He opened his eyes and lifted his head from the manoeuvring device, disengaging the obnoxious klaxon the vehicle was transmitting. The air seemed different and there was an unfamiliarity to the sound of silence. It wasn't the silence he was used to. It hummed differently. The horror of uncertainty settled inside him. The mechanical noise of the city was replaced by the sound of burning wood and leaves crackling, heaving with bassy and glassy tones.
Outside of the vehicle, he recognised where he was but it was different to what he was used to. Embers were being released from the floor upwards and after a few inches or feet they were dissipating. These embers were grouped into colours based on their location and distance - every area around seemed to have its own flow of embers and light.
He looked up. Horrified, he quickly looked forward, in avoidance. The sky was an undulating vortex of clouds and electricity without a perceivable beginning, its depth only suggested by an incomprehensible yet rich colour or colours.
He was still in the carpark. The cars were there as before. He could see people walking around and getting into their cars but they were different - they were blurred by different levels of light like images superimposed on images at different distances. Transparent but familiar outlines were held together in leaflike shapes of points and curves. He realised that he could see fluctuations in the fabric of space, above - satellites and aircraft with a clarity that would suggest it was right in front of him. He was exactly where he was before...but not in the same way. This was the city that reality avoided.
In the blink of an eye, he was able to see more. There were creatures following people around. Two or three per person. One whispering in the person's ear, the other ushering other people towards them and the third disrupting the auras projected by people. He turned. Three other creatures stood before him. Realising he could see them they screamed and morphed. He wasn't scared. They seemed familiar. They returned to their former state and communicated. The sound seemed internal - like the sound of his own voice reverberating in his chest but they did not use words. They transmitted something and he could fully comprehend it but language as he knew it did not seem to exist here.
They questioned him on how he could see them. Puzzled, they traversed the radiation, carefully avoiding the other creatures. The largest of them, a hooded humanoid with tentacles of black cloth kindly requested that he pretended he was in the dimension he came from. He obliged, without question.
He was in another dimension. The stars falling around him made it difficult - everything he saw, he saw too late and before he knew it he was receiving unwanted transmissions from different creatures and people. Beyond clarity, yet so familiar. They told him this was reality as it was with the veil of ignorance lifted. This would explain the familiarity.
The fear of getting unwanted attention rippled through the four. He tried to focus his eyes through the embers - some creatures were bound to people and others were roaming and surfing the radiation, licking the neon and smearing billboards.
Insight. He could see why people do certain things now. These creatures were in a constant play with humans. Pulling and pushing and telling people to look at certain things and do certain things and think certain things.
The female human who talked to plastic happened upon them. She waited at a bus stop now. Her loud conversation seemed to have ended. The creatures with her were naked and slimey. They harassed creatures that went past and the auras that were with them. Some of them stopped and turned at the girl and with a burst like fireworks all six of the creatures involved increased in vibrance and energy. Sorrow filled him and his creatures. She seemed sad and her creatures were decrepit. His creatures nurtured them and got them to stand closer to her and upright. He felt relieved that the creatures with him were kind enough to do that. As he looked away they appeared right next to him as if they hadn't left, leaving a trail of embers.
Some of the creatures around looked beautiful, shielding the beings they followed around, respectfully. They beat the more foul and erratic creatures out of their paths - simultaneously moving and staying where they are - like a bird suddenly having eight wings before returning to two that fold majestically and calmly by their sides.
Sparks burst by his ear and he moved on. The creatures told him not to stare at others lest he call attention to himself. Next he was given a warning. 'Him and his associates.' He could not with any certainty know who the creatures were referring to accept that what was being referred to was as dark and old as time - as they projected this warning to him, the light around him became darker and patterns like green shimmering leather permeated his mind. The creatures with him shook him violently and with words of nature and the beauty of its existence he returned to the new normal. He did not want to go there again. Darkness. He realised what was being referred to and the thoughts he had attracted malevolent attention. He needed to be careful and call the right kind of attention to him. He needed to be shielded and protected and with this thought the creatures with him visibly gained shields of transparent black fabric. He realised his thoughts were influencing the layer that had been placed over reality.
With this thought, overwhelming waves of urgency rippled out from him as leaves and trees burst through cracks in all of the surfaces he could see. People suddenly lurched and shattered as trees and vines grew out of them. The creatures with him stood around him forming a perfect triangle and knelt down. Three other beings crashed into the ground before him and stood tall and majestic like planets. Behind him he felt the sky cracking open and the malevolent 'him' and 'his associates' presence shattered and pulsated. It was pure evil and it was powerless. Everything was truth and and the truth was 'we know'. In front of him in the sky the brightest amber light shattered everything else while simultaneously staying as it was. 'We know'. The ambered bliss caused everything to arc and curve.
The majestic beings proclaimed he didn't belong here. The light behind them, making everything louder. 'We know. We know. We know.' It was understanding, reassurance, every emotion without limit. The powerless evil behind him was ready. We know. Its sadness and ultimate acceptance was amplified. We know. Tragically amazing to be awake. He fell to the ground. A circle of vines and leaves spiralled around him and raised him up. He could see the worlds from every conceivable angle. Both of them. Seven of them. Thirteen of them. He felt himself growing old and felt himself as a baby in a womb. Memories of his childhood, his mother poured an ultimate pour through his ribs and out of his head. Everything knew. All of his choices, wrong or right. Galena. Everything.
"She needs you."
Galena Zed cried.
"You've been gone for a thousand years and I think I'm dying over and over. The rooms are so empty and the noise from outside...it's really getting to me. I haven't eaten since you've been here and I only go to take care of the plants. Please come back. I've tidied up here and brought some plants in. It's only okay if you agree it's not okay. Come back. Tell me it's okay that it's not okay. It's been so long. You've got all these wires going in and out of you and It's been like...a thousand years. Please take me with you. Please come back."
A doctor stood outside the door, teary eyed. "Every day, 3.30, she talks to him like this. It's just some dumb kid that wants her boyfriend back so what is it about these two?". The three nurses could not hold back their tears, either. Confused and guilty for listening in, they listened in to the melodramatics.
Galena rested her head on his hand. Feathers glistened in the amber light from the window, and for a second she felt shielded and safe. She knew he was coming back. His hand tightened and she felt the life return. The doctor and nurses could not believe what they saw and would never speak of it again. Frozen and overwhelmed, they looked on.
Time slowed to a grinding halt and the medical equipment froze. Seven beings with shields of feathers appeared like smoke. Snakes and lizards burst from beneath the bed bolting outwards as vines and
Electricity circled it. The sun from the window arced and all the dust in the air glowed and dissipated. The whole room froze a second time and melted away, leaving reality behind.
Galena smiled as his eyes opened.
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