DAYDREAMER

PART IV: Phantasmagoria

Floating in space... Nowhere is up, yet everywhere was too. This was all a nice dream, a quiet dream, a dream filled with mysteries and answers alike. Lucia investigates the unknown, it stares at her back with an infinitely vacant gaze. She swims in a pool of the void, desperately trying not to get swept by the current, saturated in the null, drowning in it. She needed to wake up, anything to rouse her from this slumber, a slumber that felt boundless, supreme. Gradually, the vacuous became brighter, as stars, little dots of light appeared, the lustre of which lit her surroundings. She remained, swimming in a pool of nothingness, emptiness perhaps, yet she saw herself looking up to a starry night sky, a sky filled with celestial life, the ethereal beauty stunned her. It was all a nice dream... A dream that she never wanted to leave, she had everything she needed here.

"BRRINNNNGGG"

Lucia woke up, in Kieran's office, a familiar place yet so obscure to her. She looked up at the room, still submerged in the Amythest glow. Her sight hampered by her lack of rest, she could have slept for an eternity and still be debilitated, yet it felt as if she had. She looked up at the horologes that sat on the walls, they were ticking slower than before, as if they were comatose and as exhausted as she was.

"BRRINNNNGGG"

Lucia glanced at Aiden, he was soporose, lying on his back in the corner of the room, the sound was coming from him, Lucia drifted to him, scanning him for the source of the sound, looking through his pockets and bags, too tired to speak. She picked up an alarm clock, vintage and jet black, almost invisible in the purple.

"Wake up, Aiden, wake up," she gently shook him, her voice trembled with concern as she faced the insensate boy lying before her. Inchmeal, he got up, blinking his heavy eyes, and yawning. He sat up in silence and scanned the office, rubbing his eyes as he adjusted to the color. He looked at Lucia with a face of trepidation and confusion, which was returned with the same fearful demeanour.

"What happened?" He mouthed, locking eyes with Lucia's brooch, which was no longer gold, but shining a mysterious purple, quite like the rest of the room.

"I don't know," she mouthed back, helping him to his feet.

"The clocks are normal again," He muttered, finally gathering enough energy to utter words, albeit weak and ill-pronounced.

"I know," She said, probing the horologes once again, "They feel..."

"Slower?"

"Yeah... Slower," she said, scratching her head. The ticking from the clocks played an odd melody, a dubious tune that she couldn't put a finger on. She could hear the collective groans of Magnus and Jake, who were also slowly rising, with their thoughts nullified by the beam of light, holding onto each other to gain momentum. Jake examined his surroundings, acknowledging Madeleine, who was still dozing. He crouched down, gently tapping her shoulder, striving to wake her up.

"What is going on here?" Magnus mouthed.

"We don't know..." Aiden and Lucia said, drifting towards them. The brightness of the brooch was subdued by time and started to dim; plunging the room into complete black.

"Where are the blinds?" Jake whispered, with arms outstretched feeling for his surroundings, prodding the wall until he found it. Nothing.

Jake reached into Madeleine's bag and pulled out her flashlight, shining it at where the blind should have been, to find that there was no window there, and the only thing he could see were more lifeless clocks, ticking on more lifeless walls. In a room that felt like it was floating in space, ultimately, Madeleine woke up, sensing their uneasiness.