Yelling. Screams. Shouting. Roars. Crying. Wails.
A village on fire. Rooftops burning bright while terror's heard from the inside. Red dust covers the sand while red rain covers the land. Red means blood. Blood means massacre.
AAAAAAAAH! NO! No. No. It wasn't real. I dreamt it. I'm okay. It's okay I'm here.
My name is Kassir. I live a humble life in my village. I am a farmer and always have been. My world isn't like yours. We have wonders like you wouldn't believe to be real, but I tell you full well it is. Our gravity is laxer here. It isn't uncommon to see people floating by. Our skies are a great array of colours, like red, pink, purple, yellow, orange, and more. There is no day nor night, only the great colours. Black skies are not part of the great colours, so we never sleep. Our laws of physics, science, chemistry, biology, they are all different. Nothing here is truly consistent. Chemical bonds here never make the same thing twice, and I can't remember the last time I met someone with my genetic makeup. Ours is a world of fictions, you see. Fictions blurring reality. These wonders satisfy us. We have no need for more. We are happy.
I farm to provide food. I never know what this weird world will produce, but I work to produce it the same. My family is here with me. I am Kassir, my wife is Naila, and my son is Buu. We live in igihugu gitangaje, meaning land of wonder. We have no cares and no stress, save simply for hunger. The food we eat satisfies us. Sometimes it gives us more. Sometimes it gives us a high, sometimes we fly, sometimes we see the all the ways we could die. Sometimes it just tastes like pie. It's a world of nonsense, the one my family lives in. Wouldn't have it any other way.
I've been having dreams recently. Dreams Of yelling, Of screams. Of shouting, Of roars. Of Crying, Of Wails. Dreams of a village on fire. It's not a village I recognize. I see rooftops burning bright while terror's heard from the inside. Red dust covers the sand while red rain covers the land. What does red mean? The great colours create red some days, but I know not why. I fear for my family. Their safety is my life. Many times I've had to fend away creatures from our village to keep them safe. This was not the work of a beast, however. It was something else. My dream never lets me see this... thing, simply it's work. When I dream, I do it standing up, fully awake. My mind is simply... transported. To another place. I wake up once it finishes even though I did not sleep to begin with. I haven't moved. It's reassuring at least. I then return to my farm, as if it hadn't happened.
I haven't told my family. Buu is too young. Naila doesn't need the stress. I carry the burden alone for the sake of my family.
It has been a long time since it happened last. We don't have time like you do in your world, so I cannot tell you how long, simply that it has been long. Or has it? Did I not start this letter with one? How long have I been writing this? Why am I writing it? I couldn't tell you. It's alright. All the same, thank you for listening.
It has been a long time since it happened last. It comes in waves, you know. Sometimes it happens very closely to others, and sometimes the time between is longer. There is no pattern or feeling, only the knowledge it will happen agai-
Yelling. Screams. Shouting. Roars. Crying. Wails.
A village on fire. Rooftops burning bright while terror's heard from the inside. Red dust covers the sand while red rain covers the land. Red means blood. Blood means massacre.
A mirror with another man looking back. A place I don't recognize. I knew this time. I knew how to find you. I've begun to understand. I see you. Do you see me?
Ah-. Ahhh---. AH! What! What has. happened! What was that... thing? I've never seen anything like it! The same dream, same as always, but more? A being looked at me. It was the same village as always, the same I've always seen, but something more. A mirror, big, long, built with a perimeter of divine gold. I didn't see myself in the mirror. I didn't see anything like I've seen before. It seemed to be a man of metal. His face was replaced with an orb of red steel, save for his mouth which reeked with an evil grin. He had long, white hair running down his back, a back of brass and bones welded together into an unholy compound that supported his skeleton. His chest was black titanium with a red X running through the centre to each corner of his torso. His legs were all the same with daggers for heals. His arms were the same steel as his head, one black with red accents, one red with black accents. He was terrifying.
Something like him shouldn't exist in this land. He defames the great sky. Black is not a colour you see in this world. And that form, that consistent metal, made into a killing machine, what was he? How could such a thing exist here? Did he? Was he real? He had to be. I saw him. He saw me, too. What is this? What's happening? Was this a dream? No. I cannot allow such a being to come into my life. My family would perish, I cannot...
The Walls Began To Break Down. Everywhere You Look You'd See A Crack. Not In The Buildings.Not In The Trees. In Reality. You See It's All Coming Down! Crack, Crack, Crack. Come, Kassir, Monsoon Would Have Words. You Are Summoned.
Where am I? What has happened? It's all black, I can't see anything. Where is the great sky? Where's the world I know and the family I love? Bring them back. Bring them back! BRING THEM BACK!
Calm yourself, Kassir. You'll be returned to your family soon. I promise.
Its you! I know you! I saw you in the dream! You're the metal monster in the mirror. I saw you, and you saw me. I want nothing to do with you. The village I see is always the same. The red, oh the red blood. I don't want anything to do with it. I just want to see my family and my crops. Let me go!
Calm yourself, Kassir. You'll be returned to your family soon. I promise.
Tell me about yourself. What do you want?
Monsoon Sighs A Deep Sigh Of Shame.
I am known as Monsoon. My real name is just John. Officially, I am a cyborg enlisted in the services of Justice United. Unofficially, I am the man who rains blood on the underserving. I've killed a lot of people Kassir. I will do it again.
Kassir drifts back in repulse, the immeasurable black space between them growing bigger.
I want no part of you. I've heard enough. Let me go back.
You may leave this space any time you'd like, but before you do, please hear me.
Kassir Allows Himself To Calm Down. The Immeasurable Black Space Between Them Shortens. He Gives John His Full Attention.
Thank you. I come from a world opposite of your own. Your world is an inverse to mine. A counter-balance. Where we have laws, order, science and physics, you have chance and possibility. Where we have stability, you have mobility. Our two worlds exist in a constant state of repercussions. Your world has far less beings than ours does, still, we are all linked to you in some ways. I am the first to connect to you, but I won't be the last, Kassir. Your letter was drawn in my mind. Words engraved over the course of years in my eye. I wrote them down every time I saw one, and I made out what you said. Don't you see, Kassir? The letter you wrote was because of our dream. Some of our world even slipped into yours. You mentioned not having days or nights in your world, a concept you couldn't even know. Something has linked us. Now, we are as one.
I don't understand.
This place between us serves to link our two worlds. This black. This space. Neither of our worlds had service for that colour, and yet here we are, a space of all black. It's because a force out there links us, a force greater than us all, and that force is the same midna shade we see here.
What do you want, then? Why have you reached out to me John? Why have you summoned me here?
Because you can do anything, Kassir. Anything. My world is bound by it's physics and laws. It is bound by unchanging rules. You exist outside of it. You are a miracle worker to me.
Kassir Snorts With Sarcasm. He Shakes His Head.
What miracle could you possibly want? You're a man of metal with a clear life course. What could my humble farming give you?
Death.
Kassir Has A Shocked Look Dotted On His Face. He Moves Backwards, Expanding The Space Between Them.
Why would I ever do such a thing?
To fulfill me. I am the most skilled warrior in my world. Under my great sky of blue green and navy, none can take my life away. None can kill me. I cannot kill myself for I am a slave to Justice United. I do not control my own actions. I am given commands, and I do. I looked so long for a way to escape, fifty of my years. Fifty years killing. Finally, I dreamt of you. It would take five years before I could reach you, and now, here I am. Finally. Finally. I am out of Justice United's control, finally at least for now. Finally, I am free.
Monsoon sheds four tears.
My time here is limited, though. This place is only possible because you are in it with me. I reached out to you and made this connection, but I will not force you to stay here forever. I simply ask that you kill me. Save the lives of millions, probably billions to come. I've tried everything else. This is all I have left. Please. Let the hollow memories fade. Let the terrain be free from this rain of blood. Let my anger, sorrow, and the stains of time wash away. It has been this way forever, and it will not let up until the end is here. Through the darkest day, in my final hour. It will never rest until the clouds are clear. Until it finds my dreams have disappeared. Please, save me.
Monsoon Hands Kassir His Foot Blades. Kassir drops them.
I will not. I will not take a life.
Monsoon Sighs Shamefully. He Looks Firmly At Kassir, An Evil Smile Growing. Suddenly, He Leaps Toward Kassir and grabs him. Monsoon Throws Kassir Backwards, Where He Was Floating Before. They Have Switched Places. Monsoon Tosses Kassir Another Blade.
I did not want to do this, Kassir. If you do not kill me now, I will end our session, we will switch places, and I will kill your family. You have five seconds to decide.
Kassir Panics. Monsoon Raises His Hand And Lowers A Finger Every Second. Five. Four Three. Two. Kassir Throws The Blade. It Hits Monsoon In The Center Of His X Marked Chest. Monsoon Begins To Bleed.
Thank you, so much. I am free now, Kassir, thanks to you. Be with your family. Your wife Naila is beautiful. Your son Buu is special. Take care. My nihilism may finally end with you.
Monsoon Fades Away Into The Black, Then The Black Fades Away Too. Kassir Is Returned To His World.
This is the story of my first encounter with the blue-worlders. It will not be my last, as here I am, writing another letter. Maybe another dream will come about soon, but as of now I continue to live life with my family and crops.
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