A Nightmare: Aine's Awakening

Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream? Edgar Allan Poe

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There was a sense of an intense and violent struggle. Somehow, the beast had to be reigned in; now! Spheres of blood appeared to be floating in the air. Also, there was the unmistakable scent of burning wood and flesh mixed together in the air. A rose was swirling nearby, as if in slow motion, then landed on the ground gently near a woman she could not recognize. This woman picked up the rose, hoping to inhale and savor it's sweet scent. As the woman did so, the rose turned to ashes and crumbled to the ground, then it was blown away by a gust of hot wind, and this woman began to cry; the sound of the sighing wind and her cry mingling, instilled a strong sense of melancholia within her as she watched this scene. There was this odd sense of displacement she felt, almost as if she were watching a play where this other woman was the actor. There was a brilliant flash of lightning then the viewpoint seemed to shift.

Could it be this unknown woman was only me after all? Whereas before she was watching, now everything melded together as one; this was happening to her, or was it? The sense of an out of the body experience continued. She was not herself, as a result she became quite scared along with an increasing anxiety. Something...

Something awful had happened...that much was clear, yet everything else came to her as a collage of broken imagery. War is truly a bloody business, totally unlike all the legends and fantasies told to her by the Bards of Valdemar...Valdemar...now that sounded familiar, but how? Exactly what did those thoughts really mean?

She also felt she should have a, a special friend along , someone who would help her no matter what. yet it was only a distant memory which came and went, then faded altogether.

All at once, she felt that odd, inner stirring again but it was more stronger now, and coupled with a stronger sense of losing her identity.

The whole world suddenly dropped beneath her, she was falling so fast she had to---

There was the sound of thunder, the sound of rain; and An abrupt halt to her falling. Now-

'I am crying, why? Something seems quite elusive to me, always out of reach...It crumbles whenever I try to grab it. I can sense someone hurting very badly, someone is undergoing intense physical and emotional pain. I must help...him? I am so worn out and exhausted yet I must--'

She felt compelled to look in the mirror (oddly enough there appeared to be no surrounding room, only mist) and she did not recognize who she was!

'Who is this now, someone I should really know?'

Even with the quirky way of dreams, the illogical sequence of events, and the time distortion, she manage to hang onto one thing; wanting to know who this was. And why, why was this happening.

Still, she felt someone was hurting very badly and she had to help and now!

The sound of shattering glass, the scream of broken souls. She covered her ears, she felt she could not stand it much longer!

Silence...a silence worse than silence. Not even the essence of death was this silent.

And then, there He was! She should know him, but couldn't focus in on him. One thing was obviously clear, this man's body and soul were literally and figuratively wounded to the core. She began to feel his pain and it hurt deeply. She-

Something temporarily was coming into a clearer focus. I know who I am I'm--

The focus and the sense of cognizance she just felt faded away into the mists. Yet something was still happening, an inner stirring, a warring of identities; she felt almost as if she were undergoing some kind of transformation...the sense of self came and went, came and went...

The man she had seen lay on the ground, was now lying curled into a fetal position.

'I love this man...' She bent down to kiss him and she could feel his hurt even more intently now. She must help now!

Again a brief moment of clarity, 'Why oh why did I hurt him! I only made matters worse! He's dying now I just know it and it's my fault!' I slapped him so hard! Her crying came unforced, there was no holding back now. 'He's going to dieee!...'

Aine bolted upright into a sitting position from her bed. "NO! STOP! IT WONT HAPPEN IT CAN'T HAPPEN!" Her scream was so loud and shrill, surely it had woken someone up. She was cold with sweat, but she felt chilled to the very core. The silvery light from the full moon was pouring in through her open window, casting eerie elongated shadows from the objects in her room. A slight cool breeze was coming in too. The breeze refreshed Aine and she came to a little more now, yet she still had that sense of dream within her...and the confusion that went along with it.

There was this awful nightmare. Where am I? First it felt as if I were watching something then all of the sudden it was all happening to me. She looked at her wounded and bandaged left hand. Oh yeah...there was that awful scene at Knoll's Ridge. At least I took out some of those Bandits, she thought with a grim sense of satisfaction. She knew enough to know this wasn't her room as the white walls were replaced with a pastel green. Gradually, it dawned on her she was probably in one of the convalescent rooms of the Healer's Wing at he Collegium.

Normally quite composed, she felt shaken and shocked to the core of her very being; she still didn't quite know who she was. She drew her right arm up and was going to wipe her hair back from her sweaty forehead. What in the name of Vademar? She thought, as she looked at her right hand...That doesn't look like my hand!

It was the dream I- could it have been from my dream? It was shaped differently...The fingers seemed to be slightly longer and she saw her skin wrinkling and smoothing almost as if it had a life of its' own and seeing this made her feel a little sick. She looked at her left hand and it was wrapped with something and she could see blood stains on her skin above and below the bandage. She looked at the bandage and it too was wriggling as if it had a life of its' own. Aghast, she quickly put her hands under the covers...She vaguely recalled that ominous nightmare. In it, she was trying to stop someone. Not only that but she was becoming someone else as well, so it had seemed. Sweating more now, she thought, I have to be hallucinating, this can't be, it was all the stress--it all happened within my dream right? She looked around aimlessly as if she were trying to figure out what to do...She tried to summon up the strength to try and do something about it. She looked at her arms, they seemed to be getting a little better, the coruscating skin seemed to her to be ceasing it's own self animation.

She stood up. I have to look in the mirror I just have to but I can't. I'm afraid of what I might see there...

Boldly, she walked slowly up to the mirror and looked. The look on her face was an instant one of fear and shock Her short blonde hair was slightly longer and parts of it were brown, but the brown seemed to be fading as she watched. Her face had changed, it appeared more soft, a bit more delicate then it was before! Her eyes seemed to be almost green for a moment, then changed gradually back to blue. She had a brief, startling thought that she looked like-

She didn't get to finish her thought. :Are you alright, Love? What happened: She could feel Xirthan's shivering as much as her own. But before she could answer with her own mindspeak, there was a loud knock at her door. She jumped and her heart skipped a beat or two. Should I open it? Perhaps if I stall a little, make a little noise like I'm cleaning up and getting dressed...She figured it had to be one of the Healers wanting to check up on her. Another knock, more insistent this time.

"Hold on I'm coming!" she tried to yell, but it came out more weak because her voice was wavering caused by the strong anxiety she was feeling. She quickly looked in the mirror and breathed a little sigh of relief. It should be ok now, she hoped. She threw on a shawl and walked apprehensively towards the door. She opened it and was more than a little surprised when she saw who the knocker was...

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Koromiel: And yet again, another chapter finished. And the best thing is…I didn't have to do a thing to it other than spell check it! Ok…so I made Phoenix rewrite it from what it was originally, but that was because we were solidifying specific things with the story. Mwa ha ha ha ha! I know what's gonna happen and you don't! ahem ok. I've got that out of my system. But I must say…more drama is on it's way. Phoenix also posted a short. So go check it out and give him a review. I had nothing to do with it, so it's all him. And now it's time for more…

REVIEWER LOVE!

erm...

Sean - glad you still like it, though I say you're biased. P hehe

Koromiel: Ok...again, I'm not posting until we get more reviews...yes we're review whores. XD We need to know we're doing ok. Ah yes! And whoever guesses who aine changed into gets a cookie and the next chapter dedicated to them! And it'll be a good one too! So how's that for an incentive! hehe