Chapter 8: A Dream?
PLEASE DONT WORRY IF YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THE DETAILS! [1]
Time Error - ―̶―̸͠͞∴̶≠̶̨∬͝͝†̛‡̵̢͡∝̶∮͏̴̀――̷̡͘ : Location Error - ―̴―̸∴̶≠̴∬̸̶͢†̵‡̷∝̵∮̵―̶―̷
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*FLASH* *GASP* "Hah.. hah.. Hah…" I jolted awake to the sight of a blue sky. "Hah… hah…" Finally calming my breath after feeling like I woke up from a nightmare, I tried to look around.
But I quickly found that I didn't need to. I could already see.. everything. -W..woah…-
I was laying on grass, in a field I had never seen before. -But.. calling this grass.. might not be accurate…-
The world I was looking at was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was made up of what could only be described as raw information, as something akin to math, and geometry.
But although it looked so unfathomably foreign, I could understand it.
Looking closely at one of the blades of grass seemingly inside of my current, cloud-like body, I felt like there was something I was missing.. something I couldn't see, yet I could manipulate.
-What if I…- Focusing on the single blade of grass, I pulled an intangible string and saw the grass slowly begin to multiply into hundreds, then thousands, then millions of versions of itself, each almost identical to the one next to it, yet ever-so-slightly different.
It took a moment, but eventually, I understood what I was seeing.
I was looking at everywhere that blade of grass had ever been, where it was, and where it would ever be.. all at once.
It only took an instant for the amount of information flowing into my consciousness to grow beyond what I could handle. "AAGHH!" I let out a helpless wail as I panicked and let go of the intangible string connected to the blade of grass. *Vwop*
In an instant, the world froze once again.
"Hah.. hah.. Hah…" The world around me looked exactly like it did before I touched the 'string', with every blade of grass, every cell, and every atom around me being in the exact same spot it was when I first woke up. -Maybe it's best.. that I don't touch that again…-
Taking a moment to catch my breath, I subconsciously lifted my cloud-like body off the ground, with seemingly no effort in the slightest.
It was so easy it caught me a little off guard. -W..woah…- I moved without restrictions. There was simply no momentum, no inertia, and most of all… -No gravity…-
But even though I wasn't being affected by gravity, it was still there. My surroundings, from the blades of grass to the dust in the sky, were still being pulled by it. -But why…-
As I idly thought to myself, I slowly rose into the sky to look around, but only saw a world that would look familiar, had it not been wrapped in a blanket made up of an infinite number of invisible 'strings' just like the one I manipulated earlier.
A part of me felt like I could move the whole blanket at once, but another part of me was fearful of what would happen if I did. -Maybe.. I should save that for another time…-
Finally turning my attention away from the ground below me, I looked toward the distant horizon and finally noticed some small floating islands.
But unlike everything else that was frozen, the blanket wrapped around the islands looked like it was being pulled, ever so gently, to allow the leaves in the trees to blow. "W..woah…"
Unable to continue holding back my curiosity, I started flying toward the flowing island, until I got close enough to see 'something' leaning up against the tree on it.
-W..who…- It looked humanoid, and from what I could tell, was the being 'pulling the blanket'. -But I should definitely.. keep my distance…- The last thing I wanted was to piss off whatever that figure was. -Yeah.. let's just…- Quickly yet carefully floating back toward the ground, the island fell back below the horizon, and I felt my ease start to dissipate. "Hooh…"
But that was the last breath I could let out before I noticed something appear, just above the horizon.
"Huh?" Somehow managing to make out detail at an absurd distance, I met eyes with a stunningly beautiful black-haired woman in a bright white dress that was.. smiling at me.
I froze instantly, unable to think through the noise of my own consciousness screaming at me. -That thing.. IS DANGEROUS!-
But I didn't even have an instant to pull myself back together before the monster in the form of a woman vanished.
"Y̵̘̓̋o̵͈̰̯͂̈́͗̀ų̶̞̄͆̿̃ ̶̲̣͑̑͐̂f̴͔͓̏e̸͍̭̜͒̓͒̚ė̶̘͓̗̍̕l̸̨͉͉͝ ̷̨̹̂f̸̢̯̒͝a̶͈͔̝̪͂̒m̴̨͇͙̱̊̓̈͝i̸̙͇͋͗͑ͅͅl̸͚̠͓̾͑́į̸̧̰͆̍̄a̵̘̩̱͗͝ŕ̶̩̬̟" A mature woman's 'voice,' if it could even be called that, echoed through the frozen, unmoving air as the 'woman' appeared next to me.
I was completely unable to move at all. I was simply frozen. But eventually, after what felt like an eternity, I managed to speak in a shaky 'voice'. "W..wh..where a..am I..."
"o̴̙̎̽h̷̺́̕ ̷̢͍̐y̷̟̰̌̏ö̵̱́ụ̶͘͘ ̶̨̣̈́̌d̴̨̂̉o̷̼͂̀ṅ̷̡͚t̵̡̤̊ ̷̺̻̐́k̷̡̛͙͛ǹ̷̖̭o̴̺̓ẁ̸̖̣̂?̸̗̍͒" I somehow managed to understand 'don't know?' from the chaos of indescribable noises.
I immediately tried to shake my head even though I didn't really have one as I reluctantly responded. "N..no..."
"ö̵͖ȟ̷͉ ̸̳̾t̶͌͜h̷̟͒i̵̖͝s̵̛̙.̶͙̊.̴͖̾ ̶̺̌t̴̯͘c̷͚̈́ḩ̶̕ ̷̱͐y̷̺͘o̵͜͠u̶͓̎r̵̻͠e̶̜̕ ̵̠͌o̷̞̽ǘ̴̻t̸̓͜ ̷̜̚o̷͕͂f̵̣̀ ̸̧́t̷̙̒i̵͎͑m̷͔̅e̸̫̊" Her expression that looked at me like I was her prey, turned annoyed in an instant.
-I'm out of wha...- Before I could finish my thought 'it' said something I managed to understand nearly entirely.
It's annoyed expression shifted to a forced smile in a flash. "I̴ ̷g̴u̴e̵s̶s̷ ̷I̶ ̸w̸i̶l̴l̴ ̶h̷a̴v̵e̴ ̴t̴o̷ ̶w̵a̴i̸t̷ ̸u̷n̷t̶i̵l̴ ̷n̴e̴x̵t̶ ̵t̸i̸m̷e̸.̶.̴ ̸i̶f̷ ̴y̵o̷u̶ ̶l̵i̵v̵e̴ ̴t̷h̶a̸t̸ ̵l̸o̴n̴g̸.̷.̸.̶"
A wave of fear washed through my mind instantly, blocking any rational thought before my surroundings returned to black.
"HAH.. Hah.. hah…" Slowly managing to calm myself down and catch my breath in a seemingly empty, dark space, I took a moment to try and sort my thoughts. -I think I'm.. still alive…- "Hah… Hah… Hooh…"
Finally calming my mind once again, I set aside the troubling matter of the woman and tried to start from the beginning. -Where.. was I…-
A nearly infinite number of ideas and theories ripped through my mind the instant I let them, letting me more easily sort them into their varying levels of possibility.
Before I knew it, I had winded down to just a few theories that managed to each fill the gaps in my understanding, but none of them were things I believed were possible. -Could that have been the fourth dimension?-
Immediately thinking back to the countless complicated theories I read back on earth, things seemed to mostly line up, but not everything. -If the fourth dimension is meant to be time, it would explain why everything was frozen, and why physics didn't apply to me in the slightest…-
But there was an undeniable hole in that idea. -It doesn't make sense for a 3rd-dimensional being like me to even exist there.. but I not only existed in it, I comprehended it.. I manipulated it… Time was.. tangible for me…-
It was something that, in theory, pointed to a somehow even more impossible conclusion. -If I could manipulate time.. and time is the 4th dimension.. then that would mean I was…-
But my fragile thoughts shattered like glass before I could finish them. "Mom, Bwother is up!"
The unfamiliar child's voice ripped through my mind in a flash and jolted me awake. *GASP* With a cold sweat I looked around in a panic. -Everything is.. normal...- Although it took a moment, the familiar room I was in managed to calm my nerves. -But it feels way smaller than it used to be…-
Standing at just over 6 meters tall, I looked down to see a small white dragon sitting down, and looking up at me like a curious puppy.
It was around 2 and a half meters tall but she looked just like Mother. -Is this.. Krystallo? Why is she so big now.. and why am I so much bigger?- (She was around 35cm or so before the dragon sleep)
"Big Bwother is awake!" A huge, childish smile came to Krystallo's face as she ran up and wrapped herself around my leg.
It was an adorable sight but was still unable to lessen my lingering anxiety.
Unsure of what to say, I turned and looked at Mother, but she just wore a smile forced through worry and anxiousness.
Finally piecing together everything I saw around me, I finally muttered a few words. "M..mother…" My voice felt unfamiliar, but I tried to ignore it. "How long was my sleep?"
Mother's forced smile faded immediately. "It's been.. a year and 2 months..."
"WHAT?!" My no-longer-childish voice boomed throughout the room.
Seeing Krystallo suddenly shrivel up and tighten her grip on my leg, I leaned down and gently rubbed my cheek against hers.
"Sorry, Krystallo…" I was nervous I accidentally scared her, but thankfully, a warm smile returned to her face after a short moment.
Mother wasn't so easy to cheer up though. Looking back over at her, I noticed her expression started to warp as she struggled to hold back tears.
Gently creeping over to me, she lowered her towering body and laid her head on mine. "Th..thank you…" Her voice was weak. "Thank you for waking up…" Finally letting her pent-up emotions flow, she started crying without tears. [2]
Feeling truly awful for causing her so much worry and stress, I tried my best to comfort her. "I'm sorry for making you worry, Mother..." But it was truly terrible timing.
My mind was still in a knot after the 'dream', so I could only let her lean against me and cry. I could only give her the chance to let it all flow.
It only took a moment for Krystallo's smile to fade again as well. *sniffle* "Whaaaaaaa..."
Slowly moving my wing around, I gently pressed it up against Krystallo's back and embraced her.
But even with all of the things that needed my attention, a dangerous thought still loomed in my mind. -What.. was that world...-
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Please take these theories with a grain of salt since I'm not an expert, and this is only my interpretation and implementation of the theories.
[1] - Please take the theories used in this story with a grain of salt as humanity isn't quite to the point where we can really explain this stuff with certainty. Just understand that the 3rd dimension is our world, and the 4th is TIME.
Just as we 3rd dimensional beings cannot manipulate the laws of our world freely, neither could beings within the fourth dimension. And on that note, I will let you all theorize about what that implies.
[2] - For a little context, the newborn to child stage dragon sleep usually takes around 3 months, and his was over 4 times as long.