FLOSSWATER by Optimism North

I had a dream about a long concourse with marble flooring and white bricks. It was swallowed by blue light, even though the light panels were white. I don't know how I knew that, since i couldn't see the ceiling. The walls just kept going up for what felt like miles, until all I could see was the dark abyss where the lights couldn't reach. The chasm was similar, extending out in both directions for forever. The hall sharply angled and twisted to prevent me from seeing all of the way down, so I didn't know what was ahead. All I knew was that I had woken up alone, and with a resonating fear in my heart that burned through my skin. There was a residue of oppression in my subconscious, but it wasn't there, only the evidence of it was left in my mind. That was the only thing that haunted my thoughts, I couldn't remember how i got there, or why I was there. I was there, and face with the choice of walking forwards or backwards. No matter which way I walked, it was the same organs of a long chamber, that held almost no signs of life. It filled me with nothing, a painful nothing. Nothing but fear, dread, and morose.

I began to walk, and my steps echoed off of the floor like marbles on tile. I had no choice, and there was nothing around where I awoke. But there was nothing here, either, or anywhere I turned--just the same, constricting ambience. I approached the first bow in the hall, and walked up on the second. By the third, I finally got what I was hoping for, a feeling. Falling, dolor, and joylessness. Such unpleasant emotions, but it was a change from the fear and nothing, something to fill and feel. It was motivation to keep moving forward, to keep going. My footsteps got quicker, pattering faster against the marble beneath me. The more I ran, the more I felt. That feeling of falling grew stronger, and so did the powerful emotions of loss and despondency. I could feel tears welling up from around my eyes, blurring the details of the brick walls and cracked marble colors. It felt as great as it did awful, crushing my soul with the weight of depression.

I was walking faster, midway between a walk and a run. It was starting to feel like all I had known, and it had only occurred to me, my loss of the time I had spent. I was too distracted with the feelings. They were my only goal. They were getting stronger, and finally fulfilling the humanity that I had lost when I had awoke. I reached another arc in the corridor, and the sight filled my thoughts with something different. Contrast to the navy halls, dozens of towers. Skyscrapers with lights illuminating the cloudy sky, which was crying down onto my skin. Soaked and dreadful, I remember. I remember looking down at my feet, the ground seeming miles down. The sensation of height made me fall forwards. My face hit the marble, and I was reminded of where I was.

I got back onto my feet as quickly as I could and walked further. The crave was digging deeper, I wanted more. The next bow brought isolation. I was alone, both here and now, and the nothingness was still present. But I could breathe again, that rank mildew that came from the concrete. It felt wet, like my clothes, my hair. Falling again, but it was more. I passed by so much, watching lights drift past my vision. What was that word? So much information before I felt a shock of pure and unfiltered pain shoot through the inner core of my body. I hit the ground and laid on the marble floors of my prison, watching the water pool on the concrete around me. Euphoria, I felt it all. I felt whole again, but those blue steps shattered anything I had built up.

I was dead. And I woke up again, faced with an endless chasm shrouded in indigo. What was that word?

Flosswater.

March onwards towards your former glory

Donec Iterum

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