A Single Strand of DNA- Kaminari Denki's Revival

Chapter 11: Sleepless Dreams of Unkown Horror

Chapter 11: Sleepless Dreams of Unknown Horror

Setsuna Tokage floated in the everlasting night of a dreamless sleep, with naught but the cold light of dying hope to light her surroundings. Memories swam towards her, unbidden, unwanted. Parasites of the mind, worming their way into every crack and crevice, from the bright joys of childhood summers to the despairing solitude of existence in a world that despised her. Nothing was safe to these leeches, they would tarnish every thought with their poison. The midnight ichor of darkness itself trapped her, held her, whispered to her soul. Its fangs were whiter than bone, shining with malevolence. The dreamless vision shifted. Her worries, fears, dreams, plans- all shattered before the impossible thing in front of her. She was blind, and yet she saw.

An inhuman eye, lidless, bloodless, wreathed in amethyst flames of burning worlds, each ember a soul consumed. It had no sclera, no veins, merely enormity. Its iris was the color of imagination itself, whirlwinds of spinning lights and sounds danced upon the edge of the abyss. The pupil consumed it, an unending canyon that clawed at the iris like a trapped beast. Darkness a shade blacker than death itself oozed from the rip in reality.

It was enormous, greater than the heavens yet smaller than an ant. In an instant, it was both large and small, meek and mighty, strong and weak- reality one moment, fiction the next.

A searing pain tore through Setsuna's limbs, and she saw herself rip apart into infinitesimally smaller pieces, able to feel the agonizing existence of each cell that only wished for death in the face of its torment. The eye ripped them smaller, smaller, forever smaller- until she reached zero.

She was nothing, yet everything. This should not be.

Suddenly, the torture ceased. Her body reknit itself.

Amethyst flames devoured her vision, and the sleepless dream of the being that broke her very mind with its non-existence was torn from her.

(TH.....)

Setsuna jerked upright, panting heavily, clutching at her chest with both hands as if she was afraid of it falling off. The dying breaths of the last winter breeze drifted through the partially cracked balcony door, sending a shiver down her spine. She was sweating profusely, eyes darting around the room as they adjusted to the dark. She must've had a nightmare, but couldn't seem to remember it. How strange, for something that generated this level of reaction in her, but slipped away from her mind so easily?

Setsuna supposed it was for the best- nobody wants to remind themselves of a nightmare when they live in one. She slumped back to her bed at that thought, getting her breathing under control. Her sheet and pillows were moist from sweat- disgusting. Well, after waking up like that, she wasn't going to get back to sleep for awhile anyways. It was a miracle she had rested for this long. She grabbed her phone, and the digital clock read one in the morning. A solid three hours!

Her stomach growled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since breakfast- which was yesterday at this point. She would've gone down to eat dinner, but...

Kaminari now knew she was a freak. He did before, but somehow had found it within himself to tolerate her. Setsuna had thought that maybe, just maybe, there would be a person in her life that she, not Tokage, could potentially be herself with.

And then he found out about her limb loss.

That was it- no one would want to be around someone who traumatized everyone around her when her emotions ran too hot. So, no dinner for Setsuna. Hopefully her new neighbors-- the ones she'd have to either surrender to Tokage to be around, or just avoid for the next three years- had left some food untouched in the kitchen. Maybe she'd get lucky with some microwaveable chicken nuggets? Or even the dinosaur kind?