El Fuego y La Flor - The Storm

Chapter 9 - New nightmares about drowning! Now streaming.

Cassia

Have you ever looked at one of Picasso's painting, one of his self portraits especially, and mourned his decline as a person? His late stage portraits resembled nothing of a person, and just seemed to be weird blobs and shapes, constructed together to confuse the average admirer.
That was what my dreams felt like. They were Picasso's canvas. I was a normal person. I didn't understand them.
At first, I had drifted off into a nice, deep sleep. Darkness swallowed me, but my mind didn't turn blank. I found myself in my bed, in the middle of the sea. Literally, floating on the surface of the ocean. Panic struck my mind before the logical part of my inner voice told me Dude, calm down, it's a dream.
As a demigod, that was no reason to calm down. Demigod dreams could lead to death sometimes (That would be a great entrance sign for the Hypnos Cabin.)

Anyways, I was floating on the water, just vast ocean all around me. And, as someone with Thalassophobia, I couldn't imagine anything worse. But my dream thought otherwise. Just as I thought I had calmed down enough, the water around me began to shrivel and move. Dozens of fingertips broke through the surface, reaching for me, screaming, crying, all of them trying to grasp a part of me. I screamed. I didn't know whether I was screaming in my sleep or not, I kind of hoped so, I hoped Leo would wake me up and I'd find myself in our cabin, the ocean several feet away, but no, my dream wasn't going to let me go easy. Quite the opposite, the hands had reached me. The tugged at me, pulled me towards the water, covered my mouth, took away my breath. I was dragged into the ocean, the salt stung in my eyes and my lungs burnt. Then, slowly, as they pulled me deeper and deeper, the light ceased. Until I was covered in darkness again. Complete, utter darkness.

I found myself standing inside the darkness. In front of me, a pillar. It was an ancient greek pillar, as often seen crumbled in ruins or in museums. But its head was decorated with an owl, its wings holding up a red pillow. The pillow, and what rested upon it, seemed to call out to me. I couldn't help but walk towards it, drawn to it, as if strings pulled me. Just a puppet. A quiet voice at the back of my head whispered, not my voice. Not my thoughts. I stopped in front of the pillow and looked at the crown. A golden, beautifully crafted crown, pictures of greek gods embodied in the ancient metal. As I reached out to touch the crown, the voices grew louder.

She's awakening.
Beware half-blood.
One to take the bait.
Return, before it's too late.
The world will drown.
Offering nothing but grief.

The voices talked all over the place, high, low, loud, quiet, some spouting warnings, others retelling the prophecy, but they all had that eager, painful sound in their voices. I winced, and then my finger touched the crown. A sharp pain stung through my hand as a snake appeared behind the pillow and pierced my skin with its fangs. I screamed, pain surging through my hand and wrist, convulsing, the muscles in my hands feeling like they'd been spilled with acid. And while I still screamed, the picture changed again. This time, I was standing on top of the bridge of the ship. A giant storm had swept over it. And the ship burnt. The whole deck, every single square inch, licked by orange and yellow flames. The rain couldn't put it out. My eyes adjusted to the situation, my adrenaline kicked in, although it was nothing more than a dream. I heard their screams, the screams of the mortals, dragged into the matters of gods.

The vortex around the ship drew closer, glass, wood, metal, all swirling around inside it, but the worst were the bodies. Humans. Normal, innocent humans. I gagged and forced my eyes onto something else. Anything. The bridge was half destroyed, windows shattered. There was no sign of Leo. Was he down there? At the fire? It'd make sense but something inside me told me, that he wasn't there. He wasn't anywhere inside this dream.
GIVE UP.
I screamed again, as the voice rang through my mind, loud and clear, my bones trembling at its noise. I looked around but the sound had come from the storm itself. The vortex tightened again, and then the ship broke in half.

I found myself back at camp. I stood right there, next to the Athena Parthenos. The land below me, drowned. The rain was still falling, but where camp had been, a lake had filled. Wood planks and mud swimming inside it, like a giant, disgusting soup. A lonely, orange Camp Half blood shirt drifted with the current. I couldn't help but let out a cry at the sight of that. I sank to my knees, my body shaking. I had already forgotten that this was a dream. My subconscious voiced were fighting, telling me to calm down, but also to panic. I listened to the latter. Then, right at the centre of the table, the lake begun to swirl, to form a current, downwards. I almost expected to be drawn into it, to drown again, and again, and again, to make my biggest fear come true once more, but instead, a giant eye opened inside the current. In most ways, this was a lot more horrifying. For the dozenth time in this dream, I screamed. And then the eye spoke.

That doesn't sound like it makes sense, but believe me, it did. The eye spoke. It had no mouth, but a vortex didn't either, and that had spoken too. And both with the same voice. Neither female nor male, a mix of both and yet, somehow, completely neutral. It send shivers down my spine, the rain drops becoming icy and painful on my skin, like little stingers of a thousand insects. I shivered.

The Ocean is always. It existed before anything, and it will exist after everything. You will face my mirror but not myself. You will lose everything and win half of it, wishing you would have won nothing at all. You will return to the sea. Everyone will.
Cassia Flores.
WAKE UP!

The last scream was a mix of the strange, Vortexes voice, but also Leo's. I bolted up right, breathing heavily, noticing vaguely the awful pain in my hand and my heartbeat, trying to escape my rib cage from the inside. Leo sat beside me, one hand withdrawn from my shoulder, his expression worried and curious. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to seek comfort, any that I could get after this journey of nightmares, but I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. I felt my heartbeat decrease again, my breathing steadying. I was in our room. I was okay. No one had died. At least not yet. There was still time. But I had to tell Leo about my dreams. I had to tell him about what awaited us, although I didn't have a clear picture myself.

»Are you okay?« He then finally asked, quietly, again fidgeting with his hands, his gaze flickering between my eyes, as if he didn't know what to focus on. He was full of nervous energy. Had he had a dream as well? I didn't know. I nodded slightly, swinging my legs out of bed, feeling bound to it. I didn't want to risk being stuck on it. Like I was, back in my dream, in the middle of the ocean. I didn't want that.
»I'm fine.« I replied, my voice calm, collected, determined. The exact opposite of what I felt.
»We have to send an Iris message to Chiron. Now.«