Chapter Text
Dreams. Nightmares. Manifestations of the psyche and windows into the soul.
It began in dreams. Dreams which seemed normal at first, easy enough to brush off when open eyes blinked sleep away or unclouded from a daydream. Harder to ignore when elements bled into more than one dream or haunted a nightmare.
The dreams were innocuous in the beginning. The rumble of earth beneath one's feet in a dreamscape. The tousling of hair by a breeze from nowhere. Shadows that seemed to stretch further than they should. A drop of water splashing to roll down an outstretched hand. A candle burning impossibly bright in a dim room. The warmth of a ray of light across a wooden floor. Scraped knuckles mending themselves with the touch of a hand. The perspective-change of running on two feet to running on four.
It was hard to say when the dreams changed. Mountains split and fell as fire poured from their depths. The winds of a storm raged and lashed the dreamscape in torrents of water that flooded everything in sight. Darkness overtook the land and the creatures residing there grew unrecognizable. Ripples of lightning carved gouges in the dreamscape that refused to become whole beneath shaking hands.
It wasn't long before the nightmares were more common than the dreams. Sometimes they were familiar, enough to recognize themselves in them.
Then it wasn’t just themselves they were seeing in those nightmares.
The sensation of falling as the ground crumbled beneath once-steady feet. The sky vanishing above as once-faithful earth swallowed hands that reached up for salvation.
Being flung impossibly high into skies turbulent with lightning and rain. The very breath in capable lungs seeming to vanish as hands reached for a frozen throat.
Tendrils of once-loved shadow curling up like vines, twining around strong legs and climbing higher. Then the harsh scream as frantic arms were yanked down into a pit of darkness, the depth of it swallowing even voice.
Standing ankle deep in a trickle of river, the rumbling growing louder in panicked ears as eyes scanned upstream in disbelief. Then the rushing wall of water, rocks, and trees sweeping everything away and bringing only pain.
A room in flames with no escape, smoke choking lungs that cried out for release. Fingers reaching out to calm the licking fire pulling back in pain as the inferno burns white hot and consumes everything.
Light is everywhere, blinding and painful in its intensity. It bleeds into every crack and defies attempts to hide from it. It sears eyes past the point of merely watering until sight vanishes and the world falls away in darkness.
Pain. Everywhere is pain without ending. Wounds of every sort at every turn and shaking hands try to ease them all until strength fails and the ground rushes up to meet dimming senses.
Fleeing at breakneck speed from a faceless horror that seems to change in kind with each attempt to shift form and get away. Eyes look back to gauge how close the dreaded pursuer is... only to see their own face before the monster overtakes them.
Eight voices cried out as one as eight eyes snapped open in abject terror. Eight souls in eight trembling bodies lay breathless, trying in their own ways to process what they'd seen and heard amidst it all.
A flash of short crimson hair and thoughtful grey eyes. A feeling of power and stability, of being grounded in themselves.
Dark, cat-like onyx eyes glancing up from below dark brown hair. Grace with every movement and a voice like a gentle breeze.
Dark hair shading to a silvery blue and a raspy, rapid-fire voice. Sharp, dark eyes dance with shadows and mystery.
Long strands of white-blonde hair framing piercing blue eyes and a tender smile. Every movement is fluid and purposeful.
Dark hair glinting with rainbow shades, puffed cheeks, and dark eyes bright with a laugh. A fiery warmth spreads everywhere around them.
Silver-blonde hair and a spray of freckles above a sunshine smile. Pale blue eyes are alive with light, their depths shining from within.
Soulfully dark eyes framed by equally dark locks, piercing yet peaceful. A soaring voice seems to bring a healing calm.
Deep blue hair falling into silvery grey, fox-like eyes that hold a youthful mischief. Playful laughter seems to shift and change tones at whim.
They all seemed familiar, yet none of them knew who these faces were besides their own. The dreams and nightmares had become more intense over the past few months. The visions of themselves and these other faces grew clearer by the day yet forever a mystery.
Then the nameless faces began asking the dreamers each one question.
Who am I?