[2] 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐍 ― p.jackson

004.

「004. melancholy blue 」

CADIE DREAMT of the dark.

her mind was like a void with each footstep like a hollow sound that echoed for forever. to be truthful, cadie had no idea if this was just what it was like to dream- or if this was something to do with her rather confusing relation to hypnos (and she couldn't necessarily check- could she? there was no way to walk through another's dream).

she strolled through the darkness, the sound of her movements acting like a soft drum beat as she continued.

then, she encountered the smoke.

she didn't know how- but she knew it was black smoke. it was odd- because the void in her mind was the same darkening scenery- but there was something so distinctly different about the smoke. it made her ears feel like they were full of cotton buds and as she let her hand pass through it, she felt it almost follow her.

she continued to walk, and it continued to follow.

soon, the cotton-like sound in her ear began to build until it was like a low static sound hummed along with her- the smoke turning to a cloud that glided around her.

she had a bad feeling about it.

(and, she was right).

swarming clouds of black curled around her body as a dull sound began to build in her ears, all the while cadie had this sinking feeling that there was something so terribly wrong about what she heard. after a few seconds, the clouds of black flickered like a roaring ebony flame before the dull sound grew louder, the hum turning into hissing.

the words weren't coherent at the start, but the building of the clouds made the hisses louder- and soon they were chanting. things like 'free me!' and 'wrongly slain' filled her mind. request after request, the clouds turned into a rippling hurricane around her with lightning being replaced by yells of the voices.

stumbling, she tried to edge away- to move back. but nothing happened. she was bombarded in the same place, forced to listen to their voices- hollow and hoarse with pain like they'd guzzled poison for breakfast.

"stop it," she said, her voice echoing through the void in her mind. "stop it- what's going on? get me out of here!"

the voices didn't stop, but just grew. yells turned to screams, and screams to shrieks until all cadie felt was this worrying dizziness that made her skin crawl and her nails dig into her palms.

"get away!" she yelled to them, shoving herself forward, breaking into a sprint before the storm could come for her again- before their shrieks made her ears bleed and her mind spin once more.

cadie was sick of her dreams, but moments later she ran right into another.

lida's voice filled a bright sun-filled world of carts drawn by horses and a temple full of helpers.

cadie frowned, trying to remember what had happened the night prior.

lida.

daedalus.

escaping her fate?

that sounded about right.

"that plan won't work." lida said clearly, eyes narrowing as she inspected the paper. she pointed at the map, "there's talk of the hydra finding its refuge there. it may die- but it can be reborn."