Lemonhope's rest came swiftly, but not with ease. His dreams were mixing with each other and only the worst could be remembered from each. He went through many iterations of the same dream dispersed throughout other dreams, each focusing on some meaningless idea. But his feverish visions soon started to meld together into a single experience. The world around him felt concrete and understandable, and he felt that he was his true self.
He found himself in a desolate Club Ice with not a soul in sight. Flitters of people from the past could be sensed and he could fondly remember them. Lemonhope searched for a sign of his own presence from the past. When he was on the dancefloor, he heard a voice which echoed a dissonant familiarity. Lemonhope turned to face the bathroom door next to him where the voice came from. It was loud, but the voice was too muffled for him to understand.
He opened the door and saw Frasier and Moe walking side by side through a forest. Frasier was talking to Moe about something. His voice was still muffled and became more so when Lemonhope approached them. Despite not hearing what they were talking about, he felt that he knew what their obfuscated words meant. They were having fun, determined Lemonhope from the two's plain smiles. They were talking about their latest adventure and the sights they saw. Lemonhope strained to completely understand what they were saying, but the only thing he could gleam was that they talked about everything which was not him.
Lemonhope felt that they did not even have any thoughts of him. He did not know why he desired to be talked about, but the fact that Frasier and Moe forgot about him so swiftly stung slightly. A desire to be known had overwritten Lemonhopes emotions. In the depths of his agony, he forgot what was paining him in the first place. He tried to remember what he was thinking of, but the thought constantly slipped out of his mental grasp.
He was now faced by a strange green creature which had a look of disgust on its face. He felt a sense of forgotten familiarity in the image of the creature. Lemonhope looked around to see what it was that disgusted the creature so much, but he found there to be nothing around him. The creature's focus was on him, and now Lemonhope turned his eye unto himself. He could fully see himself standing in front of the small green creature. Lemonhope's skin had become wrinkled and his facial features were sunken. His eyes were grey with only the smallest hint of colour behind them.
If there was any form of familiarity between the two before, it has long been banished. Lemonhope took a deeper look into the creature that stood in front of him, and Frasier came into form. He tried to call out to them, but his voice was lost. His desolate self reached up to Frasier, but the world around him shifted before he could make contact.
He now stood in a lonely ravine faced with nothing but his faltering memory. Without his memory of others, and the memory of him in those he cared for, he felt his existence falter. The wind picked up and began to blow viciously though the ravine. Its howls echoed through Lemonhope and made his presence lessen. The howling became deafening to Lemonhope and he found it hard to breathe. The world around him faded and with that the howls shifted in meaning. They turned into the cries of a great bird. Lemonhope could feel a great pressure on him.
He opened his eyes and found himself pinned underneath the giant bird of the nest. Panic seized Lemonhope. He thrashed in an attempt to lift the bird slightly for him to crawl out but found no leverage in the bird's weight. Lemonhope found it difficult to breathe yet did not find himself running out of breath. Lemonhope's attempts to escape soon lessened as he accepted his mistake of sleeping in the nest.
In fact, it was somewhat sweet of the mother bird to provide him such lovely warmth. The bird won't stay here forever anyways, Lemonhope reassured himself. It must fly away some time to get food and then I can just climb out. That is if I don't fall asleep before and during those flights. Lemonhope calmed down and began to manage his breathing. The thought that the bird was caring for him permeated his consciousness. Lemonhope considered this kindness and thought it would only be right that he returned the bird's kindness.
He wiggled around and raised his arms above him. Taking in the love of the bird, he returned it with a hug of his own. For a moment, Lemonhope was lost in the comfort of a mother. He never thought that emotions like this were even possible. However, his reminiscence of a hollow nostalgia was interrupted when the bird stood up. Lemonhope clung to the bird and hung in the air. He could feel the bird move its head to look at the eggs.
All his movement had alerted the bird who had been waiting for her eggs to hatch for a long time. Lemonhope realised this and clung with an even greater strength to the bird. If the bird assumed that it was an egg that moved, it would go and get food for the hatching eggs. Lemonhope's assumption was confirmed as the bird began to take off. In a flash the two were in the air and Lemonhope had to face a long drop to the earth.
Summoning all his strength, Lemonhope crawled up the bird and took a seat on its wide back. After calming down, Lemonhope could finally appreciate the result of his plan. He soared through the air on the back of a beautiful hawk and the land of Ooo far below slowly moved along. He took in the sights and realised that he was able to see multiple kingdoms and their borders at the same time. The mixtures of colour created a beautiful portrait of nature, painted by some invisible hand. He looked towards the mountains of the Ice Kingdom and saw that the peaks were small towers in the vast land of Ooo.
The mountain which contained Club Ice was small and insignificant compared to the length of the journey and the world around it. Lemonhope could see no people at his current height and felt a strange peace because of that. It reminded him of his travels with Plannel in the sky. Lemonhope stared out into the horizon and thought of what the future could hold for him. It could be bright, he decided, but he had to work for that brightness.
His moment of peace was interrupted when the bird began to descend. He had paid little attention to where the bird was charting its course, and he was slightly shocked to see a piece of land that he had never heard from before. From high above he could see a cluster of high rectangular towers surrounded by a wasteland. He was certain that the wastes were glowing but could not fully determine whether it really was. The bird was slowly descending to the outskirts of the strange rectangular cluster where a patch of trees grew.
A moderately large worm was grazing the surface of the green patch. Lemonhope prepared to jump off when the bird would be at its lowest. The bird was not likely to stick around after it got the worm. Lemonhope jumped the moment before he would be below the trees. For a moment Lemonhope soared through the air. He felt the coveted freedom of flight, yet the moment passed as soon as it began. His fall was cushioned by the branches of the tree, but not by a lot.
He still fell hard onto the patchy grass and had the wind knocked out of him. By the time he recovered, the bird and its prey were long gone. He could see a speck far off in the sky. "Thank you," he said and turned to the cluster of strange towers. The towers were monolithic when viewed from where Lemonhope stood, and the tiny slithers between each tower were now huge. The towers which had been a quaint foreign sight from above now imposed a looming sense of dread in Lemonhope.
Regardless, he approached the towers. Being so close, Lemonhope could now tell that the towers were ancient structures. They had rectangular indentations spread evenly across them and some had a tinted glass exterior. The spaces between each tower were a flat stone surface. It was slightly raised where it met the towers. It amazed Lemonhope how well the structures were preserved. It felt like seeing a live prehistoric creature which Lemonhope had seen in books. As he waltzed through the rectangular pathways, he kept seeing entrances to the towers.
He knew that the towers could hold some danger, but his curiosity built with each entrance he saw. He turned a corner and saw a building which he could not possibly ignore. Unlike the countless towers, the building was wide and short. The middle jutted out and the building had a wide flat area in front of it. The flat area also contained a high amount desolate cars.
He approached the building with a bit of speed, his curiosity finally being released. When he entered the building, he was slightly disappointed. He was not sure what he expected, but it was not a large room with a desk lining the one wall, devoid of anything interesting. But before he left the chair ridden room, he noticed a figure slowly walking out of a corridor to the far right. "Hello!" greeted Lemonhope cheerfully. "Could you please tell me what the point of this whole place is?"
Lemonhope received no reply, but the figure turned to face him.
It began to shamble towards Lemonhope and let out a faint groan. "Hello?" asked Lemonhope, now a little unsure. The figure still did not reply and continued to approach Lemonhope. "Are you alright? Do you need some help? Should I call for someone?" As if prompted by Lemonhope's last question, another figure came out of the dark corridor. Followed by another. Lemonhope took a few steps back. Maybe they're just really old, thought Lemonhope.
Maybe they're more than just really old, came Lemonhope's thought when he saw the figure step into what little light the entrance provided. The figure's body was completely distorted, despite its promising silhouette. Its face was at its abdomen and was oozing a thick green fluid out of its mouth and eyes. The other creatures soon came into the light and were also oozing out of their eyes and mouths.
Lemonhope recoiled from the sight. He turned to run but saw more of the creatures just outside the entrance. He desperately began searching for some way out and away from the growing horde of monsters. He found an answer when he saw a faded window near the entrance. He began a mad dash towards it. Curiosity killed the cat, and Lemonhope just followed in its footsteps.