The Beta

The two; the man and woman, walked the expanses of the world created before them. Above them, the essence gave them instructions. The man and woman were innocent. They did not know evil, they did not know good. They did not know light, they did not know dark. They simply ate from the fruit, as the alpha did. They wandered, comforting each other. They had each other for company. They watched the spires grow and the world expand. They were bored. Even in such beauty that they could not begin to comprehend, they were bored. They did not know enticement, they did not know pleasure, they did not know experience.

In the center of the garden lied the fasted growing spire. They were warned by the essence not to touch this spire, but the two, in innocence, knew one thing: curiosity. The spy had picked his time to strike. He slithered off the trees and followed the woman. The woman had wandered off by herself, while the man remained in the garden. The snake wanted to strike and poison her, but not in the physical state. No, it wanted to corrupt them. It spoke. The woman turned around to face it. The woman had never seen it before, another form of life. Surely the essence would have mentioned this. It spoke to her, telling her of the spire growing in the center. "Walk the path to the spire and enter inside. You will know what you seek." The snake led her to the path, and she followed.

The essence saw, but did not stop. It would watch its creations do what they will. She entered inside the spire and it was dark. Above, there was light shining from a single star. "Now you will see knowledge." The serpent told her. The star above lowered to her. It was small, but incredibly bright. it hovered in front of her, waiting for her contact. She reached out and touched it. From contact, she saw.

She saw suffering and rage. Millions below her wrenched around one another in pits. Wretching in pain, they attacked and mutilated themselves. Men below her gripped each other's genitals and ripped them off, eating them for nourishment. Weaker subjects were pulled apart by stronger ones, who ate the weaker men's flesh. They ripped and tore into men's bodies, eating their insides. They pulled each other's intestines, livers, and their beating hearts, and feasted. They lowered themselves, thirsting, to lap up the blood that dripped.

Women were torn apart, their hair grabbed and ripped, their urethrae gripped and pulled until their entire bodies tore apart. They ate their own arms, not able to breathe as their throats compacted against their own limbs. Above, in the cliffs, people jumped onto spikes and stalactites, impaling themselves. Their blood splattered out onto the ground and dripped down the rocks. In the distance, people fought and murdered each other with sharp stones. Men stabbed into the bodies and throats of people until they finally stopped moving.

To her right, people burned in sulfur and molten lava. They came up for air, screaming in pain, not able to inhale, falling under and swallowing liquid fire. People trudged a boiling swamp of blood, guts, and the limbs and heads of people. The severed heads of the people screamed in the swamp, while the people walking growled in pain. The suffering did not end. None of them ever died. They simply were... rebuilt, and thrown back in.

Below her, people screamed above begging for help. She was silent, and the people piled began to pile on top of one another. She didn't realize what they were attempting, and the people called to her. Many of them screamed "Save us!" but she could distinctly hear some screaming to her, as if right in her ear... Join us. She turned to her right, but there was nothing. She was yanked down by something below. She looked down and the face crawled up her legs. His skin was gone, his head burning away, the flesh peeled off. His face was ash, boiling flesh, and charred bone. She looked into the face and saw his eyes. She looked into his eyes which could not cry tears but were truly sad. He whispered, as if right inside her mind: "Save yourself."

Immediately, she wrenched away from the star, screaming, but it drew her back in. She saw resentment, hatred, betrayal, and murder: two men embracing. They loved each other, something she wouldn't understand as "family". They smiled behind each other. The first, a smile of joy. The second, a smile of malicious satisfaction. The second man gripped a steel set of sheers behind his brother, and slammed them into his back. The first's eyes widened, and he fell to the ground, crawling away. The second stood over him, staring at him in anger. The first begged him for mercy, and the second kicked into him, flipping him over onto the sheers. There would be no mercy received. Instead, he knelt down at his brother's side and gripped his throat. The first grabbed the arms, trying to get air, but was too weak from his injury. The second gripped harder, pressing with his thumbs into the throat. The first looked back into his brother's eyes; jealous eyes, eyes of pure hatred. Eyes of fire.

He saw the same visions that the woman had, of people ripping each other apart in a cesspool of hatred, rage, and suffering. He attempted to inhale, but no air came. Visions of his birth flashed in front of him. Visions of his life, wandering, farming, exploring, with his brother; flashed in front of him. As the world above him darkened, he stopped gripping his brother's arms. He let go, and closed his eyes. His brother got up off him, removed the sheers, and knelt back down. He stabbed the sheers into his brother's throat. Blood sprayed into his face, blood he enjoyed the taste of. He stabbed them into the stomach, slicing it open. With his hands he spread it wide, exposing the complex interior. He broke his brother's ribs with his hands, and lifted organs out, throwing them carelessly to the side. He found his brother's heart, which had stopped beating. He gripped his brother's heart in his hands, standing up. He held it in his hands, rubbing it with thumbs. He tossed the heart down at the ground and stomped on it until it was flattened. He dragged his brother to the cliff, and threw him over.

She screamed at the star, and her arm was further pulled into it, disappearing inside the star. Her Head was pulled inside. The man had heard her screams and ran into the spire. He wrenched his woman back, but his hand was pulled to the star, and he saw terror. He saw a black pit, covered by rock, in the middle of an ocean. The rock rumbled, and something began to appear out of the pit. Enormous serpents slithered out of the pit, and into the ocean. Giants, of rock, flesh, wood, or ice, crawled out of the pit, and walked on the water towards land. Behind them, wraiths and men crawled out of the pits, the wraiths flying out of the pit towards him. Their faces were rotted; skulls with remnants of flesh and their eyes left. They wore robes of black silk and cotton, torn apart, exposing their necrotic legs and arms, skin covered with ulcers; exposing black flesh infested with maggots. They flew towards him, dragging his body inside the portal. They pulled him over to the pit, and dropped him inside.

He screamed and fell inside the infinite darkness of the pit. As he fell inside, he began to make out a large object at the bottom. As he got closer, its eyes opened. Piercing red sclera and irises of fire appeared as the eyelids widened. Its arched, corrugated face was apparent now. Its face was squamous and rugose, comprised of slimy scales and stretched, wrinkled skin. Its mouth opened wide, and he saw skulls of human beings comprise its teeth. It was about to swallow him, when he was yanked far back, out of the pit. The creature clawed towards him, its thin, but gigantic arm extending, its three fingers and thumb reaching towards him, with its talons that could be no less than twenty feet long. It swiped for him, letting out a loud call; a shriek undescribable. The talons missed him by mere inches when he was swept out of the portal. When he was dragged out, he screamed, clawing against the walls. The woman attempted to look back inside, but was yanked back.

The serpent called to both of them: "You now have knowledge. Was it the knowledge you sought? All these things have yet to come, but they will indeed come, now that you have seen them." They did not listen, instead they screamed, running out of the spire and back into the garden. Then they saw the barrenness. A grassy knoll of only an acre,  with few bushes and but a few more than twenty trees, surrounded by large spires that reached to the sky; data pools, with gleaming lights. They saw small ponds of water. The ponds they drank out of, only mere watering holes. They saw the dark sky. They saw a single bright star, a sun, shining above. The tiny lights of stars only provided illumination. Ahead of them, was barrenness. Nothing but gray ground. Nothing was grown ahead, there was no water, there were no trees, there was no grass. The garden was a tiny, unimpressive oasis in the middle of nothing. Except for the spires, which pooled ultimate knowledge, the plans for all existence, the failed creations, the completed creations, everything incomplete. All order, all chaos. Not even that which was the worst of the realms had been exposed to them, but it was enough for them to question.

Why were they there? Why were these spires sticking out the ground? Why did they contain such horrible secrets? Why did these horrible things exist? Did they exist? Why was everything else so... empty? For the first time in their life, they saw themselves and each other; Naked. They were ashamed. He looked at himself and saw his body. He attempted to cover himself. She, looking at herself, did the same. Then the garden burned. The spires dissipated, and the ground they felt turned to fire. They felt pain. They stomped and jumped, running onto the gray ground as they watched the entire garden burn to ash. The trees that had once provided them fruit had turned to creatures. The creatures were not exactly like them, but were similar in design. They too, had limbs and a head, but they were thinner, taller. They did not have the light colored skin that the man and woman had. Instead, their skin was gray, just like the ground the two stood on. they were the Beta. They stood with their black, browless eyes, staring back at the two. The beta burned on the ground, but did not feel the same pain as the man and woman did. Instead, they stared back, set aflame, and rising towards the sky. The serpent dove into the ground, digging a hole, the ground closing beneath him. The two watched until there was nothing but ash in the garden. They did not understand. Their questions were not answered, and never would be answered. They turned back to face the gray ground. They observed for a moment, and noticed a blade of green grass springing up in the distance.