"Mind Fields"
Chapter Seven:"Through The Hall of Mirrors"
Squall followed Denial, as he led him through the concrete-drenched streets of Deusapolis.
"Just tell me where you're taking me this time?" Squall demanded.
"I am taking you to The Hall of Mirrors;
A place that is beyond your mind." Denial replied.
Following him, Squall watched his torn clothes swirl and embrace him as they went. He watched them stretch out, then shrink, leave too much for the imagination, or too little.
"Your clothes keep changing; shifting shape." Squall said,
"I am Denial and it's a way to escape
The inevitable celestial rape." Denial replied, as he continued to advance.
Squall watched the streets of Deusapolis change; the concrete shifted it's colour from blackish gray to red as they went. Every tile Squall stepped on was cracking up; and then, as he turned and looked over his shoulder, starting to fade.
"The city is fading behind us!" Squall warned.
"Now you see what blinds us
Is the message-
That we pray doesn't find us;
If it does-
We will remain mindless." Denial replied to his concern. Squall sighed. He knew he had no choice to follow him.
As he felt the city dissolve behind him, he also felt a hostile breeze in the air; he could see the breeze in a way. He felt it's red fingers brush against his skin and rush into his hair. He felt the city destroyed behind him; and the wind was also brushing the remains away.
"There's something wrong about this!" Squall said.
"If you are not willing to take risks
Then you can never find true bliss!" Denial cut him off.
"Why are you reflecting my concern?" Squall demanded
"I do no such thing- for I learn
There's no escaping the fire as you turn
You just have to burn!"
"Where are you taking me?"
"To a place that is breaking me!"
"Does this place have a name; to make it clearer?"
"I am slowly taking you to The Hall of Mirrors!"
Squall chased after Denial, whom had started to run. Squall felt the hostile breeze embrace them, as if it was about to kiss them. Squall felt the razor kiss on his lips, his lips had been cut; and they were bleeding. Squall tried to stop the blood from flowing out...
...For every droplet was drilling right through the concrete below as if it was a layer only broken by blood. He looked at Denial curiously as they continued to advance towards 'The Hall of Mirrors'.
"Why am I following you to this hall?" Squall demanded.
"Do you wish to understand this place or not?" Denial demanded in return.
"Do you know what I wish for, all in all?"
"I do; for I also know this is your only shot!"
Squall advanced one more time, until they stopped at two large doors that blocked exit to a certain place. Squall observed the doors. He noticed that, they were shaped like razorblades, blood dripping off the gaps. Squall watched the blood flow into the ground, and then, flow towards Denial; flow uphill.
"Why is the blood flowing back to your feet?"
"Because I am the result when you deny defeat
Like you had in times of deceit,
This is a game from which you can't seem to forefeit."
"How can I pass through these razor doors?"
"Enough with the questions, just look at the floor!"
Squall stared at the floor. The tiles had shifted their shapes and they were now becoming small vortexes, moving towards the doors. Squall watched in awe as the vortexes started to bleed the razor doors, and forced them open.
"The doors open for you; for you only,
This is why with me you are so lonely!" Denial said, in a rather cryptic manner.
Squall followed Denial into The Hall of Mirrors. As they passed through the doors, Squall momentarily stopped. Looking at the doors, he saw something hanging off the edges of the razors, something that seemed rather familiar to him. His fingers gripped a few strands of raven hair; all dipped in blood. Shivering, he let go of the strands, and watched them fall to the vortex tiles underneath his feet.
"Are you coming, or will you just fondle the past?" Denial demanded from far away.
"I am coming; and I hope this passage will be the last!" Squall replied.
"It will be, if you want it to be."
"It doesn't matter what I want for me."
Denial dove right into the hall, and Squall followed him. However, he wasn't quite ready for the sight.
The Hall of Mirrors, in fact, was a hall constructed only by mirrors. The floor, the ceiling, the walls, the small benches put there for the passangers to rest... mirrors everywhere. Squall's mind was unable to comprehend the sight for a second. Everywhere he looked, he saw himself, but in different clothes, standing in an infinite space of possibilities.
Then, Squall heard a scream. Jumping up in fear, furiously, he looked around. He faced a reflection of his own. The reflection was his; same hair the scar, the ice-blue eyes, the same clothes...
...However, there was a glow in his eyes that Squall never had. A mad glare about those ice-blue eyes was slowly turning the looking glass in front of him two an obscure, black surface. After the looking glass went completely obscure, Squall heard a scream from the inside. And then, the black mirror in front of him broke, sending it's shards flying everywhere; changing every looking glass they touched to obscure, black surfaces. Squall heard the scream rise to a self-explainatory verse fading in.
Squall started to run across the hall, while every mirror behind him were breaking, and staining others. He had started to ehar the words of the verse.
"I AM HATE
I'M SHARP, AND I AM OF BURNING ICE
I AM THE COSTS OF A UNIQUE SACRAFICE
I AM THE VISION OF BURNING LICE
I AM HATE
I AM YOUR BLACKENED VIOLENCE DEVICE!!!"
Squall felt the ground become blackened as well, every cut inflicted on his body from the bouncing glass shards; Squall noticed that as sharp as they were, they were actually forming marble cushions in the air as he progressed.
Momentarily, Squall stopped as he heard the glass breaking behind him; and violent footsteps approaching.
What he saw was someone rushing at him. When he came out in the clear, Squall saw himself...
...But his hair was different.
As Hate swung his gunblade towards Squall, he jumped backwards to avoid any injury. The gunblade slashed through a mirror on the wall, and it's shards flew all around, smashing other mirrors, and inviting a light inside.
Hate's raven hair flew around his face, as Squall rose to his feet and rose his own gunblade. He watched Hate, witnessed the fury in his eyes that were visible through his long, raven hair.
"Why are you against me; am I your enemy?"
"ARE YOU NOT TIRED OF QUESTIONING ME,
WHAT ELSE DOES THERE HAVE TO BE
FOR YOU TO EMBRACE YOUR INSANITY
AND ADMIT YOUR BLASPHEMY!?"
"I never did cause this catastrophe!" Squall said, turning around and starting to run towards the exit of The Hall of Mirrors, a place where light of the mirrors turned to ultimate darkness.
"NO, YOU ONLY WISHED FOR IT TO BE
ULTIMATE DYSFUNCTION-
SO YOU COULD ESCAPE ALL DEATH EASILY!"
Squall witnessed all the mirros across the hall become black and shatter themselves. He could hear Hate's maniacal laughter echoing through his path. He shielded his eyes with his arms and blindly, continued to run, feeling the glass shards fly in every which direction; embracing his vicinity in a tornado.
Squall screamed, he couldn't hear the sounds anymore. Sound, words, they all had stopped making sense.
He tripped...
Squall felt his world spin, he felt the sense of losing directional refferences. He felt himself lose his own mind in that small, short moment full of a spinning sense that just wouldn't stop circling on.
"I have to survive through this!" Squall called out to his own self
"THEN REJECT YOUR DEMENTED BLISS!!!" Hate called out to him.
Squall felt himself hit the ground. He felt the soil underneath him. He saw that, it all was dark around him; it was night in Deusapolis. He looked around, and saw something subtle.
A gravestone.
Crawling back up to his feet, Squall stumbled across the stone. He read the inscription on it.
"When Reason passed away and became carrion, I
Could not demand of anyone else but AYREONA"
"So you're here..." a thousand voices rose from all around him; the sentenced circled him. Looking around, Squall saw everyone he had met throughout this journey.
A gathering was being held.
Author's Notes: I'm sorry it took so long to reply to, but I've been 1) Busy with finals, 2) Busy with writing an original fiction named "Seraphim System" which is on fictionpress. But, no worries, though a bit late, "Mind Fields" will finish, and if I finish "Seraphim System" on the way, a sequel to complete it (possibly named as "Symptoms of Mercy Redux") to a trilogy. Reviews are not just welcomed; they areappreciated.