Pure white, she finds herself in a room drained of colours. She looked in every direction for an exit but failed. She felt empty as she stared at the place she was in. She didn’t feel safe in here. She wanted to run away but she didn’t know where the exit was. Out of nowhere, she sees a pitch black mist coming towards; growing bigger with every inch it came closer to her. Her body reacted and she started running, trying to escape from the mist. Blindly she ran.  Her only concern was to run where it was pure white. Running with all her energy, she stumbled and fell into an endless pit. After what seemed like minutes of falling, she crashed on her back upon the hard white floor. A man appeared in front of her as she sat feeling the pain of the fall. The man looked similar but she couldn’t recognize him, as his face couldn’t be seen. There was a shadow covering his face. As she tried to look at his face, the black mist got hold of leg and started pulling her into darkness with tremendous force. The man reached out his hand towards her as he slowly faded away and finally disappeared from the room. The mist her inside the darkness until she could see no light. She felt as though all her happiness was taken away and all she felt was misery and loneliness. Slowly darkness grew within her heart, enhancing the negativity around. Her lungs burned due to lack of oxygen. The pain intensified and she felt whole body burn with crimson flames. With her remaining energy she reached out her hand, hoping someone would save her from this torment…

Light pierced through the glass and fell on Elaine’s face.  Elaine shivered from time to time and murmured incoherent words in her sleep. She was drenched in sweat; she frowned; making deep cresses between her eyebrows. She suddenly stopped moving and stayed still. What seemed like hours to her were mere minutes when she finally opened her eye.  She abruptly sat and clenched her chest with tears in her eyes. Her heart was beating so loudly, she felt it hammering inside her ribcage. She looked outside the window and tried to calm down. She slowly relaxed and wiped her tears and sweat. Aish, it’s that dream again. She relaxed, losing the pent up tension in her body.  She got up and stood in front of her mirror. She stared at her dark red eyes; which would look black if seen from a distance; slightly covered by her long pure black hair.  She touched her reflection, looking at a stranger in the mirror. No matter how many times she saw her reflection; there were times when she felt as though she was looking at stranger. Leaving her trails from her mirror, she walked back to her bed. Lying on the bed, she felt exhausted because of the dream. Looking at the ceiling, she wondered why she had the same dream every night.  Just then two people barged in; one tall, slender body with her hair tied up, revealing her features and the other one was covered in black clothes with black hair braided.

“Elaine! Don’t even think of skipping the first day of collage!” the tall girl became furious when she saw Elaine lying lazily on the bed. “Come on! Get ready fast!”

The girl in black covered her ears for protection while Elaine forcefully got up from her bed.

“But I am sleepy! Jessica, can I not go today?!” Elaine pleaded the tall girl.  The girl in black stood behind Elaine and started playing with her, making a hairstyle that she thought of.

“No and Alex stop playing with Elaine’s hair and let her get ready!” Jessica said.

“Why don’t we stay and skip the day? Elaine doesn’t want to go, so why force her? We can stay home” Alex said, looking at Jessica after styling Elaine’s hair.

“You’re definition of ‘stay home’ is to play with Elaine’s hair through out the day. So I don’t think so and not to mention I have a record to be kept” Jessica said and pushed Elaine inside her bathroom and dragged Alex out of the room.

“If you don’t get ready then I’ll come and put ice cubes in your shirt!” Jessica announced before leaving the room.

Elaine shivered at that thought and remembered the time when Jessica actually poured ice cubes in her shirt. Elaine rushed to freshen up before Jessica came back.

“Did you see the way she looked when we entered?” Jessica asked.

“Tired and exhausted” Alex said.

“She is still having the same nightmare” Jessica said and sighed. She was worried about Elaine’s health. When Elaine and Jessica became best friends, Jessica frequently visited Elaine. During one of her visits, Jessica saw the torment Elaine went through in her sleep. Elaine’s father died when she was really young, so she didn’t remember him and her mother worked really hard for their living and also had to pay the hospital bills of Elaine’s grandmother. With her mother’s business expanding, Elaine’s mother barely came home.

Alex and Jessica were watching T.V when Elaine came down the stairs. Elaine grabbed her bag and stuffed a slice of bread in in a hurry. She gave a goofy smile when she saw her two best friends looking at her.

The three of them sat down in the nearest bus stop, waiting for their bus to come. Meanwhile, they talked about courses they took, the timings they had and what all subjects they had. Elaine glanced at the sky changing its colour from bright blue to grey with dark clouds covering it. The sky roared and brought down streaks of light. Elaine knew no one else could see the sky the way she was seeing and knew that the hallucination would end after sometime.  But looking at the sky, Elaine had a heavy feeling in her heart. She felt something was wrong but didn’t know what was wrong. With the feeling creeping inside her, she entered the bus. The more she looked into the feeling the more confused she became. She always wondered what was wrong with her and tried her best to conceal those feelings, which became easy in time. She only showed her bright side to her friends. Ignoring the thunderous sight, she continued her talk with her friends and reached her collage.

At some point in her 20 minutes bus ride, the sky became normal. Feeling relieved that she no longer had to pretend not to see the storm; she happily entered the gates of Crimson Crest Collage. The place was acres wide, filled with freshness of nature. Elaine bid farewell and went in search of her building. Being a rare collage of having almost all the courses, there were many building which could easily confuse a new comer. Elaine entered a deserted garden with a peculiar tree in the centre. She didn’t remember how she entered the garden but looking at the sky high tree mesmerized her; its strong thick layered trunk, long elongated branches spreading it arms, the leaves producing the most beautiful sound as it played with the wind. Everything about the tree seemed out of the world. Elaine walked closer to the tree in a trance. Her mind became empty when her fingertips touched the tree’s skin. A sudden gush of wind swept through, leaving her paralyzed. Her eyes slowly closed as her energy drained from her.

A string of pain, a feeling of thousand of needles piercing her head woke Elaine up. She looked around, only to find herself in the white room of dreams again. Fear crept inside her. She didn’t want to see her dream again. It was terrifying to think that she had to go through it every night. But instead of dark mist, different colours flashed in front of her and the pain in her head increased. She held on to head, hoping the unbearable pain would reduce. With a strong hold, she could hear a voice clearly; the future will make a mark… break or divide… be one… the mysteries… wrath. It was the most soothing voice she ever heard, momentarily forgetting about the pain. But the pain came back and with it she heard more; dimensions… Sors… Homin-em… Velgior… prophecy… clash…; and saw blurry images of people in cloak, different colour shining light protruding from their right hand. Everything was foreign and confusing for her as she took in those words and images. Hearing the word ‘Velgior’, Elaine felt a deeper understanding in her conscious. It felt forever until it stopped; the pain, the images; and her mind slumbered into the dept of her subconscious.

From the shadows, she looked at the girl touching the tree.  With a gush of wind, the girl touching the tree started floating in the air. The girl glistened and illuminated as stayed in midair. She took a step forward from the shadows to the light and removed her phone. She dialed the number and spoke to the voice in it. It was a short brief call.  She smirked, looking at the floating girl.  Her years of search finally came to an end. She knew that now everything will change. Nothing will be the same as before. She tried taking a step forward but the light was too bright for her eyes. She decided to stay in shadow and look at the floating girl’s moment of awakening. 

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So how is this chapter??

I tried to make long but I was kinda blank when I was writing this chapter and I didn't know how to extend it...

I know it has been a long time since I last updated but no worries I plan on completing this story!  :D

I added more mysteries and there will be more shocking parts yet to come.

So comment and subscribe!! ;)