Jacob dreamed of Shiver. She was languishing softly by a clearing. Yet when she turned to face him, her face was that of the Holy Mother, Mary. He realized her features had always had a divine appearance but without the layer of Grace now splayed dewily upon them, he had simply missed the similar countenance.
Above her, lurked a looming hulking beast of a being. It moved toward her, and he realized it was Emanuel but even larger and with flesh like a shadowed rainbow. Containing every colour but surrounded by the dark. He moved toward Jacob his great and godly eyes like a still, unmoving wine drenched in horror, and he realized the creature was also part Aryan.
Shiver gazed up and her delicate body began to transform; turning into an amass of great, bony spikes that protruded like the greatest armour: she braced herself as if for battle. She somehow maintained her delicate sweetness equally of fire and fey and so now looked like an angelic beast.
Suddenly lightning struck down with the sound of a Godly voice, His voice; she screamed, how she screamed. As she blew apart. Split at the golden seams into a trillion particles. The watching machine hollered; there was not any of her left to repair.
Then suddenly she reappeared, like a little spirit glowing.
“Jacob,” she spoke. “You are on the wrong side. The world has become a carnival mirror, turning bitter to sweet and sweet to bitter. Why on earth would God defend a land of greed and unabashed pride and perversion full of unwedded shallowness and the surgical mutilation of his perfect forms? We are his avenging angels, Jacob. Lucifer has recruited you with honeyed promises but his lips drip poison.”
She soon dissipated.
The strange, wine-eyed beast who like Shiver had a somewhat holy countenance that included that impossibly beautiful starring to the eyes, remained and walked toward him. Slowly yet with a grand purpose. Its great hand like a blackened rainbow as it reached out and…
Jacob realized the machine was somehow inside his head. Shiver had been speaking to him through it. He awoke with a start and looked down; he could just make out a little, silver nano-eye, a minuet, separatable part of Monovalent that had embedded in his arm. He wondered with a wince if he should yank it out but to his surprise, it disintegrated before his eyes. Leaving nothing but a wound so tiny it did not even bleed.
Jacob felt sheer confusion. It was certainly true that the modern world left a lot to be desired in the Godly department, but Shiver and Mist did not seem very holy. Even if the cleansing could be considered just; their methods seemed mean-spirited, torturous, and devilish. He blinked blearily. Briefly, he saw something that appeared like God to him, no shape or form was truly visible, but it looked like a spirited gold: like that which shimmered in everything and even in nothing; like the light at the edge of all things. Quickly it vanished and he was filled with only a sense of darkness and loss.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
A shiver ran down his spine; what if this was all happening in hell? The dreary place of only sinners and without even the hope of any sweeter swansong. That would explain the constant plague, the deadly beasts, the almost unnatural torment. That feeling like they were all tied up with a hollow string of godlessness. Of strange bleakness.
Maybe virtual reality wasn’t even real. Just something used as a means to torture him in Lucifer’s domain. He looked over and realized that the virtualizer he had received from Shiver was gone. He realized he had to at least try to persuade her (he hoped it was her) to reconsider. To uphold her end of the bargain.
She didn’t answer any message he attempted so he found her at one of her scheduled rallies. However, he noticed something else; a pretty woman though somewhat older and who was eerily similar to Shiver in appearance.
She was watching Shiver speak and seemed both haunted and harrowed. Hands clenched slightly and with a slight shaking to her breath, she spoke. Though it was only a whisper.
“My baby, my poor baby what has that monster done… Inside her, within that sad, mean little thing, she is in there, I can see it. I see the sweetness hidden in the corners of her eyes…”
Jacob was baffled. This made simply no sense. Yet his eyes wandered over to Shiver who was standing beside Mist with a surprisingly pleased air about her and a definite spring to her step. He saw the girl's scarlet-budded lips and classic nose and wide irises. He was starting to realize why this lady seemed familiar. Her fairy-like build was the same as Shiver's as were the reddish locks with a hint of gold (though the strange woman's tresses were greying). He even noted the similar, slight elfin point to both their ears. Shiver Gray had a godliest, beautified and more inhuman version of all this lady's features. He then realized. If Shiver was a clone, then she had to be a clone of a girl who once had a mother. Who possibly strongly resembled her child.
Jacob glanced again at the poor lady who looked like someone's delicate, fairy godmother and appeared so very downcast. Her slight shoulders did gravely tremble and he was tempted to comfort her, but he was just a stranger. At any rate, Shiver had finished her manipulative little speech and was heading towards the door.
“Wait, Shiver.”
“Jacob, you look great. What can I do for you?”
“You know full well; you stole something from me.”
“Jacob, I swear it was for a good reason. I listened to what you told me and decided you were right; this should be my redemption arc, I need to hand it over, confess my sins, and take my punishment. I simply haven’t had the courage to quite go through with it yet. I swear.
You may well mean to but chances are you won’t go through with it and you know it, hand it over Shiver. Don’t cheat like this.”
“Fine.” She handed it over. Reluctantly.
“Also please stop invading my dreams.”
“Whatever do you mean Jacob?” she asked innocently. “I would never…Perish the thought.”
He groaned. Inwardly.
