Stuck

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“I don’t understand.” Whispered. Screamed. Often with tears streaming from her eyes, though oddly enough many times not. Regardless, those were the words that would forever haunt my soul, a string of confusion that danced ever so delicately against the terrified cries of the dead and dying around us. Each loop was supposed to bring us one step closer to absolution, salvation at the cost of the wholesale slaughter of an entire alternate dimension’s worth of people.

A moment’s rest before the next string was pulled, and her eyes met mine. Desperation flared within those pools of blue. We both knew hope was likely futile; no matter how many times we dived into this tunnel, we’d only emerge on the other side in yet another horrific masterpiece. It was simply one of many outcomes, each more horrible than the next.

But we had to continue. It was our only hope and the only way we knew to get home.

After the next dimension shattered around us and a billion-billion souls met their sudden and immediate demise, a rare moment of quiet drifted between us. I realized with a start that we had come to an uninhabited dimension. There was quite literally nothing here to die, nothing here to destroy, nothing at all, well… at all.

For once, there was time enough to be free. At last.

Trembling, my hand broached the distance toward her and met her halfway. Her skin was clammy, cold, trembling with the fear and loathing that I knew my own shook with. Hell, we’d watched – no, experienced as accidental gods – how many uncountable universes perish now by our own hands? My voice cracked once as I spoke. “O… only a few more to go, love.”

“We will get home, right?”

I hesitated. I already knew the answer. This experiment had never been successful in any prior attempt. No other test subject had ever returned. None.

As the worlds started to tear around us again and a tear pulled at my eye, I whispered, “Yes. We will get home. I promise.”