It was all dark at first.
For an eternity, I floated in the great nothingness.
I could not tell you how long I remained there, how long it took for my surroundings to be illuminated, or when exactly I realized that everything had seemingly materialized from thin air, but I knew when I was drowning.
My limbs (limbs? I don't think that fits the bill) clawed at viscous golden liquid, pulling, propelling, pushing me to a place where I would not be suffocated. My lungs screamed for air, even as I knew I had no need for it; it was as if being in this fluid would suck the soul out of me.
For the first few minutes, I knew nothing but the instinct to survive.
I heard myself gasp as I surfaced, the sound unreal and distorted like if it were coming from worlds away, and flailed to get to an upright position. I touched solid ground, and abruptly I was not held up by the pressure of the liquid- it had receded, leaving me unsteady and shaking in a shallow reservoir of melted gold. The metallic liquid gleamed, the luster reflecting off other surfaces, eventually drawing my attention to the landscape.
A large cavern loomed over me, its ceiling at an inestimable distance, its width seemingly encompassing all that could exist. Lights twinkled at a distance- in hollows made of impossibly twisted rock, in craters in the ceiling, and in the mouths of the numerous golden waterfalls which splashed against the larger body of liquid and created a glittering foam.
The lights revealed the hard rock of the cavern faintly. At least, I hoped it was rock; if I looked too hard, the harsh lines of light and shadow seemed to blur into a vapor, returning to normal when I blinked or looked away. There were some areas of the cavern too far away for me to view, and some were entirely in the shadows, indistinct and threatening to an individual with no idea what to expect.
The tail end of the thought brought me back into reality. How in the world had I ended up here? I wracked my memories for something, anything, about where I was, or, at the very least, what events seemingly took me by the arm and landed me in this strange place. I was met by a narrow, constricting sensation instead of a recollection, as if my consciousness were being painfully squeezed, trying to keep me from straying too far from where I was allowed to be.
Disembodied voices echoed- its tone full of condescension. "I would rather you not try to remember, fool. It won't be of any use, and it'll tire you out far too quickly for my fun." I startled at the sudden intrusion, the words grinding to my consciousness. How did he know? Could he read my mind? A swirl of questions rushed through my mind, as I sank into confusion. He continued, "Your mere existence is for my entertainment, as out of the trillions of organisms in existence, you are the one who my servants selected. Your role is to be my jester, my Fool."
I gaped at nowhere in particular as the last echoes of the booming voice faded out. I floundered a little, trying to figure out what I wanted to say in response. "Right, I'll be your…jester. Uh… how exactly?" A breeze pushed me back a little, accompanied by the sound of an exhale as a laugh seemed to emerge from the walls.
"Ah, that's my error. Naivete- comes with the territory of memory loss, doesn't it? Suits your role as a Fool." The voices chuckled to himself, as if he'd made a particularly clever joke. I chose to ignore him then, focusing on what I knew. I knew very little about myself by this point, except for the fact that my limbs were not in fact physical limbs and, instead, rather prone to dematerializing into clouds if I were to observe them, and my want to breathe did not correspond with any need to do so, despite the fact that I would have drowned in this body of… water? "Ichor," came the reply from the voice, possibly having read my mind, and I made a vague gesture of thanks before blocking him out again. I guessed that the feeling of dying could be attributed to the properties of the ichor itself instead of asphyxiation. There I reached a dead end, my memory frustratingly blank, a wall between what I have experienced and what I know.
…And what do I know about this voice? The voice could not exactly be assigned a gender, to be honest, but the prevalence of deeper tones in the chorus that actually formed it led to me assuming that whoever was speaking was likely a man. A chill ran through me at the thought, and a fear I did not know existed gripped me. Something told me that any one speaking in a chorus of voices could not be good news, and the only thing worse was the realization that this… being, for the lack of a better word, had access to my thoughts, and was actively trying to utilize me as its plaything.
He let out a rumbling laugh, confirming my suspicions. "Clever one, aren't you?" It was meant to be a purr, but the cacophony of screeching voices contorted the sound into something that had me taking one step back and looking for an exit. "You won't find any way back to where you were, I assure you of that. You can only move into the next place you need to be. Now, as far as I'm aware, you did ask how exactly you are to act as my jester.." The grin in His voice was apparent as he spoke, and a bright flash blinded me for a few moments. As my sight adjusted to the high levels of light, I saw large, burning orbs, practically small stars, floating and emitting white light that had me squinting. They were everywhere; the cavern was full to the brim with billions of these balls of white fire that somehow could not illuminate all the corners despite their ferocity.
"These are worlds. Do you see how they burn, Fool? How they glow and blind and cower and fade all at the same time? How utterly fascinating they are?" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the balls at the very edge of the cavern, at the very edge of existence itself, get reduced to a red ember and fall. "These worlds are kept alive and aflame by the life in them. And a few of them," the voices paused, as if to think, "are dying out- some through conflicts, others through methods I will not reveal. I cannot have these worlds that I must oversee, the worlds that entertain me, die out. Your task, Fool, is to preserve my worlds." He added some more with a wicked snarl, "Of course, you will provide loads of entertainment, as per your job title, through the tasks you complete. You'll learn the specifics by getting your hands dirty, so to speak." The voices stopped as He indicated that any questions were welcome.
The quiet horror that had been bubbling in me as He was speaking, as well as the subtle nausea that crept up at the sight of the worlds under His command nearly caused me to keel over and die right there- no individual with a sliver of common sense would remain for such a job position. I reckon that it was why they needed to select me- I cannot envision anyone submitting any applications for this position- and it was precisely why I had to push down all of my negative feelings to push out a question, voice raspy.
"And my pay?" A beat of silence, before a question came in return from the voices. "What?" He spat. I shivered a little, and considered backing down, since getting cheeky with an entity that could summon literal worlds could not do me any good, but I persevered. "You mentioned that this is a job title that I have been selected for. Surely there will be some compensation that I can receive?" For a moment I wondered if He would smite me right then and there, but a response came after a while. "I will… consider some payment for you. It is only fair, I suppose. But," and the voice turned smug once more," why would you need any compensation? Look around, is there any place that will accept money from you?" He crooned as another thought occurred to both of us simultaneously (or, maybe just me first, before he was informed through my thoughts). "Besides, if you get rewarded money from one world, I can just transport you to another one where it is useless." I prayed internally that He would not do that to me, before stopping as I remembered He could read my mind.
"Alright, I'll pay you." I looked up, a little stunned, before waiting for the catch. "No catches. You've already noticed that you aren't quite corporeal right now, yes?" On cue, I looked at my hand fading in and out of existence. "Say what, in return for your services, I shall give you pieces of your memory and your form back." Even though I had registered the slight smile in the voices (and a smile in those voices certainly did not bode well for me), I lit up. I would be getting my memories back- I could not believe my sheer luck!
"So, what do you say? Deal or no deal?" I snorted to myself- like I had a choice.
"Deal."
The cacophony of laughter shook up the cavern once more, and I had the sudden sensation of being too large for whatever space I had been put into before the world went black.