Chapter 21: Life is but a Dream

She woke up with the worst headache she had ever felt. It felt like being placed in a centrifuge and being spun around like a ragdoll. Despite this, she couldn't see. She's spinning in the darkness. This time, however, a beeping noise could be heard on her left.

Her eyelids were heavy. She could not move her body. But, slowly and surely, her toes began responding, and so did her fingers. She tried to open her eyes; it felt like it weighed a hundred tons. As her eyes began to slowly open, she saw an unfamiliar ceiling.

She looked to her left; there was a weird contraption with a moving image that showed jagged lines and numbers next to it. Her body felt stiff as a fossil. She slowly opened her mouth; her jaw seemed to haven't moved for decades. She called out her friends in a parched, croaky voice.

"Daegal? Abaddon?" she called.

Her hearing slowly began to recover. She could hear more of this strange place. There were people talking on her right, barely decipherable, but at least she could hear again. Slowly, everything was coming back to her. A tear dropped from her eye.

"Abaddon? Daegal?" she called again, this time in a more depressed tone.

She got a better understanding of her surroundings. She was resting on a bed with railings, tucked in a white blanket. She pulled out her left arm from inside the blanket; there was a transparent wire with fluid inside that went straight into her wrist.

There was a black, tall brick on the table opposite her bed. She tried to move more, but a striking pain could be felt in her stomach. There were also weird white, long cloths wrapping her head and covering her hair. To her right was a table with a flower vase on top.

"W-Where am I?" she pondered. Sudden flashbacks blasted right before her. One image of Deimos was fried into her retina.

"Deimos, he violated me. He killed everyone," she lamented. There was a window to her left, next to the weird black brick. There was light passing through the curtains. She also began to notice the weird little sunballs hanging from the ceiling. It emitted a white glow and hurt the eyes when staring for too long.

As she only got more and more confused about her situation, a clunking noise followed by a crieking could be heard from her right. She quickly turned her head towards the noise. Someone was around the corner of her weird room. The intruder could be heard talking to someone, but it was only one person, as she only heard two feet.

"I understand; I can't believe we had to resort to this," said the womanly voice around the corner. Aine was getting more and more scared; she barely understood her situation.

The woman walked around a corner. "Thank you; I'll see you later," she said as she slid a tiny slab of glass into her pockets. The woman looked at Aine, and Aine looked at the woman. Aine stared back with a gaze filled with fear and unfamiliarity.

"Aine? Is that you?" asked the woman.

"H-How do you know my name?" asked Aine in a scratchy voice.

The woman began to tear up as she rushed to hug Aine, who was lying on the bed.

"Oh, Aine! Thank God you're awake. I was so worried," said the woman as she burst into tears.

"Hey, hey, get off me; who are you?" retaliated Aine.

The woman released Aine and looked at Aine. "Do you not remember me?" asked the woman. Aine didn't respond, but her face, which showed no warmth, spoke a million words.

"It's me, your mother," said the woman.

"Mother? I have no such thing," responded Aine coldly.

The woman began to cry, and a man wearing a white coat entered the room. "Miss, are you alright?" he asked.

"She doesn't remember. Doctor, what's going on?" asked the woman as she continued to cry. The man, whom the woman called 'doctor', began to walk towards Aine. As all this was going on, all Aine could think of was the sunless world.

"This must be some kind of trick; Deimos must have put me here," Aine thought to herself as she tried to, but ended up hurting herself. "Please don't move; your wounds have not healed yet," said the man.

The man quickly rushed to help Aine, who was in pain. Aine had one of her hands on her stomach; she was also beginning to curl up.

"Please show me where it hurts," said the man as he slipped his hand under the bed blanket. Aine was reluctant at first, but had no choice as the pain was just too much to bear.

"Don't move so much; the bruise hasn't really healed yet," said the man. Aine did not understand. When did she get this bruise? She didn't recall getting attacked by Deimos there. The man quickly mends her wound.

A few minutes later, the pain stopped. The woman got herself together and stopped crying. The woman looked in pain; it seemed like the Aine she knew was different from the current Aine.

"What the hell is happening?" said Aine, absolutely confuzzled. She scratched her bandaged head. The doctor struck up a conversation with the woman in private. Aine could not understand what they were talking about; it was all muffled.

They both continued to talk outside of the room. After a few minutes, they walked back into the room.

"Aine? Is that your name?" Asked the woman.

"Y-Yes, what do you want?" Answered Aine aloofly.

"Do you remember anything? We just want to talk," said the man.

"I remember a lot of things. You're working with Deimos, aren't you?" asked Aine.

"Who?" said the man, confused.

"Okay, okay, can you just tell us a bit about yourself? Maybe recount a bit about your past," said the woman.

"Why should I?" Said Aine, "Why do I have to tell you anything?"

"We're only trying to help your situation," answered the man.

"As far as I'm concerned, you are my enemy. I would blast you with a fireball right this instant if I wasn't fucking paralyzed from the pain," answered Aine crudely.

"Fireball?" said the woman, confused.

Aine kept her mouth shut and refused to cooperate. The man and the woman were at a dead end; they couldn't exactly just force Aine to talk. Aine thinks of them as her enemies.

The woman turned on the television that was opposite Aine's bed. Aine looked absolutely bewildered as she saw the once black brick generate moving images. Aine's eyes were glued to the TV with fascination. The woman looked at Aine.

"She's really gone," said the woman, as if all her suspicions were now confirmed. She excused herself to the bathroom to wash the make-up off her face, as she also continued to cry.

As the hours passed and the sky turned dark, Aine was still watching TV.

"So what kind of magic is this? Can I learn it?" Asked Aine.

"Magic? There is no magic," answered her mother.

"You are a terrible liar," said Aine.

Aine then looked at the window; light was no longer seeping through the curtains. Her mother noticed Aine's eyes suddenly fixed on the window.

"Well, would you look at the time?" said her mother. "It's almost time for bed."

Aine tried to get up from her bed. She was now able to sit upright; she had to move her legs with her own two hands as her legs were just completely weak and limp.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?" asked her mother as she began to panic. Aine did not answer; she only continued trying to get to the window. As she tried to stand, she fell to the ground immediately. Her left hand was bound to an infusion tube.

She did not make it very far before her mother tried to help her back to the bed.

"Can you stop doing that? You fucking witch," shouted Aine as tears began to drizzle her face. Aine began trying to crawl to the window. Her mother was so shocked by the words that came out of Aine's mouth that she didn't even try to stop her this time. She just watched Aine limp her way to the window.

Her mother helped her by making sure the infusion didn't break by moving the bag for her. Aine reached her hands up to the window sill and pulled herself up. What she saw was a world that was so familiar yet so different from the one she knew.

The sky was dark, but not completely dark; it had little dots in the sky coloring it. There was a dim, white ball in the sky. As she looked down, she saw buildings and towers in the distance. The buildings resemble the ones she found under the mountains.

Aine began to burst into tears.

"Abaddon? Where are you?" Aine shouted out the window.

"Daegal?" She continued to shout.

"Is there anyone there? Martha? Paxton? Gremlin? Mr. Fabble? Orphelin? Anton?" She cried.

She fell back to the floor as she continued to cry. Her mother tried to help her up to the bed. Aine felt so useless. While watching TV, she tried to summon her magic, but nothing appeared. She truly felt powerless in her situation. What happened to her?

Aine cried herself to sleep, feeling pretty sorry for herself. This time, not even a dream was there to greet her. And so ended her first day in this new reality.

She woke up the next day; the TV was already on. Her mother could be seen talking with another man. The man saw Aine wake up and approach her.

"Hey, Aine, do you remember me?" he asked. The man was wearing a fedora and a nice blazer over his shirt.

"Who are you?" asked Aine.

"Ah, I see. Well, I'm your father, and that is your mother," he answered.

"Another lie?" said Aine.

Her father sighed in disappointment. It seems Aine doesn't want to buy into that statement, or she could even be in denial of the whole situation.

"Well, I'll leave her to you; I have work to attend to," said her father to her mother.

"Alright, stay safe," answered her mother.

Her father left the room while carrying a briefcase. Aine paid no mind to that man; she just continued to watch TV. Breakfast was served; unfortunately, hospital-served breakfasts are always slightly grim, both in taste and appearance.

However, a certain familiar face appeared on TV. It was the morning news and one of the headlines read, 'Local Philanthropic Priest donates to nearby orphanage.' A newswoman was presenting the story, and a familiar face walked in frame; it was the priest.

"So, Mr. Juan, what motivated you to donate such a huge amount of offerings to the orphanage?" asked the reporter.

"Well, not everyone in this world was born equally, so we, the children of God, must be willing to help them. It's what God would've wanted," replied the priest.

"I know him," Aine said as she pointed to the TV. Her mother glanced at the TV and saw Priest Juan. Her mother's eyes immediately sprung open.

"You remember him?" shouted her mother, surprised. "That's the priest of the church we used to regularly go to. You were really close with him," she continued.

Juan? Was that his name? No, that isn't Juan. He looks familiar, but Aine couldn't put her finger on it. However, Aine felt that she was forgetting something important.

"Aine? You remember him?" asked her mother.

"No," denied Aine without hesitation.

Aine continued to act quite aloofly towards her mother. Aine felt like she could not trust her yet; she could very well be a spy for Deimos.

The day passed with no more events. Aine's body felt a lot better; she couldn't walk yet, but she could move her hands more freely. A doctor saw her quick recovery and said she should probably retrain herself to walk again soon. Aine shortly fell asleep; it was another dreamless night.

The next day rolled around, and Aine had come to the conclusion that this place was but an illusion created by Deimos to trap her. One thing wasn't adding up, though; why? Why would Deimos trap her? Aine intends to find the truth; she's hanging on to the hope that maybe Abaddon and Daegal aren't dead.

Aine's mother wasn't present this morning, so she had breakfast alone. A nurse walked into Aine's room. She told Aine to sit up as she began checking her legs. Aine was beginning her first steps to begin walking again. Although she can't stand up yet, the doctor urges her to take it slowly and steadily.

"Ma'am, why are my legs not working?" Aine asked, not expecting a serious answer. She knows this lady must be working for Deimos too; she's ready for her lies.

"Well, you might not remember, but you've been in a coma for the past month," answered the female nurse.

"What's a coma?" Asked Aine.

"Well, that's when your body shuts down," answered the nurse vaguely.

Her body shutting down? How preposterous; she went on an adventure with Daegal and Abaddon this past month; there's no way she could have been in a coma.

"Well, that should be all for today. Try to move your legs more often," said the nurse as Aine's mother walked in the room.

"Thank you so much, nurse," said her mother.

"It's no problem; she's making a speedy recovery," answered the nurse as she did a slight bow.

As the nurse left the room, all Aine could think about was the sheer amount of bullshit that woman uttered. Coma? So, Deimos is trying to make up terms, is he?

Regardless, Aine wanted to walk again as fast as possible. That image of Deimos that was fried into the retinas kept her motivated. From what she understands, the method that the nurse recommended to rehabilitate her legs makes sense.

The day passed, and Aine can now sit up and lay back down on her own. Her stomach has begun hurting less, and she feels more in control of her legs. She also changed out of the hospital gown for the first time, wearing a t-shirt and short pants.

She once again fell asleep. And again, no dreams to greet her.

Dawn breaks on her fourth day in this "illusory world," and she gets up later than usual. Aine's condition is improving rapidly. Today, she's going to try to stand up. Her mother was strongly against it; however, Aine didn't care for her opinion. To Aine, her mother could just be an illusion created by Deimos.

She sat up with her legs hanging from her bed, and she began swinging her legs back and forth like a child. She felt more in control with her legs; they weren't as limp as before; however, they were far from walking conditions. Aine tried to stand up today, but she failed and ended up tumbling on the floor. Progress has been made; however, she could stand up for about 7 seconds before falling now. The day went on without any more events, just more failed attempts.

Days went about the same, rehabilitating her legs while trying to not cave into Deimos' "illusion." Her father visited her every night, but Aine remains hard-headed and refuses to talk to him. Her mother also felt like Aine was in another dimension the entire time she'd been awake; little did she know how true that was.