"You don't want to open that." The guard was dressed in strange garb, almost like a human soldier, but also jester-like, as if he couldn't quite decide how serious he was about his occupation. I had been waiting ages to begin this particular experiment, so his strange appearance was not about to deter me.

"Yes, I do. This is the whole reason I've traveled across the universe... to examine creatures so primitive and yet, so perplexing." Perhaps I could reason with the man. I could, of course, force my way into the deep recesses of the human's brain, but then I would risk fracturing the specimen's mind. That wouldn't do since I had already reached my abduction quota for the quarter. Patience and cunning would be the best path. "Step aside, and I promise to simply observe and not damage any of the neurons or processes I encounter."

"Well, alright then." The colorful soldier said cheerfully as he stepped aside. I could hardly contain my excitement. I had succeeded. I was finally going to observe the internal workings of the elusive earthling. My findings would surely be published in scientific papers across the galaxy!

Slowly, I opened the heavy metal door and peered inside. My initial observation upon poking my head in was simply a quiet darkness. Had I been forewarned of what I would encounter beyond the threshold, I would have gone no further. But ignorant of what awaited me, I ventured through to find the discovery of my career.

It only took a moment in that tiny room before the pain and shouting began. It was everywhere... noise... flashing lights... confusion. I have never been so over-stimulated in my life! I immediately turned to retreat, only to find the metal door shut tight behind me.

"Let me out!" I banged on the door in desperation. This was not at all what I had intended. I hadn't brought the proper equipment to withstand such calamity. "You must open the door!" I screamed.

"Can't do that." The soldier's voice was as even as before, completely untroubled by my predicament. "It's my job to keep all trauma sealed away. I can't let you out until it returns to its dormant state."

"No, please!" I didn't know how much longer I could handle this. I hadn't expected nor prepared to withstand the intense commotion I was experiencing this deep into the specimen's consciousness. More blaring alarms and random screams filled my ears. I began to feel dizzy. "Please! How long am I trapped in here?"

"No, one knows." The soldier said. I fanned my face and leaned against the door. What had I gotten myself into?

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the commotion stopped. I looked around me, finding only darkness and silence once again. Slowly, the metal door opened, and I fell out of the room and onto the Subconscious room floor. The soldier-jester blinked at me but said nothing as he shut the door behind me. I didn't care. I was just grateful to see a familiar face.

"What was that?" I asked when I finally found the courage to speak.

"Suppressed childhood trauma. We don't go in there." The soldier answered matter-of-factly.

"I can see why." I answered and bolted for the exit.

Thank you!

Simon sat quietly at the kitchen table. The beer I had given him sat untouched next to him, pooling condensation on the particle board. It was just the three of us - me, Simon, and his roommate Charlie. The rest of the party had quickly cleared out when I pulled Simon back from whatever dimension I had put him in. I guess seeing your host screaming at the top of his lungs was enough to kill your buzz. Either that, or they were all afraid I would do the same thing to them. As if I had done this on purpose.

"You look different." I prompted. The guilt-spawned knot in my gut made it difficult to ask direct questions. I was afraid to know the answers; afraid of the truth of what I had done.

"It's been ten years." Simon replied, not meeting my gaze. Charlie spewed beer and started coughing from behind my chair. I leaned forward and scrubbed my face with my hands. It was supposed to be a joke. A party trick. No one was supposed to get hurt.

"I'm so sorry, man."

"You have to send me back." He said with more conviction than I had ever heard from him before. This was a guy who had changed his major three times in the past year. He was never sure of anything. This wasn't the same Simon I had been joking around with an hour ago.

"What? No. You're not thinking clearly." I tried to put my hand on his shoulder, but he shoved it away.

"You don't understand. I need to go back. Please." When he finally looked at me, his eyes were void of the anger I would have expected after something like this. Instead, his gaze was dripping with desperation. The bags under his eyes grew heavier, and the knot in my stomach clenched.

"Dude, do the math. You were gone for, like, 30 seconds before. If that was 10 years, then whatever you're trying to get back to is probably gone now." Charlie said from behind me.

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Simon shot up from his chair to stare Charlie down. Simon had never been this confrontational either. Charlie and I locked eyes for a moment. His face had lost all color. I quickly came up to stand between them.

"Okay, man. Let's just talk about this." I said calmly. "I can't send you back without knowing more about what happened."

"This is YOUR power." Simon's hostile attention shifted to me.

"I...I didn't know this would happen. I've never disappeared anything alive before." There was nothing I could say that would be a good enough reason for my recklessness. Simon ran his fingers through his hair and started pacing the kitchen floor.

"I have a family, Ben." It was the first time he had used my name since he had returned, and my heart broke a little. "I have a daughter. She's three."

"I'm sorry, man." Charlie muttered.

"She needs me. She's special." He said with a sigh.

"Of course she is." I tried to put myself in his position.

"No. You don't understand." Simon stopped pacing and looked at me from the other side of the room. His hair was in complete disarray, and tears were streaming down his cheeks. "She's going to save the world. My coming was foretold by the ancient oracle, and her birth was the signal for a new age. Everyone on the planet knows the story, and some don't want it to be true."

"What?" I couldn't quite wrap my head around what he was saying.

"They hunt her. My wife is a powerful warrior. She will protect Nia as long as possible, but I must get back to her. She needs me to teach her our ways. I'm the only one who can." He was becoming more and more desperate as he spoke. My mouth hung open as I tried to process his story.

"Dude, I don't know what happened to you, but I think you're confused." I started. Simon took an abrupt step forward.

"You're not listening to me!" His hands were shaking, with anger or fear I couldn't tell. "You MUST send me back! Now!"

I glanced at Charlie, but he gave me a bewildered shrug. This was crazy. He was obviously crazy. But then again, any time I told people the truth about by 'magic trick', they thought I was crazy too. Whatever Simon had left behind was obviously important to him. I could clearly see his distress, even if I didn't fully understand where it was coming from.

"Okay." I said finally. "What if I send you back one more time?"

"Yes." He said abruptly.

"Dude, are you sure this is a good idea?" Charlie piped up.

"But I'm pulling you back just like before." I continued. "I can't leave you there. Your mom would never forgive me."

"I understand."

"And when you return, I want to know everything."

"Of course." He said too quickly.

"Alright. Stand behind me, like before." I turned around as Simon came closer. Charlie looked like he wanted to object, but for one reason or another, he said nothing as I reached my hand around and shoved Simon back through the portal.

I was not born into the darkness, but neither was I born into the light. I was born into nothing, the Nether, the chasm between realms which only exists to distinguish that which exists from that which does not. Nothing thrives here, but nothing dies here either. Those who stay too long in this place simply wither away and become one with the void. Most leave long before this happens, but the few too foolish or scared to leave on their own eventually learn why it is unsafe to stay. The fading starts slowly, with the dulling of color in hair and complexion. Appetite slowly disappears, as does all fear and passion. They become wraiths, no longer physical beings, wandering aimlessly throughout the void until they finally disappear completely.

It happens to all who choose to remain in this hidden place beyond time and space. All except for me. Perhaps it will one day happen to me as well, but I do not believe that to be my purpose or my fate. I was born into the nether for a reason. The void chose me. I belong to the chasm, but so also does it belong to me. I am it's protector and it's ward. I alone am permitted to stay here, and thus I cannot leave. It grant's me use of its power so that I may make of it whatever I wish, but that power condemns me to loneliness. If the void is similar to darkness, then I am it's only light. My hair and skin seem to glow with life against the dullness of the nothing, and it caresses me as if to say it is sorry for my solitude. And yet, it does not let me go.

My only companions are the wayward travelers, and weary runaways who stumble upon this place by accident. For them, I create a place of refuge, where they may rest and recover from whatever dangers pursue them. I bring up trees, and wave in the sea so that they may find comfort in that which is familiar to them. I even create dwellings from the void so they may rest their heads upon feather pillows and curl up next to a fire that they believe to bring warmth.

I do not speak to them. Most do not even see me as I weave in and out of the trees I called into being. They fall into deep slumbers, content in the safety I have granted. I cover them up with it like a fluffy blanket to soothe their troubled minds. Once their souls have found the calm they so desperately sought, I send them on their way, leading them deftly through the Nether to pass once more into the realms from whence they came.

There is only one with whom I deign to converse. He is the only man to have ever returned to this place on purpose. He also lives outside of the ordinary realms of existence, and outside of the ordinary pull of time. He does not possess the same power over the void that I do, but he can coax it into form. He returns to gather it for purposes I do not completely understand, and when he comes he dines with me and stays until the Nether pushes him to return to his realm. He is the only man I've ever known, and the only man I've ever loved. I call him Ellion and he has only ever been kind and tender towards me, but the other realms fear him. They simply know him as The Collector.

I would read more of this