Phantasmagoria - (Finished)

[moonchild]

It was so serene…Eri couldn’t believe that after what had just happened, she was alive…and on top of this huge stained glass pillar. There was an ethereal, other worldly white-green glow emanating from it, this light bathed the immediate area around the platform and Eri, before fading out into deep shades of emerald before becoming black. At first it was hard for her to see because of the blinding light. But she quickly adjusted and looked down onto the platform which was primarily colored in purples of all shades. She could see that depicted amongst the art nouveau intricacies that webbed its way around the stained glass, to the right she saw herself, her eyes were closed and it looked as though she were asleep. Her arms were wrapped the intricate flower patterns, and blended out into the rest of the design. Apart from being slightly eerie, the whole scene appealed greatly to Eri’s love of beauty.

The girl took a few hesitant steps towards the centre of the station she was standing on. In the distance she could make out a figure. Curious to see who it was she started walking quickly over to it, before bursting out into a run. But before she could make it, they simply vanished. Just disappeared from existence like that. Furrowing her brows, she turned around trying desperately to find where that person could have disappeared off to. There is no way that someone could disappear like that, unless they were a ghost. Or this was indeed a dream. The second option seemed far more rational to Eri, so in order to snap herself out of this – whatever this was – and back into reality. Though the longer she was here, the more she was beginning to question whether this was reality. Everything seemed so real now. Nothing like that strange, dreamlike experience she had before. Sighing, she could hear that disembodied, inaudible voice again: “Darkness is everywhere, but so is light. You just need to look in order to find it.”

That statement seemed slightly redundant to Eri, so any intended meaning that it may have had on her was lost, but who was she to spit in the face of information such as that? She strolled around the platform; each step she took resulted in a chinking noise from where her heels made contact with the glass. She eventually found herself squatting by the depiction of herself; she started tracing the outlines of her replication’s features. If that was what she looked like then she would admit that she certainly did have a beauty about her that this depiction did very well in copying. Doing so made her feel a little vain, but she couldn’t help herself, the intricacy of the artwork that was in front of her deserved to be admired (even if the subject of it just so happened to be herself).

The youth was so absorbed with staring into the station that she was on that she didn’t notice a larger station form in front of her, with what seemed like a hundred small rose window platforms spiralling down from it to form a staircase.

[moonchild]

Eri sighed, looking up; a little gasp escaped her lips as she saw the towering structure looming above her. She saw the spiralling staircase and began to climb up it. Every step brought her closer to the top of the station. She felt like there was something willing her upwards. She had to do it; there were no ifs, buts or maybes. She needed to get to the top of the next station. She wondered what could have possibly been there. Maybe that elusive figure that was just in front of her not a moment ago was there?

After what felt like an eternity she climbed the final stair and saw emerald, with silhouettes of her parents facing away from each other, with a heart between the two. It had the same expert craftsmanship of the previous one, with the same heavy Art Nouveau influences. Eri found it beautiful, but at the same time felt a twinge of longing and sadness. She missed her mother and father. It had been far too long since she last saw them; for a girl that had hardly left home since the day she was born, three years away from them felt like a lifetime. Sighing, Eri proceeded to stand in the heart between the silhouettes. It was the closest she had been to them in ages.

“You haven’t changed at all, you know?” An all too familiar voice called out to Eri. The feminine growl sent a cold shiver down the length of the young woman’s back. It couldn’t possibly be her, could it? She didn’t want this rather…interesting dream to turn into a nightmare. She turned around, and her fears were confirmed. It was her. At least she thought it was, the long curly brown hair and the height were consistent with what Eri remembered of her. Biting down on her lower lip, Eri approached the figure; the same compulsion that had told her to come here overwhelming her now. Oh well, she found herself thinking as she approached one of the girls that had persecuted her for so long; didn’t Hiroki say that dreams were a way of the heart coming to terms with events in a person’s life? It made sense that she’d be here when Eri thought about it like that.

She wasn’t prepared to see the face of one of her tormentors as disfigured as it was when she turned to face her: the girl had no eyeballs and her mouth was little more than a giant gaping hole. “What do you fear, Eri? Do you still cry over being a lard ball like you used to?” She laughed, the sound was harsh. That made Eri’s blood boil, even in her dreams she couldn’t escape that awful, awful girl. Eri knew her friends had to be close by, rats like these always travelled in packs. “Shut up! I’m not scared anymore!” she yelled, drawing Moon Flower from its sheath, she made a diagonal slice, as this must’ve been a dream it wouldn’t matter if Eri disembowelled her. Although it didn’t work like that, before the attack hit the girl laughed cruelly and disappeared into a plume of black smoke.

Another platform emerged from the depths, and a staircase began to appear in front of her. “I guess this means the only way is to go up…” Eri sighed as she sheathed her weapon and began to climb. She took one look back at the silhouettes of her parents for good luck. “I’ll see you two soon…”

[moonchild]

Station number three: Auntie Dolly was looking gracefully down in three quarter profile a midst a background of azure and green. She was a kindly looking woman with a brilliant heart shaped face, vivid jade eyes and a large mass of curly auburn hair. Eri really did love the woman like a mother; it was an act of unparalleled kindness to openly invite a stranger into one’s life. She felt indebted to the woman and would do anything to help her. The teen thought about her Auntie. The woman was a kind hearted, funny and slightly eccentric person; of course, completely scatterbrained but her heart was always in the right place. The softness of the woman’s facial expression within the stained glass was a very accurate portrayal of Auntie’s personality.

This dream world was interesting yet very confusing. It had caused Eri to deeply analyse the potency of the love she felt those that had been depicted thus far. She could feel that she had come a long way from the shy, awkward loner she was however she felt she still had a long way to go. She would probably always have a long way to go. As that is the nature of self-improvement, was it not?

Although, there were a couple of questions that plagued her mind when she thought about what this all meant. The first one was the appearance of that girl. Why was she there and why was her face so malformed? Well, if what Hiroki said about dreams was true, then it would stand to reason that her appearance like that would be a subconscious desire to hurt her and those other girls. Since when did I become so logical in dreams?

The second revolved around Hiroki. She could figure out why he was present in that strange drowning part, but why did he not have a platform dedicated to him yet? Perhaps that’ll come if I get any further. She also began to question why and when she had become so fixated on her friend. She understood that it was because she missed him; but surely it was a stupid waste of time to spend so long dedicating all of her thoughts to the one person. That really does sound borderline obsessive, Eri.

“You know, clacking around like that is really starting to grate on my ears.” She said, that tone of absolute arrogance still reverberated so clearly, even in a dream. Eri turned around to face Cheryl. Why can I remember her name, but not the other one’s? “Don’t you have something better to do with your time Cheryl, like bitch about how your daddy won’t buy you another dress or something?” Eri snapped. It felt amazing to finally tell that uppity bully what she had always wanted to say, even if it were only a dream. Eri eyed the curled violet haired girl, who stood about two inches taller than she did, even with her heels on. Cheryl was always pretty, which seemed to be a shame that such a pretty mask was hiding such an ugly soul. However, when she saw that Cheryl’s mouth was stitched shut and resembled a Glasgow Grin, she was remarkably less beautiful.

“Eri, you wouldn’t even have the strength to say no to your little ‘boyfriend’, so cut the tough girl act with me.” She said, glaring daggers at her. Eri’s mouth twitched at the corners, she had taken Cheryl on once and won in real life, how hard could she be in a dream? Eri was not going to sit around and let a subconscious representation of the devil woman whom had made her life a living hell for so long get away with a comment like that.

Eri wouldn’t dignify Cheryl with a response to that obvious bait. Instead she drew her katana; the ‘shhhnnk’ noise it made as she drew it was particularly satisfying at the moment. She was going to tear up her old nemesis worse than she would have that other brat. “Oh, look who’s finally developed a spine, then?” The other girl laughed.

Eri ran as fast as she could at her enemy, jumping into a forward sault and swiping at her with her weapon. Cheryl grabbed her by the arm, spun her around and threw her away like she weighed nothing. Eri got up again, charging and hacking madly. Everything she threw at Cheryl did nothing. The violet haired demon deflected and avoided everything the blonde threw at her like a seasoned warrior.

There was no way that this was possible. Eri let out an angered roar, jumping into the air and cutting downwards with the aim to severe Cheryl in two. The girl just blasted her away with some kind of magic. “No…way…” Eri moaned, picking herself up.
“Eri, you aren’t strong enough to defeat me. Give up.” Cheryl said, before vanishing in a manner similar to her friend. Eri shook her head, sadness overcoming her suddenly. It was impossible. How could she have lost?

“Sometimes, you aren’t ready to deal with the pain some experiences can leave you with. Do not mistake it for weakness. It is a sign that you still have to grow.” The mysterious, omnipresent voice that had been guiding her through this entire adventure stated in its unique soundless way.

It had a point, she supposed. Maybe there were some things she just wouldn’t be able to cope with at the moment. There wasn’t much else she could do but accept that. She had a feeling that this dream was a way for her to learn about herself and the effects of her actions upon those she cared about. She then realised that she didn’t have enough world experience or knowledge of herself and others to truly and fully understand herself. It’s amazing how complex the symbolism and metaphors of one’s dreams are.

With that, Eri sighed and lay down on one of her Auntie’s long curls and closed her eyes. A feeling of warmth and calm spread throughout her limbs.

She awoke with a gasp in her room overlooking the umber streets of Twilight Town. She sighed and closed her eyes before collapsing on her bed again. Next time she had that dream, she knew she would have a lot more knowledge about herself. She would see how far that strange vision of what she assumed to be her heart, mind and soul went.

((Huzzah for lazy i-want-to-finish-this writing and life getting in the way))