Darkness pervaded the land.

Palpitating aura, shifting between quietude and destruction. A still existence, somewhere on the brink of life but unsettling in truth. They interacted with the darkness of sentience, pulsating. In this land they were okay, in the other it switched like an alarm triggering panic.

A little boy walked slowly across the land, merely wishing to go to that one particular site full of energy.

Burning sphere. Curiosity.

Curiosity?

Tendrils of smoke being sucked into that whole, swirling in, spinning. Curling into a geometry of encapsulation... an emotion transfigured from the abstract into something in a convoluted way. Bizarre, tinkering dangerously with energy and aura...

Unnatural? What separates the two, anyway?

What separates thoughts and emotions?

Something must have, since they were of emotions.

The geometry spun faster, fluctuating between a myriad of manifolds. How must it work? How must it define itself? How must it prove itself? How must it make sense?

Must think of everything since something is fundamentally wrong. As if the language it is built on is itself false...

Spin. Spin. Think. Think. Who will think? What is spinning?

This energy comes from the land. Feeling sympathy for this lost speck of an odd thing called emotion. Which emotion?

How does that matter?

Who?

Who? A useless question.

Something sparkled in the boy's eyes as the energy burned brighter, faster, harder. Big and big and big until it began contracting and reached its... shape.

How does something sparkle in lifeless eyes? What are they made of? What are their functions, really? How do these bodies work?

What do they mean?

As it burst did another vessel come out. Small, fragile, clad in a deep green cloth. 

So tiny. Oh, it's growing? Very fast. Already double the size. Triple. Double that boy's size, now. Already reached adulthood? Now time changes its pace and the progression is humane. 

Earthly.

The new being walked slowly away from the crowd, on its own to explore the land and the other creatures obliged, giving it its space.

Large curled hair, feel like a doll's. Feel? Eyes empty like a shallow drawing on paper. Such a small nose, such drooping ears. Thin legs, thin arms, thin bones, hollow on the inside...

The cold floor it could not feel. The stenches it could not smell. The vibration could not unsettle it as it did not reach it. The darkness it could not see.

The darkness... it could not comprehend.

Aura was a concept incomprehensible. Energy was a feature incomprehensible.

Everything... not uncertain, not confusing. Simply incomprehensible.

What do these bodies mean?

A little spark ignited and caught the curly-haired one, dragging it across the land. All creatures stared in unison at the swift streak for the briefest moment after which they returned to their drab motion.

Into the abyss of one, out of the abyss of the other, hurled through the skies, appearing.

It stood behind the wailing girl.

Its hair grew, becoming neater, thicker. Snakes sprouting from whatever was its head.

The scratches on her arm burned.

Its eyes bulged, white.

Her ears rang as water filled them. So loud, as if the imaginary vibrations would never go away.

Its nose disappeared, its ears shrunk.

Her chest hurt as she fell to the ground, clutching it. 

Its limbs stretched.

Her skin shook and she held herself to no vail.

Its bones were perforated. 

Her thoughts perished to invite chaos of the noisiest kind. Swimming endlessly in the manifold within, so bizarre. 

Its energy burned on the inside.

Her feelings dried and a hollowness cut through her aura. Tearing thin paper, scratch, peeling away protection. The energy nearly bled into the aura, the physical and the abstract dangerously tangling to lead her to uncertainty of the deepest kind. Into the abyss of all that is none.

The body raged. Everything within went cold, its surface thick with an unbearable stench. The sound of chaos surrounded the two as darkness engulfed the girl's aura. The creature's aura burst, splintering the atmosphere and its energy nearly curled around the human, tinkering with the mess of emotions, nearly yanking life away. But the shadow dawned on the spreading rays, cutting that convoluted light, providing the relief of tenebris to the human.

As the negativity that swam on the surface was peeled away, pain flooded the creature's mind.

Mind? What mind? How does the creature feel pain? But it does. But how? The emotion simple floods a manifestation of some emotion, a load on some abstract construct. If they cannot experience this, if they cannot contain anything within them, where do they direct this? Where do they direct the consequence of their actions and presence?

The beings closest to their land, of course.

Into that recondite dimension, into the being that controls them, to the beings that share their name. Spread from the creatures of tenebris to the beings of chaos, shadows except two unaware. 

The trapper's blade cuts the creature scared of this horrible land it is in. Energy released, convoluted. The land rejects it and it rejects the land, rushing back to what it thinks is its home.

The human is fine. Energy is conserved. The trapper is satisfied. The creature is at the mercy of destruction.

Everything seems okay as the cycle of suffering continues. 

- - - - -

Blowing in the wind
Thoughts died

Drifting through the darkness
Emotions lived

A spark

ignites

is born

The bizarre unsettling, the unsettling bizarre

settling in the defined land.

Destructive Tenebris.

Gliding lifelessly
Unable to seek the comfort of death.

Lost in the oblivion
of chaos.

Unaware of all truth
Unaware of time
Unaware of faith as they simply abide by.

When beings return to the void

perhaps there is meaning
perhaps there is learning
perhaps there is understanding
perhaps there is responsibility
perhaps there is appreciation
perhaps there is a mark of time
perhaps there is a mark of existence

When these creatures return to the void
What will become of them?

Nothing.
Nature will be free.
nature will continue its course.

A miserable existence
obligation after obligation
No more will they have to persist

They will simply have made their mark
on the beings of existence.

----- -------

The woman's tide swept over her surroundings as she stood still on the ground, that device in one hand while the other hung loosely by her side. The sun shone so brightly yet her limbs turned cold, her expression an incoherent mess of emotions. Her eyes glistened, widened, and the blood through her ran dangerously fast. 

A glimpse of the past. Memories with the one she lost. Water fell.

A voice from that little box in her hand repeated her name, panic rising with each instance as the lady remained silent. Her knees wobbled but she stabilised them, whispering something after which she closed the connection, rushing to her destination.

The shadows followed. As did the sympathetic creatures.

Her fingers twitched but they remained steady on the wheel, gripping it tightly to keep her focused on the road ahead. Unnecessary thoughts and memories cut through her mind, only adding to her chaos, but she remained fixated on the road.

Eyes up ahead to where she must be, not lost in oblivion.

Each stop was excruciating and her arm quivered, wishing to check that box, but she knew the alerting sound would come with any news. 

Eyes up ahead. Move steadily. Do not be in haste.

The gentle cool of the vents within her vehicle, the soft sunlight, the clear sky dotted with puffy clouds, the gentle vibration caused by motion... a setting the girl who waited for the woman adored, especially by her side...

The aura of Nature by elements of life, whether that may be the atmosphere or the trees or humans... each affected the other, each coexisted with the other. Being alone together is in everyone's nature, after all.

Soothing, this setting putting this little one to sleep so easily on so many occasions...

Of course she will experience it again, the woman thought, her eyes hardening on the road up ahead.

The shadows followed. As did the constrained creatures.

As the woman left the car, the calming cool was replaced by a deeper heat, alleviated slightly by the breeze that walked with her. Up the stairs, into the plain building, people rushing around inside, talking, concerned, checking, understanding. 

So many simply waiting.

She rushed to the counter, expectantly disappointed as she was turned away for the moment.

The woman took her own seat, promising to simply wait and pray. Pray to what? To whom? She didn't know. She could simple hope.

She could simply believe.

An atmosphere that held the thickest mess of auras. Conflicting thoughts, pained thoughts, doubtful beliefs, propagations superposed in infinite states. A geometry of infinite symmetry that held all that was probable and possible, the spheres spun in changing directions with changing speeds. Close to each other, transferring the facilitating particles, never touching.

Everything was influenced by the other.

Frequencies that phased with each other, dipping in and out. Copying, learning, rejecting, considering. Lights that blinked, hope flickering like a damaged bulb. The dread of time pulling their energies further down, nearly into Earth but the land pushed back, upholding the burden of life. No aura was more comforting that the land's, after all.

The moment her name was called, the mother rushed forward.

The shadows followed. As did the unnatural creatures.

Up and up and up in that metal box, with the one who was taking her to her destination. The young lady wore a smile, so small and so grim. Exhausted eyes, flickers of years of seeing the same journey of chaos through the minds she had catered to, but something else shone brightest. 

She believed in her work, after all. The nature, the knowledge, the experience, the people, herself and everyone else.

But does it matter? It does to her.

Remnants of so many travelling between their beloved and the phases below. Enter, wait, wait, exit. Auras bouncing, hesitant, uncertain, looking back and forth between the phases of existence. The wounded, the caring, the carers, the healers, the workers... everyone saw something, shifting.

Shadows could be seen, after all. That which was unnatural couldn't. 

Sitting in prayers, troubled by sounds and sights and smells and feels... just envelope yourself in some form of faith. Everyone believes in something.

And the older woman chose to believe in the young girl.

Heavy footsteps followed the quick ones, but the weight started dissipating away as the muscles tightened, strengthening their hold on reality.

As she came to a stop before that heavy door, her destination seemed so far away. Looming, doubts pounding as that emotion flooded the woman.

Shouldn't have scolded her, should've let her go, should've cared more deeply, should've talked to her better, shouldn't have caused that sadness, should've spent more time, should've tried harder and done more to keep her happy, shouldn't have done this and should have done that...

A superposed propagation separated itself from the woman's aura, circling her mind. She stepped forward

The shadows followed. As did the fading creatures.

At the sight of her hurt little one, the propagation spiked from its neutrality into amplitudes of grief, pain, doubt, sorrow, fear, hatred, anger and on and on and on... but the state of belief was present. The others were possible, too.

Superposed. Everything was, as was she. Who was she moments ago? What was she doing? How was she feeling? How funny, things can transform in an instant. From one state to another. Perhaps they could go back. Perhaps some factors could. What if they were all simply fluctuating between certain states? How could progress possibly be marked?

Superposed. Each had All, each was a part of the One. Anything could be possible. Meaning could be nothing.

At the moment, she was a mother.

_

The four representatives of the demonic creatures turned to the leader of shadow-trappers, the little girl by her side stepping forward ever-so-slightly. She raised her eyes and gave a single nod.

The five behind her took a deep breath in unison to her own, letting it go for the last time. As the wind swirled in the blanket rose from the land, the illusions of the past finally floated away into space, spreading its influence by its nature. 

Centre
Swirling
Spreading gas 

Bubbles up
Blows down
The sheet spreads
In and out
Breathing
It protects

To free in constraint
At its centre, so soft
Clear, so natural 

The right vigour
The right life
The right uncertainty
The right of it all 

Hope is here.

The thought of this land's shadow rang out softly, amongst all the shadows and their unnatural companions across all of existence.

These beings of sentience do well on their own. Our interference was so unnecessary, doing nothing but interrupting their progression of life.

Interrupting our own, too.

Each existence does as their are defined to do. Within a border, within their given constraints they try and strive and wait and believe and try.

Everything progresses according to its own nature. After all, it comes down to one thing.

No being is greater than the other.