Dream of life, Dream of me

Chapter 3: Dream of life, Dream of me

                Cressidia knew she was dreaming. She could tell by the glorious, bright weather, free from an ominous presence waiting to strike. At first she doesn’t know where she is, but when she sees the green bell above the town hall, quaking and shaking, humming its song she realizes where she is immediately " home. It was a silly story about why the bell was green when it was suppose to be gold. The bell had been constructed in copper when gold was needed many decades ago and the original bell had to be melted down. It was meant to be replaced by a gold one again but the familiar green one soon grew on many of the townsfolk, and thus it was never changed. When our dreamer was young she had thought the green bell tacky and distasteful. Yet when she grew older her favorite color had become green and she felt as if the bell was made especially for her. Yes, it was presumptuous but no one ever knew that’s what she thought as she watched the bells chime at every stroke of the clock.

                The bell had just struck twelve noon as Cressidia gazed upon it, savoring the short moment of the bliss caused by a mere illusion. A few people greeted her, giving a short wave and a kind smile. Among these people was Cressidia’s best friend whom she would have to leave behind in order to escape the shadows. The town hall burst into black flames, licking and spitting, quickly spreading to all of the buildings. It was exactly like it had been in reality. The buildings fell, crushing Cressidia’s friend (a name she had long since forgotten). The other girl screamed in agony, outstretching her hand in a plea of help. It was a dream but Cressidia still watched in horror. She’d be more damned then she already was if she was going to let her friend die in a dream too. Rushing over to help, a strong wind suddenly blew everything and everyone away as black soot. Cressidia accurately remembered this dream now, the first time she dreamt this she had cried out loud. Then this feeling slowly waned into something smaller until she felt nothing.

                As everything was blown away she saw an ashen-blonde hair boy fighting shadows. That was the most spectacular thing she had ever seen. Someone could actually fight shadows and not just run like an animal being hunted. Every time a shadow struck at him with their sickly thin hands and inhumane claws, a burst of light exploded causing hissing from the attackers. Someone with common sense would have snuck away quietly to leave the other for dead to save their own skin. At that time though, she couldn’t help but to see the other was fighting a losing battle and she simply had to do something.

                “Run!” she had screamed, motioning the boy to follow her.

Cressidia was sure her running skills from shadows were unparalleled. She had escape from sticky situations several times, albeit not always unscathed. He pivoted his head towards the noise but only thought for a second before he complied. The two of them ran, and against all odds they had escaped. Huffing and out of breath, they finally stopped to rest on remains of a fallen building, jagged from the erosion of the rain.

                Another memory returned, this person was the individual she was traveling with now. She offered a weak smile and patted him on the back. This entire dream was like watching a movie reel, staring herself.  She observed the other and noticed he was young with a rather childish face. Despite his recent encounter he was full of life, face devoid of worries. In fact he was laughing right now, of what she didn’t really know. Cressidia couldn’t help but to be jealous, he still retained the innocent glow of youth that she had lost long ago. She had a sudden urge to leap in the air and strangle the life out of him. To constrict her fingers until he gasped for air, the living light in his eyes distinguished. Then she remembered that it was she who saved him in the first place. More importantly he was fighting shadows.

                “How did you that?” Cressidia snapped suddenly, his happy demeanor fading at her anger.

                “Do what?” He tensed slightly at the danger leaking from her voice.

                “Don’t play stupid!” she half screamed, “You fought the shadows, and- and you didn’t die!”

He blinked twice, shoulders slumping as he was hesitant to answer, “I don’t know.”

                “You DON’T KNOW!” the brunette shoved the other hard enough for him to lose his balance and stumble over, “You were fighting them! How can you not know? If you really didn’t know why were you so calm? You’re a liar! You stupid good for nothing! I should have let you die!” She was so angry that she didn’t even bother looking at the child sniffling on the floor.  Finally realizing, Cressidia gasped and quickly felt a motherly instinct rise. She sighed and slowly pulled her new companion until they were both standing.  He was taller than her which genuinely surprised her. She found herself patting the boy’s head tenderly and apologetically as if she really were his mother.

                “C’mon now… I didn’t mean it. What’s your name?”

                “I don’t know”

Cressidia twitched violently as she felt her annoyance rose again, but she quickly willed it away.

                “Okay … How old are you?”

                “I don’t know”

Another sigh

                “Is there something that you do know?”

                “Yup”

                “What’s that?”

                “You’re pretty!”

Cressidia nearly choked on her on saliva. She coughed profusely, before looking at unnamed boy again. It was such a simple, innocent sentence free from ulterior motives that she couldn’t help but to smile and begin to laugh. Not even when everything was peaceful had she heard such a blatant compliment.

 

That was the moment she decided that they were indeed going to be good friends.

 

A heavy wind blew again, everything dissolving into sparkling silver sand. It swirled above Cressidia several times before it was carried away into the unknown.

                This time Cressidia watched as the nameless boy dragged up a body from under a heavy stone. Outstandingly, the body still had a slight breath despite its ragged state. Cressidia remembered this as the time she would take care of the one whom she would fall in love with. Of course it didn’t happen instantly; in fact she hated the stranger’s guts at first. He was always too loud, too ambitious, too determined to find a civilization somewhere out there amongst the ruins. It was so faint the way they slowly attached to each other. Cressidia came to love his dark ebony hair, his smile, and his lovely cerulean eyes. It was all cliché, falling in love in an ending world. It happened though, and it was wonderful, but was stopped short. She remembered whispering in the night to him, “It’s alright Lae; we’ll find a living town out there somewhere.” Lae grumbled disappointment clear on his face due to the fact that there was nobody alive in the half scorched town, “Or maybe there’s none out there.” Cressidia shared a worried glance with the blonde but said nothing else.

He would stop breathing later on in the night.

~~~

Author's Note

Chapter 3 of "From Ashen Rubble"
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