Waking Dreams

Alone in the dark space of emptiness was Seya, alone and thinking to himself of the recent war that had occurred. The Great Shadow was put to rest once more, although not without consequences. Misery, that powerful Absolute, that Primordial Entity, had sacrificed itself to get in the way of Evil and Zied’s own plans. Even that psychotic ghost-witch was going to jump in after proclaiming her “professed love” to her “All-Powerful Master”. At the last moment, she changed her mind; a thought must have made its way to her. Probably a most devious one involving a long, drawn out plot, of that he was aware. Seya had been trying to piece together what had transpired in his mental absence; whatever occurred was one big story to tell. If he came across that scene as his first reawakening to his life, then he didn’t know where and when everything was.

He twiddled with his Golden Staff, anxious of life once more after being freed from the possession of a power-mad son. He could only think on what happened before he was taken over, and what happened right as he was roused from his mental tomb. He had many questions to ask Fortuna, that is, when he had the chance. He was fighting alongside her, then just blank emptiness. He didn’t know how to piece together the parts that were missing besides asking others that were around at the time.

To Seya, it was unfortunate to say that he knew one way for sure to be able to gather any information that was greatly important; but it also had to go into undesired territory, with a very unruly librarian. He shuddered at the thought of visiting that realm once more to come across that monster. If what Veda had said long ago, “Through me, knowledge, underssstanding, and the threadss of fate courssse. Through my mercciful forbearancce, you merely exisst. Great changess are coming sssoon”, did Seya merely just exist for Veda’s mere entertainment? Was Seya to be some extra adventure to place on the shelf of Totema?

Seya felt great distaste for having to visit a being far beyond the normal, a being that could only cause more mental damage than heal. But learning what had occurred to understand the current situations now had to be quite a priority. Seya shook his head, mustering up whatever strength he had to tear a hole in space, and slowly walked through the recently created portal. It was a swift change from darkness to an ancient library with books stacked upon books, shelves lining the walls and making halls each filled with books. The last time Seya had stepped foot in this realm, he had a desire to show Fortuna the greatness of this realm. But no more, he hated this realm with all of his heart, if anything, Veda was the one who possibly allowed Zied to go and meet Sin. It was Veda who allowed Fortuna to go blind. He had underestimated the abilities of Veda, the grand librarian who seemed to know everything about anything; sadly that was only the beginning.

He walked quietly amongst the floating pages, the books that idly levitated mid-air. Seya looked about, to see a few new structures compared to the last time he was here. An enormously tall tower loomed above the landscape nearby, surrounded by an inky black sea. There was also five large statues in these seas, which almost rose to the height of the tower; one statue was of Seya himself, another of a man with a high collar and slicked back hair, another of a Secret who was colored in dark tones, one of a man with tall staff, and the last of what appeared to be a white haired individual with a white body.

“He’s playing with my head… He probably knew I was going to come here a while back. He just wants to weaken my resolve…” Seya thought to himself, avoiding any thoughts that could mentally damage him further. He floated up toward the tower, making it to the top within a simple minute. He didn’t see Veda anywhere up there, but noticed a black book placed upon a pedestal at the center of the tower. He remembered how Veda first appeared to him and Fortuna, by popping out of that very book and blathering about watching them like a voyeur.

He slowly approached the book, his skeletal hand twitching in fear at speaking to God of Knowledge, ideally, someone to fear and hide from. Crossing paths with one who knows everything about anything spells out death and danger. Seya got his hands onto the book, slowly opening it, he noticed ancient runes of a language long forgotten were etched onto the pages. He flipped through the pages, wondering as to why Veda had yet to show up. But there was no response to the turning of the pages. Seya was greatly confused as to why Veda would not appear.

He sighed, carefully setting the black book upon the pedestal once more and turned around to see the five statues of Totema overlooking the realm itself. He walked to the edge of the tower and looked in every direction as to where Veda could be. He saw nothing.

“Where are you?!” Seya yelled, “I need to speak with you… Slimy, vainglorious creature…”

In those few moments, a green book floated down from high above and opened before Seya, it read: “Bring forth, O’ love-struck mute, who prays to Alpha or Trinity with vigor in his heart; and set the sky alight with that of many hues, for those against our moves. For we are watching for weakness shoves forth, we are one with the night and all who dwell without us fail, we drink the essence of thought and splatter tumult upon the wall.”

“I’m not here for riddles or anything else of the sort; I’m here to know what happened since I was possessed.” Seya slammed the end of his staff upon the ground, trying to make an action prove his point. To no avail, as Veda didn’t even bother to recognize that Seya was even there, it was disappointing to say the least.

“Are you so scared of me that you will not show?!” Seya urged, seeing if any tactics would work. It had no effect, Veda wouldn’t even bother with the fact that Seya, his own ‘child’ was even in his same realm. Seya grabbed the book that floated before him and threw it down upon the ground, setting it aflame with the end of his magical staff.

If Veda was here, he didn’t do a thing to save the book that was enflamed. But at that moment, something caught Seya’s attention; he turned to find another book floating in place where the first book was. It was blazingly red. A beautiful red nonetheless, but a blazing, sharp red that pierced one’s sight just by looking at it; it was no wonder as to why it appeared out of nowhere. Seya didn’t know what to do or thing of in this situation, how to deal with yet another book that was totally different from the first.

He grabbed the book, but felt suffering in that very moment, great and powerful mental pain coursed through his mind at touching this book. A great and dangerous power seemed to be taking over Seya, and in that instant he had to force it from his hands. He threw the book across the ground, watching it as it kept itself tightly closed, keeping its secrets highly guarded, yet also making a note of how powerful it truly was. Seya turned to avoid looking at the book, to find himself face-to-face with Veda . “Gah! Veda!” Seya exclaimed, showing surprise.

“Not to worry… All ssseekersss of knowledge come to me… Ssssooner or later…” Veda iterated.

“I didn’t come here for knowledge, I came here just to-“

“Gain knowledge of the passst?” “I didn’t-“

“Isss that not gaining knowledge?”

Seya was silent, Veda had a point, there was also no point to argue with a being that knew everything, and he’d lose. He looked at Veda’s singular eye, which stared directly back at him, awkward to say the least. He looked behind him to see the red book was missing, but turning back around, he found it was in one of the tentacles of Veda.

“How can you touch that book without its power causing you mental strain?” Seya questioned.

“That isss information that mussst be withheld…” Veda answered, blinking once and slowly.

“Anyway, I’ve come here to ask you a few important questions.” Seya stated.

“That of which could possssibly give you anssswersss to your problems…”