Fear spread through both Rover and Insect like a scattering bolt of lightning. The air around them seemed to coalesce with an icy chill that came from nowhere. The creature moved closer, each muscular step creating large divots in the dead grass. Rover's legs felt like dead. Insect's legs couldn't support him, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Malevolence!" Said Madison, walking away from the swing set. "Meet my new friends."
Malevolence emitted a nasty snarl, as if saying he was the only friend Madison will ever have. Rover and Insect seemed to understand and were already scrambling backwards to safety.
"Don't mind us," said Insect, finding his way back to his feet. "We'll just be on our way. Clearly this thing wants to protect you." Then, like a mental sucker punch, Rover remembered one of the thoughts from earlier. This must've been the malevolent creature the voice was referring to, and clearly what it was guarding was Madison herself. He was just about to make a run for it when a brand new thought, all shiny and fresh, took centre stage in his mind. Rover couldn't even comprehend the thought long enough before speaking his mind. He turned to Madison.
"What are your thoughts on surfing?" He asked.
Insect looked at him as if he was crazy, but Madison looked intrigued. "Surfing?" She said, her brow furrowing.
Malevolence still crept closer, its long black tongues acting as extra legs propelling itself forward.
"Would you ever try it?" Said Rover, slowly backing away from the scene, but trying to remain close enough to Madison to have a conversation.
"I've never really thought about it," Madison began "but I guess so. It would have to be in the summer, though. That's like, totally the best season of the year. Maybe, like, I could one day go on the first day of summer. Yeah, the longest day of the year when the sun is up extra long!"
Rover smiled, though he wasn't sure why. Grabbing Insect's arm, Rover pulled him to an upright stance. Then the two ran as swiftly as their leaden legs could carry, madison and Malevolence slowly dissapearing from view.
"See you never!" Shouted Rover over his shoulder. "And maybe try finding friends who are actually human, like my friend Insect! It might help!"
The eerie playground setting vanished. Madison and Malevolence vanished. Darkness returned all around them, enveloping them in nothingness.
A few moments had passed and a light switched on, nearly half as bright as the light at the beginning. Rover glanced over his shoulder to check on Insect, but he had vanished as well. Rover was all alone. He began to pant. He began to panic.
"You have done exactly what I had planned," said a loud voice echoing all around.
"Who said that?" Shouted Rover, spinning around to find the voice's source. It sounded a little familiar, but Rover could only recall meeting two humans across his journey. The voice belonged to a man so Madison was out of the question and it sounded too old to be Insect. Rover was drawing a blank.
"Your creator, of course," said the voice, sounding calm.
Rover was overcome with a frozen shock. Was this voice some omnipotent being? Di it create Rover and everything else around him? Did it create life as a whole? Perhaps it was omniscient too. Perhaps it had what Rover had been looking for all this time. Perhaps it had an explanation for everything.
"Don't worry too much," said the voice, as if noticing Rover's expression. "I can imagine you have a number of unanswered questions."
Rover Transfered his shock into a cautious pause before speaking. "And do you have those answers?"
"I do, Indeed. "
"Share them!" Rover demanded. His heart was thumping faster than any speedometer would be capable of measuring. His legs felt as if little pinpricks were feasting upon his skin. If this was the anticipated moment of revelation, Rover was ready.
"I shall", said the voice. "But know this: I'm only explaining it to you because you've been successful thus far."
"Reveal yourself first!"
"Ah, so you don't recognize my voice. Hmmm-unfortunate. I thought you would've been able to put the puzzle together"
"I said reveal yourself," said Rover, feeling that if he waited any longer his emotions would overflow.
"Very well. As a warning though, it may come as a bit of a shock, seeing as you haven't figure it out."
Rover's nostrils flared. Impatience was something he was unfamiliar with. Before long he decisively came to the conclusion that he didn't enjoy having to wait. If answers were what he was promised, then answers he shall receive.
Taking up half of Rover's entire field og view appeared a screen. Occupying the entire horizon, this screen shone brightly into the blackened wilderness in which Rover had temporarily called home. It was like being in a movie theatre, only the movie screen stretched from as far as you could see leftward to as far as you could see rightward. A man appeared on the screen wearing a white lab coat.
"Better?" Said the voice, which Rover could now identify belonging to the man before him. The man looked to be in his forties and wore a pair of safety glasses that surrounded his blue eyes. On the back wall behind him-which was White like his lab-coat. Were shelves of test tubes and graduated cylinders. On the desk beside the man was a clipboard which consisted of a long list of blurry words, some crossed out with a red marker and others cicled. The man, just like his voice, was strikingly familiar. If it weren't for the man's most distinctive feature on his face, Rover might've never guessed who he was; it caught Rover's eye fairly quickly. The man had a scar above his left eye, just visible above the safety glasses frame.
"Insect," said Rover breathlessly.
"I always knew you were at least somewhat intelligent," said the man, smiling.
"I think it's safe to say you're surprised out of your mind."
"It's really you?"
"It's really me."
Rover's accelerated heartbeat subsided. The chills that rampaged his legs now expanded to blanket his entire body. This form of shock was something Rover never thought was possible.
"But how?" Rover asked, looking dumbfounded.
"Think back to your first thoughts," said the forty-year old Insect. "What do you remember?" Rover closed his eyes, letting his instinct chauffeur him down Memory lane. He could vaguely remember that some strange voice was telling him that he was unlike any other human. Rover was uninfluenced by the laws of time. The sentence the voice recited still lingered in Rover's mind: Whatever you do in the future will determine what happened in the past.
Author's Notes:
I haven't been able to publish an article for almost 3 days .. I'm still busy but I'll do my best to just write a story. Thank you all who always read my Fictional Story..Love yuuu all God bless 😍🥰
For those who have not yet read Part l, we will put the link below for you to read.
https://read.cash/@Caroline17/reversing-infinity-c2aca13c
Lead Image Source: https://pin.it/1t7hLzj
May part 1 pala hehe