No Man’s Land

This piece of work has been inspired by "Last Gasp by Kellie Kester"

Everything has its limits; all living things know their boundaries. It is only Man that dares go beyond, but the magnificence of the rewards pale in comparison to the terrible fate after failure. Maybe that is why many stay well within their limits, perhaps it is wiser or maybe the instinct of self-survival.

Someone once said to me, “Such pursuits are the forte of the insane”.

“And sanity is the refuge of the cowards” I replied with a ghost of a smile upon my lips.

That is what I’ve been all my life, challenging everything that perplexed me, savoring the joy of conquering the insurmountable barriers. But, all those will be belittled by the feat I am about to undertake. This time I dare not the limitations of man, but, the limitations of evolution, of GOD itself. This time success will be for mankind to savor but I shall be the only one to suffer if it fails. There is no shame in accepting defeat like this; I shall gladly embrace it.

Know this from me, for none other has ever lived to tell the tale. Beyond the place where consciousness prevails there lies a vast emptiness. Emptiness so expansive that it transcends into nothingness and slowly starts drawing everything that prevails into its bosom. It is this path I tread, into the bosom of nothingness, with a burning desire to go beyond. Forbidden, restricted, warned, threatened by those pitiful creatures that wouldn’t dare look a challenge in the eye, I strode on, unhindered.

I feel it now, the nothingness welling up inside me, drawing in my thoughts, mind and soul. I tremble with sheer excitement; all semblance of mortality seems to be falling apart to reveal the core of ever life. With each blink of eye different visions flash before my eyes, past, present and future have lost their distinction. I feel the same golden thread within me that links the living, the dead, and the undead. With each step my memories are eroded, yet, the same feeling is like a fan to my flaming desire, pushing it into desperation. But, I feel something is wrong, something holding me back, tendrils of alien presence gnawing into my mind. I close my eyes to concentrate on going forward, but, when I open them, I see a wall.

I look about me, more walls, and all an arm’s length away from me. I turn around, only to behold creatures of such terrible beauty that my eyes begin to burn just by looking at them. The whisper of their ethereal voices pierces my sanity. I sink to my knees, unable to look away; I am trapped, there is no escape. My vision is red and hazy; consciousness and life are seeping out of me. Yet, the grain of desire still burns within me, ensconced in the essence of life that does not let me go. My mind starts to mourn and scream as I go dizzy. My life draining away as I fall on my back, clamoring for help. I am not me anymore; I seek for anyone, anything that will grant me salvation. As the ghost song of the creatures increases in pitch, my soul shreds into lifeless vestiges; the agony is beyond me, beyond my reckoning, beyond my endurance. I want it all to stop, I beg for a savior.

At last, I feel it all receding, everything turns meaningless for me. I cry with joy as I feel the approach of my messiah. He, the greatest messiah of all; He who obliterates all; He who quenches all; He whose embrace is the shield from all. All of it ends; the monsters are gone, as is the pain. And, with my last gasp, as red fades to black, I become one with He who is Death.