A "vertical slice" of fiction.
Embrace
The floor was dark, obsidian dark, and though it seemed glossy there were no specular highlights, no light sources.
And yet, light came from somewhere - he could still see himself, albeit dimly.
That Jackie could see there were no walls to this place, no roof over his head. It seemed to go on and on, as far as his eyes could make out. Looking around he felt uneasy, though he couldn’t quite place why. He took careful steps, assessing the floor and his immediate surrounds, trying to find something to give any indication of where he might be or what the purpose of this place was. But he saw nothing.
It dawned on him why this place made him feel uneasy, aside from the total lack of anything meaningful nearby.
The ground was completely flat.
There was no horizon, no curvature, no change of light through the air over distance. This place was huge, unimaginably so, and it wasn’t on a planet or moon or any other natural body.
This place was manufactured.
That was when he realised, too late, that the floor beneath his feet had changed. The high sheen had disappeared, in its place a rough, matte surface. Small bumps and protrusions appeared, silently contouring around the sole of his boots. Once the tracing of his boots was complete, hundreds of cilia etched their way out of the floor and felt their way up the canvas and leather, under and over his pants and crawled their way rapidly up his legs towards his torso.
Jackie only noticed when they reached his upper thighs. In a panic he tried to leap away, but the black tendrils held him in place and all he managed was a clumsy fall forward. He didn’t hit the ground though, the extensions had continued to work their way silently up his body, slightly constricting him the further they climbed, and held him fairly still, arresting his momentum.
The writhing things were working their way up to his neck now, feeling and probing up towards his ears and nostrils. His entire lower body was completely enveloped now. It felt as though he was growing cold.
His vision blotched over as his head was consumed. He couldn’t even scream, they were forcing their way down his throat and it was now impossible to breath.
Fear overtook him.