SWNOVELXO Chapter 13: Dream
After returning to her room, Selina gradually closed the door behind her, her back leaned on its mahogany surface.
She felt a suffocating grip over her heart.
Sorrow, fear, and anguish swirled within her—enough to drown her if she let them
At that moment, a gentle and anchoring sound of a feline drifted through her ear.
Meow~
Selina casted her gaze downwards, and saw the black cat once more.
Its dark fur contacts the cold stoned floor as it lifted its head to glance at Selina.
With a stammering voice, capable of clarity yet subtle wavering, she said softly, "Falacy, I'm... really—really sorry that I haven't given you anything."
The cat didn't respond, instead it strode off towards the opened glass of windows. Vanishing into the illumination of the moonlight.
I guess... without tending it properly, it would eventually leave you... Selina mused internally as she steadily made her way to the mattress of the bed with mechanical steps.
Her gaze fell onto the suitcase she have prepared in advance, in case the officials will raid the town and the manor by tomorrow.
I guess... It wouldn't happen now... she muttered, caressing the case's leathered base.
With a swing of her body, she laid onto the undraped mattress, silently gazing at the floral designed ceilings.
Soon, the feline returned. Locked in its mouth is a wriggling and a living fresh fish.
!?
W-Where did you get that!? Selina was stunned at the action displayed by the cat.
The cat didn't approach. It perched calmly on the window's railing, lifting its head as if to offer the fish.
Is he giving it to me? Selina mused at the unexpected action of her feline companion. In return said in a mellow voice, "How thoughtful of you... But I prefer it to be roasted."
The cat then strode off once more.
W-Will he actually roast it? Selina couldn't help but wonder about the cat's unnatural capabilities, exceptional even to its kind.
After a few minutes, the cat returned, with its mouth empty-handed.
I'm being too crazy... Selina mused internally as she gestured the cat to accompany her by patting the side of the mattress.
The cat immediately made its way next to Selina, leaping from the stoned floor and onto the soft mattress.
It nestled comfortably beside her, offering its silent company.
With a delicate touch, her hand hovered over the cat's fur, then slowly began to stroke its soft, flowing coat.
Watching the feline respond with quiet contentment, Selina lazily tilted her head, revealing a restrained smile, she said "I'm glad I met you... Thank you for everything, Falacy."
At that moment, Selina felt her eyes became rigid, her sockets gradually close, and before she knew it, the serenity of the night made the maiden fall into a deep sleep.
Tears began to form from Selina's face, laying heavily in the embrace of the mattress.
The cat stood from its place, and approached its companion's face.
It laid beside her, silently gazing at Selina's drifting expression.
...
The rigid and illusory dreamworld shattered in an instant.
Suddenly, the ground began to congregate into a pile of mound, reshaping into a pale white skin, constructing into slender limbs and body, head squirming into strands of slightly golden white hair, finally forming a beautiful face identical to Selina.
At that moment, the sculpture's eyes gradually fluttered open. Finding itself in a sunless world.
After gaining lucidity, Selina snapped herself from her stupor.
Why is it so dark? her gaze scour the devoid space of any sparks of light, yet failed to distinguish the world from its absence.
Am I dreaming... Again?
Why is my body feels so light?
Maybe this is the result of the strains I've accumulated from fear and paranoia...
But shouldn't dawn already arrived?
Within seconds, after Selina thought of the bright morning light, the world burst into a brilliant illumination.
From the darkness, the world presents itself in a grotesque environment, consisting of a ground made of pulsing flesh, mountain piles of organs that are squirming and contorting as if they're alive.
Selina felt an inexplicable horror loomed her whole being, her body staggered to the ground, falling onto a floor of wilting flesh.
!?
Selina's eyes shivered in fear as she felt a violent pulse beneath her palm followed by viscous substances mingling to her skin.
Within seconds, the air behind her ear began to whisper, distant murmurs and inaudible voices that pestered her mind in madness. She felt intense throbbing pain in her head, as if being hammered with a nail.
M... y.... h.... i... ld
My hild!? Selina cradled herself in an attempt to sooth the intensifying voices, but it remained relentless and deafening.
N-Not again! Please!
Wake up! Please Wake up! As Selina plead from her suffering, with a glimpse, her mind thought of the green pastures beyond the manor walls.
Suddenly, as if heeding her ordeal, the world squirmed into a desolate land stretching infinitely across the distance. Each flesh reformed into grass and flowers, terraforming the land into a luscious green wilderness.
It resembles her image of the manor's pastures rolling into the town of Milo.
The soft strands of leafy greens cloaked her palm in a serene air. Refreshing breeze swept the ravings and the murmurs of her mind as it deliver gusts of winds that throws her silver hair in a gentle flow, her headache gradually receding.
After propping herself from the soiled ground, and adjusting the crease of her dress, her mind whirred in confusion.
What is happening? What exactly is this dream!? her eyes darted from the distant horizons. Not a mountain, river, buildings, or forests in sight, only a grassy plain with occasional blooms extending into an unending stretch.
Selina lowered her gaze, seeing her pale white body intact wearing the identical dress she wears, she began to examine her state.
Am I dreaming? she wondered, raising her palm over her skin before exerting force to her fingers, pinching her left forearm.
Ouch!
It hurts... Is this not a dream? Selina started to ponder the events that have transpired in the manor.
The transmigration, the ritual, the wedding, the gathering and her escape.
Was it all just a dream as well?
At that moment, the grassy plain began to sprout prominent veins that extends infinitely across the horizons, circling from beneath Selina and dispersing into straight lines that reaches the distance, and soon vanishing in hindsight.
These pulsing lines of flesh squirmed into a string of vines with flowers and roots binding it towards Selina.
It depicts a Spiraling Mural of Rocks, replacing the materials with vines.
Subconsciously, as if it's natural, Selina raised her hand, mirroring the lines of vines expanding in front of her, she extends her palm towards the horizon.
Then, with a blinding flash, the maiden phased out of existence.
...
In the 1st floor of the Ivory's Manor, Northern Wing.
Resting on the lower part of one of the bunk beds.
Daelan Moar, a believer of the Primordial Moon and a member of the Rose School of Thought: Indulgence faction. A false believer, a man of insidious behavior who never once participated in each praying rituals and have never known their god's honorifics.
Only following orders made by the higher ups in a chance to retrieve a certain item of value, an object given to him by his late mother. He is fully aware of the cult's wrongdoings, so instead of preaching, he would avoid such confrontations by busying himself with self-improvised missions.
Now in the form of a butler named Marquis, he is assigned to observe the vessel of the Child of God, Selina. In their initial ritual, as he carries the unconscious Selina back to her room, the blood of the maiden stained him, prompting him suspect if he had been corrupted to an extent.
Lying on the rugged sheets of the mattress, he exerted an effort to close his eyes and sleep, yet the thought of being corrupted crept him into wake.
If this continues... Impersonating tomorrow is going to be difficult. In a stern expression, he insisted on closing his, mustering his frayed nerves to ease.
Then, immediately after, his consciousness gradually drifted away.
...
In a dreamworld of landscape resembling a luscious green plain.
Daelan suddenly found himself upright, concealed by a hazy mist.
Uneased, his eyes quickly darted across the grassy land, lightly shrouded in gray-white veil.
Soon, he noticed a lady standing at a distance. Lines of vines and flowers spiraling from her feet.
She wore a long-white corset dress, golden-silver hair adorned with wreathes, her pointed ears and pale snow skin made her identical to a goddess depicted in the ancient scriptures.