Chapter 15: Confusion "That’s ’who?’ and not ’what?’ to you, mortal." The voice dripped with utter detest. Mortal...? Is this some kind of god? The voice burst into another ear-grating round of laughter. "A god...? Well, I guess to you, I am a god." Finn paused for a minute in silence, analyzing the current situation. The pure evil he could feel from the voice was still very much there, but paradoxically, it was also the same reason he’d calmed. In the face of an evil of this magnitude, it was futile to have any thoughts of escape. There was a certain inevitability to it that filled Finn with a sense of acceptance. Now he was simply analyzing why the voice was still conversing with him rather than ending his existence as easily as Finn knew it could. "Oh? At least you know your place." What do you want from me...? Finn asked. He’d concluded this voice wouldn’t entertain him without reason. It must want something. The voice burst into a hearty laughter this time, genuinely surprised at the turn of events. "Hey, mortal. Are you sure you’re sane? That was your next question...?" The voice laughed like Finn’s words were the most absurd thing it had heard. "Straight to the point, huh? Interesting... I guess I’ll humor you." "I want your soul." It flatly said, as though it was the most casual thing. ...Can I ask what for? Finn shakily asked after a quiet second. "No. That is all my humor permits. Now, give me your soul!" Finn immediately felt a tug, a strong pull on his very existence. Like his mind was literally being suctioned off into somewhere distant. But just as he was about to panic, the suction stopped. "Tsk! Even that didn’t work?" The voice snapped with a surprising fury before going silent, leaving Finn reeling from the near-death experience. He’d nearly been erased! No—His erasure had already started, but was held back by something! This entity dwelling in him had wanted to erase him! Finn could feel the lingering taste of it. It wasn’t simply an erasure either, it had been laced with the intent to rewrite his identity! Why? For what? Time and time again he’d been thrown into situations like this where his consciousness had been threatened to the verge of being dominated! First was a soul that looked exactly like his. Second, was the feeling of wrongness in his earlier hazy state. And now, this! Finn snapped. Who the hell were these people?! Who did they think they were to try and devour him?! He no longer cared for the reason why any longer. All that colored his mind now was anger. Anger at their audacity time and time again. Was he simply going to allow this to happen every time? Did they think he was a willing lamb ready waiting to be slaughtered? Like hell he was! So what if you are a god? What if you are pure evil? What if you are wrongness itself?! I will devour you all! Without knowing how, Finn mentally reached for the presence of the entity he felt in his mind with a vengeance, against the alarm bells ringing in his mind, against the fear he felt from the evil reeking off the presence. He could feel everything more clearly now, and realized in the moment, that he wasn’t alone. In fact, there were a total of twenty-two different presences in his mind with him, all quietly trying to devour, slowly leeching off his consciousness, corroding like viruses. Only one wasn’t. And surprisingly, it was the voice. Finn could clearly pinpoint its unique presence that stood above all. It occupied a whole corner of his mind to itself, and the other presences dared not trespass. Finn could feel it lock onto him the same way he had onto it, but it simply observed with amusement, as if Finn was putting on a show. The thought made Finn boil. How could this thing, whether it was a god or not, do that to him and still have the guts to remain calm and unfazed like nothing had happened. He mentally charged at its position, intent to devour it first, but just as his consciousness encroached, the voice spoke. "#$𖡎€^¥£𖡎$#𖡎▨$#" The words came out like a scrambled jumble of intonations and weird, alien phonetics that had no place in the human language at all. Finn felt the words reverberate through his very being, and immediately, his vengeful charge stopped, replaced by pure confusion. He paused for a moment before ’remembering’ why he had charged in the first place. Yes! The wrongness! He turned and charged straight at the closest presence, one that was leeching off his consciousness, trying to corrode mindlessly. This had been his target in the first place, so why had he stopped, dazed like that? The thought crossed his mind as the traces of something he felt was important, disappeared from his memory. He felt uncomfortable. Angry. With no place to vent properly besides this closest presence. He felt like his emotions and intent had escalated to a height so great, he had been ready to perish... but what for...? This? His consciousness invaded the closest presence with the built-up anger, but he felt unsatisfied. It was strong, yes. In fact, very strong. It put up a great resistance against Finn’s vengeful bombardment. But it felt...underwhelming. Like he’d prepared a sledgehammer just to kill... a bug. He devoured the presence within seconds, but instead of feeling happy or relieved, he only felt a deep void, an utter sense of dissatisfaction and a longing that could not be filled as he rapidly came down from that high. If he could shed a tear, he would have. Because at that moment, he knew he’d lost something vital... But not all was gloom and doom, though. Immediately he’d devoured that presence, he’d felt a part of himself become more corporeal and concrete. Like he’d won a piece of himself back. And just after, he realized what that was. Sound. A rush of sound flooded into his ear, filling the empty void of his mind with songs of the outside world. It sounded alien and weird at first, clashing over each other like pure noise, but slowly, he began to separate each sound, linking them to the correlating memory they were supposed to trigger. The sounds of birds chirping. The flutter of a curtain as the wind blew against it. The way all the sounds played together and bounced against the walls. They echoed very lightly before being dampened. He was in a room. Finn had gotten his hearing back, and he realized he was inside a room.