Paradise Lost (JSAB)

Pain, Paranoia, and Primordial Mist

???? Hours, The (purified) Industry

Tetra's dreams are more often prophetic than not, telling of the future.

Sometimes they were direct, events that unfold almost exactly like they were supposed to, like S.D's death. Other times they were hypotheticals, what might happen, or what was supposed to happen but fate had changed their mind at the last second, like Trist's beheading. Maybe occasionally it was purely symbolic, like Lycanthropy's corruption.

But this... What on earth...

The vision that awaited them was something Tetra could not explain. It felt like they were submerged in warm water, not boiling but definitely just a tiny, tiny bit too hot for comfort. Except the water seemed to feel alive, pushing onto them so it felt like the very waves themselves were hugging their small body. And the water was far too dense for it to be truly water, it had more the consistency of... Molasses? Dirt? A type of fruit? Perhaps even meat, if we're really being morbid here?

More unsettlingly, whatever they were surrounded by was alive. It had a heartbeat, throbbing against their skin quickly and rapidly, tightening and loosening as if breathing in air. Were they trapped within the bowels of some flesh blob?

They couldn't breathe. They couldn't move. It was just them and whatever this was. They tried to scream, but no sound came out, drowned out by the disgustingly lifelike heartbeats.

Waking up, Tetra could not be happier to have escaped from that nightmare. They felt their own chest heave with breathlessness. They were caked in sweat, a thin layer of moisture on their body, from the flat of their forehead to the goosebumps on their forearms to their legs and on each and every ten of their toes-

Wait, all ten? They threw the blankets off their body and looked down.. Both of their feet were intact, they realised when they wriggled their small toes. Weird, they remembered that they lost one of their feet in the fight against Close to Me, and hadn't revived at all since. Speaking of which, once they remembered those events, their eyes widened as their small head shot up, trying to make sense of their surroundings.

They were in a bed, the bottom half of a bunk bed to be exact, in a simple windowless room with concrete walls and floors. There were desks and wardrobes of clothes around, with the occasional decorations. An empty flower vase on a bedside table, a pinup calendar hanging on the wall depicting a woman on a beach, another poster of a rock band, and a picture frame showing a picture of a black cat. Otherwise, it was simple and barren.

Tetra blinked the sleep out of their eyes, feeling the mattress underneath them. It was not luxurious, but definitely better than their own one in the orphanage, it felt mass-produced and cheap. Rubbing their eyes and yawning, they swung their legs over the edge of the bed onto the floor, standing up. Their shoes were underneath the bed and their coat was on a nearby chair, which they put on. A mirror was nearby, and they looked in the surface. They hadn't looked in a mirror in weeks.

They looked... Quite shitty, honestly, their face was deathly pale and almost a little bit yellowish in complexion, making the bags underneath their eyes pop out like charcoal and dry lips seem cracked like dead earth. Their hair was messy and knotted, but looking just a little bit tidier after attempting to smooth it over and comb it with their fingers. On their neck remained the thick, heavy metal collar that formed as an instantaneous and permanent death sentence, dormant and sleeping, waiting to be used. Thankfully it can't be triggered, except if they try to pry it off. It felt like a heavy fist on their throat.

Most notably, however, splashed on their face, across their right eye, was a pale white patch of scar tissue that hadn't completely healed over despite the countless number of revivals they made. Pulling back their fringe, they also saw that the scar tissue has taken away a few centimetres of their hairline, too. Tetra pursed their lips. Honestly, they were kinda hoping to see a cute little button face with rosy red cheeks instead of this, but that would be asking too much it seemed. They sighed, before turning to the door.