MOONLIGHT CORRIDORS

A few memories began to spark mildly out from the utter emptiness of Aelia's consciousness. At first, there were no images nor sounds. Not even feelings or any kind of logic. Just a plain instinctual intuition of how past events had molded her, back when she was a child. She remembered feeling trapped outside her own body, unable to connect to any of her senses, completely disconnected from any of the attributes that could make her feel human. Aelia’s existence was that of multiple consciences made out of formless ideas, memories, and a sense of identity, wanting to find its way back to her body.

A white flash covered everything, and for a brief moment, she could notice she was inside a room with an irritating white light surrounding her, water in the floor, and the silhouette of a child standing right in front of her. The child had her hand reaching out to her, and she could distinguish she was looking straight into her eyes, horrified. That child was Aelia herself, ten years ago.

This vision didn’t last, as her vision began to blur once again. She could see how her current body was dropping in front of the child with traumatized eyes, landing her gaze down straight into the wet floor, right before everything blacked out again.

Aelia’s minds began to activate. The sense of familiarity from that recent scene, allowed each one of her thoughts to react in multiple ways, connecting to other memories from those old days.

She remembered standing in front of a huge door, with an immense Lord Ataoro towering at her side holding her by the hand. “Aelia, behind this door, your best friends are resting. I hope you will be able to meet them soon”, she recalled with clarity. An innocent sense of wonder awakened within her, as her desire to meet her friends resting behind that door, filled her heart.

Another memory was also replaying inside another one of her minds at the same time. She remembered she was sobbing and crying, feeling her whole world was falling apart, until a motherly figure came close to embrace her, putting all her feelings back in place. “Don’t worry Aelia, I know how strong you are”. That motherly figure with slightly messy black hair, also had tears in her eyes, but she seemed to be smiling at her.

"Here, take this." She said, as she put the jade green wristband she was always waring on Aelia’s right wrist. "It’s just a simple piece of clothing. But I want you to have it."

Aelia stopped sobbing and looked at the beautiful wristband she had just received from the woman she admired the most in the world, now being worn by herself.

"No matter how strict they are, or how hard things get." Said the woman with a soothing voice. "Don’t forget to have fun too. Got it?"

Aelia couldn’t help but let out a smile that pushed through the tears on her face, and nodded with a sense of both love for the woman and fear for what was to come. She firmly grasped the wristband with her other hand, and began to cry louder than ever. She remembered how another kid was watching her with a profound empathy, and how right after, a woman of cold and hard hands, grabbed her by the arm and took her away.

One last memory of her childhood came to one of Aelia’s minds.

She remembered she was walking through the corridors of the palace, late at night, not being able to sleep due to the loneliness of missing her teacher, even though she clearly knew, doing so would probably get her into trouble.

The typical soft warm light that glowed at these hours from the floor, walls and rooftops of the palace, was becoming dimmer. She could listen out in the distance, some abnormal sounds of splashing water and crackling salt, coming out from the otherwise peaceful nocturnal scenery.

She began to walk with haste through the corridors as they became darker and darker. Even the towers outside the palace, that usually glowed with a vivid white, had run out of light. A few flashes could be seen outside, every now and then, but Aelia didn’t care as she was now running through the dark, empty hallways, now lightened only by the moon.

A deep drumming and crackling noise could be now heard getting eerily closer. Something was crawling just outside where she stood. She was having trouble breathing as the noise got louder and louder, and fear had begun to take over her body. Then, right out in the window, the dark silhouette of a huge organic reptile-like creature, could be seen walking uncannily against the light of the moon. It’s legs sticked to the windows, and even though its size was larger than any living creature she had ever seen, it moved in a very quick and erratic manner across the windows outside the corridors, as if looking for something, but not knowing how to find it. Aelia could only stand motionless with her breath held tight, as she stared at the aberration.

Then, the whole corridor seemed to become bright in an instant, quickly raising from the floor up to the roof, emitting an extremely powerful light that blinded Aelia. She could barely see a huge black mass sliding across the outside of the window, right where she was looking at, and impacting the monster with devastating force. Just as the light appeared, it faded out, as if it had only been accompanying the black mass.

Aelia managed to regain control, and kept walking quickly through the somber palace, trying to find a safe place to hide from these unearthly creatures lurking in the outside. At last, she arrived at a corridor that was fully lightened by the moonlight, making her feel somehow safe. In the middle of the corridor, there was a gate. Aelia’s mind made a connection just as she noticed the large doors. She remembered Ataoro had shown her this very place in the past, and could clearly remember the few words he told her:

“Aelia, behind this door, your best friends are resting. I hope you will be able to meet them soon.”

To her surprise, as Aelia put her hand over the surface of the large gate, it lightened up. She pushed softly, and it opened without any resistance. It was as if her touch was the source of energy it required to move. She entered as she pushed the door open with her tiny body, and found herself inside a dark room where nothing could be seen. Her footsteps however, seemed to leave traces of white light in the floor.

After walking slowly inside the dark, hoping to find her friends resting, she saw a dim, circular light far inside the darkness. Her steps began to feel heavier, as she seemed to be walking over a large but shallow puddle. As she got closer to the light, her feet began to slightly submerge deeper into the water.

When she finally arrived, she could clearly see a soft circular light at the same height of her eyes. It seemed to be a circle twice as large as her own head, with the symbol of the kingdom of Rossmaria engraved on it. Aelia reached out with her hand to touch it, making the light it was emitting become stronger. She felt a slight electric current coming out from her arm, as she got closer.

It wasn’t even an instant after her hand touched the surface of the source of light, when Aelia felt her mind split apart. The light in front of her became bright, in a deep and electric cerulean blue, just like her own eyes. Aelia could see two simultaneous sceneries at once, as if her eyes had divided into two different bodies. On one hand, Aelia could see how the circular cerulean light in front of her began to move, as the floor, walls and rooftop lighten up into a bright white, revealing a massive whale-like, but not quite as organic monster, moving erratically and struggling to exist.

On the other hand, Aelia could simultaneously see herself in front of her from outside of her body. The colors she could see, the sounds she could hear, and even the way the water felt below her, were not quite the same as she was used to, as if her senses had been enhanced in some ways and limited in others. In front of her eyes, was a tiny Aelia, small like a hamster, looking at her with horror in her eyes and her arm stretched out.

Both visions became unstable, and electric flashes began to pop in and out of her consciousness, making Aelia lose control of her now two bodies. First the monster blacked out and dropped with its eye into the shallow water, and Aelia’s real body, took a few steps backwards, not understanding anything of what had just happened, and overwhelmed by her mind splitting apart. She fell unconscious on her back, barely feeling how the warm water in the floor covered half of her body.

This is where the memories ended.

Aelia's minds began to feel her body once again, inside the emptiness of her conscience. She seemed to be recovering her senses. Her capabilities of making logical reasoning, as well as feel emotions were also activating once more.

She could now listen to a familiar peaceful sound, as her real self was beginning to wake up from the forced slumber.