Chapter 3: Paint Me In My Dreams.

???: “ I have always wondered WHY I always had to move forward. For WHO I had to move forward. WHAT reason did I even have to move forward. HOW did I even begin to move forward. WHERE did me moving forward even come from.”

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             As Naraja stood in front of the young girl, perplexity showed all over his facial features. He pondered in extreme thought over this simple question that the girl, Nai, presented towards him. As he stood there for a good moment still in thought, the young girl jumped up off the stone-made bed and patted herself off to make sure to get the dust and specs off of her. After that she proceeded to lift her right hand into Naraja’s right hand and began to shake it nice and firmly, as if it was an introduction for the first time between two business conductors. As Naraja felt her small smooth hand in his he began to feel that same sensation from earlier creep into his heart/soul that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. As he felt the soothing and relaxing sensation coursing through him, he couldn’t relax nor take the time to tap into that particular feeling, so Naraja ended up shaking his head to get out of his head that were full of needless thoughts and smiled in a fiddly way, shook her hand with a gentle shake in return and then…. 

Naraja: “H-Hi, my name is N-Naraja sorry about that awkward display of affection earlier ago..with our hands ‘n all that, hopefully I didn’t disturb and disgust y’a, he...he~….”

As Naraja finished his first introduction with an awkward knead, he brought attention to the back of his neck towards the person, Nai, whom he was starting to have this strong peculiar feeling of; love, surge up inside of him again....

Nai: “Ummmm.. sure, s~uure, so yeah my name is Nai and don’t get too anxious about that moment,..earlier it was actually quite cute he~he, but anyway we are your comrades:  Saint Teresa Of Avila, John Of The Cross, and Anima….sh~eee actually has an interesting particular ability that I like to call if I remember correctly, h~mm, Maladaptive Day-Dreaming and oh ye~aah she’s also deaf/mute or something like that, but anyway then there’s Eli, but you have to always put a dash in between the “E” and the two other letters and y’~aaa get the name, E-li, then there’s Minch, and then there’s Sunshine she is totally a swe~eet girl,..Isilia…..ughh, and then there’s B, dash, little and that one’s a good ‘ol doggie. And we are the prospects of love! Hear our names! “And you are Naraja, correct? Sent here to be on a quest to conquer the “Red Book Of Memories” and to face the evil creepy crawly black monsters, right?”

Nai placed both of her hands on her hip, puffed out her petite chest in a bold and proud matter of fashionable way as she laid out all of this new buttload of information towards Naraja. As, he stood in front of her flabbergasted blinking his eyelids rapidly out of confusion, he was beginning to see out from the corner of his left peripheral vision and hear the rest of the other people and dog, that Nai had mentioned amongst her verbal mouthful of info, they had begun to show signs of life by them getting up off from their stone-work makeshift bed frames in a lively and soulful fashionable set of movements. Naraja was completely utterly confused to the point he was starting to think he was beginning to go crazy because after that the dog, B-little, ran over towards Naraja, beating everyone else as if it was a race to get to him, while full of joy wagging its tail back and forth, B-little launched its fluffy petite medium-size body-frame at Naraja full of fluff and vigor ready to lick his face. As Naraja saw this coming, he for some reason had a weird sense flow right through his body, that this dog would be doing this recurring antic to the point of it being, deja vu. And then Naraja took the force of the floof-ball, B-little head on, as they both fell onto the ground in a comedic way with B-little on top of Naraja licking his face full of esteem. By the time this event unfolded, the rest of the people: Saint Teresa Of Avila, John Of The Cross, Anima, Minch, Isilia, E-li, and Sunshine; had joined up to where Nai and Naraja where at.

???: “So you must be Naraja, e~h?”  

All of this was too weird for Naraja, as he heard those words spoken towards him from a very tall gruff man appear in Naraja’s line of sight. His voice, style and height were nothing, but gruff about him. Narajas face continued to get assaulted by a fury of licks, while this unknown named man towered over him handing his right hand down towards him gesturing to help Naraja up off the ground.... All of it was just too damn weird, but Naraja, even if he didn’t want to,... but at the same time Naraja just didn’t want to feel that sensation of pain, worthlessness of being weak, not knowing where he was and who he was…. He just didn’t know anymore, but Naraja didn’t want to witness their violent deaths..nor his death, anymore. So he definitely had no choice but to go along with this chain of events in order to figure out who he was and how to get out of this place….

Naraja: “Wait...how do I get out of here?”

As he exclaimed this thought into a low whisper towards himself, Naraja, didn’t know at all who these people were, but he felt a deep sense of connection to them. At the same time, as Naraja continued to let his face get licked in by B-little, vigorously, at the same time he couldn’t bring himself to hate it. As Naraja still focused his eyes up at the tall mans’ hand that was directed towards him out of the simple act of kindness. Naraja didn’t hate this simple action at the same time. So, Naraja…

Naraja: “Alright, Alright, I get it, I get it. M~hmm.”

As he said that interjection out-loud from the ground below, B-little immediately stopped lickng Naraja’s face as if the dog had understood Naraja’s intentions to take the man’s hand and to help him get up off the ground. As Naraja took the mans’ hand, the man took a grasp of his hand and lifted him up with such motionless ease that surprised Naraja, not because he didn’t weigh much, no, but because it was done with grace that there was no room for any errors. And by this action of little effort being done, Naraja started patting himself, including his rear end, and around other parts of his body to get most of the specs of dirt and dust off of him.

Naraja: “S-Sorry about that. So your name is..?”

Even though Nai had told Naraja the names of all these people; Naraja, had to make sure, just in case, just for the simple fact he didn’t know where he was. But, after Naraja had asked the man this question the tall gruff man laughed out-loudly with a much needed boisterous boom that echoed all around the cave that made Naraja be crushed under the weightless pressure of the laugh. Naraja wanted nothing to do, but quake amidst the wake of this laugh from this tall gruff man, but he couldn’t because there was something about the laugh that also gave him a sense of ease and pride. While the tall gruff man continued laughing as if heard the greatest joke in the world he ended up placing his right hand on top of Narajas’ left shoulder and…

???: “That was a good laugh right there boy~ and you got some manners on y’a as well. That’s good, that’s good. My name is John Of The Cross or if y’a want to call me something shorter I can also go by: John or Cross.”

After John had re-introduced himself with the biggest of smiles on his face and his chest puffed out to exonerate the confidence fuming off of him towards Naraja. Unfortunately, all that Naraja could muster up in that moment of human interaction and give to John in return for that introduction, was only a weary little smile and a thumbs up. In other words, Naraja did not know how to reciprocate that type of interaction towards John, so this was the best that he could do for him... For now. 

???: “ Don’t tease the boy too much, Cross. Clearly that loud obnoxious roar of a laugh of yours must’ve scared him to the bone. But I suppose at the same time that's also one of the many things that I love about you. Hi there Naraja, ignore that brute of a man for now, I’m Saint Teresa of Avila and it's an honor to meet you.”

???: “So, so am I next, pl~ease I would like to go next. Hi, I'm Sunshine mister Naraja. I hope we get along all nice and dandy~.”

Naraja felt two pokes come in from behind him and there he saw stood a little girl, Sunshine, looking no older, nor younger than 8 years old with two big 360-hoops in her hair fidgeting with the embroideries on her gothic long sleeve dress. Naraja took a closer examination of the dress and saw that it had a Victorian vintage tinge to it, but he had no idea as to how he knew that. Sunshine was an interesting girl, was what Naraja thought of, especially based off of her introduction a second ago, but even still with that one introduction that always shows a first-impression to someone depending on the circumstance was just plain..rude… Immediately, the atmosphere had begun to change and Naraja could sense angrily motherly-hood exude from Teresa because of Sunshines lack of respect towards her introduction and the fact that she cut someone off. While still in earshot range Naraja turned his head at the sound of Nai smacking her forehead while sighing and saying “Oh no” in a solemn fashion.

Teresa: “Sunshine, what have we said about people that need to have more patience before the action?”

Sunshine: “Hmmm~, that the person may not be all that bad, but at the end of the day we still need patience more than anything~.”

Teresa: “Right~, Right~ mmh~ and that they also need to learn from the consequences of their actions as well.”

Immediately after Sunshine heard those last remaining words come right out of Teresas’ mouth, Sunshine tried to escape with a quick decisive turn but ended up failing miserably with her face planting right into the hard-wooded ground with an *uegh*. Because of her black vintage boots getting caught in her dress, Sunshine had to endure a painful, comedic and yet humiliating fall is what Naraja had witnessed in an entire moment between the two of these people he felt a kinship for.. And yet he just started giggling and giggling, until he just let out his uncontrollable laughter. It sounded like the laughter of a child who just witnessed something amazing for the first time. Naraja couldn’t believe how close these two were with each other. He couldn’t believe how scared he was of everything. This moment alone somehow erased the extra fear ‘n anxiety he had for that black ‘n mysterious figure. As Teresa looked at Naraja and see-ing the boy exuded so much joy from his laughter that it hurt her heart in a sense, but regardless she smirked whilst shaking her head left to right. Then she whispered to herself in a motherly voice.

Teresa: “Now, what will you do without us Naraja.”

Sunshine: “Hmm~, you say something mama Teresa?”

Teresa: “No, nothing at all my sweet child Sunshine~, but don’t think for a moment that that I have forgotten about your punishment little lady.~”

As Teresa said that reply back to Sunshine she held a devilish smile on her face as she turned her head back towards, whilst approaching Sunshine to proceed with her motherly duties of a punishment onto the child. Teresa was going to do this punishment by not overexerting the punishment. Not with malicious intent and not with any anger to fuel her overexertion. So she simply picked Sunshine up by her hand and gave her two big noogies on each side of her head.

Naraja rubbed the back of his neck while chuckling at Teresa and Sunshine as they were now in their own little world, but only because Sunshine had to be reprimanded for her small actions of a child, but yet rude in the end. Naraja was now starting to come down off of his laughter and to terms with everyone here and how they were as people. As human beings. Even if he didn’t know all the answers right now for himself and this place, he at least had these people right in front of him to help him find the “Red Book Of Memories”.... Whatever the hell that means.

For conversational sake Naraja had heard the rest of the names he had a sense of kinship for and interacted with them for a bit whilst heading towards the front entrance of the cave with them. He continued to see where the orb continued floating silently and patiently, but still acted as if being pulled by an invisible force. Honestly, Naraja thought it was weird why this orb even acted the way it acted and why it had a necessity to keep going forward. It was also just too weird.

Naraja:”Hm?”

While receiving a tug on the corner of his clothing, Naraja looked down and saw another little girl that looked a little younger or older by one year than Sunshine, he couldn’t tell. As Naraja stood and wondered what this little girl wanted, if he remembered what Nai said she said there was a person amongst the group that was deaf/mute. If Naraja could remember correctly her name was…

Naraja: “Anima, right?”

Anima: “...”

While hearing her name slip from Naraja’s mouth, all that Anima did in return was nod her head in reply towards Naraja without a sound or word coming from her mouth. Naraja tilted his head at the fact that he couldn’t quite put his finger on this little girl nor the sense of an absentminded, but yet a strong foothold on things around her. Naraja could feel it from her. Just because of this he also felt a sense of pride swirl itself inside of him. He knew that she was quite cute, not from the fact of her face but from the fact as she wore a dress similar to the one Sunshine was wearing, except this one was a white version. Naraja didn’t know why but Anima was like a little sister to him... Naraja always wanted a little sister…

Naraja: “Huh, I wonder where that thought came fr…Hk~!”

As soon as Naraja uttered those words to himself he felt a swell of pain of anxiety hit his heart as it came back to him immediately to the point that he wanted to disappear and escape away from it. But, he just couldn’t physically disappear from this world nor turn into a puddle of goo and slither away from this situation. Naraja at least knew that reality wouldn’t let him have that time alone at least. So to ease his worries Anima had simply reached around and grabbed his hand and squeezed his tender hands with care and a sense of sisterly love behind it, Naraja was starting to feel his heartbeat go back to a normal pace. One beat at a time. He could feel it. He looked into her eyes and she stared back at him, Animas’ eyes were still absentminded as ever and as he stared at them he felt his mind go blank and his consciousness got whisked away by an unknown force and there he saw a lively girl in front of him smiling, giggling and playing around in a beauteous meadow-y field full of golden sunflowers enjoying her time without a care in the world, but the strange thing is Naraja could have sworn…

Naraja: “Huh, I-I could have sworn that I was just with everyone a second ago. Tsk, Where the hell am I now?”

As Naraja whispered these words to himself he got another quick glimpse of Anima starting to take notice of him as she began to walk towards Naraja. Naraja just raised his right-hand up whilst saying “Y-Yo” as Anima skipped in her pace more swiftly than ever towards Naraja, she had a big smile on her face and stopped in her tracks after catching up in front of Naraja and said…

Anima: “Y’a know you’re the first person to e~ver step in here. It's kinda impossible ‘cause~ I’m the only person to exist here it's kinda my own fabricated world.” 

Naraja: “Hmmm~, really? It sure feels like there’s a WHOLE lot more things in this place that I’m sensing here than y’a say Ani~... It's sure as hell feels really cramped in here!? Why is it so cramped in here!? I can feel it all over me and inside me!? H-Hey..! Don’t give me those eyes with that face. I’m even having a hard time with all this too! And it's also not like I said “I can feel it all over and inside me” to make it sound like t-that!”

As Naraja tried his best to defend himself by caressing/wriggling around in a comedic idiotic way, this was only just out of anxiousness so that he could deflect Animas’ perversion about him which wasn't true at all. Buuut... Anima just continued giving Naraja a deadpan face. Naraja really wished he could explain was just feeling all of these senses at once...these “whatever” they were. Naraja could sense them, but he could not see them and then he felt a much more ominous presence that sent a chill down the back-part of his neck all the way down to his feet. This ominous presence was here, he knew that for sure, but he also knew that it was not here at the same time. Weird. Naraja didn’t know whether to perceive this as a threat or not, he couldn’t tell.

Naraja: “Ummm~ hey, y’a sure there’s actually nothing else here with us, Anima~?”

Anima: “Hm, I’m pretty sure cause this is my own world that I created~. See, here have a lookie~.”

After Anima said that she held out one of her hands in front of Narajas’ face and then he saw a dazzling sunflower begin to form from the palm of her hand. Slowly rising up to finish all of its form in its entirety. He couldn’t believe it as his eyes grew more and more astonished at the fact, Anima. This girl had created a flower literally out of nothing like creating a drawing all from thought. Naraja just couldn’t believe it, but at the same time it did lessen some of his worries...some, for now.

Naraja: “That's awesome! How did you do that?!” 

Soonly after Naraja shouted that out of excitement that sounded just like a child's wonder. Anima whisked her hand away from his face with swiftness which in result made the dazzling sunflower that Naraja was dazzled by disappear altogether and she shook her index pointer finger back “n forth as if to say “nuh uh uh”.

Anima: “I cannot tell you exactly of the details~ ‘cause even myself doesn’t know exactly or at least try not to think about an answer cause it ends up hurting my head, a lot~.” “But, I would love to know more about you Naraja~... or is there not enough time for that cause~ shouldn’t you be returning back outside?”

Naraja: “Ah”

Naraja uttered this sudden realization out to Anima and himself as if he had forgotten all about the outside for a sec’. That was weird. It's like this place was messing with Naraja’s…

Anima: “Yeaaah this place will do that to you. It messes with your own time to the point you start to forget time and blah, blah, blah~.” “But, really Naraja hurry on outta here.”

With Anima ending with that statement she outstretched her fist in front of Naraja to ask for his in return and Naraja did the same in regards and gave Anima a fist-bump. Naraja could feel his heart surge with warmth and ease to the point he thought he could take on anything and everything. And with that Naraja grumbled a little at the fact that he had to leave this wondrous place so soon, but he instead acknowledged her and gave a wink and a smirk at Anima in return as he disappeared in a blink of an eye in front of her.

Anima: “Pfft, showoff…. *sigh* So was that fine for you?”

???: “Yeah, that was fine for “I” and I thank you for this cause this will make sense in the end they say heh~.”

Anima: “May I ask in regards of “what” the thing you gave me to give to Naraja?”

With a brief pause between Anima talking to the white silhouette that showed up behind her quietly waiting as if it had predicted this. Like it had predicted Naraja would come to this independent space of a world and was supposed to leave the world Anima resides in.

???: “ Hmmm~ “I”, do wonder... maybe it's to help him in times of need, in times to push him forward, in times to accomplish great great wonders beyond the universe. I do truly wonder, but~ it can also make him succumb to his worst desires and impulses so I do wonder what will happen from here on out~. It's gonna be one hell of a rinse, wash, repeat for him~.” 

And after the white silhouette concluded with that it disappeared within a blink of an eye in front of Anima as well. And she exhaled out a long exasperated sigh out into the empty world of flowers as they flow within their own time of the brisking heat in summer, cringingly of the nose in fall, deceased in winter, and begin anew in spring. In their own time. Anima just sat down with her flowers blooming around her and just waited within that time as well…

Naraja’s consciousness returned to him piece by piece and sense by sense and as he felt all of this he asked himself “What does it mean to be human and stay human”. And as he opened his eyes and awoken to being carried on the back of John and looked around at what to be the cave entrance’s hall that had connected to that weird sleeping chamber tree-room and the outside world. For some reason Naraja was starting to feel his stomach go a little queasy at the thought of being brought out of this place and into the world beyond this caves walls...but at the same time he had remembered his interaction with Anima and that stuffy, but yet wonderful world that he somehow went too and that interaction was certainly weirder he had thought, but he had digressed on that and…

John: “Seems like you’ve finally rustled out of that sleep inducing remedy from Anima huh, me boy~!”

Naraja: “Uahhh!! Stop doing that, seriously! You almost gave me a heart attack and made me fall off from here, but at the same time I don’t hate it that I’m being greeted with such enthusiasm and being carried on the back of a guy after embarrassingly falling asleep and not meeting everyone else. No~ there’s nothing wrong with that.” 

John: “Ay, a humorous one isn't y’a heh, heh. Hey everyone!! Naraja is awake and well now. We can all be less worried now!”

From Teresa to Nai to Anima to B-little and everyone else that was walking down the caves hall they heard John’s booming vocalized-call from behind as they were walking some paces ahead of them almost reaching the end of the caves hall. To were the real entrance of this place that holds the tree-slumber chamber. As they came closer and closer to the true entrance of the cave's halls, Naraja could feel a soothing breeze of air brush past his face and then he saw. Naraja saw the outside world since he came here and he immediately fell in love with it, but at the same time he had come to a conclusion. This world is gonna be a lot harder to get out of. 

Naraja: “What. The. FUUUCK!!”

As they all exited the cave with the air breezing past them high up above the sky’s: John, Nai, Teresa, Isilia, Anima, Minch, Sunshine and E-li were all caught off guard with Naraja’s loud outburst of a foul word that each and every individual knew of it from hearing it and knowing of it in their own hearts. B-little just wagged its tail back and forth as he followed John who still had Naraja on his back and was oblivious to Narajas’ outburst not knowing the weight of it. Was it wise for Naraja to burst it out, no. But he couldn’t contain his amazement any longer cause what he observed with his eyes at the present moment is that the cave wasn’t just a cave but was a floating tree-cave that had no lower foundation whatsoever and it had connected itself to the other end of a building that seems to look like it came straight from the Greek and Roman times...wait how did Naraja know that. Greek? Roman?...

As Naraja continued to furrow his brows at the thought of those two words that crossed his mind as they perplexed him, but at the same time they had left him with one question to ask…

Naraja: “Ummm, guys where are we?”

Isilia: “HUUUH ~. First, you blurted out that repulsiveness of a word a moment ago and now you want to ask, that, of all times. Rude.”

Naraja: “ My bad, my bad, but no seriously where the hell are we, heh…?”

Naraja gave Isilia a half-assed apology with a silly grin on his face which in return made Isilia start stomping her left-foot into the floor beneath her out of anger whilst yelling  “Rude! Just Rude!”. After that Isilia stopped her assault of anger towards the floor and pointed towards the tree that was behind Naraja and had said…

Isilia: “That tree-cave behind y’a is what’s called “The Tree Of Beginnings” and the place that we are heading to in front of us is called “The Hallway Of Memories” which is where we will find the “Red Book Of Memories”. ”

Naraja: “Pfft, you said “y’a” and~ are you a history buff now. I still don’t even know what a “Red Book Of Memories” is, let alone those other two y’a~ just mentioned.”

Isilia: “John. I’m going to kill him.”

John: “HAHAHAHAHA. It's okay, Isilia Naraja’s just messing with y’a~.”

Isilia: “Not y’a too...uuggghhhhh.”

Isilia groaned at the utter silliness of having to deal with two man-childs at once so she just pinched her bridge as a way to calm herself down, so Naraja clasped his hands together and…

Naraja: “Sorry Isilia I’ll tone down the teasing for you. Can you forgive me~?”

Isilia: “Tempting…”

???: “Would you like to keep going?”

Naraja: “Hk!~.”

Interrupting their conversation was none other than the black orb that still floated a centre above the ground, while it was ahead of everyone else as if it was in some sort of rush to something. Naraja contemplated for a second to ask the orb…

Naraja: “Hey! Orb! Why are you always in some sort of a rush?”

Orb: “......”

As if the orb was tired of hearing that question as likewise Naraja was tired of it asking “Would you like to keep going”. The two of them did sort of a stare off contest with one another, but really couldn’t because of Orb not having an actual body. As Naraja and the rest of them were still on the bridge trying to get where, Orb had floated ahead of them too. Which had been near the entrance doorway that led into the floating Cathedral Palace that was way, way, way above up in the sky to the point Naraja couldn’t quite tell how high he was up in the air but not literally because of what Naraja decided to do... As the orb kept quiet as if it was retaliating against Naraja’s question to spite him like that of a disobedient child. Naraja glared attentively at the orb and...  

Naraja: “*Sigh*, Forget it Orb~ just lead the way like you’ve graciously, always~, been doing, don’t worry we’ll keep up with y’a~..”

Naraja gave Orb a thumbs up with an awkward glint smile on the side to somehow make this awkward interaction proceed. Naraja, sighed again, but this time it sounded longer and more somber because of the fact it was like a talk between him and a mirror with no voice on the other side...well besides one question. Why did Orb always ask that question. Is what Naraja had thought.

John: “You okay back there Naraja..You getting uncomfortable or something?”

As John asked Naraja that sincere question he just simply shook his head left to right to tell John “No”. Naraja wasn’t uncomfortable; he just couldn’t quite understand that Orb and that stupid question Orb kept asking whenever there was some halt or a chit-chat arises. Naraja was starting to feel a sense of dread and despise towards Orb but couldn’t show it because of this place and the questions Naraja needed to ask it. But, still it is strange for a circular object like that being able to talk like a human being is weird but more than less can float in the air, like that should be impossible, is what Naraja had thought…

Minch: “Sooooo, are we gonna continue moving this along so we can get closer towards getting the “Red Book Of Memories”, or not?”

Soon as someone new who Naraja had an oddly sense of brotherhood towards too interrupted him out of his thoughts, he then immediately felt a pang of guilt for holding up this grandiose adventure that they were about to embark on. So Naraja clasped his hands together and bowed his head as way to apologize towards Minch, as the group of eight proceeded down the bridge ‘n towards the doorway, Naraja had began to feel quite curious about the “Red Book Of Memories” so much so that he decided to get off from John’s back of comfortability and skipped ahead in front of everyone else to where Orb was to ask…

Naraja: “Soooo~ Orb what exactly is the “Red Book Of Memories”, is it a book that holds all kinds of secret cool awesome powers in it, huh~?”

Orb: “Access Denied.”

Naraja: “What the--! Oh! Now you wanna say something else besides “Would you like to keep going”. Tell me what the hell the “Red Book Of Memories” is like, pretty please~ with a cherry on top~?”

Orb: “Access. Denied.”

Naraja: “Uuuuuuggggghh.”

Naraja slouches his shoulders in defeat after hearing those two words having a more forceful connotation behind it than it needed to be, but Naraja just sighed and digressed. Whilst he expressed these feelings outside into the air he started feeling a firm, yet soft hand touched his shoulder. Naraja looked back to see that Nai and the rest of the group had finally caught up to him and Orb while they just finished up their little dispute in front of the doorway. Naraja turned his head back towards the door, inhaled through his nose, exhaled out through his mouth and saw immediately that the door had a peculiar design all over it that he couldn’t quite see fully...yet, As he squinted at it to see what was on it he heard a couple of groans from Minch and Isilia to rub more pain into Naraja’s self-deprecating guilt he felt earlier, so he just gulped and put on a brave heart, place both of his hands on the handles of the deeply painted in bloodied red door and... 

                                            

         End of Episode 3: Paint Me In My Dreams