Author's note: I'm still alive. This is the monthly chapter of gigantic. Time to move on to the other stories as well.
Inma felt herself floating in her dreams. Her body was completely weightless as she hovered over clouds below. Each cloud resembles a puffy marshmallow. It made her a little bit hungry. Just a little though. As she floated in the air, various buildings and people began to form. Soon she was lowered down below to the puffy clouds beneath her and began to walk. She looked around and saw blurs of faces in the crowd. Her eyes roamed the area to see if she recognized anything at all whether they were people or buildings alike.
Unfortunately, she saw nothing that resembled anything in her waking life. She reached down into her satchel and tried to feel around for Jack instinctively. The satchel was as empty as the lands she was roaming while awake. She gasped as her heart began to race.
"The book! The map!" She said as she glanced around her and rushed to ask various people. Their faces were familiar and at the same time unfamiliar. None of them knew what she was talking about. She felt like she was speaking gibberish. Disgruntled she turned away and looked up at a massive pillar. The pillar was surrounded by birds alike and a feeling of dread fell down upon her. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her. It was so daunting and massive that she didn't know if it was the right place to go but she persisted.
Soon her hand was against the massive concrete foundation of the building. A wooden door creaked open and a cold wind blew from the inside. She walked up the steps and opened the door slowly.
Inside the building, dust covered the floor like snow covers the land during winter. Dust bunnies littered the inside like charged cigar butts freshly smoked. She closed the door behind her and looked inside at the empty podium with a dusty old book inside.
"The book!" Inma cried out as she rushed towards it with her arms stretched out. She flipped open the book and a puff of dust blew into the air. She coughed a few times, felt her eyes sting, and looked at the book again. The pages were filled with gibberish and distorted letters. Inma squinted as hard as she could but unfortunately, she wasn't able to read any of it inside.
"None of the spells or words look familiar." Inma sighed as she angrily slammed the book. She looked down below the ground trying to notice anything else, but nothing else seemed familiar. Inma grabbed the book and hoped that it would give her clues later on. The dark shadow of the stairs towered above her and her curiosity peaked. She walked up the stairs and held onto the rail with her life. Each of the stairs felt like they would crack if she put on anymore force than necessary.
She held her breath as she stumbled up the stairs, dodged cobwebs and spiders alike. Part of her wanted Jack to be there to offer her reassurance, but he was nowhere to be found. She would have enjoyed his support at the moment. Inma frowned.
I can do this myself, Inma thought to herself as she struggled up the flight of stairs. Thankfully for her, the boards were broken down or else her foot would have been scrapped by loose splinters. After a few minutes of ever growing darkness, she found herself at the top of the building and looked out the lone window. Outside of the window, the weather was absolutely stunning. Stars lit up the night sky in such a beautiful way that Inma almost cried. She looked outside at the stars above and opened the book once more. This time the book began to glow and the words that were once gibberish on paper began to turn into something legible. At first, her face lit up with happiness. Her dreams were finally about to show her something, but then her expression turned into fear as she finally looked back at what it said.
TURN BACK! The words read as Inma's fear bubbled up inside her. Like lightning, a fire started from the book she held in her hands. The pages began to turn into ash.
"No. Nooo!" Inma slapped away the flames with all of her might, but the flames continued to spread like a disease. She dropped the book and saw it burn away with her unable to do anything.
She looked outside to see if the townspeople outside had taken notice, but eerily enough there was not a towns person in sight. They all vanished within the blink of an eye. Outside in the deepest part of her vision, a single spark flashed and then the entire town erupted in flames. Smoke filled the air and Inma screamed as she backed away.
Turn back! This town had a deepest, groggily voice heard from deep within the flames. Inma's heart began to beat and beat so fast that it almost popped out of her chest. She screamed loudly as a chill ran down her spine and woke up in the middle of the night. Her back still against the tree, she reached down to where Jack was in her pocket and made sure that he was safe. She sighed and decided to stay up for as long as she could to collect her thoughts.
