The Dreamer's Epilogue-Chapter 19: Damned
Chapter 19 – Damned
"Oh..."
A woman’s voice, dry as cotton yet echoing like thousands of rattling bones, buzzed through the strange place.
The space was exceptionally wide yet small. It could not be seen, hidden away by a heavy blanket of withered, dried crimson-black flies that constantly buzzed.
However, the buzz was strange, having a certain rhythmic pattern and meaning.
Meaning only the woman could possibly understand.
She was sitting on a throne made of these creatures, her face hidden except for her eyes — where one could see flies with broken wings crawling like snails on mud.
She raised — one could assume — her right hand and looked at it as if seeing things unknown.
"Was it...a dream?" She muttered, her voice confused but amused, "Me? Dreaming?"
She paused, cocked her head, trying to remember the last time something like this happened to her. But it was too far away for her to recall.
Then,
"How? Is that her work?" She wondered, then cracked her neck overhead.
The cloud of flies parted away like a curtain being pulled on either side.
"Is that her intruding inside my dreams, Vorn?" She asked, her voice as if talking to someone equal.
Yet one would be surprised to know that she was talking to a god.
"My Gate cannot be breached."
"This I thought, too, Vorn. Yet I dreamed. I dreamed someone; someone I never knew."
"This is not the work of the Queen of Dreams. That lass, no matter her daring nature, dare not stretch her hand over my Gate." His voice was hard, final like death itself, "This is simply one of your lapses of self."
The woman laughed.
"Is that so?"
The Lord of death no longer answered.
And the woman shrugged carelessly, closed her eyes, picturing the man who intruded inside her dreams. It was hard, for his face was strangely blurry.
But there were things she could perfectly recall...
"Gray hair, black eyes..."
Her lips pulled into a wide smile, flies escaping it in cascade,
"...if not the Queen of Dreams, then who was he?"
Who had the power to get through the barrier of her mind?
Another rising Crowned?
That thought, strangely, made the woman shiver.
And so she laughed. And the small, withered flies laughed with their Queen.
...
Emrys was now left alone by his two comrades. Seeing his fearful, ashen face, they decided to let him gather himself first before rejoining them.
He was deeply grateful for that.
He needed it, for there were foreign memories and emotions inside of him, moving freely, that he wanted to get rid of first.
It was not easy, and Emrys didn’t even know if it was possible. But the very thought of feeling things he shouldn’t feel, and remembering things he had no business remembering filled him with a tidal wave of dread.
He felt like he was no longer himself for a moment. And that realization summoned a deep-rooted fear inside of him.
If there was one thing Emrys had always wished desperately, it was to never be someone else. To be only him.
That feeling was born from how he always had thoughts, visions and experiences randomly thrown into him because of his schizophrenia.
He no longer had it, yet something worse replaced it.
’I will not lose.’ Emrys mused, clenching his fists, ’I have been battling against these all of my life. I will not lose now.’
It would not be easy, he knew, but he was determined to see this through.
So closing his eyes, Emrys attempted his own meditation back when Earth was not destroyed.
A few seconds later, his breathing began to calm down, reaching rhythmic synchronization between inhale and exhale.
Continuing like this for a few more minutes, Emrys finally opened his eyes. Calmness bathed his black eyes soothingly.
The memories were still there, but were no longer overwhelming his own.
The balance was steady. At least, for now.
"Ah, I hate this." He muttered, "I thought I was done with this."
The worst was that he no longer had access to his meds. Still,
Emrys pushed himself up, leaning his back on the wall, "there must be another way."
He cracked his neck, then finally summoned what he had obtained from his dream.
Feeling his intention, a small broken wooden toy appeared in front of him out of his inventory.
A panel flickered in front of him,
[Broken Wooden Toy of ******]
[Description: This is the broken toy someone lost long ago, causing great sadness and suffering to the owner and those around. You have obtained it thanks to mysterious means. Be careful of what you do with it. It can be your doom. Well, it will probably be your doom.]
[Note: You damn bastard, where did you get this? May Vorn have mercy on your soul. Though knowing that gloomy man, he won’t.]
Emrys watched the description, stopping himself from rolling his eyes in exasperation.
Not only did he have to bloody keep himself together, he also was threatened with doom because of things he never asked for?
"Great." He said, passing a hand down his face, "Just great."
For a moment, his eyes began to close in deep psychological fatigue, wishing for nothing but a normal sleep. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
However,
"Lad, are you still dreaming? Tell me not?"
The gruff voice of the smoking old man reached him through the closed door, causing Emrys’s half-lidded eyes to snap back open.
He hissed a sigh through gritted teeth.
"I am coming."
’Here we go, Emrys.’
No rest for the damned.
’And damned I am.’
Well... he smiled dryly.
’Damned, we all are.’
—End of Chapter 19—
