Stars Of Madness

CHAPTER 5: Beneath The Veil

That dream of the tentacles encompassing that impossible city returned again, city rose, tentacles boomed from the water, and doors opened but this time; the dream lasted a bit longer and a large roar erupted from behind the darkness of the doors. That roar woke me up with a start which scared Aella.

"Hey, it's okay, it's okay, just look at me."

I was breathing so fast that I felt like I was going to collapse, that couldn't be a normal dream, not anymore. I saw that Aella looked worried, I realized then that I must have had nightmare related actions while I was asleep. I felt bad for her having to deal with me like this.

"What happened?"

"You fainted and I carried you the rest of the way."

I looked around to find us in an old cabin with a fire going outside which provided small rays of light in the pitch darkness that seeped through the wooden walls of the cabin. Aella stood up and walked over to the other side of the cabin and sat down on the floor facing me as if in an interview.

"Where are we?"

"Honestly? No idea. We just needed to leave."

"Wait so much happened so quickly that I forgot how much I still don't know. What the hell is happening? Like what the in the absolute he-"

"Listen to me for second! Believe me I would like to tell you but I can't right now!"

"Why not?"

"We are not alone."

"What do you mean?"

"We first have to use this to make it safe." Aella pulls out the Necro from her bag and gestures to it. "This will give us the edge and security we need."

"I am soooo lost right now."

"As you should."

"Okay I'll bite so I can get some answers. What are we going to do to make it "safe" as you say."

"You make it sound like I'm crazy."

"Honestly the only person I think is going crazy here is me from the lack of awareness of not knowing what is happening and why I'm out in the middle of the woods talking to a white-haired woman in a robe telling me that she's going to make me "safe" with a sketchy book."

"That's....understandable. Anyways I need you to come over here and sit next to me for this to work."

"Don't have any clue what's supposed to work and what's going to happen but whatever I'm already here."

Aella smiles "That's the spirit!"

I get up from my side of the small cabin and sit in front of her. She picks up the book and lays it in my lap facing her as if my lap was a stand for the book.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Not particularly but it helps me."

I grab the book and prop it towards her as she moves closer, so our knees are touching. She then starts to utter words that scramble my brain trying to understand, she then draws her dagger from its sheathe and cuts her hand open.

"Woah, He-"

"Its okay, just bear with me here, I know its super weird and probably a mix of creepy and confusing but just hang in there."

"O-Okay."

She then uses one of her fingers that has blood on it to trace draw symbol on her other hand, she while doing this kept seemingly chanting words that just seemed grammatically unpronounceable. Before I could react, she slapped her hand that had the symbol on it onto my forehead.

"I will join you soon."

"What are yo-"

Before I knew it I was not in the cabin anymore, I was...where am I? I was teleported(I think)a few feet away from a cliff, I in instinct took a few steps and looked over the cliff and saw a massive expanse of lands and islands, like a whole new world. But something was off, the land that I saw didn't feel real, or rather obey realism. Before I could think anymore Aella appeared behind me.

"Hiya."

"Where are we?"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"At least something would help."

"We are in a place that exists in and out of time, a place where dreamers create reality, a place where physics are just a suggestion, a place where limitations die, this is the Dreamlands."