whatiscogniz

[whatiscogniz]

Zackary doesn’t think he’s insane— really. In all honesty, seeing a figure reflecting no light directly in his line of sight wasn’t something he experienced frequently, or at all.

Talking to hallucinations wasn’t the recommended thing to do, but what choice does he have?

…He knows that’s a logical fallacy. He could move on, pretend this wasn’t here. Meet people who this figure refuses to show itself for, or something along those lines. A pang of pain shoot through his head as his left leg gives out for a second before motion returns and he catches himself, his adrenaline beginning to course through the rest of his body.

It’s not a new thing to happen; his body decides to give out every now and then, curse the lab, but it doesn’t mean he’ll like it when it comes, let alone when he’s not exerting himself in any capacity.

The figure tilts its head.

Well, it looks like it. The shapes don’t line up and there’s something uncanny about the way that its eyes track him regardless of how the ‘head’ turns. There’s a level of fluidity that usually isn’t there with depictions of humanoids, and, well, it looks to resemble the human frame somewhat. Not well, but the shape does read as human. If it was a shadow in the corner of his eye on the street, he might’ve missed it as an entity as opposed to a person, but staring it down is jarring to say the least.

It doesn’t say a word— Zack isn’t sure if it can— and yet, it beckons a response.

He isn’t sure what the question is, but he obliges anyways. “I don’t recall seeing you before I… grew up.” Despite his choice to express his life in the lab, he somehow feels like the figure already knows everything. Maybe that, then, is the true horror of the situation. He isn’t sure.

His nervousness doesn’t falter, even as words fill his mind, words that are unlike his own. It’s vaguely feminine, and really, that’s the only thing that works to tell him he isn’t making up his own thoughts for what this eldritch may believe.

You’ve seen me.

Its voice is sharp in a way Zackary doesn’t know how to describe other than that trait.

The lab.

Those two words themselves send a rush of adrenaline through him, and he doesn’t know how to take it. The words vibrate through his body and he feels the shudder in his body as his knees try to buckle under him, the searing pain of his tattoo— his branding— on his neck digging into him. The eldritch, for what it’s worth radiates guilt, but that doesn’t change the shudder he makes.

You don’t remember details of the lab, do you?

No, he thinks. He doesn’t. He knows the big things that occurred in his time there and the fire. He remembers the fire very, very clearly. But, he doesn’t remember the smell; the only thing that comes up when he tries to remember the medicine and the white are the ashes and soot he left behind.

“No,” he responds, though he knows the eldritch staring him down knows already. It gives him a feeling of autonomy in all of this. “I don’t— not really.”

That’s not fully truthful, he decides, after another beat of hesitation. The frame of the entity looks— no, not looks, feels— to be smaller than it was. Maybe it’s just because there is a moment of clarity when the light contracts from his window frame, but he isn’t all too sure about that either. It feels warmer, so, he settles for that truth in the moment. The truth? He remembers more than he’d like. Suppression, repression… he’s not all too sure what it is, but it feels better to think less.

The eldritch stops.

No, it doesn’t.

It stills.

Everything still resembles it— there isn’t a motion for his to believe anything but the fact the materialization of this thing is real. They still are in the living room of Zackary’s house, and he still is Zackary Woods. He exists, yet so is this eldritch, who in the stillness of the room feels younger. It’s a strange thought, for the entity doesn’t even appear as though it has an age, but that’s not what’s important.

The eldritch speaks.

“I’m sorry.”

Its voice is everything that Zack expected. There’s life in the tone, and yet, there’s a darkness reflective only of the light consumed by the figure. With a blink, it disappears. There was no flash. The absence of light can’t really do that, can it, he questions to himself, but he expected something more dramatic. There’s no memory wipe as he recounts the conversation in his head.

It’s less dramatic than he anticipated, but he can’t help but feel a wrench in his gut. It felt human. He’s not sure what that makes the entity, but there’s something about how earnest the apology was that makes him question how he’d been wronged by this creature.

And so, he lets himself get distracted by the sound of wind instead. It must be easier to perceive the ring of the chimes colliding with each other with the blows of the wind then to rationalize any conversation he’s had in the last few… however-long, and he sighs. His head doesn’t hurt as he’d expect, but it doesn’t change the fact there is a dull sensation. That always happens when the lab is brought up, though, so he figures it’s not unexpected.

He notices the room brighten, now that it has been a second or so, but he can’t help but question if it’s just the room playing tricks on his mind.

[whatiscogniz]

Journal Entry #366

"It's been ages since I've written here, and I guess I've forgotten how to start it. I should reintroduce myself, I think. I'm so different from when I last did this.

Things are better. Better than they've ever been, but I've been seeing this creature in the corner of my eye.

It's real. I know it is. There's no way for me to prove it, but I know it's there. I've KNOWN it's there. I haven't brought this up to anyone yet. Not Faith, Halo, or anyone else. It spoke to me today-- I mean, a whole conversation. That's how I know. Because, well, it's weird, isn't it? I can't make out its shape other than roughly humanoid; the light doesn't show it, even though we were in a lit room. I expected it to be weird... like, almost a horror movie (or so I hear). It wasn't, though. It was weirdly expressive and apologized to me.

It knew things in my life that no one should. Not anyone (or thing) I haven't told at least. Things about the lab. I asked how, and it seemed almost guilty by its reaction. It told me I'd know in time and figured that it wasn't relevant, though.

I don't know how I could see it, and apparently, it doesn't either. Really, I sound insane writing this, don't I? I wasn't even talking to it! It was more... thoughts and ideas being transferred between us. I'll talk to Faith about it soon. Maybe I'm hallucinating.

I'll figure it out.

-- Zackary Whittaker (June 20th, 2022)"

[whatiscogniz]

Intro or something

Hello! My name is Zync and my main is @znvade!

I really like writing and have been creating characters since 2019, but I've never really created a concrete location for all my writing and whatever, so that's what I want to do with this blog- and it'd be nice to track progress writing.

I go by she/any pronouns and am currently a minor.

That being said; to answer questions about what this universe ACTUALLY is:

- What is cogniZ?

CogniZ is an OC universe that is supposed to be a realistic fiction story. HOWEVER, there are elements that do not reflect this, such as eldritch beings that act as Gods, but the universe can be consumed without these elements. Honestly, the design of the story was without God-like characters, but it was a revival of old story ideas, so the story works without them 100%. Because I am American, MOST of my characters are as well. As far as the story concerns, the world of the characters do exist on our current Earth.

- Who are the main casts/characters?

Honestly, there isn’t one. There are two ‘primary’ groups of characters, though, one being Zone (OC’s that are built around only myself and therefore may have a more straightforward story) and Orestead (OC’s that are with a friend of mine so more sporadic but honestly more enjoyable to build). I do have my favorites in both of these groups, but the goal is to stray away from only those.

- Can we send asks?

Yep! I don’t actually care much if the asks are towards me or a character because the idea of asks are genuinely really fun but I haven’t done this whole tumblr shebob so that’s subject to change. I really like sharing these guys, but at the end of the day, my goal is a lot more so aligned with having fun, so it’ll depend but for now, I’m down.

[whatiscogniz]

World of CogniZance

(in which zync is sick and tired of making OC content in a notebook and decides to do it on tumblr instead)

"Before there was an existence, something had to exist, surely. Gods, and other lifeforms may not be everything in the world, yet even so, it would be foolish to deny that they didn't make up one of their own.

That's the thing with Gods, though, right?

Their existences are a part of a world larger than themselves. It so happens that they end up having a world to mind of their own. Gods don't know their creations all that well. They can bend them, but if a piece of clay is molded, it will try to fall. You can add a skeleton to the clay, or freeze it, or cook it, but that doesn't change the initial will of the clay.

And, dear mortal?"

A chuckle scratches at your mind. It isn't quite soft or gentle, but there is a certain trait of an alien entity's laugh that still comes through as human, strangely enough.

"I wouldn't call myself an exception to that rule."

It calls itself zii.

"I didn't intend for everything to go wrong in your environment, but really, what am I to do about it all? I can apologize, but I like my honesty the way it is. I truly feel for you."