Versión en español aquí
It’s a distant place, faraway, a barren plain where the soil isn’t such, where deep dark shades of purple coat a sky with stars that glint like a giant amethyst. Surrounding this ancient moor, a low altitude chain of mountains lies out of focus on the horizon, enough to give this plateau a sense of boundary but not enough as to deprive it from its charming mystery.
Every now and then, scattered lumps catch the eye of the witness. Though all appear alike, one of them emits a captivating glimmer. This glimmer shinning with a soft delicate yellow tone mixed with a pure white protrudes from the orange-red barrenness without dissipating into the dust or dimming with distance. Its intensity is not enough to dispel the cozy darkness from the plateau. A diffuse, sourceless light exists in this atmosphere, it is there, with the sharpness of a sunny day yet as gentle as a starry night.
I headed instinctively towards the shimmering. Flying above, the landscape moved slowly beneath me, though the distances were vast. The whole scene was silent, there’s no echo in the plateau, not even my own breath could distract me. As I approached the faint glimmer I could tell it came from one of the lumps, seemingly from a kind of fog. The closer I got, the more details emerged: It was an entity, an entity of enormous proportions floating beside the lump. Its incorporeal shape condenesed into fog and clouds dancing like feathers in the breeze, with graceful movements like the fins of a Siamese fish resting in the soothing waters of a tranquil pond.
Clouds glided across its form, winding around symbols that floated within its essence, symbols unlike any I had ever seen. They resembled ancient oriental scripts, perhaps Japanese as they carried meaning within themselves. Golden colored symbols shone without interfering with the clouds or mist. They cast no shadow and colored nothing around them, as if the light from this being could be seen but not transmitted. The ground and the lump remained untouched by its glow. I sensed a shape implied within the entity, and felt I could communicate with it. I heard his deep, hollow voice, though I couldn’t tell where it came from. I knew this entity spoke to me, yet there was no mouth to pronounce the words, brief utterances in a language unlike any modern tongue, with syllable-based inflections, rough and ancient.
I realized it was warning me, yet granting permission at the same time. My focus shifted left, toward the lump, a small cavity seemed to hold another glimmer. As I approached I notice the opening was partially blocked by formations resembling cave stalactites that had finally met the floor. That formation was right at the opening which made me think this was something artificial.
Behind those columns, I saw the second glimmer. Smaller and less intense than the first, it was white with hints of cyan or green. Just like the shimmering before this one neither colored the walls of the cavern. I tried to communicate with this second being but without success as it didn’t produce any sound. It only danced and shifted shape a bit in order to give some idea of a human being. After several attempts, its shape condensed into that of a little girl, sad and shy, wearing a headband that covered her forehead. Though her form resembled a child, her essence remained mist, and her colors unchanged.
I felt a frustrated by her inability to speak, yet I insisted. I can’t now explain why I insisted, knowing the languages of this plateau were unknown to me. I moved closer to the cavern entrance, still outside, beside the columns. The child approached shyly, then suddenly leapt with strength and fury. During the leap, her face transfigured from a timid child to an adult expression, her tenderness replaced by rage and her deception was revealed.
I realized this glimmer was held captive within the lump, and the other shimmer was its guardian. I couldn’t grasp the captive entity’s intentions, but I feared they were not good. After all, if a guardian is needed, it means escape is possible.
The intensity of the encounter triggered my survival instinct. In the blink of an eye, I was back in my natural realm. My body trembled, and tears streamed down my face. I was safe, held in the arms of my loved one, feeling the moist grass beneath me. My consciousness and emotions were already calmed, but my body was yet to follow, as if the hormonal triggers were still unplugged from the present moment, and I remained almost in the claws of that preternatural entity.
The image above it’s the best I could do using DALL-E initial credits, I know, this isn’t what I described above in the story. I think we’re a little far from representing dreams using IA. The whole training images come from photos and art so the AI has a hard time trying to show dream stuff or visuals. Also I’m a beginner with this tool, guess we also have to learn.