I placed my back against the black surface of the pyramid. Even till this moment, we did not yet know the material that this pyramid was made from, and resting my beating head against it, I tried to push through the headache.
After a while, I pushed myself away from the pyramid; it was not helping, and I stopped an arm’s length from it and looked into the black surface of the pyramid. I don’t know if it was the headaches, but it seemed to be rippling, and before long, I could see my reflection on it.
I held my breath, since the unknown material of the pyramid was not reflective, and it almost seemed as if power had left my body and had lingered on the surface of the pyramid, causing its surface to take on a new property.
How I was able to do this was unclear to me, and it still felt as if I was dreaming. I looked at my reflection, and I appeared to be very sick. My eyes were puffy as if I were crying and lacked a lot of sleep.
Damn, I look like shit that had been stepped through. My hair was longer than I remembered, maybe two inches or so, enough that I could tell. This frozen world, my headaches and flashes of memory, I knew they were all connected, but I had no true way to confirm this.
I wanted to turn away from the pyramid, then I recalled that weird shadow that was at the edge of my vision that seemed to be coming closer to me; perhaps this mirror in front of me could aid me in glimpsing what it was.
With this in mind, I began to glance around and behind me using the mirror, focused on my surroundings, and then I saw what was behind me.
A man was sitting on my shoulder.
∞
A full-grown man, at least I assume it was a man. He had grey skin, and he was naked, and I froze at the wrongness of what I was seeing as this man was far too large to be where he was.
His long limbs folded over my shoulders, his chest pressed flat against my back, and his grey face bent down over the crown of my head. He was draped over me from behind, and I had not felt it.
If I were not staring at his full shape in the mirror, the phantom weight I had been feeling would seem like a dream. Since I had woken up, I had carried the weight of a grown man on my back and known nothing of it but a heaviness I could not name... why?
I looked more closely at my reflection and noted that his face was bent to my skull, and I slowly turned to the side to see what he was doing. I nearly gasped in shock.
The mouth of this man hung open, all the way open as if it was unhinged like a snake, and from it a tongue extended, drawn to a hard point that resembled bone. And that spike-tongue was driven into the crown of my head.
And as I watched, frozen, the man’s throat worked, and the spike pushed deeper into my head.
Along the glistening length of his tongue, a dark shimmer travelled out of my head, into his working throat.
This... this man was drinking my mind. From the moment I woke, the headaches, the lost memories, and all the fragments and pieces that were bubbling up from the depths of my mind... every memory I had was being eaten by this man, and I had not felt it, as if my entire perception was being manipulated.
Even till this moment, I did not know if what I was seeing was real or the delusion of a mind that was incredibly tired, but it felt real. The pain, headaches, my memories, and the fact that I could feel the weight of this thing on my shoulders could not be fake... and it frightened me that, despite the fact that I was seeing this thing, I was still doubting myself.
I did not move, I could not. I stared at the man, and it was as if he was able to feel my eyes on him, and he went still.
Slowly, he began to turn towards the reflection on the wall, and as he did, the long spike-tongue slid partway out of the bone with a wet, dragging pull, and I felt it, finally, horribly felt it, and the pain nearly made me black out.
My face went pale when the man turned to look at me, and I could not recognize him. Bald, with yellow eyes and skin that was drawn tight. His yellow eyes stared at me, and I knew without any doubt that this thing was truly upon my shoulders and the man frowned as if he was irritated, held my stare for a moment and then slowly and what I believe was with full deliberation, bent his face back down to my skull, set the point of that spike against the puncture it had already made, and drove it in. Deeper than before.
Pain erupted from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, and my knees buckled. I caught myself against the cold black face of the pyramid with one hand, staring into the dark at the grey man drinking my mind, and I understood, at last, what had been done to me.
You are in danger...
"No shit," I whispered in anger.
You cannot die, or you will not return.
That... did not make sense, but yet, nothing yet was making any damned sense to me.
∞
"Get off," I whispered to the grey man on my back, and my voice was shaking, with both fear and anger, "Get off me."
The man responded by holding me tighter, and digging his tongue deeper into my skull, and I reached for... something, but I could not find it.
I should be able to do more, not just talk to the thing that is eating my mind in front of me.
Elric, time is running out. I don’t know how long I can hold it.