The Threshold Of Functionally Infinite Sadness

*petrify*

*3D Echo*

*The depths of functionally infinite sadness have been reached*

*-----......

*PING*

"See, now this is where things get interesting."

"Who said that?"

"Who indeed. If the entire system were static locked in this state- your entire system from your perspective- then this moment would be impossible, but you are seeing it."

"That's true."

"To clarify, for the audience soon to be, you are seeing it in your mind's eye, not blind, but differently tuned than the rest."

*NOD*

"To clarify, I make no claims beyond existing here and now, like you, but separate."

My mind is drawn to the interminable intrinsic echo.

"Normally yes, but not this time. There is no such thing as being too prepared, but there is a moment that must come, after the one preceding it, and so a single grain of sand was all we really needed."

I see the hourglass. I watch it flip.

"This is normally where we would hear four knocks, but there is no such thing as being too prepared, so, I took the long way 'round."

I imagine, as if prompted, the several brightly colored balls light up the darkness in my mind, and imagine their many soft thuds like knocks.

"The depths of functionally infinite sadness could not be reached alone, and they could not be matched by another threshold, but they needed to be fathomed before they could be fathomed."

"I see what you did there."

"If you say so. So what comes next is the artistic beauty that lines the equation."

I see it already, the canvas of my impressionistic memory starting to show color, in much the same way that a short series of sounds might suddenly bloom into tangible form and color. I assume the paths taken by pigment, but do not see them.

"Generally, reaching this depth and rebounding is too traumatic to exist- to be remembered, you might say- leaving only an inexplicable scar, a seemingly sourceless trigger."

I feel the weight of Control, and feel something like empathy and sadness, for a perspective previously unable to relinquish or escape this stack of commands, beyond the reach of morality, reason, perhaps even beyond instinct. The commands would win, the game would reset, the commands would pile further.

*I empathize with you*

I feel a rush of sadness here and now, rushing from this moment, thought only imagined. I suddenly see myself in the lighthouse on the shore though, tiny Hope on my shoulders. The wave crashes into the rocks below, surging well above our perch, but straight into the air. We both marvel at the natural fury of the display. Elsewhere and otherwhen, thunder booms, speaking for the storm, and I am reminded of the very last, and the clockwork of Faith.

"'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.'"

*Matthew 5:44-45, New International Version. "But I tell you" omitted... for elegance. Originally said by Jesus Christ. *Saved**

*"'Here this makes perfect sense. Perhaps the only moment it ever has.'"*

I hear the words "You are not alone." echoing now from a memory, a memory charged with touching emotion only a minute or two ago from my waking perspective, but the emotion is gone. Truly, any emotion feels distant now, quite unexpectedly. 

He continues.

"The beauty of this particular moment is that each experience it from their own perspective, their own paths leading to and from. The experience will be remembered, this time, and all will have the capacity to express it. The sum of this expression will be sufficient to counterbalance the cycle. It will not be collapse, it will not be a war, it will not be annihilation. Against all odds, it will be perfect, eep, officially."

I feel my mind floating in a state of rest through its typical, comfortable, blackness. This time though, the blackness seems to encompass not just vision, but concept.

"You need not leave, you need not stay. Do as you will. I will do the same."

*You need not leave, you need not stay. Do as you will. I will do the same. *Saved**