This is a short story(I suppose you could call it a one-shot) that I'm working on for English class. It's about Project ETHER(Sableye evolution I created), and…well, maybe you'd better just read it.


Eyes.

Lifeless, unblinking, calculating eyes.

These were what gazed upon me as I stood in the pitch black room. As I stood, I wondered what I was doing here. And also, just where exactly 'here' was.

The eyes were like unpolished gemstones — colorful, but dull. Lined with glowing edges, they scintillated every few moments. They were…unsure of something. But what? Who I was? What I was doing here? What they would do to me?

No, I thought, those questions are my own. But still I wondered what was going on behind those eyes.

Just then, one of the pairs of glistening jewels, a set of shocking yellow topaz, shuddered, and a harsh, echoing voice reached my ears.

“So… They fi-finally managed to d-do it…” it said softly. “I ra-rather thought they would ha-have given up after th-the previous… fa-failures…” The creature possessing the now shaking pair of eyes pronounced this last word with an air of disgust. “Welcome t-to the fo-fold, P-Project 37H3R…”

“That isn’t my name! “ I yelled, but another voice that was not my own filled my head.

<Isn’t it?> the new voice asked. <I was under the impression that it was, considering that was what they called you when they dropped you in here…>

“Who said that?!?” I howled. These eyes were tormenting me, they were enjoying my suffering.

<Look behind you…> the voice advised.

I turned, my grainy body twisting and flowing to see. I was startled to see another pair of hovering eyes right in front of my face. Unlike the others, this pair did not have the appearance of jewels; rather, it gave the appearance of two dull pink lamp lights.

I sprang back from the eerie sight. “What are you things?” I asked with horror.

“Sssome could asssk you the sssame quessstion,” came yet another voice, hissing with complaint.

I turned around once more, and this time the voice was coming from a pair of glimmering rubies. Like all the others, they were bodiless. “What do you mean?” I implored, perplexed.

“He —blubblubburble!— means that —blubbleblubblub!— you are not exactly what some might call —bubblubburble!— normal, either,” said still another voice, this one gurgling with something like annoyance. A pair of blue gray sapphires were the source. “You are —burbleblubbub!— as much an —blubblub!— anomaly as any —bubble!— one of us.”

<Kappa, sister, I believe an explanation would be in order before we assume we are stating the obvious.> The second voice again. Where was it coming from?

“Quite —blurble!— right, Grove,” the last voice conceded. The glistening ovals turned to the sharp, angular rubies I had seen earlier. “What do —blub!— you think, Ignus?”

The red eyes flashed with something like confusion. “And wwwhat, dare I sssay, are you asssking me fffor, Kappa? You know we tend to…” the sibilant voice paused, “…disssagree.”

“Simply because I —bub!— wished to know your —blubble!— opinion on the matter.” the moiling discourse behind the dull blue optics replied coolly. “Just because —blubblub!— we have conflicting —bub!— points of view on —burble!— a great many things does not mean that —blub!— we are completely —blubble!— incapable of an —blubble!— agreement.”

“Very wwwell, then,” the sizzling voice avowed. “I believe that wwwe had bessst tell the newcomer wwwhat he needsss to know.”

“I —blub!— agree. Now, then, I think —blubblub!— that we had best begin at —burble!— the beginning of —blubblubburblebubble—”

“P-perhaps it wo-would be better if R-Radiant were he-here,” interrupted the bright yellow eyes. “It’s da-dark as n-night right n-now.”

<Quite.> emphasized the glowing fuschia lanterns. <Though, where she is, I’m not certain we know.>

“Othhher might knowww wwwhere…” the crimson gems pointed out.

“Then —blubble!— why don’t you —blub!— call him?” asked the ocean-colored jewels. “After all, —blurble!— you and him get —blubblubblub!— along best of us —blubble!— all.”

The fizzing voice heaved a long sigh, and said, “Very wwwell…OTHHHER! WWWE NEED TO KNOW WWWHERE RADIANT ISSS! COME DOWWWN HERE!”

I didn’t know who this ‘Other’ was, as none of the creatures I was listening to seemed to be referred to as such.

However, I was astonished to see, a swirling, deep purple vortex appear, right behind the glistening red optics.

I glimpsed for a moment a form that seemed somewhat similar to my own —, hunched, catlike, and legless, also powdery and semitransparent — in front of the portal before another such form popped halfway out.

This one possessed for eyes a set of brilliant white zircons. Just below the immaculate, shining optics there was plastered a grin of equal brightness. It turned to the rubies and said, in a rather perky voice that screamed of lunacy, “She’s busy right now, but I’ll be glad to take a message!”

I found this a rather strange way of informing someone where this ‘Radiant’ was, but the shocking yellow eyes simply glinted with amusement to the newcomer’s left.

“R-really, now, Other, is th-that any way t-to talk to Ignus? W-we just want t-to know where our d-dear sister is. And if, p-perchance, you don’t want to t-tell us…”

“…Thhhen wwwe have nothing more to ssspeak about.” finished the hissing voice. “Nowww thhhen, Othhher…I’m going to asssk you again… Wwwhere is Radiant?”

This sounded to me like something of a threat, and I noticed that Other seemed to take it as such. However, he continued to beam with that manic smile, and replied blithely, “I’ll go get ‘er…hang on a sec…”

Other dived back into the rotating whorl, and I could have sworn I heard noises coming from within. Moments later, a blinding light radiated from the violet circle, and a very unusual form drifted out of the portal.

It was bright yellow, and seemed to be composed of several shining orbs. The body was elongated and elliptical, with five sharp, angular rays protruding from the bottom. Its arms were composed of three orbs each; two smaller spheres for shoulders and elbows, and one large globe, presumably for hands. Its head was wide and flat-looking, with two triangular ears poking out from the sides. Above this head rested a radial design, looking rather like a rising sun, with an orange globule as the center, and eight yellow ‘rays’ extending outward. Its eyes…

The eyes were black as liquid night, a pair of obsidian slates against the blinding background of the face.

The new creature —Radiant, was it?— spoke with a refined air. “You called, Ignus?”

The creatures that had been hidden in darkness before were now illuminated. I attempted to remember who was who. Not necessarily an easy task, given that all of them had distinctly ovaliform heads and no legs.

The ruby eyes belonged to a being with a thick, billowy tail. Its body was made of a dusty orange substance. Its catlike ears seemed rather indecisive as to where they were meant to rest. It seemed to be on fire, yet it had remained as veiled as the others in the darkness. I found this rather odd. However, the pops and sizzlings emitting from the main body confirmed something elsefor me. This must be Ignus, I thought.

The dull sapphires that belonged to the one the others called ‘Kappa’ were now seen to be floating in what appeared to be slightly greenish water. However, further examination revealed that the body was made of a jade sand, held together by its aquatic epoxy. Its arms were long, thin, and droopy. Its body seemed to be coming out of the floor.

The yellow topazes that had first spoken to me were set upon a taut cyan visage. Its arms were skinny and rigid, and similarly unyielding fringes popped from its elbows. Its tail, in contrast, was long, angular, and whippy. It pulsed with a teal light, and I wondered again why this one could not illuminate the room itself. I believe the others had called it ‘Spark’.

The lanternlike pink orbs belonged to another unusual creature. It was short, squat, and low to the ground. The body was woody and dead-looking. Its face —if it could be called that— was a wide, hollow endeavor, devoid of expression. Two large holes —eye sockets, presumably— displayed the rosy spheres, which were several times too small for the sockets. Two blunt, branchlike protuberances jutted out from the sides, a strange parody of arms. To complete the unusual picture, four more stubby branches poked out from the top sides of the head, forming a bizarre set of ears. Could this ‘Grove’ be the voice I had heard in my head?

I thought the recognitions over, but I soon realized that ‘Other’ had not returned.

“Where did…Other…go?” I asked, confused.

The glowing emissary was the one who answered. “Oh, him? He simply…pops in every so often. Don’t worry, child, you’ll see what he looks like soon enough.” What she meant by ‘popping in,’ I didn’t have a clue, but I was very confused as it was, so I tried to think of other things. It was then that I noticed what manner of room I was in.

The room was stark white, and far too clean to be natural. The ceiling was gratelike, and above us, the darkness that had until recently permeated the room continued on and on. I suddenly remembered something Grove had said earlier. I turned to the stolid wooden creature.

“When you said, ‘they’ dropped me in here, what exactly did you mean by ‘they’?”

The tree seemed to stop and think for a moment. <They are the ones who put us in this perfectly despicable situation. They created these bodies we are forced to inhabit…>

“Th-though, in all fa-fairness, there is certainly no-not a lack of c-compensation” remarked the blue green powder beast.

<True, true,> remarked the plant. <However, those compensations will not do us much good now that we are deemed obsolete.>

Everyone looked at me as Grove made this last comment.

“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.

“You wwwere made more…perfect…than the rest of usss. You have rendered usss uselesss…Ssso wwwe are to be…eliminated…”

“Eliminated?”

“As in —blubble!— disposed of, knocked off, rubbed out…—blubblubblub!— Call it what you will, it means —blibble!— that we’re garbage now.”

“Of c-course, there is a wa-way for us to ge-get out alive…”

“And what’s that?” I questioned, now fearful again.

<Oh, nothing dangerous, we can assure you…just close your eyes and it will be over soon…>

"W-what are you going to do?” I asked terrifiedly as I backed away.

Another twirling portal opened up behind me. “ It’s simple, really, we’re gonna live in your body so that either we ain’t useless anymore…”

“…Or otherwise you are considered contaminated by our presence and wiped out along with us. Either way, they lose. And now, I suggest you have a good rest. You’re probably not going to get another one for a very long time.”

Everything went black. I could no longer see anything except a new pair of eyes. My own long, silver eyes.

Ever-dulling, tear-shaped, silver…

Eyes.