Until The Sky Swallows us I will Love You | Night Six - Clarity Incarnate

Michael is my flame. My beautiful, terrifying and undying flame. But he has suffered extreme terror and fear and dread beyond what I can comprehend. It all started years ago, before the world changed to one of constant watching and hiding. He was only 10, but he’d always felt older. He found an old book in his attic, behind all of the rubble and dust. Its title read ‘A mosaic of eyes’… the title intrigued him so… a mosaic of eyes, he thought, how would one create that sort of tapestry?

They say curiosity kills the cat, because it is true. Michael’s curiosity did kill him. As he opened to the first page, he began to read, a flurry of words which fed his hunger for knowledge in a way he’d never experienced. It was insatiable, never satisfied with the small children’s books he had been bought, the larger ones he had stolen from his study. But this was different. Its pages let him gorge himself on everything he had ever wanted to know, to see, to experience, and it was incredible. And that hunger only grew as he continued flicking the cursed pages of his new holy book, each sending an electric feeling of excitement through his mind. The horrible tales of gruesome ends, murderers, cannibals, vampires, demons, creatures that could take your face and wear it… it fascinated him in a way he never knew he could be fascinated before. It fed him like a 12 course meal, and still left him wanting.

It was only when my dear Michael reached the final page that he stopped to look up. It was dark out. The sun had set hours ago, and the house was silent. He was alone, with his book and his thoughts. And the final page spoke of his eyes like they were to be worshipped. They would be worshipped. Just as long as he spoke 3 small words… Vigilo. Audio. Opperior. And he spoke them, ever so quietly as if reciting a prayer for his lord above. And then… nothing. But the silence was so loud. My dear Michael flipped back through every page. What did I do wrong, he thought, where did I mess up? But then… a surge of pure pain shot through his eyes, as if they were being gouged out and stomped on and bled. Michael screamed. He screamed until he couldn’t hear another sound. He screamed until the lights came on downstairs and the sounds of worried footsteps hurried up the stairs. He screamed as his mother looked upon him, and then ran, her own muffled sobs echoing throughout the hallways of his old home. He screamed until the pain subsided.

Michael opened his eyes. Were they his anymore? Or were they someone else’s? He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. He didn’t feel his insatiable hunger. He didn’t crave another story or tapestry for his knowledge. He… knew. He knew everything he could’ve ever hoped to know. And it hurt. The splitting pain that filled his mind alongside horrible images and stories and knowledge hurt so terribly. He could see all that was terror and dread and fear and pain and suffering. That knowledge is not made for the mind of an overcurious child, such as my dearest was.

And now Michael lays beside me. He has nightmare after nightmare of the world that was created by his patrons, the ones I forsake in his name. But he loves them as much as he despises them. This horrible knowledge gives him a sick, twisted sense of relief that we are not suffering. That knowledge is for him what the fog is for me. I hold his hand as he calls my name in his sleep. ‘I’m here’, I whisper ever so quietly. ‘I will never leave you.’ Because I never will. I could never leave my dearest flame.

 

Authors notes:

1. Ah, yes, finally some backstory. Enough vague hints for youuuu :3
   
2. The book in this chapter is heavily inspired by the Leitner's of The Magnus Archives, though with more of an eye-centered focus. 
3. "Vigilo, audio, opperior" is also taken from The Magnus Archives.