#9

Sleep came fast, and soon the two found themselves in a suspended state of thought. At first the peaceful serenity of deep sleep had overtaken them, but they were soon awoken. The awakening was not however of this reality, they awoke to find themselves in a vision. They both stood in an empty plane of grass, perfectly flat and infinite in all directions. The sky was in a sort of permanent twilight. The center of the sky was like night, however on all sides its seemed as if the sun had just barely slipped below the horizon. With no way to pinpoint direction, they soon found they were dreaming.

“What is this Zacknue?” Asked Ara, not scared but curious. Zacknue did not respond, instead he began walking. Ara ran up beside him, looking in the direction he was walking. He then stopped and pointed. On the horizon was a shimmering line that stretched across the plain. Within moments, it seemed as if the line was growing.

“It’s the sea Ara, its moving closer.” Ara clutched his arm, the ground below them begame soggy and gelatinous. Soon they found the ground sinking beneath them into the water that surged forth from underneath. By the time it had reached there waists, the orange glow on every horizon had thickened and brightened. Then it stopped, the waters remained motionless. Like glass the strange sea stretched on forever over the horizon. And they saw something, a reddish glow coming up from the water just feet from them. Ara backed away, but zacknue assured her, “We are safe, it is merely a vision.” She loosened up and leaned towards the glow. It became brighter, small bubbles surfacing. And then, as the glow reached its peak, a figure surged out of the water. It rose higher and higher until it was suspended above the water. The thing was nothing they had ever seen. On its head was a large glowing orb that shimmered and pulsated. The glowing made them feel uneasy, as if there was great evil hidden behind the pulsating red light. The rest of the being was relatively humanoid in form, but it was made up of strange composition. Its skin was like roots from a tree, vines that wrapped its frame in a twisted formation. The things hands were like claws. Its fingers were knobby and malformed, but they ended in thin needle-like points. Below the creature was a dark mist that hung above the water. At a closer look, one could see tiny faces that twisted and turned with the wind.

And the creature made an awful noise. Not coming from the being itself, but echoing from the distant horizon. At this moment, the black mist began to swirl and spin like a tornado. It reached up like fingers and wrapped itself against the figure, each face moaning in everlasting torture. The mist wove itself tightly onto the creatures flesh until it was like a dark shadow had been cast down on the being. Its face was now completely dark except for two slits that seemed to be eyes, yet they glowed and pulsated like the orb. And then the creature made another noise, like a gurgling cough. With that, the waters retreated and the creature touched down on solid ground. Then it vomited, a thick black substance that spread on the earth and killed the grass that it touched. It then spoke, a deep rumble that chilled through to Zacknue’s very soul.

“The world has changed much I see. The soil sings a joyful tune of rebirth. But at what cost one might ask? The world should have been cleaned of this long ago. We must have made an error my friends, but fear not, we can sweep away the dust and take back what is rightfully ours. We who are born of the glorious machine shall wipe away the mud to reveal a stainless metal surface, the wonderful age of iron that man so strongly began.” With this he disappeared.