Blinding

I saw the light... and I wish I had never known such pain.

I remember my home- swooping walls of granite, lit by crackling firelight, beautiful forms dancing across the walls.

My friends and I, we'd sit and watch these elusive, fluttering, creatures. Give them names. There were only three of us, but the words that spilled from our lips created an entire world.

We knew this process was only a distraction, from the chains that circled our feet and cut into our wrists. But with each new title we conjured- paperwing, skyreacher, tuskmilion- our chains melted away. Their scorching metal became a distant echo.

We didn't really know how we'd arrived in this place, it seemed that we had been here since the beginning of time itself, unchanging. We had the power to manipulatte and mold this place, because the rest of the world was born from us.

But one day- a click. My chains rattled to the floor, settled in the powdery dust. The other two stared at me. The chains had always been part of our existence, what was I now?

I turned. There was a faint glow on the other end of the cave. I staggered toward it.

The others called out to me. "Don't go! Your world is here, do not leave this place."

But I was deaf to their words. I crawled out, abandoning everything I had grown to love and care for.

In the second the light hit my lids, something changed, shifted.

I knew too much.