Dark Infinity Act I-A Part 1: The Beginning Of Self-Hatred

This page is rated M for Harsh Profanity, Moderate Violence, Moderate Depressive Themes, and Light Horror Themes.

This article is non-canon to Dark Infinity, but will be left up to preserve history.

It was September 10th, 2020. William was struggling with thoughts of self-hatred as the sounds of people talking became too loud to bear. He'd begin to shed tears from how much it caused overwhelm to hear such a cacophony of voices. So much noise, make it... STOP!!!

A creeping figure made of shadow would manifest behind William, with a wicked grin on its face. Its teeth were like razor-sharp blades, and its fingers like pointed knives. It'd slowly scrape its index finger on William's neck, taunting him.

It'd make fun of William, taking its dose of schadenfreude from William's misfortune with a demonic voice, "Feels good, like a cut through the throat, ay? Something's scraping your ears like I'm scraping your neck, yes? Is the noise too loud? Do you want Mommy to come and pick you up from here, somewhere where your ears made of glass don't shatter?

Well, suck it up and shut the fuck up. You're here 'till 1:30, and it's only 1:25. Five more minutes won't hurt, or are you impatient too? Hope you the best, and don't cry. You'll make yourself seem like a coward, and we don't want that, do we now?" before fading away like it never was there. No one saw it except him, for he certainly must be crazy.

Those five minutes were the longest five minutes William would feel since the five minutes before his discharge after contracting pneumonia in last year's March. Those talkative pricks should go and fuck themselves, William thought, as his ears would ache from such a loud pair of idiots even when he got home. A nice time to rest when he did, his ears needed it.

The clock would strike at 9. The sun was down a long time ago, and he felt quite tired, the day was draining. His day was done, as he showered, cleaned his room, did the chores, and also helped out a neighbor which netted him a nice 50 dollars to spend in the coming days.

While William was sleeping, something from the holy light would find itself in his room. His light would creep into William's dreams to give a vision to him as He wanted to rectify a lack of action on his part, but He knew what the timing should be. He would know William was about to face something terrible, and so He acted.

William would wake up in a disk made of transparent gold. Three pillars made of rock, waist-high, would form about three-quarters off from the edges, and in each, would be a single item signifying a metaphor for a positive trait.

The book is full of boundless wisdom, able to raise a slave into a conqueror, a metaphor for said wisdom.

The pen, a tool of creativity. A man can destroy empires with the simple act of writing and can make possible the physically impossible with the act of drawing. It is a metaphor for said creativity, where the essence can shape the imagination and destroy it too.

The breastplate leads resilient men into battle, and weak men can train using it. It led many men into conflict, coming back alive with the breastplate taking the blows that should've ended their lives. The metaphor for resilience.

So, William chose creativity. He'd notice as the transparent gold would be immersed in darkness as the pen was in his hands, a Psibreaker shooting down to aid him in his battle. This pen would absorb into him, giving him creative power, and then he'd fight through the creatures that emerged from the darkness.

Soon, he'd go down the proverbial rabbit hole as the disk fell apart, and then he'd notice his imagination, his wonderland, was but a shell of itself. A fleshy corruption would smother the land, with patches of anything living drained of life by this parasitic mass. He'd lament it had to be this way, wishing for it to be easier, but his self-hate would only make it harder.

People in William's imagination would be infected by this parasite. Once you're infected, your face becomes a mangled mess, your teeth sharpen and become like that of a tiger, your arms fall off, and your chest bursts open, with whatever guts you had left from being consumed by the corruption hanging out. To be seen by this creature is to guarantee death for the innocent citizens, but not for William, as he was armed with a weapon able to cut anything.

His first encounter with this infected creature was in the Vale Of Sorrow, a place where depression is made into a location, with loads of symbolism in it. It'd roar at William with a wet gurgle under said roar, before charging William. It'd die quickly, carelessly falling into a hole as it tried to bite him, with primal desire overtaking the infected creature's mind.

Soon, he'd stumble upon a statue of himself kneeling on one knee, with tears coming out of the statue's eyes. It'd face William and tell him in a sorrowful, gravelly voice, "I feel like I am made of rock, both in the literal and proverbial sense, numb to the emotions around me and in me. I feel no sorrow, no happiness, only nil. This new ruler only intensifies this feeling of nil, as I feel the void in my heart slowly expanding. With no one to aid me, no one to love, I shall forever wander alone with the pain in my heart before I am cast into hell for the hate I carry against the world. Where's God in this madness? I need him so dearly, yet my prayers fall on deaf ears. I still carry faith in me, yet I feel like this faith shall not hold if my prayers for fulfillment are not answered. Even God telling me no to my prayers would suffice, as at least he is listening." before turning its head down in sorrow.

William would then respond to this statue with the knowledge needed to keep its faith, "Be patient. God takes his time in answering all the prayers that the men of this world give him. What if one man asks for rain and another a clear sky? How can a clear sky rain without defying the laws of nature?

God answers one man before another. Also, have you kept your faith, my rocky friend? Your belief in God has dwindled, and you must keep believing, even through misery. Remember the story of Job?" before the statue would look up to face William.

The statue would then reply, "Yes, I do know the story of Job and how his faithfulness was tested by God. Satan was allowed to take everything he loved and cherished from this blameless man to see if he'd change and curse God. But the strength of his faith endured, praising God even as he was afflicted with terrible skin sores, trying to push through his afflictions before being broken by the sheer misery this would cause him. He'd deplore that God allowed evil to thrive while honest men suffer after Job was broken, trying to protest against God, but not being able to find him.

God would then come to Job, telling him to be brave and faithful as God would show all he created to him. God's actions would humble Job, as he was an atom to God's infinite multiverse, before being given back all he loved.

Hey, that relates to my situation, where I am being inflicted suffering by the void in my heart, and that's threatening my faith. Thank you, William. I will try to be brave like Job was in the face of all my inflictions. Here, take this. It's a shield I found in the Castle Of Annihilation, wielded by the dead right-hand man of Odio Se. Thank you for helping me keep my faith and giving me the clarity to see." before handing William the Shield Of Wisdom, able to block, something he needed to deal with the mutated inhabitants.

God, disguised as a dove, would come to the statue and grant it its prayer for fulfillment as its faith was restored, which the prayer was William's. It would no longer shed any more tears from sorrow and instead shed tears of happiness as it felt like it was finally fulfilled, that emptiness in its heart gone. The dove would then immunize the Vale Of Sorrow from the corruption, killing said corruption in the process. The Vale Of Sorrow, while still a depressing place to be in, was saved from becoming a place of intolerable sadness.

The girlfriend of this statue, a statue resembling Sophia of all people, would be glad it was back to his old self, "Tierra here wasn't himself after Odio Se's influence smothered the Vale Of Sorrow. Come here honey, let's go to your house and watch the nightshades grow. Once this is all over, we can finally go on our first date." before they wandered off to the Nightshade Garden, a green valley full of all kinds of edible nightshades.

William would quip about the gender of the statue, "I never knew it was a he. Guess I'm too stupid to notice that, amirite? HAHAHAHA... I'm such a joke." before William would offer the dove a communion wafer.

William would then tell the dove what was going on, "So, I guess you're here to help me from the corruption that's been spreading around. I see you're quite powerful, as the Vale Of Sorrow has been cleansed of the rotten flesh draining the life it barely had. It may still be depressing, but it is less so now. Guide me to my next destination. Give me the guidance needed to find what is next." before the dove would begin cooing.

William would wonder what the cooing meant, "Hey, what are you trying to say, birdy? Want another communion wafer?" before William would then pull out another wafer and feed it to the dove.

The dove would then show signs of satiation and then would begin to fly off. William would notice the bird would be flying off in the direction of the Nexus Of Hope, and so he ran behind the bird.

William would comment that the bird was quite fast, "Hey, wait up! You're going a little faster than I could keep up, birdy!" as he ran behind the bird.

His next destination was the Nexus Of Hope, where the corruption smothered the fountain of hope, drying it up. A swarm of these mutant people would gather around the fountain, as if they were blocking it, before the dove's light would scatter these heathens back to where they belong, the pits of hell. A creature called the Leviathan would emerge as the protector of the fountain, corrupted by the flesh, and William would have to fight this terror from hell itself.

William would be quite surprised at such a beast, "That thing is gigantic. I can barely see even its face. Give me power, dove. You have granted the prayers of the statue, please, now grant me the strength to slash away at this disgusting mass of rotten flesh." before the dove would begin to glow and transfer its glow into the Psibreaker, causing the Psibreaker to overcharge and become a dealer of death.

First, William had to slash off its armor plating with the power of the dove enhancing his Psibreaker. Each slash would slowly degrade the armor plating before the armor would completely shatter. This would cause the beast to become desperate as it knew it'd surely die unless it took desperate measures.

William would quip about the Leviathan, "Well, that's one way to open someone up, but not nearly as quick or fun as the method I'm using. I'm your best reason to be afraid, you fucking abomination. Guess the bigger they are, the harder they must fall. Now then, let's donate some blood. Not mine though... YOURS!!!" before William would prepare to attack.

As the Leviathan's body would begin to be slashed away at, it became more and more desperate. It'd try to slam headfirst into William, but the shield would completely absorb the impact. It'd try falling into William, but it left itself vulnerable to a flurry of slashes. It'd try eating William, but William would slash his way out of its throat. Sheer strength cannot compete against intellect, especially when that intellect has a sword blessed by a god.

So, the waterways of the fountain would begin to flow once more following the death of such an abomination. The immunization of the Nexus would follow, and William would realize that this dove ain't normal, it has the power of God. He didn't question it though. He didn't want to invoke such a tremendous power's wrath.

The dove would begin to coo again and fly to the place that had symbolism to anger. Some place where metal was heated by the fires of said anger. To the forges.

William would notice the next destination, the Forge Of Anger, was overproducing for some reason. This corruption would make these terrible machines out of the steel and titanium forged by the fires of anger and wrath. He had to go and stop the manufacture somehow, so birdy and he went off to there, and saw that the place was covered in flesh.

But he'd wake up just before the moment he'd take a step forward.

William's mother would talk to William in a relieved tone, "Oh, thank God, you're okay. There was a terrible storm outside and people were complaining of a strange light falling down from the sky. I'm surprised whatever was out there didn't hurt you. Whatever, school's out because of that, even if the sky is as clear as crystal today. Hey, didn't you say you had homework from Mr. Gorrister's class? He's been complaining you never turn in your homework." before William would get up and go do the homework his teacher asked for.

From September 10th to September 22nd, he'd have normal dreams. He didn't feel as depressed and had his hope restored, thankfully. Nothing like the calm before the storm, right?

But the storm would come again. A day which made William feel like a C4 ready to explode from how angering it was would cause him to return back to the Forge Of Anger. The dove would be waiting for him, perching on his arm before taking flight, and there they went.