Overlap

Chapter 25: Higher Purpose

<10/26/2010 - ??:?? | Unknown Location>

As the weeks went by, nothing seemed to change in my days darkening with an unwanted level of doom. Obsession to the Altiri kept hammering away at by brain from all angles. The continued chain of lucid nightmares did not help me one bit. Even though the third and fourth one became harder to remember, the same thing basically happened the entire time. I would wake up in the same arctic zone I had before, fully conscious and aware of what was going on. Not too long after, Shadow Face would show up and kill me again.

It was tough remembering if she ever really got me or not, since she never aimed for my neck or my head, but I knew her frozen sword cut through me more than once. Because of those dreams, I spent much of my time awake recycling the same fear that something important and dangerous was about to happen to me in the real world. I waited and waited, repeating this cycle of insanity until I felt I had enough.

I woke to my new surroundings, mesmerized but not surprised by the fast arrays of a freezing world. As soon as I realized I was having the same dream for the fifth time in a row, I cursed my luck again, trying to get used to the cold and preparing myself to run away from that maniac.

Two minutes is all it took for her to show up again. Her face was always concealed by that energy shadow, but ever since the third dream, I noticed that each time I saw her the next time, the height of that shadow would shrink slightly, revealing her upper neck, and going up more the next time the dream came around again. She seemed to retain the memories as I did each time I came here. By now, the shadow still covering her face was now pulled up just enough to reveal her lips. At first, I thought the blue coloration to that part of her mouth was just makeup or lipstick, but her lips were colored deeper than just the skin level. It seemed more like a natural color for her, as if she were somehow starved for oxygen.

Of course, I didn't have any time to study her strong body. All I could do instead was run away from her in a panic, always failing since she could run up to speeds that were humanly impossible, but I didn't stop running regardless. I managed to get some amount of a head start this time, putting some good distance between myself and her. Even though I was becoming more certain that it was okay for me to die in my own lucid dream, I still didn't want to embrace the feeling of her saber cutting through my flesh like confetti. So I used my own fear to my advantage, being the only thing capable of motivating me to run for as long as I possibly could.

I could still feel her coming for me again. I tried running even faster, but my desperation was made in sacrifice for safety. Before I knew it, my foot slipped against the small hill of snow in front of me, as I took the tumble down to the freezing yet soft floor below me. I struggled to get myself back up, but the trip itself blasted away all hope I had left of outrunning her, thus I convinced myself that it just wasn't worth it anymore. She's going to catch up to me no matter what and cut me down!

What's the use if I fight anymore or not? To hell with all of this! I stood up, turning around to face the direction my enemy would be coming from. I knew I couldn't fight her, but if she wants to kill me so badly, I'll make her face a defenseless kid to go through with it. I'm through giving into her games. To hell with this place and this dream! I don't care what keeps causing me to come back here, but all of this can rot for all I care!

"This dream is the beginning of something incredible. It is a part of me. It is a part of you. Our fates are intertwined."

"Who said that?!" I panicked and turned around, expecting my foe to be standing right over me, but there was nobody nearby. It was her voice again, that I was sure of... Every time I hear it, it sounds like her words are literally passing right into my mind, but they're not my own thoughts at all. How can she echo her words through my brain like that? Is it another one of her superpowers?