anythingdrabble | challenge #17: Mindless // Earthbound // Chewing the Null

Fandom:Earthbound

Characters: Pokey & Giygas

Pairings: none

Tags: spoilers, Mother 1 and 3 references, time paradox, sensory deprivation, ritual ordeals

Word Count: 300

Rating: PG/Gen

The entity once known as Giegue - although he probably didn't recognise his own name any more - was losing his mind. The thoughts and occasional words projected at Pokey through the Devil Machine's interdimensional communication device and barrier were mostly just gibberish, a confusion of raw emotions that changed in split seconds. His body had been destroyed by the process long ago, leaving only a disembodied soul's idea of itself as a blood-red swirl drifting in an endless black nothingness.

To lose one's body, one sense after another, then the mind and finally the soul, all offered up in exchange for a greater power. The idea was not new, even though its true mastery involved technology beyond that available on Earth. Monks in Dalaam honed their highest tiers of psychic powers using 'Mu training' that involved abstaining from the worldly until one could endure a psychic vision quest where one simulated such a harrowing experience.

For Giegue, it had been real.

The Starmen themselves did not use such technology for this purpose. It was meant for transferring the consciousness to cyborg bodies. Pokey had been accused of manipulating their leader, whispering words into his ear to torment him further while he suffered, to break him utterly so he could be controlled by the only one he now trusted. Utter foolishness. Pokey was merely the guide in this procedure, helping him stay focussed on the journey at hand, and yes, maybe accelerating the process a little. Giegue was powerful, the most powerful mind he had ever met, and he did not have much time. Time itself was unravelling as it resolved itself and would correct the mistake that was Pokey's continued existence.

And what better guide? This was nothing compared to what Pokey had endured in the Absolutely Safe Capsule.