Chapter 3

A vivid dream, a prophecy of sorts

Chapter 3

    AA opened her eyes upon a dreamlike fog persisting around her and at a sky which was unlike any other she’d seen before being a blood red shade. Sitting up she noticed this was not Other Realm nor was it Earth and she glanced about at the environment, this time being a forest of the corpses of burnt trees. It was barren from what must have been several forest fires, no life was left to be seen. AA began to wonder if she were alive in such a case as this, if nothing else were present within her knowledge then were she alive in that moment? She looked at the trees, noting that not a leaf remained in the aftermath of the disaster which must have passed and that the trees had no hopes of living yet they would more than likely continue attempts. This natural instinct to survive perplexed AA; if there was no conceivable chance of survival then what would be beneficial from continued attempts to change probability? More so if there were no purpose to continue then what were the purpose to persist with disregard to the statistical truth of your failure? It was a quandary she had boundless curiosity of, similar to any mystery encompassing existentiality, but recognized there would never be a true answer.

    These thoughts consumed the entirety of the focus her mind was capable of dividing and endured for moments which felt like eternity. It was an intriguing concept to her in all candor and she would lull herself to contempt allowing herself time to admire such a topic by herself. The desolate landscape seemed to be fuel for yet one more fire, yet this one not so harmful as the apparent disaster before, as AA spurned her gaze across in search for an answer to her inquiry.

    In approaching the trees for closer inspection it appeared the trees wore inscriptions within their bark reading a language which she could not understand. AA inspected several more noticing that there appeared to be different texts inscribed in the forest. AA yearned to figure out what they read but she was unsure how to decipher it, and she was too involved with her existential questions to have the ability to accomplish such. As such, AA instead continued to wander and inspect more trees, noticing two recurring symbols; the first resembling an ‘X’ without the lines ever crossing, the second was a circle with a hexagon within it. Despite noticing this trend she still lacked any prompt to decipher the inscriptions.

    AA returned to what appeared to be the path and proceeded in the direction she was travelling prior to her detour. She began wondering the implicit value of being here so short after her arrival in Other Realm, reflecting upon some possible greater meaning to such a coincidental occasion. The inferences whirled within her thoughts, making a rapid progression to expanding her curiosity even further than before. These events were reminiscent, to AA, of her erratic thought process as it appeared to make no sense and only caused more confusion the longer it persisted.

    AA closed her eyes and drifted away into her personal thoughts in a sudden and complete ignorance of her situation while blanketing herself with the inquisition of reality and abstract ideas too daunting to explain; although she would try regardless. The curiosity swarming through her mind was all at once calming and exciting as it invoked a discussion of sorts in her mind while also displacing herself from the present.

    The thoughts became obscured and blocked however which was angering beyond all else to AA. Her mind became occupied by a voice speaking some language that AA had no comprehension of but did not care for either beyond being bothered by its interruption. It seemed to be addressing AA and yet it could not accomplish such a task but the notion was enough to marginally frighten her and persuade her to dismiss her personal thought palace.

    AA opened her eyes and looked at her hands noticing they were blurred and unrecognizable. Her worries were erased as she made the analysis of this occurrence being a dream, or rather a nightmare which it more so resembled. She closed her eyes once more and sighed as she adjusted the environment to her wishes regardless of possessing no wisdom of her wishes. She formulated the closest resemblance of Earth she found possible in this instant, returning home once more. She stood on a walkway across a small, green lawn barren from things beside grass, standing before a single story house of sky blue and modest design and size.

    AA approached and opened the door to her old family home and presupposed her wishes would be there awaiting her; perhaps a family happy to see her, friends with which to belong with, or a person with which AA could be happy with. However she opened the door only to witness the truth, that her family would remain disappointed, her company unhappy with her, and no one to reside with and procure happiness. The voice spoke again to her and she began to fall apart as none of it made sense, this was nowhere near what she imagined she would wish; it could not be at all what she wished.

    AA snapped awake in an unfamiliar room, in an unfamiliar bed, but what was presumably her room in Anthesus’ manor. She could feel a meager tingling in her right arm as she sat up and stumbled downstairs, mentally stressed from the experience. The lab door was slightly ajar and Anthesus was muttering to himself what sounded like inconceivable gibberish. AA wandered in, Anthesus surprised by the sudden intrusion, and sat down at her seat from the night before.

    “What is the matter AA?” Anthesus put documents and research aside and assumed an investigative stance to indicate his full attention was attained. “You were well asleep hours ere when I reposed you to your quarters.”

    “Nightmare.” AA stated with a stoic expression to her, “I was in a burnt forest at first, it appeared that it was burnt several times and I was confused about how and why the trees were alive.” She paused to ensure Anthesus was still listening to the issue she was presenting but could not express her own glee upon noticing he was attentive to her. She explained the entirety of the nightmare to Anthesus who, afterward, trifled through his desk to locate a small book.

    “You elaborated upon seeing strange symbols of which you could not provide translation? Some of which were repeated?” Anthesus looked at AA who nodded to answer his curiosity. He beckoned her over and opened the book as she walked to his desk, “did any of the symbols resemble something such as these?” he traversed the pages allowing AA to look at the symbols.

    “Yes they did look like that,” she focused upon her newfound possibility to decipher what little she could remember, but as of now it was the two repetitive symbols alone. “There are only two symbols I can remember in full detail though.” Anthesus prompted her to corroborate upon this, “the first was an X but the lines did not cross in the center and the second was a circle with a hexagon within it.” AA attempted to look closer at the book but Anthesus shut it and put it away.

    “It is not necessitated that you comprehend those two symbols.” Anthesus put forth a stoic expression in what must have been an attempt to convince AA of this statement although something in his eyes wavered at the mention of such symbols though AA could not quite put her finger on it. “They are meaningless unless accompanied by other symbols.”

    AA was concerned by this, Anthesus did not seem to be a man who would hide information since he presented himself to be a man of such intellectual stature and possessing such passion for research. “Are you sure about that?” he nodded in an instant and returned his documents in place to recall his attention to his work. This was ever so troubling to AA as she could not understand the meaning behind such mystery for just one simple translation.

    “Is that all AA?” he looked up at her once more with the stoic expression. “Not to appear impatient or rude in any fashion.” Although his countenance spoke leagues otherwise from his statement he said it in an otherwise serious tone.

    “Well if you didn’t want to appear rude then why not just explain the two symbols to me?” Anthesus shook his head at AA’s persistence to which her own demeanor became upset in a much more visible manner than before. Anthesus did not notice such detail however as he insisted that it was not necessary despite having claimed to observed AA in a light that should have surely displayed her naive curiosity.

    “I am not free to teach you an entire language AA, the symbols are not of importance and hold no value without the camaraderie of other symbols.” He sighed and pressed his fingers against his forehead. “Perhaps I will explain them to you at a later date for it is only complex semantics.” Although he hid his face there was something off about his expression that AA could not quite name.

    “Why do I need to understand the whole language to receive a translation for just two words?” Her voice rose in anger as she could not understand the meaning of hiding such information. In her mind it should have been as simple as finding the definition of both symbols in the lexicon he clearly possessed and explaining them to her. The lackluster amount and persuasiveness of information to his argument frustrated AA more and more as she continued to think about it.

    Anthesus sighed and shook his head, “I do not like to repeat myself AA. the language is dependent upon contextual clues and without knowing the rest of the symbols present I cannot explain them efficiently.” AA crossed her arms in irritation, still not understanding why he could not just explain them to her as Anthesus began to twirl his hair around a finger, “if you wish to know that badly then I will explain it at another time.”

    With a grunt and stamp akin to the beginning of a tantrum AA stormed out in complete dissatisfaction with the still festering curiosity burrowing deeper into her thoughts with every passing moment. The cold floor against her feet seemed to rival the heated anger pulsing through her as she despised further and further the denial of an answer which was obviously available. Upon making it to her room and slamming the door AA dived onto her bed and swifted grabbed her book to read further although she was still weary and could not pay too much attention to the words on the page.

    AA continued to read until she could not focus on the words anymore, or at least until the end of the chapter which she began to lose said focus. Putting the book down she attempted at sleeping once more while hoping to decode the inscriptions at some point, with or without Anthesus.

Author's Note

same as other chapters, grammar is bound to have mistakes. Review just about anything large enough to make the text feel awkward or flat out wrong.