Chapter 34: Haze
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Arora's eyes fluttered open slowly as she rose up.
For some reason she felt fuzzy, like her mind was spinning. After several disorienting moments, she finally realized she was no longer in her bed.
Panic surged through her as her mind cleared. She surveyed her surroundings in a rush. All around her stretched an endless white void. No walls, no ceiling, just endless nothingness.
"Where...where am I..."
She rose to her feet and began walking in a random direction, completely terrified.
After a while, she noticed her form was as pale as a ghost, which only frightened her more.
"Is this a dream?" she whispered, her hands trembling slightly. "Yes, it has to be a dream. There's no other explanation."
She forced herself to take deep breaths, struggling to regain control of what felt like her racing heart.
This was a technique Mr. Raymond had taught her to manage her anxiety. It slowly took effect as she rationalized her situation.
"Yes, it can only be a dream," she decided with a resolute expression. "I was thinking about the North Pole when I fell asleep, and now everything is white."
She wondered why there was no snow around her, since this was supposed to be the north pole, but ultimately just chucked it up to her dream being weird.
She had never been this Lucid in a dream before, so her curiosity gradually replaced her fear as time passed. She kept walking in a random direction, driven by her instinct. After what felt like twenty minutes of walking, she started getting tired.
That was when she finally noticed something else. A figure sitting cross-legged in the distance. As she drew closer, she could make out a boy who appeared to be around her age, dressed entirely in pristine white garments that nearly blended with their surroundings.
She smiled in relief as she quickened her pace, happy she had finally found something new in this strange dream.
As she got closer, her smile faltered. She noticed there was something profoundly wrong about the boy.
There was a pitch black hole in the center of the boy's chest, as if the space there had been simply cut out. One arm was missing entirely, as if he had never had one in the first place. Most disturbing of all, despite standing directly in front of him, Arora could not perceive his face. It wasn't hidden or shadowed, it was fundamentally obscured, like a detail her mind refused to process.
She hesitated, as she weighed her words carefully.
"Umm... hello. Who are you?"
Her curiosity had overpowered her apprehension. She'd never seen anyone that even slightly resembled his visible features, so she thought his presence in her dream was pretty strange.
She didn't know if he'd be able to answer β since he was just a part of her dream, but since she was this lucid, she didn't think it would hurt to try.
... unless it did, she still wasn't sure how this worked.
Several minutes passed as the boy remained motionless.
Arora was about to abandon hope when his head suddenly turned to face her.
{π―ππππ π¨ππππ}
She took a few steps back as her eyes widened in shock, surprised that the boy could actually respond. The voice did not feel like it was coming from in front of her. It felt like it was directly transmitted into her mind.
"Hβhi, nice to meet you." She cleared her throat nervously, as she adjusted her glasses out of habit before extending her hand. "I'm Arora... but I guess you already knew that." She said with an awkward laugh. "Sorry, I'm not the most social person. I'd like to know who you are... if you don't mind me asking?"
The boy just stared at her silently for a few moments. His expression complicated, despite his face being mostly obscured.
{πππ πππ ππππ ππ πππ π·ππππππ πππ. π»πππ'π πππ πππππ π ππ ππ ππ ππ ππππππ}
Arora gazed at him strangely. She had heard of the word Primordial before in some of the fantasy novels she had read.
It was a title referring to beings that existed at or from the beginning of time. Sometimes they were even older than the universe itself.
Arora's expression brighted in awe. She had no idea her imagination could conjure something so elaborate!
The fact the primordial being resembled a child felt a bit limited on her part, but she didn't think it mattered that much.
{π»πππ ππ πππ π π ππππ π¨ππππ. π° ππ πππ π πππππππ ππ ππππ πππππππππππ.}
{π¨πππππππ, ππππ πππππ ππ ππ ππππ ππ π ππ ππ πππ ππππ ππππ πππππππππ ππ.}
Her thoughts froze as she realised that the being in front of her could read her mind.
'This isn't a dream? What does he mean by that' she thought, confused. For some instinctual reason, she felt like what the being was telling her was the truth, but she couldn't bring herself to accept it. After all it didn't make sense, where else could she be?
{π»πππ ππ ππ π πππππ, π¨ππππ}
{πππ πππ π πππ .}
π° ππππππ ππππ πππππππππ ππππππ ππππ ππππ πππ πππππ ππ πππ πππππππππ πππ πππππππ ππ ππππ.}
"Wβwhat?" She stammered in confusion.
She chuckled hesitantly.
"That's not possible. How can I be dead? What are you talking about. I'm just dreaming. I just went to sleep after writing my letter to Santa. This is just a dream. Why are you trying to scare me like that?"
The Primordial simply gazed at her. she couldn't see it's expression but somehow she felt that it was a look of pity.
The primordial πΊπππππ .
{π°'π πππππ π¨ππππ, πππ πππ π πππ . ππππ ππππ ππππππ πππππππ πππ ππππππππππ πππ πππ ππππ πππ πππ ππ ππππ.}
Arora stared at the Primordial being in disbelief as the earlier fuzzy sensation returned, stronger now. She felt like there was something blocking her memory. Like a static she couldn't get through. She didn't want to believe what it was saying, she couldn't. But she felt like she was forgetting something very important.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she clutched at her head.
"Wβwhy can't I remember"