…BETWEEN DREAMS AND REALITY…
~ KIERA ~
The water was cold, dark, and filled with the bodies of strangers. Severed heads and other body parts occupied the lake with the dead and dying.
Pale beams of moonlight revealed the steam hanging in the atmosphere. As everything intermingled with blood, guts, and knots of hair, its shattered visage, mirrored on the water's surface, became more distorted.
I thrashed in the water, my limbs heavy and stiff, as if the lake itself was dragging me down. My chest burned with panic as I sank deeper, the bodies around me brushing against my skin.
Lake Sage was a large body of water nestled in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded by six-meter-high cliffs, a dense forest of dead trees, and located three kilometers directly North of our cabin in the woods.
Because of its odd shape, the locals referred to it as 'the devil's bathtub' and told every curious newcomer that the trek up to the lake wasn't worth dying for. I used to assume they were just terrifying stories. A minor fact wrapped in a lie designed to scare children and deter anyone from visiting. But after seeing it for myself, I realized the rumors were not exaggerated. The lake was dangerous. Even animals instinctively avoid getting near it.
It was ominous, but it was not the lake's stories that unsettled me. It was them. The Reds. Hundreds… no, there were thousands lining the cliffs and stretching across the shoreline. Their bodies merged into one another, forming a wall of living shadow, and their eyes glowed like countless red stars against the black.
I had seen the Reds before. Just glimpses. A flicker at the edge of my vision. Always there. Always watching. But never like this. Never so many. It was aways one or two of them. Never more.
The reds did not move. They did not speak. They only stared. Their eyes fixed on me, unblinking, following every frantic thrash of my arms, every sharp gasp as I struggled to keep my head above the water. My chest ached with the effort, but the weight pressing down on me was not from the lake. It was from them. Their gaze smothered me like a physical force.
And yet no one else seemed to notice.
All around me, students from school laughed and splashed in the water. Someone blasted music from a speaker on the rocks. Strings of fairy lights dangled from the dead trees, glowing faintly against the darkness. To them, this was just an ordinary summer-night party. A night of laughter, flirting, bad beer, and fun. They cheered as someone flipped off the cliffs and splashed into a lake, others shouted dares and jokes across the lake.
They did not see the bodies drifting past them. They shrieked at the cold water, but not at the heads bobbing beside them, not at the bloated torsos rolling belly-up in the waves. They did not smell the copper bite of blood thick in the air. To them, the water was only water. They carried on, blind and laughing, like nothing was wrong.
But I saw it.
The Reds were always there. They were watchers, observers, nightmares that never moved, never spoke, never looked away. And their eyes never left me. Always watching. Always waiting. Their presence was the same weight that had followed me for years, but never had they gathered in such numbers. Never had their eyes been so many.
Something changed. The winds picked up, whistling against the trees. There were no leaves to rustle, but the air passing over dried bark sounded like soft howls or wails in the distance.
Then, one of them shifted.
A ripple went through the wall of shadow, and in the next moment, the Reds began to move. They threw themselves forward in a frenzy, bodies colliding as they plunged into the water. They clawed at each other, tearing and biting, fighting not for survival but for the right to reach me first.
The wall became a sea, a vast churning mass of black forms and flashing red eyes.
One swam faster than the rest, closing in on me, but before it could break the surface, two others leapt onto its back. They ripped and clawed at it until the water frothed with blood and shadow. Another surged ahead, but was dragged under, shredded before it reached me. Every advance was cut short by another, each one desperate enough to destroy the others for the chance to touch me first.
The students laughed. They could not see the Reds.
A boy splashed down into the water beside me, sending ripples across the surface. To him, it was just a game. To me, it was chaos. The Reds shredded each other around him, their teeth tearing through flesh, staining the water a deep and violent red. A girl floated past on an inflatable raft, a drink balanced in her hand, while beneath her, body after body tore itself to pieces in the fight.
None of them screamed. None of them saw.
Only me.
…DIA OS DAE UN YAVAR…
Something whispered in my ear. I looked around, but there was nothing there. It sounded like it came from every direction, and I had no idea what it had said.
A crimson arm shot up from the black water, massive and glistening, and wrapped around a boy's torso. He had been laughing only a second before, splashing his friends. Now his scream split the night as the thing yanked him into the air. His body whipped back and forth, water and gore spraying in every direction, before the arm crushed him like wet clay. His chest caved with a sickening crack. Then he was gone. His body dropped into the lake, stripped from the world, leaving only the stench of blood behind.
The others didn't notice. They went on laughing, splashing each other. To them, nothing had happened. The boy had never been there. He's been forgotten the moment he died.
Another appendage surged upward. It snatched a girl by the ankle and dragged her beneath the surface. Her scream was sharper, more desperate, bubbles exploding from her mouth as she clawed for the edge. Her friends didn't even look at her. They swam past as though she had never existed.
I wanted to look away, but I couldn't. Tears burned in my eyes, blurring the water into smears of red and black. Even so, I saw the thing coil around her and pull. It ripped her open in jagged motions, shredding her into pieces that floated back up to me. Bits of flesh and hair that clung to my face as I struggled to breathe.
One by one, the Reds claimed them. The lake turned violent, a frenzy of crimson arms and black shadows tearing the students apart. Their limbs flailed, their mouths opened in silent screams…and then they were nothing. Forgotten. Each body that vanished was erased as though it had never been alive in the first place.
I watched in horror, as everyone around me died. I was too tired to keep myself up. I sank below the water, staring up at the full moon, begging it to save me. But its pale face stared at me unbothered. The appendage coiled around my leg, its skin slick and pulsing. Thousands of tiny needle-like barbs dug into me, burrowing beneath my skin. I gasped, involuntary and sharp, the sound bubbling up into the dark water. And that was enough.
The monster knew I was alive.
Its grip tightened, winding around my waist, then my chest, pinning my arms against me. The pressure was suffocating. It didn't thrash me as it had the others. No, this time it was careful. It pulled me slowly, deliberately, as if it wanted to examine me. As if it already knew I was the one it had been searching for.
The last sound I heard before the water swallowed me whole was laughter.
Not mine. Not theirs.
Laughter that belonged to no human throat.
…AESI RAS HEBI VITA'A…
The voice whispered again. This time it sounded as if it was above me. I looked up and saw the moon spiralling in the sky, as if I were seeing its reflection in a pristine and tranquil lake, in stark contrast to the bloodied nightmare I was in.
"Grab a towel, Reed. It will get messy after we apply the ointment," a distorted voice said. Unlike the other voice, this one sounded a little familiar and less monstrous.
I looked around, trying to locate its origin, but there was no one there. The lake and everything else faded away until nothing but darkness remained.
Then, one by one, red eyes appeared everywhere around me. So many, that they could have been mistaken for red fireflies.
At that moment, I became aware that I was dreaming, yet being conscious of a nightmare was not enough to wake me up. I was confined. Reduced to nothing but a spectator. Nightmares have always been my prison, both now and back then.
At least, this nightmare was different. It was clear, detailed, and terrifyingly real. Or so it felt. Though the lake made an appearance, it wasn't the same dream I always had. The same dream that trapped me in a mini coma for days at a time. This one was horrific. Far from what happened at the lake that night. Or… did that happen? The other nightmares weren't clear. I always woke up forgetting the details. Was the nightmare always this violent? Is that why I always woke up retching?
"Why not just heal her with one of your spells, Cain?" another voice asked. It sounded like he was right next to me, but his voice was unfamiliar.
The sound of clicking and growling became audible, and I felt my heart squeeze and shrink inside of my chest.The eyes blinked in random patterns and the darkness around me seemed alive and breathing.
They were small little things. Some were ravens or crows, others were cats, and there were even a few foxes. But that thing with the horns and the skull mask was the biggest one I've seen so far.
The Reds were black with bright red eyes and other characteristics that indicated they were not normal. Some possessed horns, an additional set of wings, legs, or tails. Some others appeared mixed, such as a fluffy cat with hooves instead of paws, a fox with wings, or a wolf with horns and front paws that resembled human hands.
…ET SKI KIERA…
That voice whispered again. This time, coming from behind me. I turned around, but nothing was there. Just more eyes. More Reds.
"If we could solve this with a spell, then don't you think I would have done it already? Besides, you're a healer. Your mana is compatible with anyone. I'm not sure how she'll respond to mine. She might even die," the familiar voice said.
"Alright," said the other boy. He exhaled. "However, I shall smear it in. Go after Rivian. I will take care of this."
"And watch him release poison into his lungs? No, thank you. He's not the only one going through a difficult time, you know. Are you aware of the experiences I've had over the last six months?"
"How thoughtless of me. It must have been difficult for you as well. I apologize, Cain."
"Less talking, more healing, Reed. How she's still alive is nothing short of a miracle. I'm sure he's doing everything he can to keep her here. He will not let her die."
"Who do you mean?"
"What did I just say, Reed?"
"Yes, of course, I will begin by applying the ointment. I cannot heal her while the mark is still on her neck."
Cracks of white light emerged in the darkness. I looked around again. The Reds vanished. Nothing but white remained.
I opened my eyes and adapted to my new environment. I was met by a strange white ceiling. My eyesight was fuzzy and out of focus, but I knew I was in a white room with two other people.
The light was painfully bright. It stood in sharp contrast to my frequent dreams, which kept drowning me in darkness.
A boy I didn't recognize leaned down and smeared something onto my skin. His touch was gentle, and he carefully applied something to my wound.
I looked up at his face, but it was still too hazy to discern anything but the color of his hair. It was a milky shade of light brown, and he wore a black jacket with a splash of orange on his left arm.
"It's starting. Hold her shoulders down. I'll grab her legs," the person said.
His hair was several shades darker than the boy with the light brown hair, and he was dressed in familiar black clothing. Cain. I blinked a few times to try and focus on his face. His eyes weren't glowing anymore, and his mouth was pressed into a tight line. His small circular dimples on the sides of his cheeks deepened as he did so.
He pressed his hands down on my ankles and kept my legs pinned to the bed.
My sense of pain returned, and I became aware of the weight of my own body. I felt myself press down into the mattress and the clothes sticking to my bloodied skin felt crusty and stiff.
My veins itched and it felt like my blood turned into jelly. The pain was so intense that my eyes rolled back into my head and my mouth filled with foam, as my heart forcefully pumped the slimy black substance out of my veins.
…HEBI WIL HALRA AESIR AELA, KIERA...
The white room faded away.
The view of the lake returned but it was empty. I wanted to cry, but I knew it would do nothing for my situation, so I didn't bother.
The bodies were gone, and I was alone.
The full moon's light penetrated the depths and touched the sand dunes underneath. I was plunging further down.
I couldn't hear Cain or that other boy anymore and the subtle presence of that whispering voice disappeared too.
My ears heard a continuous screech that got louder the closer I got to the bottom. It took me a full minute to realize that I was hearing myself screaming out in agony.
My real self. Somewhere in the waking world while my consciousness was down here in the abyss. Trapped in the dark.