Gilda stood paw-deep in a sea of swirling darkness that stretched on into infinity.
She looked around for a full minute, trying to figure out where she was and how she had gotten there, before she realized that she was in a dream.
I’ve never had a dream like this. she thought as she looked around, trying and failing to see any distinct shapes amidst the gloom. I’ve always dreamed of some piece of my past-usually my death, but I’ve never been to this place.
The griffoness walked forward, hoping that by walking in a specific direction she could find something of interest.
It didn’t take her very long.
It rose up suddenly out of the gloom, almost like it had been there all along, but kept out of her sight: it was a massive, crumbling castle, with jagged and broken battlements like crooked teeth, thin windows with grimy stained-glass coverings that had somehow remained unbroken and a single entrance that she now stood before.
Gilda gazed into the gloom that lay in wait beyond the doorway, feeling a chill creep across her spine.
I’m not sure that I want to go in there, but if I’m dreaming then nothing can hurt me… mused Gilda, maybe I can will it away or change it somehow? I’ve read about lucid dreaming, but can I actually do it here?
She closed her eyes and began to concentrate, but something felt wrong: it felt to her like a tiny voice whispering, begging her not to change a single ruined aspect of the dream castle.
Gilda opened her eyes and then sighed, I guess I’ll go in, then.
The griffoness padded her way into the castle, not feeling anything around her, but hearing the drip of water from some unseen place as well as the sound of her own heartbeat.
She passed through a small, cramped corridor made from grimy stones and passed under a low archway to find herself in a large room that was lit only a by a few sparse torches that glowed an eerie blue.
There wasn’t a single bit of furniture in the room with one glaring exception.
It was a large, circular pit that lay at the room’s exact center, surrounded by a circle of white stones that seemed to glow with some inner light.
Gilda approached it without a second thought.
Soon she found herself staring over the edge of the pit, down into the deep dark fathoms that lay below her.
The darkness shifted, then began to creep up the stone like some kind of living oil, turning the gray stone dark and gleaming as it did. Gilda’s beak fell open as she watched the darkness rise to greet her, not even paying any mind to the odd tingling sensation that was quickly moving up her scarred paws.
What is this stuff? she wondered as the oily shadows undulated before her eyes. The darkness was only a few feet from the lip of the pit, but Gilda hadn’t moved a muscle.
Then something moved in her periphery and she looked down, screaming aloud when she saw the dark tendrils that had materialized from her shadow and were now binding her paws to the floor.
She looked back up just in time for the darkness from the pit to wash over her.
She was surrounded by sights and sounds. They buzzed through the air like hornets and crowded her thoughts, piecing into her brain and filling her with snapshots and disjointed bits of conversations.
She was younger, whole, sitting with a rainbow-maned pegasus under a tree as rain fell around them.
“Thanks for bein’ there, Dash...I just wish he didn’t have to be such a dick about everything *Sniff*”
She was arguing with her father, back when his face wasn’t so lined with hatred.
“Aww-c’mon, dad…”
A harsh rebuke whose sting bled back into her memory.
“Well excuse me for not bein’ an uptight asshole like you!”
After a painful fallout, visiting a grave atop a lonely hill.
“Hey, mom...I’m sorry I haven't visited you in a while… flight camp’s just been a bi-I mean it’s been tough.”
Comforting a sobbing pegasus, the same pegasus from before.
“Hi, name’s Gilda..what’s yours?”
The two standing on a cloud overlooking a mountain range.
“I bet I can beat ya with one wing tied behind my back!”
Her father’s fist flying into her cheek, then her standing over with his blood on her clenched talons, her father howling through a broken jaw.
“That’s what you get, asshole!”
Sobbing on a cloud, the rain falling, the last straw broke.
Then she was watching through blood-filled eyes as a gaunt, haggard griffon took out a glowing object and placed it somewhere inside of her, and the pain as her heart stopped.
Then she woke up.
It took her a few minutes to calm herself as her heart beat out of control, it took her even longer to blot the tears that had been flowing freely down her cheeks like miniature waterfalls.
“Th-those were m-memories.” she said aloud, trying to calm herself, “I-I saw myself….is that what I looked like when I was alive?”
She looked down at her paws and talons, imagining her skin whole and unscarred like it had been in the memories. She turned and walked towards a nearby puddle, obviously the result of a rain that she had slept through, though her fur was only a little bit damp.
Gilda looked down at her body, wincing as her eyes traced the Y-shaped scar on her chest. She closed her eyes and heaved a shuddering sigh.
After a few deep breaths she had calmed down enough to start analyzing the memories.
I was younger, I got in a fight with my father, then I went to see...mother… her thoughts trailed off as she remembered the gravestone, feeling new tears spring to her eyes when she realized that she hadn’t seen a name.
I can’t remember her name or her face. she thought sadly, I hope that she was beautiful.
She looked down at the puddle again, trying to force her mind to remember her mother’s face and name, but that proved useless and Gilda felt anger course through her veins.
“Why can’t I remember her name?!” she roared, lifting her talon up and slamming it down hard enough to create a small tsunami of murky water.
As the water-and Gilda’s temper- settled, she saw something glowing in the water’s depths.
Maybe my punch unearthed something? she wondered, glad for the distraction.
She reached into the water to grab the glowing thing, but her talon met mud and nothing else. Gilda’s brow furrowed and she ran her fingers through the muck, trying to locate the glow, but she didn’t find anything.
“Where are you?” she asked, growing annoyed as she studied the glow.
Then she shifted slightly, and the glow followed her.
Her mismatched eyes widened; the glow was coming from her!
She looked down at her chest scar and gaped at the red glow that was emanating from between the stitches. She raised a finger and pressed the tip to the glowing spot, letting out a gasp when she felt a sharp jolt from the contact.
Then, as she watched, the glow faded away, leaving only the ugly scar.
“What. The. Hel?” she uttered as she ran a pad over the scar, wondering what the glow was.
I guess it’s another mystery that I have to solve. she thought, turning back towards her chosen path. Maybe someone in the nearest city can tell me…. if my face doesn’t scare them off.
Sighing miserably at the prospect of having to deal with more people who would most likely be frightened of her appearance, Gilda began her trek anew.
Maybe I can find a coat that nobody wants. she thought to herself as she moved through the undergrowth, hoping that she could find some shelter when night fell, a glance at the darkening horizon made it clear that a storm was brewing.
A really nasty storm, too.