by Andrew Jones
"You saw right through my illusion." The man speaks.
Nova and he were divided by a great distance, his identity was covered by the darkness that surrounded them in a heavy fog fashion. Nova frowned at him, turning her whole body toward the strange man.
"You mean, all of that was just a hallucination?" Nova asked.
The man nodded his head. He held up his hand and materialized two swords in his hands, then a swarm of thirteen blades that were magically flowing and spinning around him.
"The wonders of illusion once you know how to control it. You begin to control what is truly reality, and what is not." He explained as he forced the thirteen blades down onto the ground, the blades creating a big shake on the ground as they do. "You begin to wonder what you're doing is real or fake, soon enough."
After speaking, he tossed her an envelope. The wind guided the envelope right into her chest, where she quickly caught it and held onto it. She looked down at the blank envelope, then back up at the man as the image of his body began to fade.
"Don't let me down, now!" The man shouted as his body shattered into the sand, the sand flying high into the air and disappearing.
She watched him wither away as the sun began to take over the sky quite quickly. She could hear the sudden yawns of Atreyu as he strained himself by stretching. The dragon, Bastion, yawned quite loudly as he struggled to open his eyes. Nova didn't look up at them, she was concentrated on the envelope. She turned it to its side and ripped it open by its side, letting the paper content drop down into her hands. It was dusty and torn slightly as she unfolded it in her hands.
"Does the postman travel this far to deliver mail?" Atreyu asked as he stood up on his feet, glancing at Nova as he did.
"No normal fool would even think of traveling out here. You two appear inhuman just standing out here." Bastion scoffed.
Nova stared at the message within the paper content. Her eyes followed the words slowly, back and forth like she was reading it repeatedly. She stayed quiet as her eyes drift away from the page, letting her arm drop as her hand still grasped it a little tight.
"Hey... What's the difference between a hallucination, and a person's personal bliss?" Nova asked.
Atreyu raised an eyebrow at her confusing question, turning his head toward Bastion as if he were directing the question off him and into the responsibility of Bastion.
"Where did a question such like that arise?" Bastion responded to her question with a question of his own.
"Just answer it!"
Bastion grumbled, "A hallucination is an illusion, preferably an illusion of something someone does not wish to see. It helps them come to a realization of something quite important. Bliss, on the other hand, is a person's... 'happy place', I presume."
Atreyu turned to Nova, "Bliss is a place you feel truly happy. Where there is no sense of anger, sadness, or rage within you."
Nova looked down at the page in her hand as she let go of it. She didn't watch as it would fly away with the wind and disappear from everyone's sight. Immediately, she stepped toward Bastion and climbed onto his back, looking forward.
"Nova, are you all right?" Atreyu asked, watching her this whole time.
Nova nodded, "Hurry up, we have to find this realm Bastion was talking about."
Atreyu sighed, climbing behind Nova as Bastion flew up in the air. The three looked toward the grounds as the sands continued to take control of the area. Atreyu tightened his grip around Nova's waist, looking forward at her.
"You know, if you're troubled, I'm here for you." He muttered quietly.
Nova looked down at his arms around her, looking toward the right side as he spoke. Her eyes widened as she saw something odd. Something that sort of popped out of a picture, in a metaphor of terms. She pointed to the direction, but neither Bastion or Atreyu saw anything, but Bastion still decided to fly down and take a look.
Before Bastion could completely land, Nova jumped off and landed on her feet hard. She appeared to show some pain from the impact, but she was still distracted from the large tower made of sand that had appeared in front of her.
"This tower, what could this be?" Nova asked.
Atreyu scratched the top of his head as he watched her.
"Erm, what tower?" He asked awkwardly.
"The tower right here! Made of sand, large, ancient looking...?" Nova answered, in a sort of awkward tone in her voice.
"Dragon, do you know what she's going on about?"
Bastion looked at Atreyu as he spoke to him, shaking his head casually.
Nova frowned at them, but she turned around and walked toward it.
"How can you not see it, but I can?" Nova asked herself as she reached out and placed her hand on the tower.
It felt like sand, crumbling sand that dissolved as it made contact with her hand. She looked down at the smoke the crumbling sand was making, narrowing her eyes,
"It is not of an illusion, it is your deepest bliss..." Nova whispered, looking up at the tower once again, then turning back to Atreyu and Bastion. "This is it!"
Atreyu facepalmed, laying back on Bastion, "All right. If you really think so, go right in and we'll wait for you here." Atreyu muttered with a sense of annoyance under his breath.
Nova frowned at both of them. But she did not respond. She turned toward the big doors of the tower and stepped up the few little steps up to them. She had to hurry, as the steps were crumbling as they felt her small steps above them. She quickly placed her grip on the door handles and pulled them open. She struggled, but the big doors slowly opened as a loud creak was heard. She managed to open them just enough for her to squeeze inside, but the room was filled with darkness. Nothing was in sight. Nothing at all.
"Darkness? Is... Is this my deepest bliss?" She asked as she entered.
Once she stepped into the darkness, she screamed. She began falling. She didn't see herself falling, she could feel it at every pit of her body. She was able t stretch her arms and legs wide, she was able to feel the speeding winds race through her. It was like a bottomless pit.
Atreyu blinked his eyes. As he blinked and watched Nova, she disappeared after he had blinked once.
"Um, Bastion... Where'd she go?" Atreyu asked, beginning to panic.
Bastion turned his head, still looking quite relaxed.
"She made it, don't worry. Now we just wait."
Verse XII
The Pisces Trials
Nova heard herself grumble. She was asleep, asleep deep in the darkness of what had consumed her as she fell. She sat up, rubbing the top of her head as she felt the pain of her sudden headache. She couldn't see anything. She could only see her breath as she exhaled from her slightly open lips. It was cold, which was odd because just outside was the burning sands of the Ancient Desert. She stood up on her feet, wobbling a little as she did not want to step on anything she couldn't see. But a fire was lit on a lantern beside her, frightening her. Another was lit in front of at one, and it kept going down a hall. She was able to see a doorway, which housed a small bright light. It was calling out to her, and her body started to move by itself. She took slow steps past the lit lanterns, hearing them burn out as she passed them.
As she entered through the doorway, she heard the doorway close down just behind her, looking behind her quickly at the sudden shock. She heard someone breathing right in front of her afterward, seeing a spotlight with glitter flying around the bright light. The spotlight shined over a statue of a woman. The woman was standing, her eyes were closed and her hair looked to have been put up in a bow, a fancy and quite elegant looking bow. She had a sword sheathed on her hip, and two bigger swords sheathed on her back. She looked to of been a legendary hero, but she also had a crown on her head. The statue itself was a dim and ancient looking gray coloring, but the crown looked new. It shined bright enough through the light that Nova had to narrow her eyes, almost closing them completely.
"You think you have it hard, huh?"
A woman's voice was h
eard from the statue. Nova opened her eyes completely, looking up at the status as her eyes slowly adjusted to the light's power.
"I was never even BORN."
The woman's voice continued speaking, but she was yelling this time. Nova felt some sort of sorrow as she looked at the statue's face. The darkened impression carved onto the face upset her.
"I had a chance to bring light to this world, but YOU were created!"
The woman's voice shouted, almost screaming as the statue broke into hundreds of pieces. Nova screamed and covered herself with her arm as the pieces flung into her, shattering into the sand. The laughter of a man followed. His voice echoed, and it was extremely deep.
"I'm impressed. You saw through the illusion." The man's voice spoke.
Nova slowly lowered her arm, looking forward as the spotlight showed a set of stairs that would go into another dark room that had a doorway. Her body was forced to enter, all she could do was observe the area. The room was more lit. She could actually see more in the room, could this of been her own free will wishing for sight?
She walked around the room, seeing a bunch of odd pictures of machines, as well as normal human beings of the past. Probably before the genocide occurred. There were two statues now, she could recognize one of them, but she wasn't familiar with the other one. She placed her hand gently on the statue she was not familiar with, sensing a lot of distress, immediately forcing her to pull her hand away after contact. The statue was a boy, also with his eyes closed. He had long hair and a somewhat troubled look on his face.
"Everything I've done was for nothing."
The boy's voice spoke. He sounded like he had just got done crying his heart out. Nova placed her hand on her chest and closed her eyes, showing sympathy for him. She felt weakness within the boy like he was not strong enough to endure his fate. She felt failure.
She stepped toward a wall with a lot of symbols on it. Three of the symbols were missing, which were the pieces called 'The Mask', 'The Sword', and 'The Heart". Her eyes narrowed, turning away from the wall.
"I, the protector of the Sacred Realm offer you three trails. The Pisces Trails."
A large, dark inhuman figure overshadowed Nova as she turned around. The person had no face, no personal features that were unique or odd. All you could see was his dark outline. He disappeared, as a door materializes in front of her from the bright light she had seen in the previous room. The door was white, and it had a small noticeable carving on it. Around the center, there were two people floating around the center. One of the women she had seen in the first room and the second was the boy she took interest in within that room she was currently in. She placed her hand on the doorknob and took a deep breath as she closed her eyes.
"This place is only my inner bliss..." She whispered as she turned the doorknob and pulled it open.
She was swallowed by the overpowering light as the door opened. She gasped for air as she could only hear the sounds of chirping bird flying nearby. She was at awe as she noticed the new area. There were grass fields, with occasional flowers blooming from the ground. A lone tree stood high in the air out of the ground from the one small hill in the area. She heard children laughing and running around. She watched the children run and play, as she stepped toward the lone tree. She got a weird vibe as she stared up at the head of the tree. Every leaf, branch, and depth of the tree showed perfection. She looked down as she was just under the tree, finally getting into the shade. She saw another child. She frowned as the child sat against the tree. He wasn't moving or making any sound. He just watched the other children play in front of them. She knelt down in front of him, seeing his disturbing mask he had been wearing. The mask was white on one side, and black on the other, with the eyes colored in red with a crayon or a colored pencil. She noticed his head tilting a bit up to see her face through the mask.
"What... Are you doing here?" She asked the boy.
He did not respond. Nova stood up on her feet and took a careful look around, seeing nothing beyond the green fields. It was like this was the only area in the world.
"Can we play a game?"
She heard a boy's voice, assuming it was that boy, she looked back at him, noticing he was standing up right in front of her. But he had grown a bit; he was way taller, he had grown long black hair that partially covered his mask and his mask itself looked much older. She gasped softly.
"S-Sure, what would you like to play?" She answered.
She could feel him smiling under that mask, but she could only stare at those deep red eyes that were colored onto the mask.
"Let's play Life or Death. Winner gets my mask, and the loser gives up their heart."
Before she could respond, she was teleported to a dark room. There was a tunnel ahead of her with two different turns. She felt like she was in a maze. Looking down, she saw that a flashlight was gripped in her hands and her dual blades were missing. The sounds of iron sliding on the ground, getting louder. She was worried about what that child- or man was capable of.
She chose to go left, the direction that was the opposite of the iron dragging sounds of her opponent. She flicked on her flashlight, seeing some kind of ooze dripping from the sides of the tunnel and the ceiling.
She gagged a bit, "This... This can't be what my bliss looks like..."
She flashed her flashlight at the walls again, the ooze seemed to come from people. Placing her finger on one of them, she felt some sort of electric shock in her hand, sending her back into the wall and causing a big ruckus, surely the child heard an alarm that loud.
She regained her focus and rushed forward, trying to be as quiet as she could, but she kept encountering the same left and right turns from before, the ending results looking the same. Differing the choices, she went left, and then right, then left until she bumped into the child from behind and falling back. The child turned around, he was now wearing a disturbing orange mask that had no mouth hole, or a nose hole. She could only see his red eyes that stood out of the two eye holes. He glanced down at her, gripping his big axe with might.
"These masks may hide who I am, but I cannot hide from myself."
The boy's voice calmly spoke as the child, now with the freakishly big body, long black hair, and a disturbing mask pulled up the axe and flung it down with a heavy thrust. Nova screamed as she used her arms for a possible shield. She felt the slight breeze of his axe, but she did not feel the impact. Lowering her arms, she saw that the child disappeared.
As she looked down, she saw that her dual blades were in her hands. She got back up on her feet, but she saw another object on the floor. She bent over and picked it up, seeing the disturbing mask right in her hands.
"It is your turn to hide from yourself."
The voice echoed once again as she stared into the mask. She knew she had to, so she slowly pulled it closer, fitting it onto her face. The feelings she had, the emotions she felt, they did not change one bit. The look of her hands as she gazed down at them did not change at all, really. Holding her blades in her hands, she stepped forward into the maze once again. The darkness became darker like her eyes were becoming unadjusted to them, in some way.
The sounds of a child crying echoed down the right tunnel. Nova armed herself precisely, as she crept down the hall. She had no flashlight, no way of seeing within the dark depths of the tunnels. But she could sense the child within footsteps. Stopping, she looked down and saw the child back in his kid form. He was crying.
"My mother said the mask made me invisible. But people saw, people saw me kill him when he made me mad!"
The voice of the boy echoed, he sounded like he was trying to talk, but his sobbing made it difficult for him to let the words escape his mouth. Nova stared at her swords in her hands, and with no hesitation, she stabbed both of the swords into the child's chest. The child's eyes widened, as he screamed and held his chest. The screams echoed really loud, Nova had to close her eyes tightly and cover her mouth. The walls of the tunnels cracked, soon shatteri
ng, carrying Nova down the set of tunnels as ooze poured out the cracks like a flood.
Nova quickly sat up, lifting her hand and resting it on her head as she noticed she returned to the green fields. She didn't like it. From what seemed like a sanctuary in darkness, just looked like the eye of the storm now. The mask had changed, into the silver shape of the Mask symbol that belonged to the door she encountered earlier. As it disappeared in her hand, she felt another child was near. She gasped in fright as she noticed a little girl standing beside her. She had a big smile on her face and had the appearance of a carefree, sweet young girl. She held up a flower toward Nova. Nova took the flower, smiling back at her as she sniffed it. It smelled of nothingness.
"Can we play a game?"
She heard the girl's voice, but it was deeper than a normal little girl's voice. It wasn't of a man, it was more demonic and dark. Her giggle, after she spoke, was more a demonic evil laugh, in a gigglish way.
Nova nodded her head slowly.
"Good! Let's play Colosseum!" Winner gets to keep that flower, the loser has to give up their heart!"
The demonic voice shouted as the floor forced Nova down below like it was made of the softness of the clouds. She fell down deep, hitting the ground in dramatic fashion. The dirt created a large amount of dust, creating a big fog as she managed to slowly stand up. As the fog slowly disappeared, the image of the same little girl stood in front of her, a few feet away, still smiling. But her eyes instantly changed into a red color as she opened her mouth, letting a large eyeball dangle out. Her arms and legs mutated into a big step of sharp looking blades, and her back grew a pair of wings. She was pouring blood from all sorts of placing in her body, but she could only laugh in that devil tone.
She flew up with her wings and cough up all this black ooze that dragged themselves toward Nova, but she ran and slashed at every ooze pile that got close to her. The mutated child flew down, aiming all of her bladed arms and legs her way, but Nova blocked the attack with her dual blades, pushing with all of her strength back at her. The mutated child fell back, exposing the eyeball from her mouth. Nova quickly noticed and threw both of her dual blades toward it, cutting off the thin attachment it had to the child's mouth.