Rise To Stardom - Chapter 114

Chapter 114: The Void
The Curator, dies.

Yet the Curator, never really dies.

Well, by the format in which actual, living, breathing humans did.

Rather, as a result of being an advanced hybrid from an alien and human race of a galaxy, far, far away, one that was unlucky enough to be the last survivor of his home planet after a ravaging, incurable plague killed every last being alive in it, The Curator, realized he had the ability to cheat death.

Instead of dying, he would instead, undergo Metamorphosis, changing not just his entire physiology as a fresh new being, but also gaining new values, ethics and morals while retaining some old ones, all with the memories of his previous incarnations.

Disorientation however, just after he Metamorphed, due to not being right in the head as of his first few minutes of coming back to life, wasn’t a particularly weird occurrence.

At least for those who knew.

This was common, basic lore in [The Curator].

Yet, for Jon whom had created the show, despite fitting into the lore of the fictional universe he had created, it was also a perfect little gimmick for him to constantly keep having a revolving door of fresh new actors to reprise the role of The Curator.

When he had first created the show, directors, producers, actors and actresses, writers and the general public alike, had thought of it as a genius move.

A way to constantly keep the series fresh even if it went on for seasons on end.

Yet, after the 5th Curator, the general public found it extremely hard to see anyone else who could play the role any better, causing almost every other actor jumping into the shoes of the time traveler to be judged against his rendition from day one.

This, was what eventually caused the downfall of the show as every other Curator after his, ended up mostly imitating him.

Imitating the actor’s dark, cunning, brooding persona, one which was a more direct approach to the inward representation of how The Curator really thinks, was also, at the time, a drastic change from the previous four renditions who were more upbeat and jovial.

As one would expect, this copy and paste technique from the other actors who filled in the shoes of the time traveler after the 5th, was one that didn’t really sit well with the audience in the long run.

The general public wanted something fresh and different.

Yet, even with the revolving doors of new actors, along with screenwriters and showrunners who were unsure of which direction to take the series, the show ended up getting stale and unfortunately, stagnated, ultimately leading to a loss of interest in it.

Also, since the scripts for [The Curator] were written monotonously, a fact every blessed fan knew, it was usually left to the actors to interpret it however they pleased.

This was why, the moment the clapper loader released the slate for Kyle to begin acting, everyone on set, had their eyes laser focused on the silvery, glassy cocoon, waiting for the young man’s interpretation of the character.

But, more than that, most were immensely curious and wanted answers.

Why exactly, was a young actor, casted to play the titular role of the enigmatic time traveler?

– – –

{The Curator – Tenth Season | 1st April 2020 | Act 1 | Scene 1 | Take 1}

Shattering through his protective shell, his hand sticking out of the silvery glassy cocoon like something, straight out of a horror movie, The Curator, broke out of his new Metamorphosis.

Eyes wide, expression confused, especially with the constantly blaring danger alarms and sirens in the destroyed space ship, The Curator slowly got up from the ground, chaos, debris and destruction all around him.

As the debris and silvery glass crinkled underneath his step, remnants of the metamorphosis from his previous iteration who died of an internal explosion in the destroyed ship, a trap set by the Kalis to lure and trap him in the Void, The Curator, currently in a raggedy three-piece black suit, walked towards a wall.

And yet, instead of stopping before the wall, he walked straight into it, banging his head harshly on its rough, hard, metallic surface!

“Arghh!!! I’m awake! I’m fully awake!” The Curator let out an unexpected shout, his forehead red from the impact.

Wobbling about as he walked, his body not fully registering the new change but purely working on his subconscious previously, he soon stared at his reflection in the translucent metallic wall and frowned;

“Metamorphosis. New… face. Young. Too… young…”

Still consciously trying to get his locomotor functions fully gyrated, existential questions flooding up his brain on who he actually was, The Curator collapsed and leaned on the same wall as his knees wobbled a bit;

“I don’t like it!” he exclaimed in genuine displeasure, his expression conveying that exact disdain despite not even been sure of whatever the heck it was he was spouting.

Yet, that single displeasure stuck around only for a split moment as a torrent of information, flooded his entire brain, causing him to loudly groan in excruciating pain as a shockwave of immense information relentlessly barraged his brain.

This, assaulting effect, instantly caused him to start speaking, seemingly random things that made no sense, each one escaping his mouth like a mal-programmed robot;

“Alien?! Human?! Hybrid? Hybrid!!”

“Damn Kalis! Damn Immortals! I’ll wipe them all!”

“Human babies cry when they come into earth’s great stage of fools!”

“Sanity is overrated anyways!”

“How you do anything, is how you do everything!”

No sooner had he said that last statement, all of which were actually some of the most popular sayings from some of his previous incarnations, The Curator stabilized in an instant, eyes wide at the realization of who he was.

Covering his mouth in shock, every blessed thing he had ever done now settling in his mind, a certain word, one that would define his entire incarnation graced his mind;

‘Brilliant.’

As a result, The Curator spoke almost immediately after, his expression of shock, morphing into that of amazement;

“Oh brilliant!”

Yet, another explosion threw him off his balance, the space ship still exploding here and there!

“Oh oh oh!!! This is absolutely brilliant!” The Curator quickly got off his feet and headed towards the nearest window, occasionally staggering here and there as he made his way over.

“Hahaha! Of course you’d try to trap me in here! Where else if not, The Void?!” he commented in excitement, knowing fully well that the Kalis must’ve thought they had the upper-hand over him by trying to trap his next incarnation in the boundless expanse of infinite darkness.

“Yet, interestingly, after years and years of evolution, you guys still find some way to be brain dead, stupid! Haha!” the weirdo cackled in a genuinely amused manner as he pointed in a certain direction.

“Unless I’m hallucinating, which I certainly am not, that, is a star, light years away from me.” the Curator, bolted swiftly from the window and straight towards the entrance of the destroyed space ship.

His locomotor functions had fully gyrated now.

Jumping over a destroyed pillar of fibrous, messy wiring, the alien in a tattered suit, gazed at the vast expanse of darkness before him.

There was no up in this space.

There was no down either.

No left, no right

No light, no dark.

No time, no end.

Literally, it was an impossible place that existed, outside of time and space.

A space that only existed between dimensions, fabled to be used for sentencing the worst of intergalactic offenders.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing was present in this space.

The void, quite literally, was a myth of sorts.

One that no one should’ve ever experienced or seen.

For some, it was what they would call, true infinity.

And for some, it was hell.

Yet, for somewhere that was mythically infamous for all these, why was there a single twinkling star in the distance?

“It’s quite the fortunate incident that only I know how to access the void. Nice try though.” The Curator soon stated aloud, almost as if speaking to someone.

Without a single moment wasted after that, the alien, looked over his shoulder, stared at the destruction behind him for a moment and then, with a mocking smile, jumped off the ship and into the void with the words;

“Alley-oop!”

“Cut, Print, Check The Gate.”

– – –

The set was silent.

Absolutely silent.

Expectations had been extremely low regarding if Kyle’s acting prowess was enough to sell the titular time traveler’s persona.

Sure he was in a hit movie last year and his acting had been spot on but, comparing this form of acting to that form of acting, was quite literally, a revelation for almost everyone on set.

Kyle Kestis wasn’t just a good actor.

Rather, Kyle Kestis was a fantastic actor, period.

Since the entire scene was a monologue with only him in it, it was going to be really hard to sell the scene.

And yet, without even a single character to have his monologue bounce off of to add more weight to his words, the fact that his presentation still kept all of them hooked, was a thing of marvel.

Added to that, the young man’s interpretation of the titular time traveler, was a genuinely unexpected choice;

Chaotic and extremely expressive, along with the signature eccentricity The Curator was known for.

Compared to the previous four actors whom had acted in the shoes of [The Curator] after the fifth, Kyle’s version was, obviously, drastically different from theirs.

Typically, their iterations had acted all tough and strong as their old memories were forcefully seared into their brains and returned to them.

It was something the 5th Curator had also done, one that felt so badass to the viewers as at the time.

But, seeing Kyle’s interpretation of The Curator, embracing the pain that came with it with such chaotic energy, one that eventually resulted in him being amazed by himself, was an absolute breath of fresh air, one that even had some of them chuckling a bit.

So, as everyone on the set were still very much stunned yet pleasantly surprised, Jon and Barry, both of whom already knew Kyle was perfect for the role, had quite the satisfied expression on their features.

Even Jasmine was evidently stunned, a bright expression mixed with wonder on her features.

First off, despite she and Kyle conversing a few times over the week, they never really talked much on anything besides the script.

So, the fact that he didn’t ruin the shot even once, made it clear to not just her, but everyone, that Kyle must’ve done his research on their Director.

Simply put, the young man came prepared.

Secondly, she, just like everyone else, although felt Kyle was a good actor, wondered if drastically switching to such a complex role from his previous role in an action movie, would be easy for him.

Turns out, she, just like everyone else again, ended up being proven wrong.

They were the ones whom had severely underestimated him, one that was evident as most stared at him in pleasant awe.

Yet for Jon, Tiana and Barry, they knew this was just a tip of the iceberg of the range of acting capabilities the young lad had shown them.

Unaware of their stares though, Kyle confidently walked away from the prop space ship, already back to normal as he went to speak to Tiana who called him over.

Both were already discussing the next scene.