I wrote a short story!
I hand drew the image at the bottom.
Also, feel free to ask questions in the comments.

The Gloom of Severity

A personal account of the Constant

Before we begin, I would like to give everyone some context. For example, who am I, what is the Constant, and why do you care.

The Constant is probably the most peculiar of the three, so I will start with that. To my understanding, and I am definitely not the one to ask about this, there are multiple universes. Some are more similar to ours than others, and the Constant forces them all to be identical. Most of this is over my head, but I know that it thinks that doing this makes everything perfect.

What it basically does is infiltrate the minds of some people. Don't worry it's not like you walk down the street and suddenly you're an agent of the Constant. No, it happens slowly and is pretty easy to avoid as well. It begins with things like "maybe I should say something cruel" or other small and insignificant actions. Anyway, it escalates those behaviors in an attempt to make everyone miserable while it gets a lock on that universe. This is phase 1. In phase 2, it uses its agents to allow it into the target dimension, like having a friend open a gate. In phase 3 ... Well, I don't know much of what happens after that, other than it tries to kill people, and have the survivors so defeated they accept its "perfection."

On to a more lighthearted subject, however, I am Morgan. I am 17 years old, and my personality can be generalized into a "smart teenager with anything that makes them a viable sitcom character removed." I know these are rushed explanations, but I only have so long to record this, and I want to get to my story ...

Well, here it is, you already know I'm 17, and I am an entering senior in high school. I'm in all the advanced classes with a bright future. My best friend, Akira, shares some lessons with me, and you would generally hold the same opinion of her.

It took me a moment to notice that Akira started behaving strangely. A few days after this began, I asked her what was happening. She avoided the question until I cornered her about it. That's when she told me she "found a group of interdimensional resistance fighters, and has been building them weapons to help with their war effort."

Yeah, it took me a moment to stop laughing as well. I, of course, then asked what the strange behavior was actually about. To that, she responded that she was telling the truth and had to do this in secret, or their enemies would target her. Keep in mind that I had no concept about the Constant at that time.

I naturally wanted to see evidence of these claims and was genuinely a mix of surprised, concerned, and alarmed when she presented a storage unit she had taken over for production. All I remember more is thinking, "Akira, are you crazy? This is super illegal!" After no small amount of consolation, she got me to agree to not let this get out. Naturally, this was after I made her agree, that after she explained her activities, if I was not satisfied, she would stop.

She began to tell me about the Constant and a multiverse theory that hurt to think about. I was genuinely afraid she had gotten into some kind of cult or terrorist group. That's when she showed me something impossible. When I was punching hole after hole into her increasingly flustered logic, she pulled an object off of an unmarked box. With a bang that left my ears ringing, she disappeared. Moments later, another noise comparable to a large gunshot from outside revealed itself to be her reappearance. When she opened the door, she asked if I was satisfied if this was real. I can't say that I didn't believe her, but I wanted nothing to do with it.

Some disorientingly uneventful days later, Akira offered me a neat little necklace. I accepted and inquired as to why the sudden gift. She just looked at me and half-whispered, "no matter what happens to you, if you need my help, this can record and broadcast to its pair. " She revealed that she was wearing an identical one.

I remember being resistant to having any part in her craziness but putting it on anyway simply to make her happy. The next day I visited her house, and she gave me a tutorial on said SOS friendship necklace. Afterward, I asked her if she was ready for the English test we had tomorrow, and another thing I had previously thought impossible happened. She gave the shocked "oh no, I forgot" look and then thought for a moment and said, "oh, well." She was so wrapped up in whatever this Constant was she had mentally abandoned her future. I remember we argued viciously about priorities, and I still wish I could apologize for that.

That argument concluded with some mean things said, and the next day Akira went missing. No one but me knew what had occurred, and I only knew because she left me a message on her weird necklace. She had run away from home to help those interdimensional people full-time.
And then her message got creepy... like, she told me that because of what I knew, the Constant would try to kill me. I couldn't understand why anyone would target me, I was never involved. I didn't tell her parents or the police because they were even less likely to believe this crazy story.

The next day, during a cross-country meet, I pretended everything was ok. My necklace suddenly got a message, however, and I played it. It just screamed, "Morgan run it's entered phase 3!" Everyone around me was like "what's that all about," when from behind me was a terrible light.

After the initial cries of pain from the brightness, nothing is quite as silencing as a city becoming plasma and a massive mushroom of smoke. We stared … it was surreal in its horror. At that moment, I could only think back to our argument and what became of my priorities.

Time felt like it slowed. I could see an invisible wall racing towards me. It hit a cactus some distance in front of me. The cactus became a spew of chunks slightly behind the wall, following in a straight line.

Soon the wall hit me ... it was so loud I couldn't hear a thing. It was surprisingly hot, burning my skin like paper tossed on a fire. I started to fall back and follow it like the cactus. One of the chunks, however, hit my shoulder. I remember the pain as the chunk became vapor, and my arm flew off with it. I spun to the ground and woke up in a snow drift.

You can imagine my confusion at the stark differences in the situation. I was completely unharmed, in a snow drift in some old-timey town. I quickly discovered I had somehow been healed and transported to another dimension.

I decided I would send a message. This message. My necklace battery is dying, so might I only get this one. Now I know what you're thinking, "why don't you just ask for help from the interdimensional travelers." And to that I say... There is a good reason this place is called the Land of the Forgotten.

Message End.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ACU8JBWK4nwbHmb98