Mirrored Ripples

There was an endless ocean of luminous light, almost blinding in its lustre. Sailing effortlessly through the sea, there was a feeling of weightlessness that took over Avea, as though she were no longer bound to any physical form. The heavy burden of reality couldn't anchor her to the ground.

Am I dead? She thought, while aimlessly adrift in this sea of light that seemed to take no shape or motion. That had to be it, she'd never made it to the portal. She'd hit her head in the underground, and had unknowingly died, alone and discarded. Yet this strange sensation had taken root within her, the tether burying its way into her chest, carving into her very soul.

The knot began to tighten in her chest, and she found herself surrendering to the tethers pull. Grasping at the veins of silver light that danced around her like delicate ribbons, but slipped through her fingers, leaving a faint glow behind. Where are you leading me? she thought, as the tether began to steer her forward with wild abandon, and she couldn't bask in the luminous glow any longer. Hurtling forward, the exhilarating rush was all consuming, her blood roaring and soul singing.

She sensed the bond deepen, the thread weaving through her soul and tightening into a knot, as she soared across the blinding ocean of light. The glowing tendrils faded softly, like moonlit mist dissipating beneath the dawn's gentle embrace.Avea threw her hands up to shield her eyes, as a brilliant, lustrous light blinded her vision. "Wait no..." she cried out, feeling the sudden, grounding weight of consciousness return, as the full force of gravity came crashing over her.

Avea's body collided with the solid ground beneath her, the jarring impact reverberating through her bones. As she opened her eyes, all around her stretched an endless darkness, only this time it felt different. The openness and stillness were eerie, as if nothing else existed beyond."Mum?" Avea's voice echoed into the emptiness. It was almost as though her cries had been swallowed by the darkness, her pleas met with an empty void. As her head stopped spinning and her vision cleared, she glanced down and realised she was kneeling on black water, only it held her instead of letting her sink into its depths.

Curious she peered down at the reflective surface, her weary eyes stared back at her, dulled by exhaustion and fear. She couldn't tear her stare away from the mirrored surface, her reflection marred with blood and discolored by bruises. Strands of disheveled, unkempt hair cascaded down, shrouding one side of her face. Resembling a condemned soul that had clawed its way out from the very depths of hell, and yet she couldn't shake the gnawing fear that this chilling void was hell's sister. A eternal sibling that had it own punishment for condemned souls.

Avea had only delved deeper into its clutches.

She forced her legs to stand, her mind still disoriented and trapped in a stunned state of disbelief. "MUM?!" Avea screamed out into the obscure darkness, only to be met with a deafening silence. "ARACELI?!" Avea tried again, her mother's real name sounding foreign on her tongue. Her body was moving, but her mind was disconnected as though it were lost, drifting back in the ocean of blissful light, now nothing more than a whisper of a dream. Avea brushed her fingers delicately against the locket where her mother's moonstone was kept secure. "Still there" she whispered, relief washing over her. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness scouring over the endless watered surface, she began walking across, every step accompanied by the eerie reflection that silently followed her.

She couldn't tell how long she'd been walking for, could've been hours or it could've been minutes, the stillness of the void she was walking through conveyed no indication of time passing. Allowing it to silently slip by, unnoticed and unfelt. Avea realised that this must have been what hell truly was, no blasted furnace of hell fire or screams of torment. Only silence. Endless silence. No hint of light, only the reflection of your tortured self staring back at you.

Just when she thought she couldn't take another step, she noticed something in the distance. A silhouette piercing through the darkness, could just be my eyes playing tricks on me? Thought Avea, despite this thought she walked towards it, her feet started cautiously, but then quickened in pace. Before she knew it, she'd broken into a sprint across the black waters surface. Leaving ripples in her wake,"mum I'm here...I came for you" Avea started, but then skidded to a halt.

She was standing before a temple bathed in a soft, ethereal glow of pure crystalline, resembling the light of a phantom moon. A formidable presence of four alabaster columns emerged before her, with veins of luminescence flowing into some mysterious entity within the temple. Avea couldn't move, she didn't trust her mind, and yet she didn't believe that her mind could make up something so magnificent. The temple stood with an air of majesty, seemingly impervious to the oppressive shroud of darkness around it. As she came in front of the series of stairs beckoning her forward. All the hesitation had left her body leaving nothing, but a steely determination.

Avea walked up the stairs, that glossy sheen making the temple almost too bright to look upon. As she ascended to the summit of the staircase, she felt the sting of disappointment when she saw not her mother waiting for her, but a solitary column holding a curved bowl at the very heart of the space. The sight was underwhelming, she had expected some grand revelation, but instead, there was only this simple, unadorned object.The bowl itself was modest in appearance, lacking the intricate designs and majestic qualities that adorned the rest of the temple. It was carved from a dull, grey stone, its edges smooth but unremarkable, and it seemed out of place amid the grandeur of the four grand pillars.

The bowl's plainness felt like a cruel joke in such a sacred place.

Hesitantly, Avea crept towards it, surrounded by nothing except for the four pillars, each firmly rooted at the corners of the sacred temple. Standing around her as silent sentinels, as if guarding the secrets of the universe. Yet, despite their grandeur, they offered no comfort, only heightening the sense of isolation that enveloped her. She didn't know what to do, it was just her alone in this miraj of a temple. She kept feeling as though this were merely a figment of her exhaustion, her mind strained beyond its limits and now it had finally cracked. The air was thick with an foreboding silence, broken only by the echo of her hesitant footsteps.

Confusion gnawed at her, fighting the screaming instinct to turn back down those stairs. But what was there to turn back to? She'd forsaken everything she'd ever known, all to bring back her mum. She could almost hear Bebop's voice, "V this might be one of the worst ideas you've ever had," she felt a slight pang in her chest knowing that her bot, her clan, wasn't here with her. Fear clawed at her insides, cold, creeping that left her feeling utterly lost and alone.

The bowl's simplicity was disheartening. Her mind raced, trying to piece together why this unimpressive object was here, why it seemed to be the focal point of the temple. There was no way back, as she reached out with trembling hands to touch the cool, sculpted curve of the bowl. She peered into the shallow pool of water within the bowl. The water was unnaturally still, its surface like a perfect mirror reflecting her weary, battered face with startling clarity. The reflection seemed almost mocking, showing her every raw emotion etched into her features, the fear, the pain, the lingering hope.

As she stared into the water, her confusion deepened. The bowl's shallow depths seemed to hold no answers, no comfort. The connection she felt to it was tenuous, and the coolness of the stone under her fingers offered little solace. Closing her eyes, took a deep breath, feeling the coolness of the stone under her fingers, allowing it to ground her. As she opened her eyes again, she peered into the shallow pool of water hoping for some revelation or sign.

At first, it was only her own reflection staring up at her, but then Avea noticed something else reflecting on the water's surface. A glistening above her, like the moonlight caught on the ocean's surface. Her eyes peered upwards and she gasped, seeing a swirl of a cosmic cloud above her, swirling together in a dance of ethereal light and color. It was unlike anything she had ever seen, a radiant nebula suspended in the darkness, its brilliance shining sharply against the void. The vibrance within the cloud shifted, blending deep indigos and rich purples with vibrant blues and shimmering silvers. Each wave of color moving with a slow, deliberate grace, as if following a rhythm that only the cosmos could hear. It was as though a small kernel of the universe were being held upwards by these sentinel pillars, their alabaster pillars cradling the cosmic cloud.

Suddenly, the smooth plane of the reflecting bowl faltered, small ripples forming in the water. As Avea watched the colors of the cosmic cloud begin to converge at its center, forming a dense, luminous core. From this core, a single thread of ethereal light, pure and brilliant, and began to spill downwards in a delicate, spiraling descent.This thread of light spilled into the bowl before her. The sight of the cosmos’s unraveling chaos above meeting the serene, stilled surface of the water below, as if these two opposing elements were destined to create a perfect balance. She watched the celestial light spill into the bowl's embrace. So precise and still, Avea resisted the urge to reach out and touch it. Her grip tightened on the vessel's brim, her knuckles blanching to the point of pain, but she couldn't loosen her grip for fear of falling. A whisper barely escaped her lips, half plea, half command, "show me where my mother is." She spoke into the pool's depths, and as her hesitant eyes dared to peer through the aqueous veil. She leaned closer into the shallow pool of water, seeing its clarity begin to cloud.

The spillage of light showed her a vision of a silver orb gracefully adrift in the void of space. The vision was mesmerizing, the orb's surface glowing softly, casting a gentle light. It's a moon, she realized. Its beauty was solemn, with its light ebbing gracefully against the shadowed oblivion. She couldn’t understand it, but a sudden ache of familiarity and longing pierced her. It slipped away too quickly, yet she reached out, desperate to grasp onto it. The shallow pool of water clouded again, and as the vision morphed in front of Avea's eyes, she saw the myriad of silver moons appear. Their beauty breathtaking, as they orbited around each other, moving as one in a slow breathless waltz. Their graceful motion held her captive, silver light flickering in her wide, unblinking eyes.

Too captivated, that she didn't notice their luminous glow beginning to drain, seeping into the black oblivion. The moon's' surface fading to a somber, ashen gray, as if struck by a silent deathly illness. She blinked, as if the world might shift back, as she realised the moons were withering away. Crumbling, as an invisible force ruthlessly caused them to disintegrate piece by piece, into the void of nothingness. A profound sense of loss and despair gripped her heart. The moons, which had once seemed so eternal and untouchable, were now falling apart before her eyes. Her thoughts began to spiral, what was the purpose of showing her this destruction? Was this a warning? A glimpse into a potential future? How could something so beautiful be so ruthlessly destroyed? She couldn't help but feel as if their fate of those moons was somehow intertwined with her own.

That's when the water began to ripple once again. No longer reflecting the sickly moons, but the glint of a razor-sharp blade being swung. With a deep breath, Avea steadied herself, the weight of the bowl grounding her, as the water began to swirl.

A pulsating beam of light shoot skyward, its radiance was almost blinding, even through the water. Strange bodies of light circled around it. Avea sucked in a harsh breath as she noticed the darkness seeping into the light beams like poison filtering through the bloodstream. Eight figures, each tethered to the light with their own beams, fiercely fought against the eclipsing shadows. She watched in horror as the darkness wrapped around the bodies of light that were struggling against it, until the moment one among them faltered, knees yielding to the insidious darkness.

Her vision of their faces blurred by a glaring light, she couldn't understand why the cosmic thread of light couldn't reveal their faces to her. Could her mother be one of them? Or the enemies who seized her? She was watching a battle, unable to tear her eyes away from the warriors wielding their weapons with an unhinged wrath, desperate to free themselves.

Avea's heart pounded, she could feel the fear emanating from the light beings, as they resisted the encroaching darkness, that coiled around the figures like a suffocating viper. Avea sucked in a sharp breath, as the vision shifted. All of the light bodies were held down, seemingly being drained themselves, their bright light dulling as the dark tendrils tightened their restraints. All except one who stood at the eighth position, desperately fighting off the surging darkness with a blade, trying to keep the light vortex steady. Wielding their blade, each swing charged with raw instinct. The lone fighter's light was brighter, more intense, but it was clear they were struggling, their beam flickering under the strain of the shadow.

As the water swirled, showing the lone light body faltering as the insidious shadows crept towards them. The eighth light body fell to their knees, forcing the weapon out of their hands and the shadows, sensing their vulnerability lurched towards them, like a lasso ready to ensnare."NO get up ... fight!" Avea screamed into the water, as she did the glint of a blade came out from nowhere, held by another light body who'd somehow freed themselves from the shadow's restraints. Avea's eyes widened in shock. The liberated light body picked up the abandoned blade and slashed at the eighth beam of light, rescuing the final body before the darkness could seize them.

For a brief moment, Avea could see the blade, sleek and slightly curved.

A strange blade, she thought, seeing its intricate, glowing patterns pulsing, as though it were taking its last deep breath. Before it shattered before her eyes, shards flying apart and disappearing into the vortex of light. The explosion of brilliant light that followed obliterated the darkness in an instant.The intensity of the vision left Avea breathless and shaken. Her grip loosened, and she sank to her knees, overwhelmed by the weight of what she had seen. The cosmic cloud still shone above, a silent witness to the vision trapped within the water's depths. Avea closed her eyes, taking deep, steadying breaths, trying to gather her strength to see more. She slowly rose to her feet, her eyes fixed on the shimmering pool before her.

The pool whispered with its ripples, showing the rouge light body who had severed the beam of light with the blade. They extended their now empty hand in a desperate attempt to pull the eighth light body to safety. But they were too late, the eighth light body was already being pulled into the tear that had opened behind them. The light bodies clung to each other, "NO!" Avea whispered, seeing the hands slipping. The eighth light body, who had stood their ground so valiantly against the force of darkness, was being pulled into the tear. With a final, desperate glance, the light body was swallowed by the vortex, disappearing into the abyss, as the other light body outstretched fingers grasped at empty air. Avea staggered slightly, but caught herself. The colors in the water began to change again, revealing the eighth light body adrift from the vortex, it was obvious that they were stranded and alone. The landscape had already been drained of color, the darkness clearly refusing to be cut off.

Clutching the hilt of the broken blade held by the light body that had tried to save them, they gripped the weapon, now reduced to a jagged shard sticking outwards. "Who are you?" Avea murmured to herself, her voice barely audible. An agonized scream erupted from the light body as they threw the shard into the ground. Light erupted from the blade in a rejuvenating wave, reclaiming the landscape in hues of radiant blue and invigorating the terrain with a life force. "What the hell?" Avea whispered, the light reflecting in her eyes. The water swirled to reveal the previous vision of the dull moons crumbling into oblivion, but then she saw the wave of blue light expand across the surface of a single moon. The sunken grey had turned to a vibrant blue glow.

Avea's voice broke the silence, the realization suddenly hitting her. "The eighth moon," she whispered. This is what Dolunay had been trying to tell her mother, "the eighth moon must be revived" he had said to her mother. "The eighth moon is lost" her mother had replied, refusing to believe Dolunay's words.

The eighth moon's wasn't lost, whoever this light being was they had saved the moon from its demise.

The vision of the eighth moon crumbling, then being revived by the burst of blue light, hinted at a hidden power, a force capable of restoring what had been lost. The thread of light suddenly stilled, leaving the shallow pool of water as if it had never been touched. Avea stood over the bowl, willing the water to show her more. "No, wait, hold on...is that where my mum is?" she spoke into the bowl. But the still waters offered no response. "Wait? Where she is?" Avea tried again, realising that she was talking to water. In frustration, her hand splashed the surface, disrupting the peaceful stillness that had settled. She didn't understand what she'd just seen or how it was connected to her. "What does this all mean?" she thought, panic rising in her chest. She tried to recall everything and make sense of it, not noticing the cosmic cloud begin to swirl above her.

"Wait, what's happening?" Avea's heart lurched in surprise, as her feet lifted from the ground. Her body began levitating into the cloud. "No, no, no..." Everything faded around her as she ascended into the swirling cloud, its colours swarming around her like a raging storm. With a deep breath, all she could do now was prepare herself for whatever lay ahead. She had come too far to turn back, so she had no choice but to face the unknown.

She'd found the eighth moon...or perhaps it had found her.