♆
"AHHHHHH!!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. His shriek reaches the real world, yet he cannot hear it.
The only string grounding him to reality is his bodily senses; the sweat traveling down his back. He cannot see anything. Nothingness.
-"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME? WHO ARE YOU?" he desperately asks, his voice wavering.
-"Jonathan! Jonathan! Wake up my love, it's me! You are seeing a nightmare!"
Jonathan's hearing slowly comes back, as he hears a muffled woman's voice. He cannot find or identify her source, no matter how hard he tries. He is still trapped in his nightmare.
He suddenly feels a big surge of energy coming out of his body as he is shaking uncontrollably.
"I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!" he cries out, fearing that his end is near.
To top it all off, he feels an intense yet quick pain on his right cheek; his wife has slapped him hard out of the nightmare and finally back into reality, with all of his senses included, thankfully.
He opens his eyes. His vision is blurry, yet he distinguishes a familiar outline. He also hears the same intimate voice he did before, a tone filled with exhaustion and worry. It's his wife; she has been trying to wake him up all night in numerous ways. Feeling a big relief, he hugs her back so very tightly.
"My dear, you scared me".
"That was a very vivid nightmare, Anna. I thought I was dying."
He observes her dewy face, caressing away her almost absorbed tears. He grabs her whole face with his two hands and kisses her cheeks. He takes the candleholder from her hand and puts it on her bedside table. He hugs her tightly as she drifts away to sleep.
Even though he feels relieved, he still has an uncanny feeling residing inside of him. He cannot sleep, so he stares at the candle's flame with his eyes wide open, in his efforts to relax and fall asleep.
The flame is turning redder and redder as he keeps staring at it.
For a split second, he feels sucked into where he was before he woke up - all the torture he felt in his dream flashes before his eyes.
He enters a fight or flight state and carefully yet forcefully gets out of bed. He is trying his best to keep his wife's sleep intact, yet escape the hellscape of his recent experiences.
He gets dressed in quite an inattentive manner and barely manages to put on his shoes, as he grabs his shop's keys and heads out.
♇
It's early in the morning, around 5 am.
Outside, it's very chilly and humid, his breath forms a visible cloud of vapor and warmth. The streets are wet, reflecting the bare and wearied branches of leafless trees. A carriage passes by, splashing muddy water onto his clothes. He feels a surge of anger but chooses to surrender to the deafening yet comforting silence—exactly what he needs after such a surreal experience.
As he arrives at the front of his shop, he notices something unusual.
A raven sits on a branch of the tree that is near Jonathan's shop; looking directly into his eyes, moving its head right and left sideways.
The raven flies closer to him, its eyes conveying friendly intention.
Jonathan kneels down slowly, smiles, and gently caresses the raven's head with his index finger.
As he does that, he notices a small ornamented black key hanging from a thin rope tied around its neck.
He unties it and grabs the key. He examines it wondering what items it can unlock, mentally making a list of all possibilities.
As he opens up his shop's door, the raven flies inside. It perches on top of his desk, letting out a low, gurgling croak as it points its head forward to a specific drawer.
Jonathan approaches his desk and inserts the key into the locked drawer.
As he turns the key and opens the drawer, he witnesses a lot of papers; a mix of sketches and writing.
As he holds them in his hands, he realizes they contain blueprints for a mysterious artifact; detailed instructions on how to forge it included.
Feeling creeped out and dissociated, he quickly puts the papers back inside and closes the drawer.
His eyes search for the raven; yet it is nowhere to be found.
♄
In an effort to ground himself back in reality, he decided to focus on his usual work.
"Time to forge" he says, trying to convince himself.
Periodically he glares at the drawer, trying to fight the urge to open it again. As time goes by, his curiosity begins to overpower his discipline. He looks around to ensure no one is watching him, then slowly opens the drawer and examines the blueprint once again.
Abandoning his previous plans, he begins building the cryptic artifact. Becoming immersed in his own world, time and space lose their significance. Minutes, hours, and even days go by without a pause. The clock's relentless ticking plays in the background like a meditative melody.
A whole week passes by, and at last, the artifact is complete!
He examines it; curious as a child, yet with the diligence of a professional.
Visually, it resembles a weapon. Yet its shape and mechanism is bizarre, unfamiliar. It may not appear dangerous, but his knowledge suggests that there is a realistic possibility of a secret mechanism he has yet to discover how to trigger.
He decides to re-examine the blueprint. While the back of the page seems blank, suddenly letters appear, forming new words and sentences.
He reads the title called "Letter from your future self".
"If you are reading this, i know you must be feeling overwhelmed. However, you must read carefully, as an important mission awaits you. By following the directions on the blueprint, you will be able to create the artifact we designed. I can’t reveal its purpose just yet, but you need to know that it’s missing the final component: a Black Tourmaline that has 3 cracks that start to form from its center.
You will find it tonight in your sleep. To stay safe in the dreamscape, i have provided you with protection. When in danger, repeat 3 times
"𐌖𐌄𐌋𐌊𐌀 𐌕𐌇𐌀𐌓𐌖𐌍 𐌔𐌀𐌍𐌉𐌖, 𐌘𐌀 𐌇𐌀𐌓𐌀 𐌉. 𐌕𐌉𐌀𐌓𐌄𐌍 𐌅𐌏𐌓𐌄, 𐌕𐌉𐌀𐌓𐌄𐌍 𐌁𐌀𐌋𐌊𐌍, 𐌃𐌀𐌉𐌓𐌏𐌔𐌇𐌀 𐌌𐌄𐌋𐌄, 𐌅𐌉𐌂𐌓 𐌀𐌋-𐌓𐌄𐌕𐌏𐌂𐌀𐌓."
You are needed more than ever at this time. Everything will unravel before you, shaking your core and changing you forever. It's time for you to wake up.
Fear not; be brave and trust in Us."
