The Wisp had great experience with mazes of the mind. These white matter substructures of sprawling neural networks can reveal deep secrets and motivations, often ones the being itself hasn't even begun to understand. This time started like so many others, the Wisp writhing and tunneling its finest hair tentacles deeper and deeper.

The Wisp soaked in the initial pang of panic and alarm of the creature as it traveled up its central spine; it knew this feeling well and delighted in it for a moment. It meant the first step was successful, that it was embedding deeply into the crevices. Wrapping and weaving the tentacles around the mesh of dark and delicate connections, giving a squeeze here or a twist there to let the creature know that something was there, and that resistance was helpless. That all hope was lost. The pokes and prods and drugs and chemicals and tests of the creatures couldn't even detect its presence, let alone extricate it--no, this species was far too primitive for that.

Usually unlocking the inner core felt like the break of a dam or the pop of a pimple, the pressure building and brimming forth until the weight and gore of memories and emotions spilled forth for the Wisp to eat. But. But this was different.

The Wisp felt a sudden slip, the thick knot of nerves somehow instantly untangled all at once instead of caving to the pressure. It was confused and enraged, and also, though the Wisp would never admit it, panicked.

Instead of the web of deep remembrances upon which to feast, there was a door. An old, rusty, ancient door that was clearly very heavy. One of the creatures stood outside it and alongside, but not in the hazy, lazy way that glimmers and memories exist. As solid as the door itself.

"Hi", the creature said to the Wisp, the serious face of the guard slightly betrayed by a minuscule upturn at the corner of the mouth. It was clearly very pleased it unsettled the Wisp. And damn, this reverie was deserved. "You probably didn't expect that, huh?"

In its panic, the Wisp wasn't sure what to do, other than to try and escape. It extended its tendrils along with the rest of its threaded body in a flash to the door, hoping against hope the wooden portal wouldn't be as solid as it initially appeared. That it could evade this awful creature and feast another day.

And all at once, with just the slightest push, the door swung open. Where there was usually delicious dark locked away, was light. There was an instant of recognition--it was a trap, and the Wisp suddenly knew all. All of the hidden plans and desires and machinations it didn't see before. The scream echoed across the space as the light severed the connection into ash.

---_-

The Wisp awoke with a jolt, back in the room with the others a million light-years but a single, thin, dimension away. "They know about us!!" it cried out in a panic, feeling its own life slipping away. "They know about us and THEY ARE COMING!"

He's one of those actors I don't recognize as famous, because I have a friend that looks so much like him. So much so that if I saw him, I'd probably be like "oh hey Gary, what's up?" and then be disappointed it wasn't Gary 😄

But we get very good with our feet!