Of course, that was after I began delving deeper into learning this usage of language more.

Though, I feel like my behavior started to regress instead of evolving––

Well, first and foremost, I should report that I encountered around ten thousand void-dwellers within such a time frame.

Unfortunately.

There was no human presence in sight, smell, nor touch.

The presence of the void-dwellers, though, were enough to fill up the 'sea' that the humans know and usually refer to in their world.

While the void-dwellers' memories and essence were less exciting than that of a human, some of them seemed to possess the same level of sentience and complex thoughts like me. Albeit, not on the level of humans.

Some of them even put on a resistance. They gnaw and tear my 'roots' away so that they could free themselves. With the memories and essence of many within me, I responded back to their violence and 'killed' them before they could do the same to me.

I continuously rained what appears to be a spear-like projectile upon them—the very same weapon that was used by my late friend when they were hunting for nourishment, all while using my tendrils to constrict their movements

It took a couple of months to be able to neutralize them.

And there goes their 'cores' and anchored—lifeless 'vessels'. All I needed to do to extract them was to plunge my tendrils and sponge the content into my roots networks.

There was no concept of taste when it came to extracting their existence, so I didn't find much novelty from this activity.

Though…

The memories that I acquired from those recent intelligent rebels were enlightening…

For so long, I thought that my actions and theirs were mutually consented.

Turned out, it wasn't the stimulus of 'end' that they sought after.

It was me.

To put it in layman's terms, they wanted to lay their 'hands' on the very 'core' of my existence.

As if they were drawn toward it like a moth to a flame.

Those who had nothing but their instinct would immediately go in my direction like bees that hunger for nectar the moment my existence was present to them.

As for those with the capability to think and process information, they would gain a strong urge to claim me as their own.

And for those who survived my first encounter with them, they would exude a strange behavior of unfaltering dedication to acquire me.

So all this time, I've actually been protecting my existence by ending theirs before they could reach me–– should I presume this act as self-defense?

But why do they want the core of my existence? They didn't show the same trait with any other void-dwellers.

Unfortunately, even they didn't know why they were lured to my thorny domain.

Ah!

After so long, I finally detected the presence of another human!

There were more than one of them too!

Unlike last time, the humans possessed longer ears and a determined set of eyes, as if they sought for something that could change their entire fate.

If I recall from the memory of the man I extracted, they were those that humans called 'Elves'!

The memories I possessed lacked the understanding of them, so the information looks blurry from my perspective. But it seemed like they were somewhat of their long distance cousin, kind of like a subspecies!

A fantasy one too! Which I don't innately understand—but twice as exciting!

The moment they began illuminating their surroundings with a strange tube they held in their hands, they were immediately hunted by thousands of void-dwellers within their vicinity.

I hope they are able to reach it here!

Keep fighting, humans! I mean, elves! Only five thousand kilometers left until you reach the border of my roots!

Go, humelves go!

You can do it!

Don't, falter…?

Aaaaaaah, why didn't they call forth that weapon of mass destruction called the 'Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles'!?

Or maybe because they are Elves that—they didn't possess the technology?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Soon enough, the elves were on the verge of being defeated in less than an hour. Clasping their last light, they tore another space between the void and their original world, hoping it would lead to somewhere safe.

And then they were gone, just like that.