Chapter 16:
Shadow Puppets

 

HE WAS STANDING on a shallow beach whose waves had many colors.

Countless birds flew across the sky. He didn’t know where he was, but his body felt heavy, his consciousness dim. His surroundings felt like a dream, and yet, for some reason, he had no idea where he was. Maybe that was more evidence that this was a dream. He pondered this but felt like he was disconnected from all of his experience and knowledge.

Just recently, he’d felt that the “proof of his necessity” had overflowed into his mind and that all he needed to be was himself. Now, that proof felt thinner than ever.

He’d been freed from his own name, the things he knew, and the things that held him back, and yet he didn’t feel at rest.

The seven-colored waves splashed at his feet.

He stuck his hand out and turned. I’m not alone here.

He saw a great serpent made of brilliant lightning slithering in the sand. Behind it was a girl clothed in red wind. The snake bared its fangs at the girl, and he leaped to protect her.

His body moved faster than his intentions. An odd sensation, as if he didn’t belong to himself.

The snake curled into itself, forming a coil, and sprang. The thing had eight heads… No, even more than that. He readied the great bow and began firing, but there were too many of them. The snake persisted in its assault, though it was clearly only after the girl.

But… He felt he had to protect her…for some reason he couldn’t fathom.

 

The lightning snake’s forked red tongue stuck out of its mouth like a spear.

<<I know what that is!>>

But he couldn’t remember its name. All he knew was how dangerous it was.