Void: empty, hollow space who can be filled. It could also be referred to an emotional state.
Jester: joker, buffoon, clown or simply, fool. A jester's imperative is to have fun and / or make fun of others or with others… To fill others with joy.
Dream: something that it's not supposed to be… Empty.
… To die, to sleep, perhaps, to dream…
"Hamlet" William Shakespear.
VOID INTO DREAMS
1.
Was he dead? Did he die? Was it all an illusion? Was it all just a dream… Therefore a reality of its own?
Lots of questions crossed his mind… As usual, none of them found its answer.
He was not supposed to be there… Not alone… Not at all… If a "there" existed, of course.
Something has gone horribly wrong during his inter-dimensional journey. He was supposed to come back home, along with his beloved family… To return into his… Their home dimension. Instead, he ended up here…
He ended up… Nowhere.
A place and a non-place at the same time… A lifeless, seemingly infinite, white space… a totally blank inexistence…
A void…
Just like what he used to be… Just like what he used to be named and referred with…
His namesake empty eyes were widened in sudden fear… A tangible and profound fear caused by the ominous and impending sense of anguish and despair that such lifeless, unending whiteness inevitably provoked to his own being… To anyone's being, for that matter.
It was one of the most common fears ever known, something that has accompanied the mental evolution of every sapient being ever born…
Fear of the Unknown… Fear of what we cannot understand or control… Fear of something that goes beyond our limited senses… The main reason of why we despise what is different from us… What we cannot comprehend.
Our most irrational side… Then again, I could be wrong. This is just what I believe… Or choose to believe.
I also believe that such irrational side will always be a part of us… Because it's what makes us… Mortals.
That's the whole point of such fear… The fear of Death. The knowledge that we all are destined to die, sooner or later…
Death is the only thing undeniably certain in our chaotic life and, ironically enough, our tremendous fear over it, it's what could possibly prevent us to enjoy the gift of Life… All because we have such knowledge.
And right now, the Seedrian known as Void, was experiencing this ominous sensation… 100 times worse.
There used to be a period in his life, in which he desired to die due to the massive sufferance he endured… Because of Chaos, or maybe, because of a deranged author who could not escape from his own Chaos, either… But right now, Void wanted to live, he wanted to feel life in all of its splendor.
The only problem… He could very well be dead.
It happened so fast he couldn't even remember the whens or hows. It was totally uncalled for (just like Death used to be sometimes), one moment he was about to enter an inter-dimensional portal along with his family… And the moment after, he woke up right here…
If there was a "here", that is.
He was like a lost child in a living nightmare… A blank one.
He would have screamed if his own voice would have not been suppressed by his own frightened state.
And once again, he felt himself engulfed by the utter emptiness he lived all his life with… Only this time, he was not accustomed to it…
He fell on the inexistent ground, hugging his knees and shaking like the aforementioned lost child he had become.
Those previous unanswered questions violently mauled his mind again…
Why was he there? Was this even a place? Was he dead? What happened to his family?
He was about to cry his despair out of his black eyes when… Something happened.
A music… A flute like theme started to play seemingly out of nowhere… Or from everywhere in this nowhere, I should say.
It was so melodic and amusing… So peaceful, so… Childish?
Void had no idea what this music was or where exactly it came from… But for some reason, its soft and reassuring melody managed to calm the Seedrian a little. He raised from his sitting position and stood tall on his feet, trying to learn this song… Trying to understand it, to better feel it… To simply enjoy it?
And then, something else happened… Or better, someone.
A figure, a silhouette began to slowly appear a few inches away from where the lost plant boy used to be… Void found himself reasonably taken aback by such apparition.
Gradually, this figure's form became clear… As well as the source of the mysterious music.
It came out from this being's flute… Only, there was no visible flute in the being's hands… But that didn't prevent it to play it, it seemed.
Void's eyes were widened and his mouth was agape… There it was, this strange, seemingly feminine, creature, right in front of him.
It appeared to be taller than the lost Seedrian boy used to be… Yet, for some reason, he did not felt intimidated by its form, he felt himself attracted, instead.
It wore a weird, colorful, almost festive, dress… Red on its torso, purple and pink on its slender legs and feet, and a white material on its arms. Its white gloved hands and little mouth were still playing with the invisible flute, which was still producing that harmonious melody. Its face was round and lacked of a nose… Just like him! Finally, it had a rather curious, two long tailed, purple and black hat…
All in all, this being looked like some kind of a… Jester.
Suddenly, the music stopped. The seemingly impossible to define creature stopped its rather appreciated flute session and fixed its on gaze over the bewildered plant in front of it.
It had a couple of gorgeous, bright, lively azure eyes…
Void found himself unable to move or even breath… He felt himself drawn to those eyes… So pure and shiny… Due to his peculiar ability to read into others soul, Void could see that this being meant no harm towards him… But that's basically the only thing it would let him know.
Another thing that the plant boy could not understand… Was its effective gender.
He didn't know if it was male or a female… As far as those genders could be considered universal… Which could very well not be the case, here.
It had a feminine beauty… Yet, at the same time, it could be mistaken for a young effeminate boy.
One thing was certain… This doubt would have certainly created a lot of problems… Grammatically speaking.
He / she simply smiled at him, as if catching Void's current shyness… Which happened to be quite visible on his now blushed cheeks.
The Seedrian tried to recollect himself.
"W-who are you?" He finally asked to his new guest.
In response to the boy's question, the jester politely bowed him / herself (as I said, blasted grammatical problems) in sign of reverence and then, showed him a fine piece of plasticized paper he / she pulled out from nowhere.
Void timidly picked up the piece of paper from the jester's amazingly soft hand. Once in his huge, deformed appendage, the Seedrian could read the name that was written on it…
This being's name…
NiGHTS.
Professional jester and freelance dream guide.
Void diverted his empty gaze from the paper and once again fixed it on his festive looking guest… Genuine bewilderment was visibly on his face.
"So… You're name is… NiGHTS. Right?" He questioned, in order to be sure of it.
Himshe nodded. It seemed that himshe could understand his language.
I know… Himshe is not a real pronoun or word for that matter, but that's the way I'm going to refer to this apparently genderless creature in order to avoid anymore grammatical nightmares… Or at least, some of them… So get used to it!
"Errr… Can you talk?" Void asked again.
Himshe shook his/her head, this time.
Void sighed.
"Ok… My name is Void. Nice to meet you, NiGHTS. Can you help me?" He politely said.
At this, the feminine jester known as NiGHTS put on his/her best reassuring smile and offered his/her hand to the Seedrian…
Void thought about it for a couple of seconds before deciding to actually put his own deformed hand (for which he felt rather embarrassed) into his/her perfectly shaped one…
The massive electric shock that invaded Void's body after such act did manage to remind him that he was dealing with a jester…
Void hastily retreated his busted hand from the violet joker's one, who immediately started to giggle his/her girlish giggle right in the face of the now sour looking and slight angered Seedrian…
Then, himshe just showed a little round device himshe had on his/her hand… The old trick of the electrified hand… A prank master's classic.
Himshe was still chuckling at the tricked boy's expenses.
"Why you little…" Before he could even finish the sentence, the Seedrian looking jester just flew high above his reach. "EHI!!! COME BACK HERE!!!" Void yelled… Only to receive a huge childish grimace in response…
NiGHTS was making faces at him… Void was not amused by such infant behavior… Not at all.
Suddenly, the floating jester stopped his playful insulting session and looked her surroundings… Himshe noticed the infinite and lifeless whiteness this non-place was engulfed with and that made her sad.
Sadness was clearly visible in his/her gaze, in his/her big azure eyes… It was as if himshe could feel such void inside his/her own being… It was so depressing and horrible… All this blankness… All this nothingness.
A few tears descended from his/her beautiful eyes. Void could see this from where he was and felt bad for himshe… He understood better than anyone else, what living inside a void was all about…
Then, without pre-advice, a huge grin found its way in the flying jester's mouth as himshe started to fly randomly in the inexistent sky… And suddenly, it was inexistent no more…
A big blue sky appeared out of the pure nothingness this non-place used to be… It had clouds and birds and everything a real sky was supposed to have… But that was just the beginning.
As long as the dream like jester would fly, other things would appear… Trees would quickly become woods… Flowers would quickly become flower fields… Rivers would quickly become lakes.
Apparently, it was all his/her doing… The doing of his/her flying… Or better, dance.
And there himshe were… Dancing freely in the sky… Feeling and enjoying life for what it was… Filling this former void.
In the Seedrian's soul… It all felt so genuine and pure… So perfect… Just like a…
"… A very good dream."
Precisely.
"What!?" Void abruptly snapped out of his state of constant marvel to look over the direction of the sudden voice…
His namesake gaze fixed itself on the strange figure of a certain purple weasel / wolf like creature with a canvas hat, a belt and a huge tooth that came out from his mouth…
And Fang the Sniper just grinned.
"Hello there, Void… We finally meet." The infamous agent of Chaos politely greeted.
And the Seedrian just frowned.