'What happened?'.
I don't know exactly how, when or why, but I was in a dark space when I woke up.
A pitch-black spot, bereft of energy with nothing to be seen as far as I could see. I could see my own body because of the energy it irradiated, but other than that, there was nothing.
The last thing I remember was that I was walking back to do my therapies after they failed to convince me. If I am here now, that means they did something to me and rendered me unconscious against my wishes.
"Horus!" I screamed in irritation and got no answer, confirming that regardless of where I was, Horus wasn't here with me; it was the first time. However, it was weird that I didn't fail to notice or feel a hand placed on my shoulder at all times, like someone was resting on them and pressing me down... but I couldn't see this person or feel its presence.
"Ely...?".
During my time here, I tried to talk to Elysir, Horus, and my mother, but no one answered me. There was just relentless darkness for me. I didn't see the purpose of it. I couldn't run, I couldn't leave... is this a nightmare– what the fuck is this?!
I don't know for how long... as time went by I felt my energy slip away like it was getting sucked like a vacuum; my knees fell powerless. It didn't feel like it had been that long, the tattoos on my body began to fade, just like before the nightmare, back in the moonlight mist.
I was being drained out of my energy, it didn't take long for me to realise, but I was powerless to do anything to stop it. I held my constricting chest, it felt as if the darkness was suffocating me.
"I didn't expect to see you here so soon..."
I heard a voice that elated my blood because I could recognise it, but never so cold and deprived of love, never so mechanical.
"Ray..." She said my name rather alluringly, like an endless expectation.
The darkness seeped together like a transitioning frame, giving way to an endless space filled with stars. It hadn't been a world of darkness, it had been the darkness enveloping me, swallowing me whole.
That darkness materialised in a silhouette, Elysir.
It was the real her, not an avatar... I could feel it in my soul, this was my soul mate with whom I spent months of ecstasy and true love before she abandoned me.
"Ely..." I said overjoyed, the joy of a man who found the love of his life, the person he had been looking for, ignoring many obvious flaws and inconsistencies in front of me.
She was different from the one bright star that I knew. To start, her clothes were no longer that of an endless bright beauty that exuded light like the very sun. Instead, her robes were pitch-black almost merging with the nothingness of space. Tribal tattoos on her tanned body that resembled mine, but instead of light, they resembled blackholes poking out of her body, swallowing all light.
And that smile with which she looked at me... was so eerie I almost felt like vomiting. Not because I found it disgusting, but because it was so foreign.
This was Elysir... but it felt like this Elysir was aeons away from mine. Soon I wouldn't be able to ignore those differences.
"I have missed you, Ray. I'm so sorry..." She mumbled and hugged me tightly, I felt her words were sincere, but I felt no warmth from her hug. She took me, caressed my face and pressed me against her bosom. She then caressed my cheek and kissed me so deeply in the centre of the endless stars of this firmament; her lips were just like I remember, velvet sweet, but no longer warm and inviting but rather abrasive as if she wanted to eat me whole.
With that kiss I felt my energy get zapped even faster to the point my heart constricted and palpitated slower, but I never stopped hugging her... keeping her tight against me.
"You have become such a beautiful star, you shine more than all those in the firmament" She complimented me with love, but even amidst all that 'love' I couldn't help but feel threatened.
"Ely, w-what is going on, why am I here? where are we–"
"I'm sorry..." She interrupted, her countenance changed, from one of love... to one of a predator, "But if you come to me like this, I can't hold this hunger..."
Her mouth opened big, when I looked down... her flesh had transformed into a humongous black hole, engulfing me.
"..."
As I saw her descend on me, all of the words from Avarice flashed in my mind. He said I would be disappointed when I realised what she truly was. That I would fear the true meaning of 'Elysir', the one who discarded her status and stopped being 'Elyseum', a being full of light.
This person was nowhere near the passionate, loving, warm, bright and beautiful woman I once fell madly in love with as nothing more than a pitiful human with a moderately good massaging sense.
She wasn't her.
But it didn't matter; because I am also not the powerless human she once fell in love with, that piece of garbage that couldn't even begin to scratch her toes, a human so powerless he could be crushed by a mere hug.
And she still loved me like that to the point she sacrificed herself to give me a second chance.
I hugged her back as hard as I could.
"I couldn't give less of a fuck, Elysir!".
!!!
Elysir flinched, probably at my strength and sudden outburst.
"I don't care if it is Elysir or Elyseum, I will love you regardless... I don't know if I am in a dream, or this is an avatar.... or what the hell this is, but I'm just happy to be here with you, Ely... I am happy that I found you".
I said wholeheartedly, accepting my fate.
I don't care if she kills me, or I kill her... or we perish together, or we live happily ever after... or the world ends and we both scatter out of existence at the same time; as long as I have found you... as long as the outcome of this story is me with you.
"You are so foolish, do you not understand? I made it so you would grow stronger and become a big beautiful star, just so I could devour you!–".
"And?".
I held both sides of her head firmly and pressed my lips against hers again. She seemed shocked at my reaction, but... was it really that abnormal for me?
She could be a different person, but I never said I don't recognise these lips.
"I don't care what your motives are... my love will engulf you and when the time comes... we will see who devours who, Ely. Fight me, try to kill me, try to devour me all you want... I'll also try to put you down where you belong, with me"
"Uhm!~"
I did as I said and devoured her lips as her darkness engulfed me like a relentless blackhole swallowing yet another star. I felt no pain, only energy leaving my body as my motions grew weaker and my consciousness faded. I munched, tasted, stuck my tongue inside to play with hers and enjoyed myself as the coldness of her flesh received my warmth.
If her embrace is now cold, I will warm her up instead. I am a sun, that is what I do. And so, I did to her what I had done in all our precious memories together through the years.
"I will love you until the end, Ely".
"Ray!–"
I heard her scream my name at last in a mixture of love and complexity as if in a humongous internal struggle; my body and my consciousness scattered, but I was happy... I was happy that I could show her how much I love her even if it was just in a dream for a few seconds. I hadn't found her yet, but I hadn't forgotten her and never would.
Regardless of her agenda, I can't stop loving the woman who gave me a second opportunity.
I'll drag her down from the firmament among the stars because she doesn't belong with them; she belongs next to me.
That is what I must do.