It was dark, an inky blackness that pervaded all her senses. She could see it, feel its crawly touch lightly caress her skin, hear its distracting whispers mutter unintelligible mysteries, taste its bitterness in her mouth, and smell its acrid savor. She was suspended in it, as usual, and unlike the actual event of dreaming, she was very much aware that this was a dream. However, the will to awaken was not there, and every time she would just drift there, eyes open but seeing nothing, with no sensations beyond what the darkness afforded her.
In the waking world, Levinia had met with some progress. Her interactions with her mentor, the Winter Goddess Beira, and the hunters in the Mysterious Canyons had begun to birth hope in her, hope that she would eventually undo this curse and wield true magic. Not that she had never had hope before, no; but when one does see the dream materializing, one may dare to believe. And it was this belief that made Levinia eventually rebel against the darkness; the overwhelming darkness she had known for so long, which had been a part of her dream life for every single day up until this point; the darkness that was borne on that fateful, terrible day.
Levinia remembered what had given birth to her curse. Her masters, as they had liked to call themselves. She had never known why they despised and hated her so much, dragging her away from her family whom she had never seen again. They had dragged her to some strange temple like complex, and she remembered the bitter poison she had been forced to ingest. Even though she was a little child, she clearly remembered that day, and how the darkness crept into her dreams as her body mutated into the form in which it currently was. She was sure of it: there was a connection with the curse and the darkness, and there was a connection with the darkness and her inability to properly utilize magic.
Tonight, she would challenge the darkness.
It started with a twitch, a slight movement of her fingers. The movement felt so foreign to her. She had never done this before, but every journey started with a step. She wasn't sure if the whispers of the darkness were slowly becoming more urgent or it was her imagination. She couldn't tell if the tickling sensations on her skin were not sharpening into pricks. Levinia moved again, this time lifting her arm and flexing her fingers more forcefully. Now she was sure that the darkness was resisting her, its feel becoming rather uncomfortable on her body. She felt its weight on her limbs, like the darkness was trying to draw her arms down.
Arms?
She had not been aware of it, but she could feel her right arm as clearly as she could feel her left. Fighting against the inky blackness, she pulled both arms towards each other, and felt the fingers of each hand connect with the other. In surprise, her mouth dropped open, and the darkness surged in. It filled her insides, threatening to choke her into a mindless stupor. The whisperings had become menacing, violent, and though she couldn't understand what the voices said, she somehow knew they were issuing threats. But she was determined not to give in. She had accepted this fate for so long, a fate that she was sure was not meant for her. She allowed her anger to boil, the same rage a creature capable of thought experiences when it has been held against its will for ages, only to realize that it had a say in its freedom. Indeed, she felt she had a say, and she was so going to 'say' it loud.
Whatever breath she had in her was gathered into one defiant scream, and to her surprise, the darkness that flowed into her withdrew quickly, like the antenna of a snail that touches salt. Levinia took in another deep breath and let it out in as loud a cry as her lungs could muster. It was strange; she couldn't say she really heard anything, but something echoed in the darkness, like her voice was carrying out into it. The darkness roiled about her, and suddenly, the entire sensation changed. She felt, for the first time in this place, that she was experiencing a sense of direction.
She was falling. Or was she flying?
What she knew was that she was being drawn through space towards something. And she was going head first. If she was falling, it was always safer to land with her feet first, so she righted her body so that the gravitational pull drew her from below her. Then she tried to look around. The darkness was still there; she could see nothing, but at least, the feel of it against her skin had stopped. Perhaps if she resisted it more, fought against it with all her faculties, it would completely recede from her. Those voices though... they were a nuisance. And Levinia had grown tired of them.
"Ugh, be quiet," she muttered. It seemed quite difficult for her to speak, much the same it had been with moving her body. She found out though, that the more she tried, the easier it became. By this time, body motion was almost as easy as in real life. She just had to exercise her voice.
"Be quiet," she repeated, putting more power in her voice. The invisible whisperers must have heard her, because there was a lull, as though most of them had paused, and then they resumed in a louder cacophony than before. Levinia was not going to be bested by them; not now that she could see results taking shape. She took in a deep breath and projected her voice as loud as she could, and this time, she heard herself roar into the darkness:
"Will you shut up?!"
There was silence. Utter silence. It seemed that the darkness was drawing further away from her, but she still couldn't see anything. And then, a realization struck her: her eyes were either closed, or she was blind. She blinked a few times, but the sensation of peering into thick darkness was not lifted. It was at that point, that she considered what she had accomplished here: she had willed her body to move, and it had. She had willed her voice to speak, and it had. She just had to will her eyes to see.
And so she willed them. She focused on whatever it was that was closed, intangible or perceived, real or imaginary, and commanded it with sheer force of will, to open. At first, nothing happened, but it felt like her eyes, even though 'open', were trying to open. Suddenly, she saw a crack of light, a pale bluish light, seeping in. Focusing on that crack, she forced it open with her willpower, tearing it apart and receiving vision in this dream world for the first time. As she looked around her, she noticed that the darkness fled from her, drawing as far back as possible. She noticed she was in a vast expanse that seemed not to have an end, an abyss in her psyche in which she was trapped. Maybe she would try to will herself awake...
No.
Willpower was very important here, right? Before she woke up from this dream, why didn't she try to transform the insipid nightmare to something more akin to her tastes. But perhaps the willpower only could work on her body? What if nothing else happened? She would try first, anyway. If it didn't work, well, that was something new learned.
And so she willed, but she did not know what to will for, and so nothing happened. The darkness she could still see, gathered together, as though it was considering its next choice of actions. And indeed, it had been considering, because in the next moment, the darkness spilled towards her, menacing and threatening. At first, she panicked, and tendrils of shadow began to quickly wrap around her body. As they connected with her, she felt her energy slipping away, her desire to fight waning. She had put in so much effort today. Maybe she just needed to rest. Yes, that was right; she could shut her eyes, slow her breathing, let her arms hang limp. The shadows were whispering soothingly in her ears, urging her, lulling her...
"Let go!!!" Levinia screamed, willing her body to fight back with everything she had. To her surprise, there was a massive burst of light from somewhere around her, and the darkness fled once again, the whisperings pained and angry. Levinia looked around for where the light had come from, and noticed some strange runes, like the alphabets of a fabulous forgotten language, revolving around her. She smiled slightly. perhaps she could use them as a weapon to fight against the darkness.
So she charged, or flew, through the air, commanding these strange letters to follow her and inflict her wrath on the escaping darkness. To her delight, she found that the shadows were at her mercy: no matter how fast it flew, she was faster; no matter how strong it surged, she was always one step ahead. She struck it from one side, and barraged it from the other, but there was one thing that disturbed her:
The darkness could not be destroyed.
"Very well, then; if I can't kill you, I will imprison you," Levinia announced, as the runes bonded together to create circular bands of light, which ensnared and held the shadows fast. The shadows struggled for a while, then calmed down, and began to take shape. Levinia noticed many mouths open up on the black mass, which whispered and hissed and snarled. Eyes, golden eyes with slit pupils, oozing malice and spite, opened all over and began to search crazily about, before finally settling on her. As she watched this strange being of darkness, all the mouths on it began to speak in unison.
"You have grown strong. We hoped this day would not come."
Levinia folded her arms and glared down at it. "Who or what are you?"
"The answer to that question is unnecessary. You will belong to us soon."
"Not if I can do anything about it," Levinia shot back.
An idea suddenly hit her like a light bulb flashing on in her head. If she could control most of this place with her willpower, and she couldn't destroy the darkness, she could cast it out or banish it, couldn't she? She willed herself and her prisoner to locate the nearest exit. She didn't know what to expect, but if she found a door, all she had to do was boot it out...
She was suddenly aware that she was close to something like a wall. Risking a glance away from the pitch black creature, she looked and stared, her attention caught. She found herself looking at something like a wall, running in all directions on a plane as far as the eyes could see.
"Looking for an exit, were you? You are stuck here with me."
Levinia eyed the creature with distaste and turned back to the "wall". Slowly, she reached out and ran a hand across its surface. And she remembered that she had a right arm. Due to all the action, she had forgotten that it had been there. Now, she looked down at it, as well formed as her left, though in the pale colored light, she could not tell what color of skin she had. Looking up again at the wall, she realized that it was chalk white, and rather rough or uneven of surface. It looked strangely familiar... and then she recognized it.
It was of the same constituency as her skin in the waking world.
Levinia willed for something with which she could break through the wall, and more runes appeared, conjuring blast after blast against the wall. To her surprise and irritation, all the attacks phased right through the wall, like it wasn't there, but she found that she couldn't get through it, no matter how hard she tried.
"Your powers of space and time will avail you nothing against this barrier. This barrier is what creates the darkness, and if you think I am large, you will see that a lot more will be produced that you cannot control. It's just a matter of time..."
Levinia turned in anger on the being, and suddenly felt her intentions probe into its mind like a lance of heat cutting through butter. All the mouths shrieked in an unearthly wail, and the darkness closed in on itself, becoming a perfect sphere of shadow. And her piercing intentions hit a brick wall, like nothing was there. For all intents and purposes, it was an inanimate, non-living structure.
She had mixed emotions. On the one hand, she was displeased that it had got away when she was just about to do something to it. On the other hand, she was excited that she had gotten a taste of what seemed to be her inherent powers. The creature perhaps knew more than she did, because it had identified her powers as "space and time". It seemed like there was a dash of psychic power involved. How interesting it would be for her to utilize these forces in the real world.
With all this information, Levinia also understood that there was an external force that sought to control her, that somehow could gain access to her mind by reason of the wall. The curse. That curse so had to go. And she was eager to see that it did, even if the process killed her.
And with that, Levinia opened her eyes in the real world, back in her rough skin. It was still some hours to daybreak. She rolled over, and tried to get some more sleep.
Her dream was materializing. It was just a matter of time.
In the waking world, Levinia had met with some progress. Her interactions with her mentor, the Winter Goddess Beira, and the hunters in the Mysterious Canyons had begun to birth hope in her, hope that she would eventually undo this curse and wield true magic. Not that she had never had hope before, no; but when one does see the dream materializing, one may dare to believe. And it was this belief that made Levinia eventually rebel against the darkness; the overwhelming darkness she had known for so long, which had been a part of her dream life for every single day up until this point; the darkness that was borne on that fateful, terrible day.
Levinia remembered what had given birth to her curse. Her masters, as they had liked to call themselves. She had never known why they despised and hated her so much, dragging her away from her family whom she had never seen again. They had dragged her to some strange temple like complex, and she remembered the bitter poison she had been forced to ingest. Even though she was a little child, she clearly remembered that day, and how the darkness crept into her dreams as her body mutated into the form in which it currently was. She was sure of it: there was a connection with the curse and the darkness, and there was a connection with the darkness and her inability to properly utilize magic.
Tonight, she would challenge the darkness.
It started with a twitch, a slight movement of her fingers. The movement felt so foreign to her. She had never done this before, but every journey started with a step. She wasn't sure if the whispers of the darkness were slowly becoming more urgent or it was her imagination. She couldn't tell if the tickling sensations on her skin were not sharpening into pricks. Levinia moved again, this time lifting her arm and flexing her fingers more forcefully. Now she was sure that the darkness was resisting her, its feel becoming rather uncomfortable on her body. She felt its weight on her limbs, like the darkness was trying to draw her arms down.
Arms?
She had not been aware of it, but she could feel her right arm as clearly as she could feel her left. Fighting against the inky blackness, she pulled both arms towards each other, and felt the fingers of each hand connect with the other. In surprise, her mouth dropped open, and the darkness surged in. It filled her insides, threatening to choke her into a mindless stupor. The whisperings had become menacing, violent, and though she couldn't understand what the voices said, she somehow knew they were issuing threats. But she was determined not to give in. She had accepted this fate for so long, a fate that she was sure was not meant for her. She allowed her anger to boil, the same rage a creature capable of thought experiences when it has been held against its will for ages, only to realize that it had a say in its freedom. Indeed, she felt she had a say, and she was so going to 'say' it loud.
Whatever breath she had in her was gathered into one defiant scream, and to her surprise, the darkness that flowed into her withdrew quickly, like the antenna of a snail that touches salt. Levinia took in another deep breath and let it out in as loud a cry as her lungs could muster. It was strange; she couldn't say she really heard anything, but something echoed in the darkness, like her voice was carrying out into it. The darkness roiled about her, and suddenly, the entire sensation changed. She felt, for the first time in this place, that she was experiencing a sense of direction.
She was falling. Or was she flying?
What she knew was that she was being drawn through space towards something. And she was going head first. If she was falling, it was always safer to land with her feet first, so she righted her body so that the gravitational pull drew her from below her. Then she tried to look around. The darkness was still there; she could see nothing, but at least, the feel of it against her skin had stopped. Perhaps if she resisted it more, fought against it with all her faculties, it would completely recede from her. Those voices though... they were a nuisance. And Levinia had grown tired of them.
"Ugh, be quiet," she muttered. It seemed quite difficult for her to speak, much the same it had been with moving her body. She found out though, that the more she tried, the easier it became. By this time, body motion was almost as easy as in real life. She just had to exercise her voice.
"Be quiet," she repeated, putting more power in her voice. The invisible whisperers must have heard her, because there was a lull, as though most of them had paused, and then they resumed in a louder cacophony than before. Levinia was not going to be bested by them; not now that she could see results taking shape. She took in a deep breath and projected her voice as loud as she could, and this time, she heard herself roar into the darkness:
"Will you shut up?!"
There was silence. Utter silence. It seemed that the darkness was drawing further away from her, but she still couldn't see anything. And then, a realization struck her: her eyes were either closed, or she was blind. She blinked a few times, but the sensation of peering into thick darkness was not lifted. It was at that point, that she considered what she had accomplished here: she had willed her body to move, and it had. She had willed her voice to speak, and it had. She just had to will her eyes to see.
And so she willed them. She focused on whatever it was that was closed, intangible or perceived, real or imaginary, and commanded it with sheer force of will, to open. At first, nothing happened, but it felt like her eyes, even though 'open', were trying to open. Suddenly, she saw a crack of light, a pale bluish light, seeping in. Focusing on that crack, she forced it open with her willpower, tearing it apart and receiving vision in this dream world for the first time. As she looked around her, she noticed that the darkness fled from her, drawing as far back as possible. She noticed she was in a vast expanse that seemed not to have an end, an abyss in her psyche in which she was trapped. Maybe she would try to will herself awake...
No.
Willpower was very important here, right? Before she woke up from this dream, why didn't she try to transform the insipid nightmare to something more akin to her tastes. But perhaps the willpower only could work on her body? What if nothing else happened? She would try first, anyway. If it didn't work, well, that was something new learned.
And so she willed, but she did not know what to will for, and so nothing happened. The darkness she could still see, gathered together, as though it was considering its next choice of actions. And indeed, it had been considering, because in the next moment, the darkness spilled towards her, menacing and threatening. At first, she panicked, and tendrils of shadow began to quickly wrap around her body. As they connected with her, she felt her energy slipping away, her desire to fight waning. She had put in so much effort today. Maybe she just needed to rest. Yes, that was right; she could shut her eyes, slow her breathing, let her arms hang limp. The shadows were whispering soothingly in her ears, urging her, lulling her...
"Let go!!!" Levinia screamed, willing her body to fight back with everything she had. To her surprise, there was a massive burst of light from somewhere around her, and the darkness fled once again, the whisperings pained and angry. Levinia looked around for where the light had come from, and noticed some strange runes, like the alphabets of a fabulous forgotten language, revolving around her. She smiled slightly. perhaps she could use them as a weapon to fight against the darkness.
So she charged, or flew, through the air, commanding these strange letters to follow her and inflict her wrath on the escaping darkness. To her delight, she found that the shadows were at her mercy: no matter how fast it flew, she was faster; no matter how strong it surged, she was always one step ahead. She struck it from one side, and barraged it from the other, but there was one thing that disturbed her:
The darkness could not be destroyed.
"Very well, then; if I can't kill you, I will imprison you," Levinia announced, as the runes bonded together to create circular bands of light, which ensnared and held the shadows fast. The shadows struggled for a while, then calmed down, and began to take shape. Levinia noticed many mouths open up on the black mass, which whispered and hissed and snarled. Eyes, golden eyes with slit pupils, oozing malice and spite, opened all over and began to search crazily about, before finally settling on her. As she watched this strange being of darkness, all the mouths on it began to speak in unison.
"You have grown strong. We hoped this day would not come."
Levinia folded her arms and glared down at it. "Who or what are you?"
"The answer to that question is unnecessary. You will belong to us soon."
"Not if I can do anything about it," Levinia shot back.
An idea suddenly hit her like a light bulb flashing on in her head. If she could control most of this place with her willpower, and she couldn't destroy the darkness, she could cast it out or banish it, couldn't she? She willed herself and her prisoner to locate the nearest exit. She didn't know what to expect, but if she found a door, all she had to do was boot it out...
She was suddenly aware that she was close to something like a wall. Risking a glance away from the pitch black creature, she looked and stared, her attention caught. She found herself looking at something like a wall, running in all directions on a plane as far as the eyes could see.
"Looking for an exit, were you? You are stuck here with me."
Levinia eyed the creature with distaste and turned back to the "wall". Slowly, she reached out and ran a hand across its surface. And she remembered that she had a right arm. Due to all the action, she had forgotten that it had been there. Now, she looked down at it, as well formed as her left, though in the pale colored light, she could not tell what color of skin she had. Looking up again at the wall, she realized that it was chalk white, and rather rough or uneven of surface. It looked strangely familiar... and then she recognized it.
It was of the same constituency as her skin in the waking world.
Levinia willed for something with which she could break through the wall, and more runes appeared, conjuring blast after blast against the wall. To her surprise and irritation, all the attacks phased right through the wall, like it wasn't there, but she found that she couldn't get through it, no matter how hard she tried.
"Your powers of space and time will avail you nothing against this barrier. This barrier is what creates the darkness, and if you think I am large, you will see that a lot more will be produced that you cannot control. It's just a matter of time..."
Levinia turned in anger on the being, and suddenly felt her intentions probe into its mind like a lance of heat cutting through butter. All the mouths shrieked in an unearthly wail, and the darkness closed in on itself, becoming a perfect sphere of shadow. And her piercing intentions hit a brick wall, like nothing was there. For all intents and purposes, it was an inanimate, non-living structure.
She had mixed emotions. On the one hand, she was displeased that it had got away when she was just about to do something to it. On the other hand, she was excited that she had gotten a taste of what seemed to be her inherent powers. The creature perhaps knew more than she did, because it had identified her powers as "space and time". It seemed like there was a dash of psychic power involved. How interesting it would be for her to utilize these forces in the real world.
With all this information, Levinia also understood that there was an external force that sought to control her, that somehow could gain access to her mind by reason of the wall. The curse. That curse so had to go. And she was eager to see that it did, even if the process killed her.
And with that, Levinia opened her eyes in the real world, back in her rough skin. It was still some hours to daybreak. She rolled over, and tried to get some more sleep.
Her dream was materializing. It was just a matter of time.
WC: 2336
