Dream Wars (short story)
Posted: 2014-10-16 04:39pm
A little something. Inspired by the films I've been watching lately and the onset of Halloween. It's not complete, but I don't plan to make it very long. Fanfiction, of course. Consider all applicable disclaimers taken. Let me know what you all think. Should not be difficult to figure out what's going on...
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~He’s running through endless corridors of decaying stone that wind, twist and turn in all the wrong directions. Up, down, there, to and fro, above and below, sometimes at the same time. See himself run past and try to reach out his hand, steel fingernails raking the air, but he ignores himself reaching out at him and keep scrambling. He can get out of here. He must get out.
~Blood running in rivulets down the slimy blocks. Cold mist sweeps through the corridors with a deathly rattle. It tastes of a crematory’s ashes. Pale skin sharply tied back in dark leather shines from the gloom.
~Savage orgiastic roaring in the distance. Flesh tears. Chains clatter. A tongue lasciviously licks a twisted, razor-sharp blade, sweeping trickles of blood off the saw-edge, ignoring (or enjoying?) the gashes cut as it laps.
~A cold unlight sweeping over the world around them. The Leviathan ignores those below it. Why should it care? They are stray neurons scuttling about the architecture of his mind. Above the surface of the sky (night? Day? Does it matter?) a perennial swirl of mind-boggling geometries scuttle.
~Running, always running. It’s behind. Run faster. Find the door to the labyrinth.
~The stone becomes a room full of rust and flame. Massive boilers roar, pipes gurgle. Familiar. Warm. Home.
~A slow, sinister scraping creeps through the chamber. That’s wrong. It’s not his own. Something else is in here. Something stronger than himself. Where?
~Never stop running. Stumble and trip over roots. Roots?
~A forest in night. Moonlight shines on a pristine lake, the sight spoilt by decaying buildings and a half-collapsed dock.
~A blank visage behind them, blocking out the moonlight.
~Nothing is left but screaming. Keep running.
~RUN.
~RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRU--
He jerks awake, gasping. Violated. Impossible. He’s the master of his domain. He doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t dream. He can’t. The boiler behind him rumbles and the door rattles in sympathy with his heartbeat, what little of it he has.
His eye falls upon the cube, sitting on the floor beside him. Instantly, he knows. The first thing he wants to do is snatch it up and destroy it. Smash it! Throw it into the fire! Bite it! Grind it into powder! Chop it up with an axe! Pour acid atop it!
But that’s not what he does. Instead, a grimace stretching across his scarred face, he reaches out and grabs the dirty brown fedora. Something doesn’t feel right. He freezes as his fingers tighten upon the crown of the hat, squeezing the felt out of shape.
WHERE IS IT?!, his mind roars. There’s nothing on his hand. The glove. It’s gone. It was part of him for all those years, and now it’s gone. So many children. So many people. And it’s gone. Its razor-sharp embrace, scuttling forth across skin, meat, bone, guts… gone. Nothing. Just his hand. Four fingers, one thumb, locked in twisted and half-melted skin and gristle.
He stares at this vile appendage, and then his eyes flicker back in the direction of the cube.
It’s now sitting in the palm of his glove, the claws slowly uncurling as the leather folds under the weight of the puzzle-box. A stray flame from the boiler glitters off the intricate brass detailing. It creaks and suddenly, the pieces shift. Before his eyes, it rearranges itself. The first configuration is completed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
~He’s running through endless corridors of decaying stone that wind, twist and turn in all the wrong directions. Up, down, there, to and fro, above and below, sometimes at the same time. See himself run past and try to reach out his hand, steel fingernails raking the air, but he ignores himself reaching out at him and keep scrambling. He can get out of here. He must get out.
~Blood running in rivulets down the slimy blocks. Cold mist sweeps through the corridors with a deathly rattle. It tastes of a crematory’s ashes. Pale skin sharply tied back in dark leather shines from the gloom.
~Savage orgiastic roaring in the distance. Flesh tears. Chains clatter. A tongue lasciviously licks a twisted, razor-sharp blade, sweeping trickles of blood off the saw-edge, ignoring (or enjoying?) the gashes cut as it laps.
~A cold unlight sweeping over the world around them. The Leviathan ignores those below it. Why should it care? They are stray neurons scuttling about the architecture of his mind. Above the surface of the sky (night? Day? Does it matter?) a perennial swirl of mind-boggling geometries scuttle.
~Running, always running. It’s behind. Run faster. Find the door to the labyrinth.
~The stone becomes a room full of rust and flame. Massive boilers roar, pipes gurgle. Familiar. Warm. Home.
~A slow, sinister scraping creeps through the chamber. That’s wrong. It’s not his own. Something else is in here. Something stronger than himself. Where?
~Never stop running. Stumble and trip over roots. Roots?
~A forest in night. Moonlight shines on a pristine lake, the sight spoilt by decaying buildings and a half-collapsed dock.
~A blank visage behind them, blocking out the moonlight.
~Nothing is left but screaming. Keep running.
~RUN.
~RUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRUNRU--
He jerks awake, gasping. Violated. Impossible. He’s the master of his domain. He doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t dream. He can’t. The boiler behind him rumbles and the door rattles in sympathy with his heartbeat, what little of it he has.
His eye falls upon the cube, sitting on the floor beside him. Instantly, he knows. The first thing he wants to do is snatch it up and destroy it. Smash it! Throw it into the fire! Bite it! Grind it into powder! Chop it up with an axe! Pour acid atop it!
But that’s not what he does. Instead, a grimace stretching across his scarred face, he reaches out and grabs the dirty brown fedora. Something doesn’t feel right. He freezes as his fingers tighten upon the crown of the hat, squeezing the felt out of shape.
WHERE IS IT?!, his mind roars. There’s nothing on his hand. The glove. It’s gone. It was part of him for all those years, and now it’s gone. So many children. So many people. And it’s gone. Its razor-sharp embrace, scuttling forth across skin, meat, bone, guts… gone. Nothing. Just his hand. Four fingers, one thumb, locked in twisted and half-melted skin and gristle.
He stares at this vile appendage, and then his eyes flicker back in the direction of the cube.
It’s now sitting in the palm of his glove, the claws slowly uncurling as the leather folds under the weight of the puzzle-box. A stray flame from the boiler glitters off the intricate brass detailing. It creaks and suddenly, the pieces shift. Before his eyes, it rearranges itself. The first configuration is completed.