Dreamshare [open]
In the dream you are running and someone is chasing you. It's one of those dreams. You are running as fast as you can but you know that he is on your trail, that you won't lose him, that he can run as long as he needs to and is as durable and unyielding as the earth under your feet. He is chasing you and he is immensely powerful and he does not hate you, he has no interest in you, he simply holds you beneath contempt, a meaningless scrap of flesh. And if he catches you he will do worse than kill you. And so you run and you will never be fast enough to escape.
But you want to live and you run, across a milky white landscape thick with fog, featureless, empty. You run and feel your lungs grind against your ribs and your windpipe crack for dryness. You run and something seems to take a bite out of the soles of your feet with every step. You have no choice and you run, weeping like a frightened child. And no matter the distance you gain, he is still close enough behind you, just a step behind you, to whisper in your ear: No one cares what happens to an Ilyigan.
And he is right, you know that he is right, and no one will care or come, and so you run and weep and run and your feet are leaving bloodied prints and your eyes burn with your own sweat but you run -
And then a beam of sunlight stabs out through the fog and reminds you that you can simply turn around.
You turn, your weakness melts away like dew in the morning. You turn and stand, and he never even touches you - his legs turn to bloody dust under him, and he stumbles, falls, collapses in a wet heap. You walk toward him, fearless, and bring your boot down between those staring blue eyes. His head bursts like an overripe fruit, and then the blood dries into ashes, and you flatten his remains into the ground. Because you can. Because the sun is high in the sky. Because when you dare and fight, you will never never never be defeated.
You stand, and you laugh, and the sun shines.