The Day My Dream Died

5 - Swelling

— 5 —

Swelling

\\//

Overmind, undermind; out of sight, out of time. Lise finds herself again in the undermind, caught in the current. She is in a cave, looking at a fading light. She is outside, sliding down the mountain. Gleeful, she prances through faint forest. She sees herself dying slowly, failing rapidly. Laughing. Laughing. Laughing...

As she reaches solid ground, her form blurs. As the undermind gains color, she darkens. The town is alive with pinpricks of light, dancing about her like faeries. She delights in them. She watches their frolic without partaking. Fiends follow them in a swarm, darting and stinging, biting but never feasting.

A lone figure stands among them, trying to shield the faeries but never able to hold all the fiends back. She is a young woman, wrapped in bright green. Lise knows her garb.

'Good night, fellow.' Lise calls. She makes no sound, but her voice reaches its target.

'Eh? Who?' The woman starts, pale face losing expression in shock. Her doe eyes blink. 'Good night? Eh? This is no good night.'

Lise nods. The woman is right. 'Yes. I will help.'

'You're not making sense, sister.'

Lise tilts her head. 'I'm dying. I can't help now, but I could.'

'I... You're dying? What do you mean?' The woman glances frantically between Lise and the faeries.

'Look.' Lise points to her body, and blood covers her. She collapses, bones broken and flesh torn. 'I'm dying.'

'Good grace, you're dying!'

'Yes. I will help, if I can live.'

The woman looks about in confusion. 'What do I do to save you?'

Lise looks at the mountain in the distance. A cave on the near side. Yes, that's where she is dying. 'There. Send help.'

'I...'

//\\

Open eyes. Lise is blinded by pain. Her thoughts are scrambled. It is hard to breathe. So cold...

She can do nothing but lie there, shaking. Am I dying? Am I going to die? Fear grips her. Alone, far from home, powerless, unfulfilled. The end. She weeps for the cost. Thought blown away as a handful of dried petals.