The Distant Lands -- Emergence

Preface -- This is the second entry in a 5 part series. If you didn't read the first one (which I posted yesterday) then you will likely not understand what is happening. Well... This entry is kinda confusing regardless.
____

February 9th, 2011

Distant Lands

Dream Induced

My dream begins,

The darkness that surrounded me was cleared, and I found myself sitting in a tree, high above the ground. Initially, I had no cognition of the events, and perceived what occurred as normal, but in seconds of looking down at myself, I become coherent. My body had retained its form from the previous dream and I was in a portion of the forest I had never seen before.

The last several nights have brought me but simple glimpses into this vast world. The “Island” of plant life is not an island at all; it is in some ways larger than the world itself. It seemed to continue for ages, and from the tall tree in which I sit, I can only barely come to grasp its size: miles upon miles of trees, with not so much as a field in sight. The peach clouds kiss the earth in the distance, and billow over my head. Soon enough, my curiosity overwhelms my aesthetic satisfaction, forcing me into the task of finding the ground.

If I were in the waking world, my human body would be shattered and bent from even a fraction of the fall that lay before me. Fortunately, I am not of the human body. I gave upon my claws with both horror and joy; the new blood coursed through my veins. I dug the crimson blades into the bark of the tree, sliding slowly down. As each moment passes, the undergrowth of the forest becomes more visible, and vast streaks of flowers and plants materialize with the flowing water. In order to test the full abilities of my new form, I decide to yank my claws out of the tree and fall the rest of the distance. The fall was roughly the distance of six stories, but my stubborn bones mitigated the shock so severely that it only felt like 6 inches.

I landed in a patch of grass that sat at the base of a small pool of water. A thin trickle of water feeds the crystal pond. The dirt was still at the bottom, as the water seemed to oppress the murk. When I let my paw touch the water, I jolted backwards. The water was colder than any ice I had touched before, yet it remained source of life for the surrounding flora. Flowers lined the ground, leaving few patches of empty dirt, spreading onward into the distance as if they were paths to a home.

For several seconds, the calm breeze blew between the trees, gracing the fur on my face with a comforting shiver. This calm also bestowed upon me a feeling of need: a need to find my kin and learn more about this place. With no sense of direction, I followed the tree-lined creek towards a small rocky mountain. I felt as though I chose correctly and rushed ahead. Surely enough, the cave from which I entered this world in was remaining. Its entrance was but a dark shell of infinite possibilities. Hesitation filled my heart, as my memory of the black sludge flashed before me. I took a long breath of fresh pine air and jumped in.

Gravity was flipped the second I entered, and the blackness I plunged into was now sky. These clouds, though similar to the ones that floated above the forest, were dark gray. I soon realized the folly of my decision and attempted to snap awake. This did not help. I plummeted for a couple minutes before I saw the ground, which shined like bright steel. Skyscrapers grew like trees from the ground, coming to pass me as I fell. Within the last hundred feet, blackness coated my sight—numbness, once again, took hold of my body.

Preparing for the ensuring pain, my head yanked forward. It was no longer dark when I moved, but there was pain; the pain not experienced by falling, but of colliding heads. I quickly realized that the opposing head was that of Mip, but I was too startled to apologize. Mip recoiled and shook off the pain with a cheerful grin.

“Where have you been, I haven’t seen you in hours!” Mip stammered as she recovered from the colossal head-bash she had just received. This intrigued me at first, and left me to think. I had not seen Mip in a dream for several days, yet she insisted I was with them four hours earlier before I ran off.

“Where is this place?” I asked. Honestly, I did not expect much of an answer, nor was I surprised when Mip just stared at me as though I had been speaking in tongues. “Where are the others?”

“They are here too! Come! I can show you!” Mip exclaimed, laughing at me as though I had told a funny joke or something. She turned and sprinted down the empty road. The city was becoming familiar, as buildings I had once seen in New York City were materializing in front of me. The streets were completely empty, and a thick mist began to coat the city and limit visibility severly. Mip soon was encompassed by the fog, and I had no choice but to follow her.

For the first time, I began to utilize the strength of my new form. Running was now utterly trivial, and the only challenge—if any— that it made was the balancing the impact of my feet at such high speeds. Each stomp pushed through the city like a cyclone, and each step landed so rapidly that I felt like I might take off the ground at such speed. Mip spontaneously emerged from the fog in front of me, forcing me to dig my feet into the pavement in order to slow. She was pointing to the tall, black office building in front of us, beckoning me to follow her once more.

“Where were you? Stop running away from us!” shouted Mip. I stared completely blankly towards her; I was going to be blunt.

“I was behind you this entire time, and I never ran off before. Do you understand what I am saying?” I felt regret immediately, but Mip’s giggles gave me the feeling as if I was forgiven. She motioned for me and we began to walk into the building. The automatic doors startled her, but she cautiously agreed to follow me inside.

The main chamber of the building was completely empty, except for an elevation door at the end of the room. Surely enough, Mip clicked the button multiple times, tapping her bladed feet on the marble floor. The silence was eerie, as dread soon came over us. This entire scene was somewhat familiar, but I could remember its outcome. The ring of the door’s bell interrupted my thought, thus we continued into the unknown.

Nothing was abnormal about the elevator, except that it only had one button that read “floor”. I tapped the glass button as gently as possible, hoping not to damage it with my claws. The elevator moved slowly, but the “Floor” floor was quickly reached. The metal doors opened into the center of a town just before falling apart. The walls of the elevator blew away like paper in the wind, leaving Mip and me in the center of a thin road. Valor and Hope were already waiting for us.

“Why did you follow us Mip? We told you to stay in the city and wait for us,” Valor scolded sternly. I quickly turned to see a blushing Mip think of an appropriate answer.

“I didn’t want to be alone,” Mip whispered. Valor seemed to display anger, but he was difficult to read. Hope did not seem to worry about the situation, but her focused glare into the street alarmed us.

“Do you see them?” she asked to me, yet I could not understand. The streets were empty, but Hope seemed to be focused on a lone point in the road. Curiously, I moved in front of her and faced her, as to get her attention, but to no avail. Her hazel eyes grew wide and tearful. She collapsed onto the cold pavement, grabbing at her skull as though she suffered from a migraine. I turned around, preparing for battle.

The road now had one mannequin in it. It sat there, featureless, pointing to us. It had no eyes, no nose, no extraneous shape of any kind, yet its focus remained. I blinked as if I was in disbelief, but my opened eyes brought new horror. It had now multiplied into several hundred dolls, all encircling our group, all pointing at us. Our exits were blocked, as we backed into a small group. The silence shook us all apart, as an ever-increasing number of opponents spawned before us. On creature appeared before us; its head was adorned with a simple gold star. It moved through the shadows to an incapacitated Hope. We rushed to her aid, but a shockwave ripped through the ground, throwing us down.

Where Hope had once lain, simple piece of quartz now sat idle— the jewel that once stood in the center of her ribcage, much like the ruby that remained trapped in mine. I gathered the stone in my paws in silence. An unexplainable feeling of importance flowed from it; I tied it into it into the mane on my back for protection. There was nothing to be said— Valor simply sat down and stared, while Mip mourned the loss of a friend. I too felt sad, but in her demise, a new sensation met us. It was of hope.

There was no startling awakening, but only a slow acceptance…
an hour of rest ought to clear my mind.