The Book of Ineffable Dreams

28.10.19

0??? hours

The castle that stood before me was both colossal and ancient. It had a black roof and black mould that grew across its dirtied white walls. It had multiple juts of long hallways, small buildings, and tall turrets.

Regardless of how tall the castle walls were, it remained that there was someone that I had to see no matter what. (At least, that was the most plausible explanation I could give myself for what I did next.)

The closest part of the castle to me was a rectangular-shaped building and the rectangular-shaped hallway that attached the building to the castle; both the building and hallway had walls and roofs made of white bricks.

I scaled the wall of that building, running across the roofs of both building and hallway to reach the walls of the castle; I didn't hesitate to scale the castle walls either.

The only way I had to get to where I needed to go was to move sideways, across a ridiculously thin and rounded ledge. I narrowly escaped the wandering tentacles of the gargantuan purple octopus that lived on the roof of the castle; and just barely avoided being caught by the tyrant that ruled the castle. But I had, at least, managed to reach my destination in record time.

* * * * *

Climbing through a wood-framed window, I arrived in a barely-furnished blue room. The girl I had to see was waiting for me.

It was only when she started talking that I realised that the matter wasn't urgent at all. Though she had done a damn good job at assuring me that it was when she invited me.

To break it down extremely simply, the girl was my stalker.

She had started clinging onto me so tightly that I had to shove her off of me. I told her to stay away from me before opening the wooden door of the room and preparing to scale the castle wall again.

(Considering that the only door in the girl's room led to nowhere but empty air, it wasn't that hard to wonder why the girl was trapped and couldn't come to me instead.)

Luckily, my dream self had both bravery and recklessness and the additional ability to scale walls bare-handed.

* * * * *

I was making my way across the thin, rounded ledge once more. Although that time, I had to pass by the windows of the room, where I could clearly see that creepy stalker watching me.

I knew that I had to make my way back to the farthest building from there. The building was only a little farther away from where I started. Although, when I looked at it again, 'Was it always that far away?'

Shrugging off my own question, I decided that, whatever the distance, I could not get caught by the tyrant.

I had successfully rounded the corner of the girl's tower, slowly but surely making my way closer to the white brick roof that I had originally ran across from.

But, as they say, speak of the Devil and he shall appear: the tyrant appeared at the stone window of the turret that I was moving across.

[ ^^ the tyrant (Count Lucio from The Arcana) ^^ ]

The tyrant was silent as he looked around.

Meanwhile, my heart nearly stopped and I was frozen in place: directly underneath the window that the tyrant was looking out of. I knew that I would be utterly doomed if the tyrant noticed the mass of black hair that seemed to be floating underneath the windowsill.

But! I also knew that there was another ledge below me. I knew that the ledge, while equally thin to the one that I was gripping on to, it was not as rounded.

Deciding to take a risk that was not only extremely reckless but also definitely life-endangering, I loosened my grip on the ledge, letting myself drop from where I was inching across the wall.

Miraculously, my hands had caught onto the ledge below me. My hands hadn't even stung when it grabbed onto the ledge.

I looked up to where I was initially but it didn't seem that the tyrant was looking for whatever it was that had dropped. It didn't seem that he had noticed anything had dropped at all. 

Looking down, I realised that the ground was much (much) closer than before. It was close enough that I knew for certain that I wouldn't die even if I did fall.

There was a soft thump as I landed on the green grass below.

* * * * *

Making my way towards the building where the other prisoners were was difficult but manageable.

I had almost reached the prisoners' sector when I heard words that sent chills up my spine.

"I heard that (the tyrant) is going to make the prisoners challenge the White Bull."

I knew the White Bull as a fearsome creature. The bull had curled black horns, hair as white as snow, and black hooves. It could properly stand up on its hind legs and had a black loincloth as its only form of clothing. It reminded me of the Minotaur, almost.

Rushing towards the building (but not too quickly), I found that the rumour was true. 

Against the black brick walls of the prisoners' sector was a mannequin of the White Bull. Its eyes looked like they had been made by poking a large needle into the figure. Though I don't understand why they had bothered to poke eyes for the mannequin when, in truth, the White Bull did not even have any eyes; only black sockets where the eyes were supposed to be.

I suppose that the tyrant had been kind enough to ensure that us prisoners could practice fighting a mannequin before we had to face the real thing.

It was then that I heard the voice of a friend, a fellow prisoner, behind me. She was a dark-skinned girl with short but very wavy black hair and worryingly-thin arms.

I wanted to talk to her about the whole 'having to fight the White Bull thing' but the tyrant was present. Probably overseeing his little project. I couldn't once again take the risk of him seeing me so I decided to bolt.

I admit that it was cruel of me, but I had left my friend behind. I ran down the metal-fenced path that I knew led to where the prisoners were being kept.

I had almost gotten lost but quickly walked backwards and took the right path. The path was blocked by another fence though, lucky enough, I was just thin enough to squeeze through the bars.

I could hear the fast-paced footsteps of my friend running behind me but I didn't care enough to stop and wait for her.

Finally pushing through the last leg of my journey, I arrived at the black-walled clearing where the other prisoners were waiting.

Well, not waiting I suppose.

The other prisoners must've already heard the rumours of challenging the White Bull for they were already hatching a plan when I arrived. They were plotting to get rid of the tyrant by turning the White Bull against him.

I heard my friend arrive after me as I listened in on the plan that I now don't remember.

A few people had already volunteered to be on the front lines by the time that I had arrived but they still needed more volunteers since some of them weren't adept to being on the field.

The dream ended once I volunteered to be on the field.