It was something different, alien, and brutally confined, yet familiar. Hough wasn't aware of each face, but he swore this was hitting the right octaves, and he liked the ambience. It reminded him of the moon, or certain spaces. Or was it so insane that it was just starting to look normal?

  It was all relative, and there, on the ground, the lone Emblem jolted back and forth, flinching on the ground, and bathing in the liquids that stained the concrete. Even the surrounding Vectors seemed to eat that shit up, becoming richer and finer.

  The Emblem altered in that vision, transforming into a humanoid little figure with a coin serving as its torso and head, and four thicker Vectors acting as limbs. It made angels in the liquids, bathing in this fake moonlight. Acting beyond William's back, or knowledge, was no longer right. It enjoyed it tremendously, slamming its head against the imaginative wall. Yeah. Speaking seemed improbable, among other things.

  It appeared pained next, recalling and feeling parts of a myriad of struggles. Memories. Struggles. Vouching pleasure of murders. Not all of it was true. Holding onto the Emblem through the connections was its whole life, and it accepted it. It was it, in a sense—that demon!

  Yet it couldn't speak. The mirror was gone. This 'room' turned duller in comparison to the true Awakening, while the lavish veil of Vectors surrounded it like a sky. It felt lost, a slightly bored even, yet... vivid. A smile crept up on the head, spreading as it looked up at a huge person above it, who seemed even shittier than expected.

  Hough had yet to notice something crazy was below him. It wanted to touch something which was no longer there, or possible.

  It didn't want to acknowledge it or feel what was happening. Let alone that , it knew what mattered was paramount to its upkeep! William was important, and he turned into a Defier?!

  It was great. It felt proud.

  This little being struggled to get to its little feet, feeling the swirling Vectors as its own flesh and blood. Then, it noticed how small its body was, and felt wronged, sad, and nearly infuriated.

  Lines spread for the eyes, and an angry face felt challenged. No one noticed it, not even those old fools beyond mirrors knew what was happening inside, obscuring the sight, but not everyone was equal. It knew that, but could it change it? This wasn't part of any System Event. This wasn't 'his' or 'its' event either.

  With a rough face, the humanoid figure, barely a foot tall, pressed its arms against the ground, forming a link to the proper flow and bisecting the Cycles. It formed a much stronger whirlwind of Vectors when everything linked and turned stronger, because, again, its unfortunate turned out to be fucking sleeping?! How dare he? He had guts. It had to acknowledge it, so it disappeared into a turbulent wave of Vectors, which alerted Hough at last.

  As if undergoing a jolt of that weird energy again, speed and cycles cracked the ground, and a little figure rose into the air. As if a small black hole spread, it grew, kept sucking Vectors into its body, and unleashed a devastating, demonic face at Hough, who was still alive and well. Perhaps he was opposed to being unwell, as he smiled and looked at everything with glee, even when every barrier turned to mist, and he was like a little baby in this .

  “What is this? WHO!?” Hough wondered as he gazed at the red hole and the demonic face.

  He marveled at these Vectors and even dared to think that several of them had passed through his body without any harm, which was odd considering the color. Most felt like they wanted to do it, advancing till their last breath. Most barriers were around machines, where they belonged, while this separate world was different. Those were still fine choices, as Vectors didn't want to destroy; they just wanted to go home and link.

  Or... well, the little being might want and desire destruction, for it was an Annihilation!

  Outside this cage, a peculiar monitor displayed very different results that kept updating as whatever was going on in this bunker changed, and it indicated that things weren't going well. An abysmal line appeared on the graph for minutes, but nobody cared. Hough had a mind elsewhere.

  All of a sudden, a loud voice of a man echoed throughout this enormous room. “Is everything alright, Sir Hough?”

  Hough heard that even in this red world. Then, he realized it was false. There was a leftover communication device in his pocket that hadn't been activated in a while. Hough slapped it shut, not paying it any attention. Before him was an exclusive one-time meeting, and he was here to say ! A giant demon devoured the Vectors, spreading its claws and leaving its head and part of its torso intact.

  “Who might you be?” Hough asked as he stood his ground, smiling and walking forth.

  The demon watched, not acted. So Hough weakened towards it, placing both palms onto its impressive body that still worked on all these cycling energies, rather than this weird man. He wanted to feel it, grab it, and steal one or two Vectors. Alas, he stopped himself when his skin disintegrated from his fingers, and he almost lost them completely.

  Hough backed away. Extrapolating this demon's intensity was not impossible, and even oxygen and gravity were off the charts. It did... something dangerous. No. The demon was the danger in itself.

  “What... What are you?” Hough asked for the third time, finding it exotic, but he knew what it was. It didn't resemble anything from before, so linking it to some wild guesses had its merit.

  Hough still didn't dare to connect this to William's arm or his overall condition. There was still a hole in the arm that was getting smaller; flesh was swirling under strange, deep crimson liquids, which were seeping through his arm, bones, marrow, and flesh. The skin was also improving, closing, yet still showed red fissures and cracks.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  A pleasant glow emanated from the surrounding Vectors, which resembled a neon red light. Demon smirked, pushing its claw aside of Hough in an attempt to scare him. Unlike its idea, Hough cheered and felt his practically lost fingers didn't matter at all.

  Was it more like a devil described in old stories and folklores of many nations? It had horns, weird proportions, and quite a terrifying face even to his standards. Hough didn't care whether it was that or this, for he didn't dwell on that sort of thing. It wasn't part of Emblems or Walkers, which had been his entire mind and life since forever. Some bratty stories shall be forgotten in the passage of time and death, because Emblems were real and so were true, actual demons!

  However, there was something very prevalent and nice about these stories. Despite the visions, personality, innate sentience, or sapience being extraordinary, in Hough's opinion, this was so much better for his life.

  No matter if a single boy was without this bloody Emblem or not, the middle parts of this cage werea home for a full-fledged Vector Demon, whose name shall become irregular in Hough's mind.

  It was a thrilling, morbid moment.

  ***

  Blissfully unaware of everything, William no longer struggled with anything. He was in a special place, lost between the white rooms, red seas, and darkness that wanted to eat him from the inside out.

  He was on his knees, lapping for breath until he stood up, and the entire scene switched. He went through the red pond, numb and sore, and he could finally feel like breathing and looking at something when he got to the other side. Frankly, he wished to be unconscious because there was a demon waiting for him there, not one bit hiding, but looking menacing and real.

  the demon said, trying to sound appealing to the silly visitor, because, once again, dreams are wicked and honest, and this was not it.

  William was breathing hastily and eyed the ground, or this crippling problem ahead with a strange familiarity yet a certain detachment. He felt distant, as if he were watching something that wasn't real, but since he thought everything twice or ten times... well, he felt everything. There was no mistaking it. He was facing it one more time, or was it one last time? No.

  “Who...” He tried to speak but couldn't do it justice.

  A powerful voice humbled his little head.

  “Thanks... I would... rather forget about you or... this. Should... I?”

  

  William tossed his tired self to the wet red ground, overlooked by a demon that was hundreds of times larger than himself. This time, it had legs and even a full torso, and it was sitting cross-legged before him. The head had this weird, cloudy, ancient aura around it.

  Its rumbling voice echoed in this space, drilling into William's mind where he felt it rumble again. This time, there wasn't much noise or pain. It was just deep and profound, as if his entire being felt this mountainous demon consider him.

  [Tiny human.]

  “Nevermind. Say it... Do lives matter? Am I good, or better... left to rot like my parents?”

  

  “Am I a fly?”

  

  William wasn't sure what argument that was, or what hands or flies mattered. “So... what's going to happen now?”

  

  “And? Can I leave...please?” William said in a hurry.

  The demon sounded fed up with this nonsense, so it huffed a long breath and pushed its large arm forward, grabbing William's body. It was a big claw with long fingers that made him feel like an ant, and soon he faced that demonic face far too closely for his tastes.

  William wore a bored face as if he wished to die. “Strange dream, this is.”

  Yeah, it loved arguing and speaking, and William swore it was getting way too emotional and talkative, unlike himself. Was it also stealing emotions? He wasn't sure, but it was feasting on a lot of things for sure.

  “Void? Hm. Where am I?” William glanced around in its grasp, taking its voice and his previous breathless feelings as passing issues. “Wasn't there a big... bunker? Chair... and pain... a lot of pain, right?”

  

  “Who are you?”

  “I didn't ask that.”

  

  “Maybe there is something wrong with me again. Not the first time, or last.” William sighed, finally able to breathe, and leaned on the massive finger as immense tedium clad his spirit.

  The demon pushed him even closer to its face, watching, and kept thinking of the pain. William saw crimson pool below, inverted to the various other places that might come to his mind as memories.

  They were empty, infinite, and without life, coming from a few camps, millions of white rooms, or places that he had felt before. There was also a library, yet it seemed lifeless. There was Celeste, who hugged his head, dropped him some liquids, and felt really fucking proud of that. It was eerie, like taking this endless space and this demon seriously.

  “Was I here before?”

  

  It wasn't as the demon imagined, so it let go of him.

  Getting to his feet, William looked at his hands and saw that he had no clothes whatsoever, much like the demon, which was a weird mixture of a human and some strange animal. He couldn't even put the right explanation into his mouth, but it wasn't scary anymore. His eyes didn't know how to look at it. The head was definitely the weirdest, showing emotions through its eyes, and... more weird stuff that wasn't entirely physical.

  “The ground isn't cold.”