Seeking Nightmares

Zharina Marie Stephanie Lugo

Strips of sunlight began to scatter inside the art room, reminding me to finish the painting before ten o'clock in the morning. Colors of blue, violet, and white-dominated my artwork as it radiated emotions that I own as of the moment. "How much is this one? Five Million shards?" I hummed towards my balcony, making sure Elias was listening to me. "Yes, madam. And the client is very excited to see you too." He answered and carried a tray containing my favorite glass teapot filled with Jasmine tea. "That's nice to hear. Tell the others to prepare my dress." I stood back, monitoring the canvas for flaws. "And your emotions are not in its right place, Elias. You better get some sleep." His emerald eyes glimmered as he nodded and left the room.

The birds' chirping created a soothing melody as I passed through the garden hallways made of vines and glass. This was the only path towards my bedroom that lessens my human interaction inside the palace. Without my shades, I'll be seeing through someone's emotions, and I'll hate carrying the burden of not being able to help them. "Good morning, Madam!" Alida bowed and avoided my eye contact. She was one of my favorite servants, busy taking care of my plants in the garden. "Good morning Alida!" With a blink of an eye, glowing threads began to slither away from her head. Colors of yellow and orange lines surrounded her. And all I knew was that she would be jolly and cheerful for the whole day. "You're going to have a nice day today." I smiled and entered my room.

"We are fifteen minutes earlier, Madam Aislinn ." Elias checked his watch and opened the umbrella. We strolled outside the Louvre Museum, listening to the soft patterns of water from the fountain. "It's been a while since I got this close to reflective objects," I whispered and gazed upon the glass pyramid. The absence of my reflection was not new to me, but staying here out in public might scare anyone that would notice my peculiarity. Gladly, there were no people today, and the whole museum accepted my request to open it just for us this Tuesday morning.

"And he's here." The client finally arrived with a set of guards trailing behind him. His face was full of happiness, waving towards our direction while his Hawaiian-inspired polo shirt and khaki shorts danced with the wind. "Would you prefer to see his soul before talking to him in person?" Elias asked. "It will be fine. I've been negotiating things for a thousand years already." I smiled and waved back. My guards handed the painting to the client while we had a short conversation in my cafe. "Thank you so much for the royal accommodation, Miss Aislinn. It's an honor to purchase the painting and visit you here in Paris." Jacob gave me his calling card. As he was about to ride his car, he waved goodbye and found my eyes behind the shades. "Oh, and one more thing. In case those emotions would turn messy again, you can call me anytime." This time, his thoughts entered my mind as if the voice was naturally echoing behind my skull.

I stood frozen outside the cafe, watching Jacob leave. Fear and anxiety haunted me because no one had ever seen my thread of emotions and talked to me through thoughts. "Are you alright? You seem to appear pale, Madam." Elias assisted me back to the cafe, still wondering about what happened. I took a glimpse of the calling card, and it was a thin infinite mirror with words moving on the piece. "We need your help again." I never told Elias about it, but my silence was haunting inside the car. He was my servant for ten years and a half, and I knew every slight change in my mood would be evident to him. He never spoke any word, but he waved to me through the side mirror with his unique ability to see me in mirrors. The next day, I was ready to tell him everything about the telepathic connection that I experienced with the odd client. While waiting on the gazebo located in the garden's eye, I made sure the banquet was all set. Yellow balloons and the bouquet of sunflowers were perfectly arranged on the gigantic vases. I wanted everything to be special on Elias' birthday. Happiness and excitement grew inside my lungs, breathing in the feelings that I had for him. My heart hummed that this would be the right moment for us.

An hour passed, but Elias was still not here. With fear juggling in my gut, I removed my shades to see the glowing threads of people. Even though I was far from the palace, our garden still gave me the perfect view of the structure. Brilliant strings darted back and forth, gliding on the skies and trees. For a thousand years, I learned these things are emotions owned by every individual, finding a sense of connection towards another dimension. The ability to see them is a gift and somehow a curse. I began running when I saw a cluster of strings fading away from the palace. All these years, I knew how those threads looked like. Silvery blue and white, like the first time we both watched the snowfall in Japan.

It was silvery gold, like my first encounter with my ability to see connections during the war that led me to him.

After all the lifetimes I leaped to find him, Elias drifted into an eternal slumber and was not able to get back in time to our reality.

---A month already passed, so I gathered my strength to visit Elias' new home near the gazebo. His remains were beneath this sea of sunflowers, with his glass epitaph glimmering with the sunlight. "I knew someone should be responsible for this." I cursed below my breath, pulling out the mirror calling card from Jacob a month ago. Words surfaced from the corners of the card, delivering another mysterious message. "We knew who did it." Walking through the dark corridors never scared me anymore, but thinking about who possibly did it to Elias sent chills to my skull. Cobwebs dangling on the high ceiling distracted me as I halted in front of the golden door. "No. I was sure that I got rid of all of them a long time ago." My hands trembled upon opening the room, sweat racing down my brows. The room was only containing a glass coffin, and it seemed to drain my soul. Upon lying down the cold

casket, fainting lights began to illuminate all over my body as it invited me into the world of dreams. There I stood on the face of darkness, watching the glowing threads humming from all directions—Voices of people dreaming filled the silence, souls darting back and forth. Jacob appeared beside me, handing over a sword I used to combat nightmares of those tangled up with Ephialtes' claws. We were only allowed to break strings that are glowing white and blue throughout the years to indicate that someone has been saved from the night terrors. Yet Ephialtes owned jaws and warriors that could incinerate all the strings of a person, causing death in the physical world.

Elias glided near me with a fainting light of green, reaching for my hand with a smile. Pain radiated from my chest while I dragged the sword to chase him. Colors smeared all over the place, transforming into the hallways of the palace. His soul led me to the library, where we always spent our time scanning books and sketches.

Across the room, blankets of fog covered the shelves, revealing a silhouette of a lady with broken threads shrieking from its head. The figure kept on hissing, claws anchoring the shattered tiles beneath its feet. My sword hummed once more, giving me a hint of the presence of danger. The monster gracefully turned its head towards my direction, draining the soul from the dead body. Her angelic face was too familiar but motionless, with eyes hungry for the sword. The monster's voice electrified my thoughts, whispering gibberish words of "Hello….madam." Her soul was gone, and so she searches for one to make her human again.

I braced myself, preparing for a fight against one of my strongest servants. With its strings glowing silver, it launched forward, flailing itself madly. I lifted the sword, aiming for its head infiltrated with nightmares. "It was you, Alida." I hissed.