Before the War

one

For Kalila, it was always the same dream. Every night, it never failed her.

Kalila dreams she's drowning in blood red water. She tries to kick her legs and move her arms but her body refuses her. She's paralyzed and slowly sinking further down. As the panic sets in on Kalila and she begins to come to the conclusion that this is her end, bright blue strings of water begin to invade and break through all the red, slowly starting to circle in on Kalila. The sapphire blue water gives Kalila a sense of peace, although she still needs air and is paralyzed in the water, still sinking down. Would there ever be an end?

Kalila tries to fight again for mobility so that she can surface for air, her body still refusing to cooperate with her. The red water had now vanished, leaving the bright blue water consumed around Kalila. It begins to shrink around her, the air in her lungs being squeezed to death by the blue. She knows it won't be much longer before she gives in and lets death take her away.

Before the air can be completely ripped away from her the blue water suddenly shifts and bursts upward underneath Kalila and starts to rise towards the surface. The moment her body breaks from the water she gasps for air, pulling in as much air as humanly possible. Kalila's hand instinctively reaches out towards the sky and she realizes her body is finally unburdened from the momentary paralyzation. However she's quick to also notice the water underneath her that essentially saved her from death, had not left her. It still continues to hold her and lift her, high up in the air towards the sky. She lays on her back, hands and legs dangling down below her. The water pulses into her back keeping her afloat. Kalila faces up at the night sky, every star known to man clearly visible. For what feels like forever to Kalila, she lays there taking in deep breaths and staring at the night sky.

She finally turns her head, craning her neck left and right trying to look around, down below her. Down below her is the round pool in which she had been drowning from. Surrounding it were hundreds, if not more, people in what appeared to be sheer cloaks that covered them from head to toe and glimmered with sparkling, golden lights; like fireflies. Crowns were placed on their heads like they were meant to be royalty, each crown different from the other.

The water continues to push Kalila higher and higher into the air towards the sky. She tries to gain more control of her body, struggling to do so. Kalila cranes her neck to look down at her body, her hands moving in sync and finding their way slowly towards her abdomen. Something in the back of Kalila's mind always told her to look there, like something wasn't right.

Kalila's eyes grow wide when she notices the blood. Her fingers are now drenched in her own blood. Her shirt is ripped to pieces, her stomach profusely gushing blood. Kalila goes to scream, finally coming to the realization that none of this was right.

Why is there water pushing me up into the sky? Why am I covered in blood? Who are those people? What is happening to me? Kalila thinks to herself.

The moment she lets out her scream, the water comes to a halt and ceases back down into the pool, leaving Kalila levitating in the air. She stays there for a moment, floating in the air. Her screams echoing throughout the air around her.

Kalila screams until there's not an ounce of air left in her lungs for her to let out. She looks down at her stomach again, pulling her hands towards her face to see them still drenched. A single drop of blood dripped off her finger tip, the droplet landing on Kalila's cheek. Kalila blinks and in the same moment gravity takes over. Kalila comes crashing back down into the pool of electric blue water. Once again being entirely paralyzed and unable to move. It's at this point in Kalila's dream that the water consuming her never lets her go and swallows her down to the darkness.