CHAPTER 35: The Dream Realm

Okay . . . part of this thing's in third person cause I feel like it.

Enjoy, my lovelies!

The sun was beginning to set as soon as Elyssia realized that she was in Weston. Being the same place where Adria and Alana went to meet their maker, it gave her the creeps. Putting her irrational fears aside, she ran inside the nearest building and kept on running through the long hallways. Just then, she tripped. Elyssia was flat on her face, and she could hear maniacal, mad laughter echoing through the vicinity.

"Just kill me . . . I've got nothing left to lose . . ." Elyssia panted as she sat up, looking at Peater, who had a sinister-looking syringe in his leaf.

His eyes still had all hell contained in them, perhaps even Satan's spirit itself. Elyssia saw a few zombies enter through a wide crack in a wall, and she immediately reacted by shooting a bunch of peas, vanquishing them in an instant.

"Last battle you'll fight . . . in this bloody world . . ." Peater growled as he tapped her stem, causing her to turn around.

Before Elyssia could react, the needle had plunged right into her head, leaving her to fall to the floor. A fresh wound created a pool of her own blood to form on the floor around me. Peater knelt down beside Elyssia, a devilish smile on his face. As his eyes darted around the pool of blood that was slowly increasing in size, another flare seemed to erupt in them.

"I wish it didn't have to come to this . . . but an eye for an eye is an eye for an eye, Antonia." he said in a satanic voice.

"No . . . realize what you're doing, please. Remember . . . us . . . ?" she asked in a weak voice.

The expression on Peater's face only became more gleeful as he plunged the needle back into Elyssia's stem yet again.

THE DREAM REALM

~ELYSSIA~

I woke up in a dark room. It wasn't the same place in which I had woken up the last time I had died.

"Adria! Alana! Is anyone in here?" I called out.

"Only the souls of those who have been forgotten, that's who!" I turned around, and saw Adria, except she looked more like a demon than an unidentifiable Peashooter, and instead of walking around, she floated around.

"Forgotten is right as hell!"

I turned around yet again, and saw yet another demonic plant. She had red eyes, shackled leaves, and eyes that had both forlorn and sadistic expressions in them.

"Who . . . who the hell are you?!" I asked.

"I'd like to ask the same of you, Elyssia." the plant replied.

"Who have you become? You're a demon yourself! Remember when you poisoned me? Your own aunt?"

I gasped, and recalled the drastic occurrence.

I was five years old, and I was dancing around, happy that my aunt Adina was coming over for a visit. Little did I know that I had knocked a poisonous chemical into the glass that she was supposed to drink from...

When she drank her share of the wine before I could warn her, she sank to the ground, dead.

"Jesus Christ! I-it . . . i-it was an accident! I swear to God!" I protested.

"Besides . . . I was only . . . what . . . five! How the hell was I supposed to know ―"

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Adina screeched.

"Exactly! Who do you think you are?"

I turned around for the third time in ten minutes, and I saw Ellen limping towards me, a hole in her chest, and her petals had turned into actual licks of fire.

"Y-you killed me when you could've forgiven me!" Ellen cried, flaming tears falling from her eyes and burning the ground as soon as they made contact with it.

Adria gasped, and slapped me.

"So much for thinking that I had a good sister!"

"W-wait . . . why isn't Alana here?" I asked.

"Where the hell am I?"

"Welcome to the dream realm, Elyssia." Adria said.

"How can I get out?" I asked.

I then saw an orange Chomper making his way towards me. He had a cane in one leaf, and he was using it for support. His roots were in shackles, and those shackles had weights attached to them.

"Strange . . . you are different. You are made of ice, and you haven't turned into an eternal, tortuous flame." the Chomper murmured as he surveyed me.

"Come with me, little one. And hey ― the name's Adam.
"Endure what you can. If you prove yourself worthy, then, only then, can you go out into the world. If not, well, slit goes the knife to your throat, and forever shall you be bound to this realm of mine!" Adam explained as he took me to a small room.

"Wha . . . ?!" Before I could yell, I was sucked into another world.

I was by myself in a room, prancing about. I had developed a love for dancing...

... Until someone came in, and humiliated me. That someone was my least favourite cousin, Fernando.

"You're the worst dancer, you slut. Why don't you just go somewhere and die?"

I gasped, and punched him in the face. His nose started bleeding, and because he had anaemia, he became weak quickly. He was taken to the hospital, only to die there.

"Had enough already?" Adam asked as he waved a leaf, bringing me back into the small room.

"No. Let me endure more." I answered.

"Very well . . ." Adam murmured as he clapped his leaves, and brought about a myriad of memories and instances of war.

I was in an empty room. Ash was with me, and he had a knife in his leaf. He wordlessly charged at me, and next thing I knew, the knife had ripped through my stem. I screamed out loud . . .

. . . Only to be brought back into the little room. Adam was smiling mischievously.

"Had enough?"

"No . . . give me more . . ." I replied wordlessly.

"So be it!" Adam sniffed as he clapped his leaves yet again.

Memory after memory engulfed me ― from me killing Ellen and stabbing Alduin to the time when I tried to kill myself in my bathroom. Pain was blackening my soul, and I felt as if I could stand no more. Then Adam's voice rang out clear.

"If you can stand no more, then too bad. Remember ― I rule this realm, and I can turn you into a demon without raising a leaf."

I gasped as I was engulfed inside what I knew was the future.

I found myself kissing somebody ― or something. I finally managed to pull away, and in front of me, stood someone who I knew was my worst enemy. He looked silly and lovesick, which made me want to slap him silly.

"Ash! What . . . what happened to Peater?" I asked frantically. "Peater's dead, you idiot! Remember ― he died in combat!" Ash answered.

"What's . . . what's happened to me . . . er . . . us?" I sputtered as I saw the glasses of wine on the table.

"What a stupid question! It's our anniversary!" Ash laughed.

I gasped, and looked at the year on the calendar to my right.

2023

"Jesus!" I gasped.

I then took the glass of wine and surveyed it. Something was tempting me to drink it. I couldn't resist, and soon, I was consuming the liquid. Something in the alcoholic fluid made me start choking. I screamed . . .

. . . And found myself in the tiny room, Adam laughing his head off.

"Oh, God! If only you saw yourself!" he guffawed.

I growled as I came closer to him, giving him an evil stare.

"Adam, you are truly evil. Pawning the souls of innocent plants in exchange for your power . . . IT'S NOT RIGHT!"

Adam looked abashed, then his body began to change as his eyes narrowed.

I knew it was anything but my imagination as Adam changed from a plain Chomper into what looked like a cross between a demon, a Chomper and a dragon. "You see my real wrath?" he snickered as he clapped his leaves and charged at me. I tried to shoot a jet of ice, but all that came out was a tiny wind that dissolved as soon as it hit the Chomper.

AAHH!

I gotta believe . . .

I gotta believe . . .

"Think this is a time to tell yourself to believe?" Adam snarled as he fired saliva at me, which I barely dodged. I was feeling unusually sensitive, and I so desperately wanted to shout, "How rude! How offensive!"

But, like any wise girl or boy would do, young or old, I kept my mouth tightly shut.

"Mmm hmm, that's a good girl. Keep your mouth shut ― because your own words can be your very downfall." Adam murmured as he fired a fireball at me.

Feeling stronger, I used an icy wind to keep it at bay. Finally, it dissolved into nothing but dust. I then remembered yet another thing I was taught.

When in doubt in a fight

Don't take a flight

Think about what you have . . .

Be brave, be brave . . .

Your opponent won't have it

Not one little bit . . .

"Again! The sheer stupidity of remembering meaningless poems! It will drive me insane one of these days! INSANE!" Adam screeched as he tried to eat me.

I punched his stomach, and sent a jet of ice hurtling at his mouth. Because he couldn't dodge in time, his mouth started to ooze blood in no time at all.

"Bitch! You'll pay for this!" Adam snarled as he charged at me.

I jumped, and ended up behind him.

"Hey ― I have something that you don't!" I yelled, though in no time at all, I realized that this was a bad idea, considering the fact that I didn't know what I had that Adam didn't have in his possession.

"I am the leader of this realm, Elyssia. How can you say that you're more powerful than me?" Adam asked as he gave me the death glare.

"I have something that you don't!" I answered loudly.

"What would that be?"

Adam asked. I wracked my brain for possible answers.

My ability!

"Idiot! Wrong! I can fire fireballs at you. Got anything to say on that?" Adam laughed. I tried again.

A life!

"Idiot, will you EVER learn?" Adam snickered. Yet again I tried.

Math abilities!

"This isn't rocket science, dumb-dumb!" Adam growled as he produced a whip and struck me with it. Hard. I searched my mind again.

A soul!

"Souls are powerless, Elyssia. You ought to know!" Adam muttered as he struck me yet again.

Eyes!

"Wow . . . you really are laying it on thick, aren't you?" Adam guffawed.

THWACK went the whip on my stem.

A brain!

"Sure . . ."

THWACK went the whip. I was becoming desperate, because I was beginning to bleed dangerously. My blood was beginning to create a small pond around my roots. Then it hit me as I remembered that poem I wrote for him.

Our love is like a silk thread

Delicate but lovely

But it ain't snapping ―

Not on my watch!

Why?

Well . . .

It's 'cause I love you!

"Love, you say. LOVE!"Adam chuckled as he gave me yet another strike.

But I knew that this was my big break as I closed my eyes to concentrate. But how . . . how would I show love? I could never love anyone as evil as Adam, but . . .

. . . I had the love of one soul. One real soul. Okay, maybe someone else was controlling him, but that didn't stop me from loving him, and that didn't stop him from loving me.

"Why did you write that poem, Elyssia?" Peater asked me one day.

"I . . . uh . . . I wrote it for you . . . you know . . . I . . . L-O-V-E you . . ."

It was an awkward moment ― let's face it. But it held a lot of meaning. I opened my eyes, and I saw Adam writhing in pain on the floor. "May this hateful soul go to hell and rot!" I yelled as I shot a jet of ice at him.

That killed him instantly.

I then saw the walls of the room fall down. All of those "demons" looked more like normal plants now. They had obtained their souls, and they were smiling ― something that wasn't to be seen around here at all. Then the ground began to give in.

I woke up in a strange bed. The rooms were completely adorned with black and white stripes. In walked a Sunflower, holding a tray of chicken and rice. But what I found weird was that she walked with a strange rhythm.

"Umm . . . excuse me, ma'am, but . . . what's your name?" I asked timidly.

"Amelia." the Sunflower answered as she put the tray on my bedside table.

Yet another weird occurrence; for Amelia didn't seem to be speaking the words. They seemed to be coming through her. Amelia also didn't seem to have her own personality. She seemed like a robot that happened to look and act like a Sunflower. I then saw the word painted in graffiti script on the tray.

Camazotia.

I was clearly in another world.

"How did I get here?" I asked Amelia.

"You fell out of the sky." she answered.

"Wait . . . are there zombies in here?"

"Yes there are zombies here in Camazotia."

"Where in the world is this?"

"It is not on Earth. This particular place is a part of the massive dream realm."

I frowned slightly as the blunt answers that Amelia was giving me. She then clapped her leaves, with the same rhythm to which I could feel pumping through my veins . . . barely. A Garlic came shuffling in, to the rhythm that seemed to be everywhere.

"We have a new patient." he announced.

Just as he was about to speak some more, a bell rang.

"It's playtime for the sprouts." he said dully.

I asked Amelia to wheel my bed over to the window so that I could watch. And surely enough, there were sprouts on every driveway. The girls had skipping ropes, while the boys simply bounced a ball up and down.

Skip.

Bounce.

Skip.

Bounce.

The same rhythm everywhere. The houses and gardens looked the same as well. In fact ― in this place, there was a rhythm everywhere. After what seemed like centuries of watching this weird ritual, the mothers of the sprouts came out onto the doorsteps. They clapped their leaves, and the sprouts came rushing up the steps and inside the houses.

"Weird . . ." I mumbled.

Everything was the same.

I was finally released from the hospital, only to wander the streets alone. Just then, a zombie with a wart over one eye riding a motorcycle screeched to a halt beside me. Strangely enough, he wasn't sucked into the heartbeat of Camazotia.

"Uhh . . . excuse me ―" I was cut off almost immediately.

"What's your name?" the zombie asked.

"M-my name i-s . . . Elyssia." I answered.

"Elyssia . . ." the zombie repeated the word to himself, before his eyes ― or rather, his free eye ― widened into the size of saucers.

"C'mere!" he growled as he produced a rope and bound me with it. "You're coming to the base. We've been, ah . . . wanting you.