A/N: Written for the 10_prompt challenge on lj. Also posted on lj (link to journal in profile).
To Walk Below the Darkened Clouds
Prompt #004: Beautiful
The waking world had never seemed so beautiful to his eyes, and he found the thought quite ironic because he'd thought the same of the Digital World: a world his waking eyes had, in essence, never seen.
It had been a dream, in a sense. His body as a physical entity recalled none of it even if the memories of the soul remained engraved…or so he hoped. At times, particularly when his mind was caught in a net amidst dregs of sleep and sedation, he could feel those precious imprints slipping away and he would find himself unwilling to remain slave to that mist keeping his night terrors at bay.
His memories were more precious than his peace. And he refused to sacrifice them. Even when they impinged upon his sanity he stubbornly clung to them, refusing to relinquish his grip.
And each night the shadows grew just a little more, and he hugged the darkness just a little closer until it was cutting into his chest and trickles of blood were seeping onto the shield that protected him. A shield kept alive once by mere thoughts floating in the night sky till words repeated like a mantra anchoring it in place.