Chapter Seventeen :

The Dream /

I woke up with a strange twisting feeling in my stomach, like my abdomen was a washing machine. A red light glowed on my ceiling. I sat up and looked at my alarm clock - which no longer read time; the numbers were replaced with glitching symbols, and it was making a crackling sound. Outside my window, ruby red light spilled in from a blood colored moon, casting terrifying shadows from the leafless trees. 

I got out of bed, a bit scared. "Dolion?" I called out. No answer. "DOLION?!" I yelled. Silence, except for an awful humming that reverberated through the entire house. As I quietly went downstairs, I noticed that the hands on the grandfather clock in the hallway were spinning, around and around the face of the clock at an abnormally fast speed. 

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, I heard a loud crash from upstairs. I turned around, and saw the heavy grandfather clock laid on the floor in pieces. 

I checked the whole house, and couldn't find Dolion. Searching the living room, I found my parents missing, too... 

I went outside and was bathed in the crimson moonlight. Everything looked sinister and unfamiliar. as I looked at it all, my breath caught in the back of my throat. And it was all humming - the deadened trees, grass, my house, the ground, the sky. A pulsating vibration that I can only describe as malign. I felt it in my bones, making me fearful and weak. 

I wandered around for a bit, until I saw a yellowish beam coming from the town. I followed it. 

In the city, all the alien hues and beauty had faded. The amazing flowers and vines were withered, and lit red lanterns hung from the sides of the houses. A strange yellow gleam spilled from the ground in the middle of the town.  

As I drew closer to it, my knees gave out. I was helpless, kneeling there on the broken concrete. There, in the middle of the city, was the opened Abyss. 

An endless crater in the ground was what spilled the horrid yellow beam. A fog connected the ground to the sky, slightly separating the ruby sky from this amber section. The edges bled together and made a deep orange shade. black clouds couldn't cover the relentless carmine moon. 

Out of the crater came all sorts of dark, tormented creatures. Above this levitated all the people from the town, floating vertically and upside down, still in their hypnotic sleep. The humming was loudest here, distorting everything. My head hurt and ears rang, I tried to get up but couldn't.

Then, a loud rumbling overcame the droning. Enormous skeletal hands came up from the pit, grabbing the collapsed concrete street. The monster heaved itself out from the underworld, therefore entering my world. 

It towered above me, its head in the sky. It was a gigantic skeleton, a grungy gray-ish coloration on its bones, sharp claws on the ends of its fingers, 6 black goat horns sprouting from its skull, a mouth packed with sharp teeth, and glowing saffron eyes like fire in its empty eye sockets. From the time it was out of the pit, an overwhelming burning smell radiated off of it. Black smoke curled around it, blowing in the wind and stinging my eyes. 

It didn't seem to be able to see me because it just stood there, its gleaming eyes sweeping across the town. 

A puddle of shimmering gray liquid appeared on the ground before me, reflecting like a mirror. Peering into it, I saw my face shift into many faces. My mother's. My father's. Mirai's. Orpheus's. The deer from the beginning of all of this. When my face turned to Dolion's, I could move. I got up, the numbness leaving my legs. Looking down at my hands, I realized I had completely morphed into Dolion. I felt the heaviness of feathered wings on my back, and the weight of the layered silk gown. But I also felt a sharp pain in my arms and wrists. Pulling back the sleeves, I was left speechless. Bizarre writings, shapes, and symbols were etched into my skin. Its skin. Glowing yellow rays shone from the incisions as black liquid seeped out from them. Understanding completely left me; I felt stupid. 

I heard an awful crying noise, and standing beside me was Orpheus. Tears streamed from his glowing blue eyes, and a pained wail escaped his mouth loaded with serrated teeth. I saw sorrow and fear in his dragon-like face, and at seeing this, I, too, felt as he did. It was the same growling-weeping I had heard from him the other times. The chains on his wrists and ankles were now attached to the ground; he pulled at them, but to no avail. 

The enormous monster from the Abyss spun around and looked directly at Orpheus. At just a glance, It began setting everything on fire - the houses, dead plants, live creatures that ran to escape - engulfed in the flames. The people floating in the sky caught fire too, and soon the smell of fire and death immersed me. My skin burned and ached from the intense heat. 

But It soon turned from the chaos It was making, and It looked me in the eyes. Its horrid yellow soulless eyes reached the depths of me, scorching my mind and heart, burning my entire being in Its gaze. The strange calmness I had felt before left me entirely; now replaced with terror and horror and fear and everything awful in the universe. It smiled with Its razor-sharp teeth and reached down to pick me up with Its bony thumb and index finger. 

Up in the sky, I felt like I was seeing the entire world - as it went up in flames. Above me, through the red and yellow hues and billowing smoke, I saw a glittering blue and purple night sky. Then the monster dropped me.