Aru Shah and the Chamber of Lies

Two Nightmares are Better Than One!

Aru's dream started off pretty nicely. She was in Home Depot, strolling through the various aisles, occasionally scaring another customer by bursting out one of the doors, the usual. She was just about to frighten another innocent soul walking by but when she stepped through the door frame to do so, she wasn't in Home Depot anymore.

Aru was floating in an unfortunately familiar scene. All she could see was a huge black expanse, stretching out far beyond what she could see. She gulped nervously. Not again, she thought to herself in trepidation. This was how all her nightmares started out, ever since she had defeated her father. She closed her eyes, waiting for what would come next.

And right on cue, she heard the sound of dozens of heartbeats combined together, sounding like drums. Thump. Thump. Thump. Aru's eyes flew open and she put her hands over her ears, trying to block out the sound, but it was no use. It sounded throughout her head, and resonated with her own heartbeat.

It's just a dream, she told herself, trying to stay calm. Just a dream.

But then the scene changed, and all thoughts of staying calm flew from her mind. She recognized the location immediately. It was the place where they had killed the Sleeper. No, where she had killed her father.

In her nightmare, the Sleeper was haggard. His heterochromatic eyes stared at her and her friends weakly as he raised his hand, and was about to command more shadows to attack them, when Kara stepped in. Aru watched as her sister, with tears in her eyes, raised her trident and blasted him with harsh rays of light. While he cowered under the brightness, Aru felt herself bring Vajra down on him and vanquish him.

Aru looked away, unable to stare at her father's dead body directly. No, it's not my fault, she tried to tell herself. She had to do it. She didn't have any other choice. It was either her dad or the whole world. Aru knew she had made the right decision, but that didn't make it hurt any less.

When she finally got the courage to look at her father again, she realized that this time she was all alone in the same black space. What?! Aru swiveled her head around. Her nightmare should have ended by now as it normally did!

Oh, Aru, Aru, Aru.

Aru froze and glanced upwards. Dread built up in her stomach as she stared up. Her father's lifeless body was plastered on the ceiling, yet somehow, his eyes were wide open and were pure black. His mouth stretched into a monsterous smile as he gazed directly into her own eyes.

She let out a guttural scream, and tried to run away, to wake up, anything, but silver chains popped out of nowhere and wrapped around her body, holding her in place.

Her father's mouth opened once more and in a voice unlike his, he taunted, "Oh, Arundhati. You may have defeated your father, but you have not destroyed me yet! This isn't the end!"

No. No, no, no. This can't be happening! Aru tried to yell, but bindings appeared and covered her mouth. Her father, or whatever was possessing his body, started laughing hysterically and Aru struggled against the chains. Just as she broke free, the scene changed one last time. This time, it was familiar.

Aru was standing alone in a battlefield with her other sisters. The other four had their weapons drawn out and directed them towards someone. No... towards her. She felt her heartbeat getting faster and faster as Mini, with her small face so full of fury, lifted Dee Dee up and pointed it at her and said, "Good-bye. Forever."

Aru woke up covered in a layer of cold sweat. She gasped and felt tears fall down from her face. She quickly wiped them away and downed a glass of water from her bedside table. Vajra sent gentle sparks up her arm, as if it was trying to calm her down. What was that? It felt too real to be a regular nightmare. She shuddered, remembering the sight of her dead father. Although he had opened her eyes and talked in her dream and everything, he seemed more like a puppet than an actual person.

She was about to text her sisters about her nightmare, but she paused. Maybe she shouldn't tell them, not just yet. Especially not about that last scene she had seen. She had never told anyone about how her father had shown her that image the first time she had fought him. Nor did she want to.

Grunting, she glanced at the digital clock in her room which read 2 am. She sighed. Guess I'm not getting any sleep tonight either.