The Mask Maker

The Fight for the Realm of Dreams

The Realm of Dreams could have very well been called the Realm of Nightmares. Everything that Morai couldn't remember, including her two counterparts that had been fighting in her dreams, came flooding back to her as she stood and surveyed the now broken land. The path she walked was nearly destroyed, and the closer she got to the main courtyard, the stronger the metallic smell of blood became. The sky was forever frozen in a sea of dark clouds that were painted with streaks of red, and the strange frequency that she had heard before had morphed into an almost discordant high pitched sound that made Morai feel like she was on the edge of something terrible. 

When she came to the main courtyard, she saw but one figure huddled alone on the edge, seemingly tending to a flower that was beginning to wilt. As she got closer, she saw that its white pedals were stained with blood from its gardener's injured hands. 

"Light Morai," Morai whispered in amazement. Light Morai snapped her head toward the source of the voice, and she knit her brow in what looked like unknowing curiosity. Morai stepped closer and knelt down in front of her counterpart, whose robe was torn and stained with blood. Her skin had been marred by unmistakable claws, and her long flowing hair was matted with dirt and blood. 

"What happened?" Morai asked. 

"Morai?" Light Morai asked in reply, reaching up to feel the features that would usually make Morai...well, Morai. She felt her shorter curly hair that had replaced her two long braids, and she ran her fingers down the scar on Morai's neck. 

"Oh my," she whispered. "It really is you, Morai of the real world. It's nice that you're here again,"

"Yes," Morai said, a bit confused, "Now what happened?"

"Shadow Morai," she answered solemnly. "That serum did to her what it must've done to you. She was thrown into a violent frenzy against her will. I think she knew beforehand that it would happen, because she left this garden and instructed me to get as far away from her as possible. She said a goodbye, and when I saw her again, she was not the same. I was able to fight her off for a while, but she was relentless and never stopped to rest, and eventually she got the better of me. As time went on she only got stronger, and she never stopped picking fights with me. I think I even came close to death one time, but when she saw that I wasn't even able to fight back, she grew bored."

"...I'm sorry," Morai said, uttering her first sincere apology in months. She knew that it was her continued use of the serum that had almost killed her counterpart. "I'm here to fix it all. Together we can—"

"I don't have my psychic abilities anymore, Morai. I can't see. I've been terribly weakened by this imbalance, and I'm afraid I've fought all I can."

Morai was a bit taken aback, but she soon cursed herself for not gathering the clues of Light Morai's circumstances. Shadow Morai's side of the garden had almost completely overtaken hers, choking the life out of it with a sea of thorns and black roses. Symbolically, it made sense that Light Morai would be so close to fading away. Morai began to tend to her wounds as best she could. 

"I've missed you all these months, Morai," Light Morai said with a soft smile. 

"I knew there was something that I was missing," Morai replied. "I heard glimpses of this place, but never once dreamed."

A chilling whistle sounded through the even colder air, and another figure appeared through the fog, followed by the same poem-song Morai had recited not long after her change. When Shadow Morai saw her real world counterpart, her vicious smile turned into a hearty laugh. She somehow looked even more unnerving than Morai had remembered, but Morai remembered that they now looked exactly the same. 

"Well, well, look who finally returned!" she chuckled. "And look at how you've changed!"

"You idiot!" Morai yelled. "This entire world is close to imploding on itself, and all you've done is helped it along!"