Prisons of Stolen Dreams

by Christopher St. John Sampayo

  At the center of these cracks something appeared. It was a singularity. It was a singularity between two Verses. It was one point where what could have been and what was folded and became one. The singularity grew. It grew till a figure appeared.

  The figure looked like a man. However, in truth the figure emerging from the singularity was only a vessel. What stepped through the singularity onto the beaches of Verse Zero was a monster. His eyes burned not with anger and rage. They burned with cold detachment. He stepped onto the shores at the edge of the land that stood beyond space and time. His cold eyes scanned the horizon. He had never set eyes on this place before. However, he knew every detail of it. He knew every blade of grass that existed in the fields of this land. His mind with its immense brilliance had postulated it all. He had not needed to see it with his eyes to know it was there. His mind saw it.

  As he strode into this land of goodness and stepped from his singularity other figures emerged behind him. Catalina had created a great doorway and now the hoards were entering this place.

  The moment was not dissimilar from when the barbarians entered the gates of Rome to wipe a civilization from history.

  The assassin Children of Noctis clicked and chirped with delight as they stepped onto the beaches of Verse Zero. They knew their blood lust would be sated this day. These abomination geniuses of murder had been created over the course of generations. Their child like eyes might have been dazzled by the beauty of this land. However, they had no eyes like any children in any Verse. They had segmented eyes that saw a hundred different points at once. They did not see in the spectrum of humans. These bastard children from a city in the dark did not know the sight of light.

  Their other senses led them. Their other senses led them as they began their quest to kill those who wanted to protect life.

  ***

  Along the shore, a distance away from where death was entering Verse Zero, Gerald stood looking into the great beyond. He was staring into the infinite Multiverse and he was reflecting on life. He was reflecting on his life. Gerald had lived an extraordinary life. He had lived in many places and he had died in many different worlds.

  He often reflected on one life in particular. In a life faraway Gerald was a violinist. He was a great musician. In this life of an alternate him he dedicated his life to music. He loved it and lived for it. Because of this of this he pushed himself. In that world, in that life of music, Gerald composed many great violin suites. However, they never satisfied his love of music so he pushed himself harder. He pushed himself beyond exhaustion.

  He used drugs to help. Drugs helped him to keep pushing himself. He never wanted rest. He just wanted his love. He just wanted to live. He just wanted music.

  In this other life, in the ocean of possibility, Gerald pushed his mind so much that one day his body broke. Gerald had a heart attack. He was by himself in his New York loft when it happened. There was no one to help him. There was no one to save him.

  However, Gerald had not really been alone when this happened. Gerald from the Sea of Glass was there. He had lived much of this man’s life beside him. He had been an observer at times watching and listening. He had been learning. He saw the way a man can push himself for love.

  Love was strange. In truth love was something projected. It is projected upon an object. We love a person for what we see them as. We love them for what they represent to us. Love did not however, have to be regulated to just a person. We can project love onto whatever we have passion for. This was one of the greatest lessons Gerald of the Sea of Glass took with him from his life as a violinist. Love is our passion. Love is what we have passion for. Sometimes it is a person that stirs our passion. However, in truth that passion can be for anything that our heart sees as beautiful.

  In that place, in this land and life far away, Gerald loved music. It is what he lived for. It is what he died for. Gerald from a Sea of Glass stayed with his counterpart till the last possible moment. He observed how one died for love. He felt the pain and agony of this death. As the body of who he could have been lay dying on the floor the pain of dying was great.

  He was an observer of this moment. He was a witness to how his own life passed. In that moment the person he could have been did something that would always stay with Gerald of Glass. As he lay dying and in pain he reached for the violin that was near him. He reached for his greatest love. He reached for his music. He reached for his heart. He grasped his violin and held it to him. He clutched it close as his life faded. In his mind as he lay dying he could hear the music. In his mind his love sang to him. It sang one last song. It sang the song of a genius dying.

  Gerald knew he must leave. He knew he had to step away from the violinist before his death dragged him away too. But it was hard. As the final neurons in the brain sparked Gerald knew one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever composed. It was the symphony of a genius’ soul. Death was never good, but if one had to die then dying to this music was the best one could hope for.

  Gerald of Glass pulled himself out of the life of the violinist at the very last moment. He pulled himself out of that life just as it crossed over into the unknown place after life. When he returned to Verse Zero, Gerald could still hear the music of his own death. It echoed in his mind.

  When Gerald pulled himself away from that life it took him a long time to collect himself. For a moment he wasn’t sure if he was a violinist who had died clutching his violin.

  Gerald blinked and who he was came back to him. He was not a violinist. This Gerald's life had taken a different path. He had been abducted when he was ten years old. He had been taken by a strange man with wild child like eyes. If this Gerald had not been taken that life too would have taken a different path. Gerald had read what that life would have been in the chronicles made by the Scholars. If he had stayed in that place he would have had a love of biology. Instead of being a violinist he would have been a great biologist. But that life had not happened. At least not like that. The boy who would have grown to be a biologist had instead been brought to a city where he could help to save all the violinists and all the children who dreamed of growing into greatness.

  Sometimes Gerald missed who he could have been. In truth however, he had come to love the lands of Verse Zero. He felt home here. He was very good at moving through the Multiverse. He was very good at seeing the other life's he could have lived. He came to the strange shores of the beyond often. He experienced a multitude of possible lives in the ocean of infinity. However, the one that he loved the most was the version of himself that had loved the violin.

  Now as Gerald stared into the oceans of forever he relived those dying moments of the violinist. He replayed that final composition in his mind. Can a soul be defined in a piece of music? he wondered.

  There was one thing that troubled Gerald deeply from his experience in the mind of the violinist. He stepped out of the man’s mind at the last moment before the man died. Because of this the piece of music the man composed in death had not ended. It had not reached the final notes that complete the music. Those notes were the complete tale of the man’s soul. However, the dying man’s symphony never finished. The music in many ways out lived the composer.

  Gerald was a genius, but the one great mystery he tried to solve, the great equation he worked at, was how should that song should have ended.

  The kinship with these other lives was a strange thing and Gerald reflected on it often. He knew he was not the great one that the people of the Sea of Glass sought. He knew he was not the one to find the Threshold. But he had his own gifts. Seeing the possible lives he could have lived made him feel like an artist. He could see how a change here and a different decision there had a ripple effect. Those ripples could make a life beautiful. Those ripples could make a life tragic.

  For Gerald, it was strange to think of how events change us. It was strange to think of how they shape us. As he stared into the waters he thought of all the lives he had lived and he wondered which was
the real him.

  Gerald was lost in thought and he did not hear the creature stepping up close behind him. In truth it didn't matter. Even if he had not been lost in his mind he would not have known that death was coming. The creature who crept up behind him had trained since its birth how to kill silently. It had trained how to stalk prey so that they never saw that death was approaching.

  However, Gerald of the Sea of Glass was lost in thought. He was lost in the thoughts of an unfinished masterpiece the moment the blade crossed his neck and slit his throat.

  The mind is not always as quick to register things as the body. In this instance the body began to die before the mind fully knew what was occurring. It took a few moments for Gerald’s mind to know something was very wrong. As he suddenly gasped for breath and fell to his knees he knew things were not as they should be. When he saw the blood pooling in front of him he understood.

  How can I die so fast? he wondered. How can my life simply end? He looked forward into the Ocean of Infinity before him. He saw his violinist self. He saw him clutching for his violin. In that instant, in the last moment he would ever know, Gerald of the lands of Verse Zero wished that the life of the violinist had been is life. He wished at this moment he could reach out for the violin. He wished he could grasp that last moment of love the way the violinist had. He wished his soul had known a depth of love that one was willing to die for.

  Gerald could have died many ways in life. He could have died as he was crossing the street one night when he was fourteen years old and a drunk driver hit him. He could have died in a hunting accident.

  He could have died clutching a violin. In that life the house keeper found him in the morning. She instantly knew he was dead. To the house keeper he looked to her like a child as he lay in a fetal position clutching his violin close to him.

  However, Gerald of the Sea of Glass did not die like that. Instead he died not fully understanding why his life had ended so quickly.

  ***

  The Children of Noctis crept through Verse Zero slaughtering all in their path. Their insect like bodies blended into their surroundings. The perfection of their design made it difficult for even the keenest eye to detect them. The assassins came across prodigies and struck them down. They killed all they could. These creatures were the greatest murderers a society of death had ever created. They we're composed of the mad genius of dark prodigies. They were perfect in their desire for malice and death. They took true delight in making things bleed.

  As they began to creep into the city of Adar they moved like dancers. They were graceful and precise. They moved efficiently as they did their bloody work. Behind them the Monster came. He let the assassins bring their wave of death to this city of goodness. He rode that wave into the city the way an emperor would walk on a carpet of gold. However, the carpet he rode in on was a carpet of blood.

  The Monster was a king and messiah. He was heralded by a carpet of carnage. Walking beside him was a princess of death. Catalina of the Dark strode proudly amongst the slaughter. This was the position her life had always been designed for.

  As they progressed through the streets of Adar she too would enter the assassins ranks at times and kill. She too had a blood lust. She struck down some of the prodigies they came across. She killed them in ways so they did not die quickly. Mercy was not for one such as Catalina to give. She instead took pleasure in the slow the suffering of others.

  One by one the children of Verse Zero fell.

  ***

  Isiah was walking through the streets of Adar. He was studying the buildings and making notes. Isiah’s true passion was still architecture. He loved analyzing and creating structures. He hoped to build upon and improve some of the structures of this land.

  Many did this over time. They built upon the greatness of those who came before them. Isiah knew long after he was gone some new prodigy might come and build things Isiah had never dreamed possible. This prodigy might do this based upon Isiah’s work.

  At least this is what Isiah hoped. Many unforeseen things had occurred. A month ago Patrick had been killed. Sarah had barely escaped. There was uncertainty in the air for the people of Verse Zero. This is why Isiah was studying the cities architecture today. He was trying to distract himself from the impending sense of dread that was slowly enveloping his world.

  As he was walking down one of the city’s streets he saw Michelle appear at the other end of the street. Michelle was a good friend and Isiah smiled when he saw her. She had beautiful blond hair and her laughter could light up a room. Isiah raised his hand to greet her as she approached.

  However, when she turned towards him Isiah saw she was covered in red. She was clutching her throat. Behind her Isiah saw something approaching. The creature’s body blended in with its surroundings. Its body adapted so perfectly that Isiah may have had difficulty seeing it at all. However, the creature was now covered in blood. The red did not adapt to the environment. It painted the creature that may have otherwise been invisible to the naked eye.

  Isiah felt horror as he saw the thing that was approaching him. It was a creature out of a nightmare and it moved with sickening speed.

  Isiah’s mind suddenly bent. It did a thousand calculations in a second. It was powered by adrenaline. Isiah had spent his life studying structures. He knew every structure had a weak point. As the creature moved past Michelle towards him Isiah spun and struck it with his fist as hard as he could in the small space where creatures neck could swivel. The creature like most creatures needed air. Isiah had just taken that air from it. The creature fell making a gurgling, gasping noise.

  Isiah had hit the creature with great force. He heard a cracking sound when his fist connected with the creature’s throat. He knew he had broken the creature’s trachea. The creature’s lungs would not have oxygen again.

  He ran past the dying creature to Michelle. He cradled her in his arms. She looked at him with pleading eyes. She knew her life was fading and they were both powerless to stop it. But she did not want to die. She reached up and touched Isiah’s face. Her eyes were filled with sadness. As he cradled her in his arms the genius that had been Michelle died. She died still looking up at Isiah.

  Isiah lay her down and closed her eyes. He ran towards the street where she had emerged. A few yards down the street was another corpse.

  He knew the boy. It was Eric. He had just come to these lands months ago. He was part of the newest generation.

  Isiah like all the citizens of Verse Zero had lived many lives. There was one lesson that Isiah had learned in these many lives that resonated with him above all others. That lesson was uncertainty. Because of this Isiah worked to always be prepared for the worst outcomes.

  When he was first brought to Verse Zero he was distrustful of it. He began planning an escape. It was not just escape for himself that he sought. It was an escape for all the children of this place. As time passed his concerns of imminent threat faded. However, the idea of escaping this place stuck in his mind life a splinter. He reflected on it often mostly to amuse himself. It became a thought experiment. It was a what if which he used like a knot to unravel when he wanted to occupy his mind. Verse Zero was filled with problem solvers after all.

  The question became what would be the most efficient way to flee Verse Zero? Over the years he thought of this question often. He thought of it as he sat studying Farinata’s Prism.

  The circumstances surrounding Patrick’s death made everyone concerned about their safety in Verse Zero. They did not know what to expect of those that had killed the one they had sought.

  In the month since Patrick’s death the subject of what to do if Patrick’s murderers reached the shores of the Sea of Glass was discussed at great length.

  Isiah proposed a plan. It was a plan which he put together years ago but then pushed from his mind. Even Belili was amazed by the brilliant method of escape that Isiah presented to the leaders of Adar. It was hoped Isiah’s plan was not needed. However, they understoo
d the possibilities that were unfolding. Now this plan of escape that Isiah had started to dream of as a child suddenly was relevant in a way even he had never expected when he first conceived it all those years ago.

  As smoke began rising in the city Isiah realized he needed to move forward with his idea. It was a plan to save lives in the middle of this unforeseen chaos that was unfolding. Isiah understood the thing that had killed Michelle was one of the creatures described by Sarah. He knew these creatures had come to kill more of the children of Verse Zero and Isiah knew what he needed to do.

  Isiah began to run towards the Citadel that housed Farinata’s Prism.

  As he ran he did not go unnoticed. Catalina of the Dark saw him. In a moment that was like raw instinct Catalina wanted him. She wanted him to bleed. She wanted him to suffer. She wanted to see the look of agony in his eyes as she slowly killed him. Dark Catalina looked towards her Monster King who walked beside her. He understood what was on her mind. He smiled and nodded. Catalina gave chase. The Monster continued to smile. He knew how that chase would finish. He had known before he even entered this place.

  Catalina ran after Isiah. She chased him into the Citadel.

  ***

  Isiah reached the Chamber of the Prism and began to put his plan into motion. He had spent many years organizing it in his mind.

  Isiah loved architecture and the design of structures. He loved math. The Prism always fascinated him. It was the greatest creation in all the Multiverse. It created their Island on the Sea of Glass.

  Verse Zero was a structure composed of redirected energies. Those energies were first harnessed by the Prism and then redirected by the crystals that surrounded it reinforcing the foundations of the Sea of Glass.

  In studying the Prism, Isiah began to understand how its energies could be manipulated. He began to understand how realigning the crystals on the walls could have the effect of a maestro changing the tone and mood of a composition. With the movements of his baton a maestro could quicken a compositions pace or slow its tempo down changing the dimensions of a symphony.