ROUTE 2: REALITY FAILURE (101)

And much of Madness, and more of Sin,

And Horror the soul of the plot.

ROUTE 2 : CHAPTER 1: SEA OF DREAMS

As Arma pulled the trigger he could feel an intense pain as a needle shot out from the gun and pierced his temple. The contents of the syringe emptied into his skull and he could feel the flow and power of Vaporin entering his being.

Flickering into life, the now crimson and flamingly red man manifested in front of Armas eyes.

(Vaporin: HahaHAHAHA! What a sensation! It feels good to be nothing but illusion and thought! It feels like… like I am truly nothing but a dream, what a wonderful thing! My dear Arma, I am thankful…)

Vaporin was smiling, showing off his now sharpened teeth. It seemed like the transferal from his body into Armas mind had changed his appearance somewhat, he seemed a bit taller, younger perhaps and glowing with an intense sense of power and purpose.

His eyes had turned into something almost reptilian, and his hair was flowing like a stream of fire behind him.

(Vaporin: And so you are completed for now, dear child. With Manilas ability to analyze our surroundings you will gain knowledge of this world, and with my power and direction you will be able to utilize the full potential of your spirit and body. Now, allow me to make some changes!)

It felt like a switch was turned on inside of Armas mind and he could feel power and control flow through his body and mind. It felt as if the world would bend to his will, all he had to do was ask. But there was another thing on his mind too, something he could not quite allow to escape his grasp.

(Arma: Where did that woman go… Manila?)

(Vaporin: Never mind her, she is not a person, she is merely a tool. A highly intelligent and effective tool, mind you, but a tool nonetheless. There is no need for her to manifest from now on.)

(Arma: Really… is that so? I have much to learn, haven't I… For a moment, something in me felt like, she and I... we are the same.)

Vaporin smiled, perhaps without malice for the first time in the short relationship the two of them had begun.

(Vaporin: No, Arma. We are the ones who are the same. Don't fret dear child, you will soon find out.)

Suddenly Arma felt a strong pull, as if a strong gravitational force was making him faint, pulling him towards the ground, but then, the strength that Vaporin had infused him with resisted the force and he stayed standing up, on his own two feet.

(Vaporin: Very good, my sweet little killer, you are adjusting quickly, as I have anticipated. Now, we need to get moving, this place will soon burn behind us.)

(Arma: Where do we go?)

(Vaporin: No need to ask, I will guide your steps dear boy, just move and soon we will arrive at our destination.)

Arma nodded, his eyes closed but with an ironic smile upon his lips.

(Arma: Let's go then…)

~~~

Arma didn't know how long they travelled upon that blue, blue field. It was as if things like time, hunger and sleep didn't matter there.

While they walked together, Arma exercising his newfound strength, Vaporin slightly hovering above the tall grass, the old man kept talking while Arma stayed silent and absorbed the information.

As he strode forth through the harsh environment the vegetation around him seemed to move out of his way, waves of grass being pushed aside with each step, as if he were a giant walking through a shallow pond.

(Vaporin: … And so you see my sweet autumn child, this world is an amalgamation of many places, many ideas. Some of them almost entirely separated, others intertwined in unfathomable webs of connections and networks. I have studied these connections for many years now, aeons even, I guess I lost track of time long ago…)

Arma gazed toward the sky as he listened, the many shining orbs still bathing the field in an eternal crimson dusk.

Each of these of orbs, if he had understood Vaporin correctly, represented one of these places, these worlds and webs of thought and imagination.

It was hard to imagine, to fathom, but he could feel the power of the old man's thoughts inside him granting him the ability to understand that what he had been told was the truth.

(Arma: So…)

Arma broke his silence and asked a question that had been weighing on his mind as Vaporin had exposed him to some of the inner workings of the universe around him.

(Arma: This is essentially an endless world then?)

(Vaporin: Interesting question! Great work! Not endless per say, although a universe in its own right, there are strict boundaries out there, as you will in time find out.)

Suddenly the apparition of Vaporin stopped hovering and landed on his feet, his arms spread out into a welcoming gesture.

(Vaporin: And here we have reached one of them, the end of this field, and as you will see, below it, one of the true great mysteries; the sea of dreams! Take a look sonny boy!)

Arma saw that the field ended in nothingness, just the black sky and crimson light, but he felt no hesitation.

He walked up to the ledge and stood on the border to the depths below. Beneath him, beneath the island, far down below in the great distance, he saw it; a vast sea.

Unlike the fields of grass behind him, this was clearly a body of water, or some sort of liquid, but the color was that of the purple verbena, some ancient flower lost in the distant past.

The sea looked wild and dangerous, as beautiful as it was deadly and strange.

Arma couldn't explain the feeling, but he felt an instant kinship with this endless ocean.

(Vaporin: You should be able to feel it... If I am your father, this ocean, is essentially your mother, the place which I have brought you forth from to be a part of this world.)

(Arma: My mother…)

(Vaporin: The very womb that created your essence, and as is the duty of every child, it is now time to conquer your parentage and rise beyond it! The dream of any unruly teenager, revolting against god and nature in equal measure! Descend my dear Arma, imagine a vessel in which to traverse these treacherous waters.)

And so he did. Watching the sea of dreams, and it's dangerous unpredictable nature, an idea started to take shape in his mind.

A grand ship, black and slick, with sails of the same color he had seen shape the wind in the dreams from before he had been born.

A wavebreaker, a winged brigantine with the mechanical workings to maneuver itself.

(Vaporin: Wonderful, you bring a tear to an old man's eye, now raise your hands my boy and make it so!)

Arma raised his hands towards the sky and he could feel the winds around him picking up and grow stronger, gathering in the air around him, seemingly almost blowing him of the ledge.

But the wind could not move him, it was his wind, it was the power he was collecting, shaping, creating into something new.

A powerful gale started to blow around him, tearing the landscape apart. Inside the wind he could see the colors, all the colors of the world, and as the wind grew even stronger those colors started to take shape, turning into particles and matter, creating what he had willed.

He closed his eyes and dreamed of it, and when he opened them, a large chunk of the field around him had dissolved, repurposed itself, and become that which he had imagined.

He stood at the helm of a great, black ship, with sails colored like the wind, and heavenly wings organically grown from its sides like blades splitting the air.

~~~