I remember flying out of my body, rushing through the clouds and piercing through the atmosphere. All of a sudden, the stars were rushing past me, and everything went black. Then, it wasn’t. For what felt like years, maybe centuries, nothing happened. It was like I was a simple cell with no purpose, capable only of the simplest thoughts, longing for something much greater that had been forever lost.
Then, I felt something new. I could feel a cocoon wrapping itself around me, embracing me like a cold and dying mother, breathing into me its life and also its despair. Slowly, I grew a torso, legs, arms, hands, and feet, longing to be free in a body I still could not move.
Then, I felt a shift. Whatever womb I was in seemed to be slowly ascending. All of a sudden, life shot itself straight into my newly formed body. I began to convulse, and panic overtook me. In this state, I tore myself from this womb to finally see the world around me, and it was chaos.
Hordes of drowning bodies surrounded me, all trying to stay above the liquid. Gigantic ships of flesh and other materials fished out these bodies and threw some overboard. The sky was filled with tiny falling embryos, all sinking as soon as they hit this tormented sea. I shouldn’t have taken the time to admire the scenery, as that was just enough time for someone to push me down back into the water, where, funnily enough, I died once again.
For another amount of years or centuries, the process started itself over, but even with the knowledge of what was to happen, I would still be pushed back in over and over again. Until one day, after emerging from my perpetual cocoon, I would get to what someone in my situation would call lucky. A ladder fell down on my freshly birthed head, and without hesitation, I began to rapidly climb, kicking any arm that would dare get close to me.
When I fully docked myself upon the ship, I was swiftly grabbed by a large, gruff, and intimidating figure with eyes as dark, chaotic and despairing as the sea I emerged from. The man held a knife to my chin, inspecting me for any form of resistance. In a new language that I was born understanding, he spoke, “You don’t want me throwing you back into those waters, do you?” I shook my head in understanding. “Put on these chains and follow the line.”
Broken by the torturous cycle, I willingly obeyed, unaware of the new torments awaiting me in this grim hellscape. Walking the line, I would be whipped and prodded, as if they were testing me to see how far I could be pushed before becoming a nuisance. The more daring souls who questioned their fate were swiftly slaughtered and thrown overboard.
As I made my way down into the bowels of the ship, following the line of broken people, I witnessed strange horrors beyond my understanding. The ship was brimming with life, filled with multiple bodies seemingly attached to it, as if this collection of poor souls were mere cogs and engines driving the ship, wailing in hopeless agony. At least in the cycle, there was a moment of calmness within the time of forming. The only hope I had was that if I obeyed, I might be spared such a grim fate.
Within the bottom of the ship, an old man holding what seemed to be a rifle directed the souls to large and crowded crates where they would be shoved in and sealed for the duration of the trip to God knows where. Reluctantly, I entered the crate, trying my best not to get on anyone’s bad side. With the patience of me and other broken lost souls, I waited for what would come next.
Many people in my crate would die of starvation, and those who wanted to live would have to resort to eating whoever wasn’t strong enough to stay alive. With food came waste, with waste came sickness, with sickness came death, and with death, just more food. By the time we arrived at our destination and our crate was finally broken open, over half of us had died, with the rest barely able to move. The cruelty didn’t end, and our captors were quick to dispose of anyone deemed too weak to move on. Those who could were quickly escorted to the dock and told to obey orders.
The area we arrived in was a massive seaside city filled with merchants selling strange goods, enormous creatures with human skin, and starving people frantically working on colossal structures that seemingly had no end to them. Anyone who looked well-off had a sort of viciousness to them; this society was definitely not made by any benevolent means. One by one, we were all auctioned off to the highest bidder. When I was sold, an old woman placed a strange tumor on my forehead, which quickly attached itself, sinking into my brain.
“You’ll do as I say from now on, child. I see any disobedience and this thing I have put in you will either teach you right or kill you. Then it’s back to the sea with you, are we clear?” After nodding my head, she pointed me to the carriage being pulled by a strange four-legged, headless, hairless mammal. “Get on now; we don’t have all day.”