Chronicles of Myth Volume one: Twisted Daydreams

Episode seven: Precipitate destruction

I woke up drenched in sweat and screaming, “Astoria, you okay”? Nikolai’s voice sounded murky and distorted; I clapped my ears and I could hear normally again, “Astoria”. I snapped back to reality and saw Nikolai, this is disease it makes me see the things I fear the most, this is going to suck, and out of the blue I felt hungry; something inside me shut off and a psychotic bloodlust came over me. The world around me contorted, I looked in the vanity mirror and almost fainted at my reflection; my skin turned in a paler porcelain white, and my hair was decorated with three streaks of silver, I felt rotten inside as the nightmare from earlier pierced my heart and mind, I felt something fester inside me; I leaned over in pain as my stomach growled, for a second I lost all sense of who I am; I saw Nikolai and I felt my mouth salivate, “Rock candy”! I got on all fours and lunged at him, as the gap between us closed I saw him smile, “Isn’t it a little early for Halloween”; he grabbed me and I was embraced by him, I clamped down my teeth on his neck and bit into him, I never knew you tasted like coffee; the earthy flesh and blood mingled in my mouth as my tense body relaxed falling into a state of a natural high. Nikolai set me down as I started to breathe normally, I realized what I had done and looked at him in horror; “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that”. He rubbed the blood spot on his neck and looked at his bloodied finger before he sighed, “You’re going to need more than an appetizer to fill your stomach”. Nikolai took me in his arms and put me over his shoulders, “Let’s get a bite to eat”. “No, it’s fine; I can last a little longer”. “You sure, you look like you’re going to die”. He set me down on the bed and I laid down, I closed my eyes and I felt myself slipping; everything that made me who I am started to slip out of existence, something primal took over, my guardian spirit stirred inside as it became corrupted by the disease inside me; this is the price of power, maybe I bit off more than I can chew after all. Time to die, once more.

I stood in the remains of my psyche, a broken castle; in the center I saw my soul; it was still shining bright blue, in the center of my being was a black light slowly growing; I saw myself as a child, she was pure and beautiful; I watched myself turned to dust, I broke apart into specs and reformed as who as I am; the world around me turned black, I looked at my reflection, I am corrupt, I am impure, but there is still hope inside my soul. I approached myself and touched where my heart should be, as my finger approached the gaping hole it started to seal and my reflection looked at me with bulging black eyes full of sadness and tears, I felt my arms wrap around me and touch my face; “embrace this part of you”. She mouthed, I dreamt back to my real childhood; I was with Nikolai in field lined with blood and gore, the skies bled crimson as Nikolai slaughtered everything in sight that tried to harm me, he was a war god; a scary person, the only thing had left to family now, he moved and cut down all his enemies; slicing them to bits finally he faced Harvey; the root of our disease, he was much different than what I came to know him as. Before this Harvey and Nikolai went by different names, all I knew was I didn’t want any more people to die; as their blades were about to connect I stepped between them and touched their the core of their chests, a light shone from both of them as they were purified and changed, the heartache I held in until that day finally died and was put to rest; this is disease showed me what I really was, and I was afraid of who I would become. The two men went down and fell on their backs with new memories planted into them, the past I had defined for them and myself; I fell on a bed of bloodied flowers and closed my eyes to the crimson sky, the world reverted to as the last thing I saw was a blue moon above me, all other color and noise came flooding back, like a held breath the world finally exhaled and time flowed naturally once more; I lost consciousness and my world turned black. Before I fell into the void, I saw the veins in my hand turn black, the power of insanity was trumped by the will of child, now that scar has consumed me… how odd.

The candles I lit sizzled out, my unquenchable twilight flames shorted out; I stopped my vigil stared dead at the half melted candles, my world went silent; the girl I came to know was no more, the Astoria I knew was dead. The tears started well in my eyes, my heart grew heavy; I shouldn’t have let her… it’s too late now, she’s going to die and it’s my fault. I stumbled toward the bar counter, I leaned back in my barstool, I watched as the evening’s crimson sun poured in through the waiting room windows, I took a deep breath and made myself a cup of black coffee; the light slowly faded to twilight, I finally understood what it meant to have understanding, to be in the center of peace and frustration; “What I have done”? I asked staring at the ceiling, “Don’t tell you’re going to pussy out on her”. I turned and saw Nikolai, “Shut up… I don’t want to hear from you”. I drank from my cup as my salty tears mixed with the bitter coffee, “Nolan… she needs you guide her through this”. I looked in my cup, the black viscous liquid swayed in loops; “Help her retain whatever humanity she has left… I’m begging you, as her friend and guardian”. I got out my combat knife and walked past Nikolai, “What are you going do”? He stammered out, “I’m giving her pain an exit”. I felt his hand on my shoulder, “Don’t kill her she has so much to live for”. “No she won’t die, but what I’m going to do will put her in a lot of pain; can you trust me to save her”? I felt his grip loosen, I brushed his hand out of the way and walked toward her room; I made my fingers into a halberd and slid them past my blade, the metal glowed white hot and I took a deep breath; I saw sleep so peacefully, I smiled at her innocence; I won’t take your life to relieve you of your burden, but I will help you carry it. I placed my knife at her throat and closed my eyes; forgive me, I never meant this.