Chereads / Absolute Catastrophe / Chapter 3 - Dream Course

Chapter 3 - Dream Course

When he fell asleep, Zeke was expecting to see glimpse visions of his own childhood, one that he felt was no short of being cursed.

It was a dream that he had been having repeatedly ever since he was little, more or less of a reminder that he might not be worth it. Instead, he was met with the sleepy darkness, which was a bit of a relief. But the peacefulness only lasted for about a few minutes before he opened his eyes again. That's when things began to get extremely strange.

He found himself standing in the pitch-black Void, with the only source of light coming from countless shards of glass-like objects and shining white orbs floating all around him. No matter where he looked, there was only darkness, swirling into various shades of black in the background and being illuminated by dimming pieces of light. The floor beneath his feet felt cold and smooth, much like glass that was fragile enough to be broken with a single footstep.

'This place is…really weird…' Zeke thought to himself.

And in all honesty, he had not expected someone to hear what he was thinking, but then the voice of a little girl echoing from a close distance suddenly responded.

"Hey now! Don't say such things about this place! This is practically my home, after all! You're hurting my feelings!"

Zeke turned around quickly, surprised that there seemed to be the only other human being in this dark Void. There, standing just about several feet away from him, was a little girl with long flowing white hair, pale skin, and magenta eyes. She bared light blue tattoos like ancient symbols and encryptions on nearly every inch of her exposed skin, and she wore a white dress with the skirt at knee length and spaghetti strap shoulders. She looked at him with a sweet yet roguish, toothy grin.

The two of them stared at each other in silence for the longest time possible. Then the girl took a step forward and towards Zeke. He backed up by a few steps in one instant.

"Now, now, there's no need to be afraid of me. I won't bite…well, not usually, at least. Teehee!"

Zeke's jaw soon dropped. Her voice sounded all too familiar, from recently in fact.

'No way! Is she…? It couldn't be!'

"Ugh! And there's no need for you to keep thinking in your own head to yourself like that," the girl sounded rather annoyed, "I can hear your thoughts, after all. Just speak your mind for now, okay?"

"Wait…What?!" he was definitely caught off guard with that remark, "You…can hear my thoughts?! How is that possible? Just who…or what are you?"

The little girl took a proud stance, raising one hand to her chest and placing the other on her hip, and smiled even bigger, "My name is Aurora. I am the spiritual key to an ancient power from a long-lost civilization. And you, my new friend, are now my host."

There was yet another long silence between them. Like a gust of wind passing by between them. Zeke was utterly and completely baffled.

"Huh?! What's that supposed to mean?! What ancient power? And how am I your host?"

Aurora lowered her hands, locking them into a clasp behind her back, and began walking around the pitch-black Void, barefoot, with each footstep clacking like glass and creating ripples in the floor as though she was walking on water. "You modern day people tend to think that the supernatural doesn't really exist in this world," she began explaining, "You know, mostly superhuman powers that defy the laws of the universe. Like telekinesis or mind control. Super-strength or manipulating the natural elements. Superspeed that breaks the sound barrier or illusions so strong they can trick many people into seeing things that aren't even there…"

She stopped when she approached one of the glassy shards of light illuminating in the darkness. It lowered itself down as she took her hands and cupped them below to catch the light. It glowed brightly in her face, but she didn't even blink.

She continued to speak as she glared lovingly at the light in her hands, "Well, let me assure you on one thing: these powers and others like them, they are very real—at least, they used to be. A whole civilization that was once filled to the brim with them all, but it eventually and evidently led to its downfall. As for the people in your modern world who apparently do know of this secret truth, they have to stay very hidden. Just like the powers that were almost completely lost from this world."

"Hold on, I really don't get any of this!" Zeke interrupted Aurora during a short pause in her explanation, "How does what you're saying exactly relate to…to all of this…?" he was looking frantically around the black Void as he spoke this, "…Or is this all just a weird dream?"

Aurora sighed, "Well, I can't deny that one. You technically are dreaming right now, but it's also really the only way I can communicate with you at this time. It's like I said: you're my host now. Therefore, we share the same mind and body in various ways."

"But that still doesn't explain to me how—"

"You remember those visions, don't you?" she cut him short, asking him in a more serious tone, turning her gaze towards him with a stern face.

A shiver ran up Zeke's spine at the shocking realization upon her last inquiry. How could he forget their screams? Their cries for help? They tried to run away but proved utterly futile as the black smoke enveloped their homes and dragged them all into the trials of death. More sacrifices than thought possible were made. Everything had been taken away from them by a force too powerful. This was no different from that day, Zeke wanted to think it inside his mind.

But that was when Aurora had walked straight up to him, merely inches away from breathing the same air as him. She allowed the glassy shard of light to float upward from her cupped hands as she spoke, "You saw them, right? All the anguish and destruction? It was something that happened a long time ago. To my homeland, an ancient civilization that existed before recorded time. Even now, I vaguely remember much about what could have caused that fateful day of devastation. But as to how I was entrusted to guard our people's last legacy, it's something I'll never forget…"

Soon the light was shining in front of Zeke's face. He wanted to look away due to the brightness, but at the same time he could not even blink. For within that fragment of light growing gradually more luminous, he saw yet another vision from the distant past.

There was no other way to describe the incidental scene he was watching. A mother and daughter, who looked identical to one another aside from their heights, ran through the corridors of a large collapsing temple. Avoiding the falling debris, they arrived in a dark room where the mother gave her little girl an ancient box. But as she opened it with her small hands, the mother stabbed her daughter through the heart with an old dagger she had kept hidden. Through the tears, the mother whispered into the girl���s ear: "I'm so very sorry…But all of this will make sense in time, my sweet little girl."

Then, as the little girl's body was giving out, her soul became extracted and was absorbed into the box due to a strange concealed power. The temple began to cave in at last, and the mother cried, holding her daughter's lifeless body in her arms, letting the temple's remaining structure crush them both.

Once the vision was over, Zeke felt he was on the verge of collapse, from both shock and sadness. The glowing light faded, and he looked at Aurora who still wore a sassy smile, but her magenta eyes had become filled with despair somehow.

Zeke wanted to say something, but he didn't know what, "I…uh, I just…well, how um…"

"There's no need for me to have your sympathy," Aurora interrupted him again, turning away and once again walking along on the Void's rippling floor, "I understand it's a lot to take in all at once, but what's done is done. No one can change the past, but the big question is: what do we do about the future? At least, that's what you living humans say all the time, right? Anyway, I was sealed within that box for thousands and thousands of years, waiting for the right person to come along, because I can't hold onto this sacred power forever."

"Okay, then…what is this so-called 'sacred power'?" Zeke asked her from behind, trying to go along with what she was talking about.

She stopped and turned to him once again, "Hold out your hand." she said.

"Huh?"

"Oh, just do it, you big silly!"

Without a second hesitation, Zeke lifted his right hand and held it out in front of him with the palm facing upward. A few seconds passed while staring down at his own hand, until a sudden spark of white light emerged from his palm and took form of a burning flame with dark fumes. He jumped back a little before the white fire began to dissipate from sight as quickly as it appeared.

"Whoa! What the hell?!"

"It's a power of devastation. An ultimate catastrophe, to be precise. Just like from that day," Aurora began to explain, "They're collective codes that defy the laws of the universe. Basically, it's the very foundation of the supernatural itself. Rather, it's all the lost powers combined into one big superpower. Boundless forces of destruction are now at your fingertips. All you have to do is will for it and concentrate hard enough, and even this whole wide world could be destroyed if you'd like."

"Huh?! Hold on! No way! Nuh-uh! I don't want this!" Zeke proclaimed aloud.

"Oh, it's alright! You don't have to really destroy the world if you don't really want to," Aurora said humorously, and with a huge assertive smile on her face, "And I'll be guiding you through harnessing this power until you're a true master. But for now, I should probably send you back. Don't worry, I'll still be watching your every movements from the inside. Just promise me not to do anything too stupid with it, okay?"

"What?! Wait! No! That's not what I meant!!"

But before he could finish this sentence, Zeke suddenly felt the Void around him was spinning crazily. He could not find where to keep his own balance, or where the floor had gone off to. He reached out his hand once more, this time trying to grasp at whatever that light in front of him was. He was hoping it would lead him somewhere out of this unbearable agony.

It didn't.