#⚠️️ Cellular Existence - Multiverse ⚠️️

[existence-overwhelming]

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Continued from @owliiish's post!

Autumn evenings brought an iciness over the Boiling Isle, something only a comforter could hope to fight against in the wee hours. Thus with each day growing shorter and shorter, the perfect excuse was provided to any looking for cause to nod off. And the ever-encroaching oppression of disembodied observation was as good as any other reason to turn in early. Yet there was no solace to be found in Nod, none for the Owl Lady. In the between where the quiet lay did things seldom stay tranquil these days. When her consciousness fades and gave way something arose from the subconscious bay. Like a web spun from high, gossamer threads glimmered as they stretched out from corner to corner in the nest. Only there was no widow to make the threads a home. Instead, there was only a coldness not too unlike the dead of night, frost drifting off the threads to coalesce over her head. That is all to say--it was not a pleasant night. It did not start pleasant and would likely not end pleasant either, not for as long as an unseen hand wrung Eda's psyche. Something sought to drain dry whatever kept her on edge. Whatever it was keeping her aprized of the observation, the scrutiny peering through rock and bone and stone. Until all that remained was a withered husk content to let whatever be do as it pleased. Then the hand loosened and pulled back to give her a breath, to let her find herself amid the swirling tempest. Only after did the fog recede, create a pocket of clarity to think and to feel. And once the calm came, so too did a single great eye. It opened without fanfare, splitting the abyss to unveil an island of glaring milk with a thousand-thousand glittering orbs all blink-staring to form the whole of a pupil through crude pointalism. Splintered veins carved their way through the margins of the melted chocolate spilling out into the black, each a finger-thick fissure throbbing in arrhymic patterns. And welled within its depthless expanse was an intensity that shook the very ether.

Down the optic's dot roamed until settling upon Eda, constricting until it was a pinprick similar in size to her own pupils. Only then did a sound resonate across the endless black.

}--.͠l̢͝ɘ҉̡̕ɘ̢͢ꟻ̛ ̷.ɘ̷̧ʜ̕͞t̵͞ɒ́͞ɘ̧̀ɿ͠B̧́͠ .̡ʞ͢ń̶̕i̧ʜT͢--{

A foghorn blaring out across an empty prairie, its voice thrummed and the air of Nod was cowed.

[existence-overwhelming]

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All pretence of civility fell away when confronted with the impossible, something beyond one's ken yet so very real it stood before them in stark contrast to all they knew. In a desperate bid to find normalcy anew, violence rose to the forefront of the finite's thought process. Yet when it became evident such a route ended in nought, they would then transition to-- Thwack. Thousands of the tiny eye dots broke the border of the pupil and poured forth to the margins of the sclera. Each was a marble loosed from a pachinko machine down toward the river-threaded margins of the eye until it more resembled a ruptured cell than anything else. They crowded around the shoe Eda spiked toward it as it embedded partway into the sclera. Something akin to a wet squelch resounded from the impact. Bit by bit the apparel sunk in until the eerie pallor consumed it whole. Only then did the pupil and its pointillism constituents slowly turn back up to look at the now armed witch. Not a single spell? Not a single curse or hex thrown in her defense? Something as simple and mundane as a shoe? It was not the first nor the last, nor did it go against the Law of the Character. And even still--now she was fleeing? To where? What plan could she have beyond finite impulse?

Once again, the presence shattered the endless expanse into countless fractals.

}- .̙͎̺̦̕ϱ͓͎͍̥͡n̢͎̭i͍̻̪̠̜͚ƨ͉̦̰̤ɿ͍̟ͅɘ̨̝͉̯̟v̪n͚̼̫̣o̧̺̰̻̼̹̞Ɔ̠̩̠͔͝ ̞͉̲͇͙̰̜ʇ̧̣͙̬̹o҉̹̘̼ ̬ƨ̜͉̟̹̺̤̺ɔ̻i̤͡t̗̭͡ɔɒȚ̨͉͙̤ ̝̭͙͕̟̱̰̀w̰͟ɘ̖̯͈̩̳̞͙И͚ ̢̗̩͈-̘̩̦͚̙̥ ̹͖̬̗ͅt̷̠̙̠͚̭n͍ɘ̟̺͖͔̺͉m̱̙ƨ̫͍͖̠ͅƨ̛͈̳̼̦ɘ̭̩͕̘̫̮͇ƨƨ͓̦̣A̳̹̱̤͙ -{

The ground inhaled before heaving out a resonant sigh causing the land to well up in a great tidal wave. It fell forward and rushed across the expanse, fracturing the world Eda found herself in with the force of a thousand hammers. And when it finally caught up to her, it threw her into the air before racing up to meet her halfway back down. Before finally pulling back and depositing her in front of the eye anew, only this time it was not alone. Gagged and bound by threads on the precipice between the abyss and the ocean of milk with black veins threaded throughout was a familiar face. Dusk-touched skin and brown hair with jeans and an indigo-white striped hoodie. Luz sat, helpless, with wide eyes and a frantic expression desperate to find some way out of the insanity she now found herself in before seeing Eda deposited in front of her. Then she wriggled out from the abyssal string to call out, "Eda, help!"

Eda was halfway home when the headache turned into a knife.

She wheezed, suddenly covered in a cold sweat that made her cloak feel like it was barely there. The wind cut through the trees and down to her bones, and she was shivering, teeth full on chattering.

It was past midnight. She was in bed. Her window was a giant eye, illuminated by moonlight.

It was noon and for some reason the sun had vanished and the sky was baring down on her with all its stars

Eda distantly recognized she might be in real trouble.

There was a single note in her head and it was screeching, though whether it was her own voice or someone else's, she couldn't tell. She felt her shoulder scratch against something (bark, there was a tree, she was in the forest), as Eda hissed through the pain.

She fumbled for another elixir.

The bottle slipped.

The glass shattering was the worst sound in the world.

She covered her ears and ground her teeth, the silence was so loud and she wanted it all to shUT uP-

Maybe she should call someone. Maybe she should just sit down and wait. Maybe she should stop trying all together.

Eda jabbed her nails hard into her scalp, holding onto the one sensation that wasn't her head splitting apart. "Fuck..." Was the only thing she could think of to say, blinking rapidly and trying to clear her head.

The path was gone. The forest was gone. In her shock, she lurched upright and the moment her shoulder left the tree (the last tree, the only tree for miles and miles and miles in the dark) it vanished too and she was left completely and utterly alone.

It was a familiar scene, in both dreams and reality and it never failed to fill her with dread.

"Doublefuck." A low growl fumbled from her throat. She took a deep breathe.

It was fine. This was fine. She knew this whole song and dance...

Still gripping her head, Eda turned in an unsteady circle, looking for a landmark. She wondered if it would be worth calling out or if she should just stay put.

That is, until the Void opened its Eye, and Eda found herself staring at something that wasn't quite possible. It was large and round as the Moon, white sclera run through with black ink. Like a river. Like veins. The vast wide pupil turned down, and it was fair to say that all the air rushed out of her lungs.

That was a solid Triple FUCK right there,

Eda stepped back. It was bigger than the Owl Beast. Something boomed in the darkness and her head shattered again with the noise of it, nearly driving to her to her knees.

As much as Eda was often criticized or even mocked for her reckless behavior, there were a few benefits to her tendency to act on instinct. She didn't need to think to know that whatever was going down, it was not something she wanted to be a part off.

She kicked off her shoes. She had them in her hands by the heels. Eda chucked the first one full force at the looming Eye, scarcely paying any attention on whether she'd hit it or not.

With the other shoe clutched in her hand like a weapon, Eda turned around and R a n.

Meanwhile on the path from Bonesburrow, The Owl Lady lay in the dirt, arms wrapped tight around herself and shivering from the cold. The noon sun was bright overhead, but she couldn't feel a thing.