Chapter 21

Moving to the table, I pulled out one of the chairs and tried to press my other hand against the seat.

It felt solid.

"So, what is this about?" I asked as the voice took its rightful seat next to me.

"Where are we? Who are you? why are you torturing me" the questions flew out of my mouth

without any filter. It didn't help matters much.

All I got in response were chuckles

"You're funny Darling," laughed the being, "as always I guess"

I sat up straight and glared daggers at it.

"Now now little one" it chided mockingly, "I don't want you to get angry. There's no point in doing so you've already lost the battle, and I'd rather avoid an unpleasant accident" it smiled.

"Don't call me little one," I snapped

"And who exactly are you? Why are you tormenting me? What have I done to you? What do you want?"

"To give a brief explanation to all those questions that seem to be constantly buzzing around in that head of yours," it chuckled "but you may have a better chance of getting the answers if you try asking them with a little less aggression and anger"

"Fine," I snarled "explain yourself"

The being nodded approvingly

"Very well" it said, "Let me begin with what I am going to tell you now. As I explained earlier, I'm your worst nightmare; you're trapped in a world of dreams, memories, and fears. The real world doesn't really exist for me in my world. I've only existed in your world, that's why I was able to talk to you as you were asleep, I'm only here because you wanted me to be."

"like sandman" I muttered sarcastically.

The thing nodded again.

"That's one way of putting it, although I prefer to view it as simply existing in the world of dreams since I am no king, but that doesn't matter now does it?"

"Let me ask you again, why are you torturing me?" I yelled, ignoring him completely.

He laughed lightly.

"If I must," he said. "I suppose I could give you some basic information if that will ease your mind."

He looked away and thought for a moment before turning back to me with a sinister grin etched onto his face,

"Well let's go with a basic question to start off," he said. " now let's see, where are you? you are in your head trapped in your own mind who am I? I am your previous self born in dreams and nightmares and why am I torturing you? well, the simple answer to that is am not actually torturing you, you are torturing yourself," he said. "You see, I was never really your problem, it was you who caused your problems. Do you understand my message? Now, why would someone do something as cruel as making their own life harder and more difficult by creating imaginary monsters? I mean look at how you've managed to screw yourself over." He shook his head and rolled his eyes dramatically or at least that's what I think it did seeing it had no eyes

. "You're stuck inside yourself, you live in a nightmare world where everyone wants to kill you."

I stared at the shadowy figure silently as he went on.

"You my sad little creator are a miserable prick of an individual who is just jealous that other people find it easier to achieve great feats."

"Great feats?" I repeated

"Yes, and you know perfectly well, that it doesn't always work out like in your dreams and in reality as well. It takes strength, courage, and most importantly perseverance. But what I'm trying to say here is that you are not strong," he chuckled darkly, "you're pathetic, weak, and cowardly. If it weren't for your mother, I don't even think you would ever have been able to defeat me."

His tone became icy cold and menacing

"What the fuck are you rambling about?" asked feeling more confused and scared than before.

The thing laughed deeply.

"Oh Darling please don't act so innocent," he said with another chuckle. "I know your story is full of suffering"

"There is nothing wrong with suffering," I said defensively.

The thing shook its head as a burst of mocking laughter escaped his lips.

"Of course, there isn't," he smirked, "that's the beauty of suffering Darling. In a twisted sort of way, it provides a kind of release from the pain and anguish in your life. That's why I can understand you"

"Understand what? How do I suffer? What'cha mean by that?"

"Your past Darling. Every day you live through your life wondering about how it ended, wondering what you did wrong, and regretting every minute of what you didn't do. It's quite understandable for you to feel lonely. After all, everyone has moments of weakness in their lives, you are no different."

I glared at the thing angrily

"I'm not like you," I spat

"Hmhm," the being nodded thoughtfully, "and that's why I can do what I want Darling. Nobody can stop me"

"Now we are literally running out of time my sweet sad creator, shall we get to the topic at hand?"

I ignored the creature and kept glaring at it

"Then listen to me dear creator," it began to move closer to me, "you can either accept your fate and live the rest of your days without knowing anything, or you can fight and win. Which one do you choose," it asked.

"Which choice do I choose?" I repeated.

"Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. Your choice!" the creature replied exasperated, "either surrender or fight!"

"Why should I surrender? You have done nothing but torture me and make me hate myself for the last twenty-four hours. How dare you threaten me? And what the hell is wrong with you calling me 'darling'? What am I to you?"

I stood up abruptly, knocking my chair backward,

"Hahahahaha" the thing cackled maniacally, "that's the spirit! Keep up the fighting spirit, Darling. That's the only hope you have left!" it exclaimed while laughing hysterically, "Now come sit down! Calm down and take a good deep breath."

As if on cue I calmed down,

"Sit down and relax Darling. Now I need you to calm down and listen carefully"

"No, fuck that. You're not telling me shit until I get some answers, or I'll be forced to leave"

He looked slightly annoyed at my sudden outburst but didn't argue further.

"You're right Darling; you have every right to be angry and frustrated. You've suffered enough because of me and it's only fair that I should be punished too. So let me explain what happened. First off let's go back to the beginning. Let's start from the very beginning."

I sighed in annoyance

He started to laugh once again,

"Alright, alright darling. It's time for us to get started. So before you ask any more stupid questions, I am you, you are me, no no that is not correct let me put it this way your current self somehow managed to attain enlightenment and wake all your past lives's memories and experiences back into existence poured right into you. They returned to you and gave you the gift of knowledge, power, and a desire to achieve something beyond anything possible you could ever imagine!"

It paused for a second and continued to speak,

"This new power also came with the trauma, fear, sadness, grief, rage, confusion, hatred, loneliness, disgust, guilt, and despair of all your 6876 lives all coming back together ripping your mental psyche into shreds creating multiple personalities within the same single mind, burdening your brain, mentally and physically to the point where it would collapse if you couldn't control it properly."

He paused as if waiting to see whether I was following his explanation or not. Of course, after a few minutes, he decided not to wait any longer

"So all those personalities decide to fight amongst themselves to gain control, or even more accurately try to control the entirety of the body! It's basically the same reason why you are sitting here and you have no idea what the hell's going on." he smiled wickedly.

I felt myself getting extremely uneasy as I thought about my past lives. How many people were still in my head, who was I in all of this?

"After a very short and brutal battle royal only three survivors remain the child, you, and one other, a bargain was struck leaving you in complete control, and others in the shadows but something happened and they lost their worth I guess would be the correct word turning them into some sort of spirits or something completely under your control and for some strange reason beyond our comprehension instead of feeling resentment or angry, they both of them felt feel happy about this bizarre turn of events which seems to have given rise to an intense bond between them. they are almost like your, shit I don't have the correct term, but you understand what I am trying to tell you, right?"

A sat there frozen a thousand questions brewing in my mind like a storm cloud ready to break. My eyes opened wider and wider with each passing moment as I tried to process everything. The thing smiled again looking at me with amusement as I stared at him in shock.

"Well Darling" it finally said with a grin and then added, "I know you have many questions, but I am nearly out of time "

It pointed the knife-like finger at me,

"So, be quite and listen, after that bizarre situation you subconsciously created me and i somehow merged with the other you and now here i am your creation, your other self"

The thing began to manically laugh after a few seconds it suddenly stopped

"now before I let you I will give you a piece of advice " it spoke as though reading off of a script

"don't underestimate yourself Darling" He leaned in close toward me,

"your past self wasn't your true enemy. His motives were, however, very clear and quite selfish in nature. Don't forget about that fact."

Suddenly I was falling backward.

A hand reached out to grab my arm before my face hit the floor, stopping my fall

"Good job, my Darling. Now then" he stood up, grabbed my head, and forced it down to meet his face,

"I suggest you find out how to use me and when to use me before I become bored with you."

It released my head and turned on his heels to leave the room, he was gone before I could even react, then the darkness swooped over me into oblivion, I woke up suddenly, gasping.

I opened my eyes wide, staring wildly around me.

I was back in my room back in the magical carriage, the rays of sunshine shone through the windows illuminating everything as though it were daylight. It took me a moment to gather my senses, then I sat up quickly and swung my legs over the side of the bed to get up.

I looked frantically around the room until I found what I was looking for.

My diary.

I rushed over to it, opened it, and began frantically writing about everything and anything I could recall about the weird encounter with the creature. It might prove invaluable later on in helping me solve my problems.

When I finished my writing, I closed the book and returned it to my nightstand,

I was just about to lay back down on the bed when a loud banging startled me, my heart rate increased in a panic and my breaths began to quicken

I jumped out of bed and started running towards the door.

I reached the doorway and turned the handle I was greeted by the beaming Ravella standing in front of me, I relaxed a bit upon seeing her,

"Good afternoon my Queen, did you enjoy your nap?" she asked politely, "Are you ready for your lessons?"