Stained Wings

Chapter Six

"If a man is not rising upwards to be an angel, depend upon it, he is sinking downwards to be a devil."

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Dean

I was standing in the kitchen when I heard Lia's voice. It was urgent and full of anger. When I blinked I was standing in her dream world, my cup of tea still in my hand. The first thing I saw was Lia. She was screaming, her back turned to me. Her soul was emanating a deep sorrow. She turned her gaze to a maze and I followed her stare. I saw the maze crumble and collapse. Then I decided to look all around me.

The maze we stood in was completely destroyed. The walls had collapsed, the fountain was gone and all that were left from the benches were two piles of ash. The palace was crashing to the ground and the air was thick and dark.

Was she doing all of this?

"Amelia." I said slowly, drawing her name out. She swung around and dashed to me, knocking the cup from my hand. I grabbed her wrists and held onto them to stop her from hurting herself.

I started to say her name, but was cut off when I saw the scars that ran across her wrists and arms. The sight of them stunned me and I just stood there, staring at them.

She's been through hell already.

Amelia sensed that I saw the scars and started laughing. She pushed me away from her and I was paralysed. I haven't seen her this furious in centuries.

"I made you." Amelia said as a loud crack pierced the air. I looked at the last fountain and took a step back, trying to keep my balance and think. The last thing intact in her dream world was breaking apart. I had to stop her before she hurt herself more.

"You're all in here. You were all I had. You kept me alive and you're not even real." Amelia said as more tears spilled from her eyes. She thinks she made me up. She thinks I'm just in her mind.

I couldn't take seeing her like this. I moved quickly, grabbed her and held her to me. I'm not made up, Lia. I'm here.

I wanted to say it, but I couldn't move.

Amelia cried in my arms as the fountain crumbled. Next to be destroyed were the grass walls. They burst with fire as I heard her faintly whisper, "You're not real." My heart exploded and I stiffened. She's making herself believe it. She's forcing herself to let go.

I tried to tap into the rhythm of her heartbeat to try and calm her down, but her heart was closed to me.

"You're not real." She whispered again. No, Lia, I'm here, I lifted her chin and started to tell her that I loved her, but I had no voice.

I tried to hold her tighter to me, but I felt myself letting go. When I looked down I had no arms.

"You're not real."

She stepped away from me. I felt myself dissipating into the air.

"You're not real."

I looked at her one last time before I felt myself dissolving completely.

"You're not real."

When I opened my eyes, I was back in the kitchen. My cup lay on the floor, shattered. I stood there for a minute, stunned.

What the hell just happened?

Amelia was tearing that place apart. She destroyed everything in that place in less than a few minutes. She summoned me. She pulled me from my reality and forced me into her dream.