Cold. That was the first thing I felt when I regained my senses. Then, I felt snow. Snow underneath and flakes flying on me. The cold became more intense and I began to hear the wind. A very powerful wind. A storm. When I opened my eyes, my view was still blurred. I had to wait several tens of seconds before I could finally see clearly.

I was on a mountain. Not a really big one. I looked around me. I could see pines down the mountain. There were also many types of trees but the most noticeable ones were the pines. Covered in snow. There was a snowstorm. It was so cold, yet so pleasant to feel. I was on a path which was around the mountain, climbing on it. There were other paths at the bottom and a forest nearby. Where was I? I could not be in the Endless Forest. In the Human World perhaps? Whatever this place was, I liked it. I followed the climbing path to the top of the single shoulder of the mountain which was a cliff. From there, I could see a huge snowy world, with a big frozen lake, mountains behind it and a huge forest around it. I could not believe my eyes. It was so beautiful.

“Hello, Kamaya.”
A low female voice emerged from behind me. I was paralyzed. I did not move. Neither turning around nor looking back. I felt something coming closer and stopping next to me. I looked at it. It was a floating shapeless shadow. I did not know if it was staring at me or staring at the landscape.
“Welcome to your realm. To our realm.”
“Where are we?” I asked calmly.
“In your mind, sweetmeat.”
Sweetmeat? Why did it sound so familiar?

Without looking at it, I could tell it was in fact staring at me. I could feel it.
“Don’t be afraid. You are safe here. Nobody can harm you in your own mind. Unless you want it to occur.”
It laughed softly. I did not know what it was. And I doubt I wanted to know anyways. Perhaps a demon? I hoped it was not.
“This is a place you created by yourself. Your world is all what you desire. You can imagine anything, all of them will come to life here.”
I was shivering, freezing, confused but also amazed at the same time. I came closer to the edge and looked down. I had a sudden urge to fall that I could not resist. I followed it and jumped off the cliff while closing my eyes.




I felt the atmosphere changing, yet everything faded to black while the sounds were fading away. I started to feel water all around me. The first thing I heard was whale sounds. A sweet melody echoing through my ears. Accompanied by the submarine noises. Once my eyes were open, I realized that I was underwater. Away from the surface and close to the abyss. I could see the light up there, trying to make its way underwater. The shadow figure appeared from the surface without a sound and came to me. Plants like tentacles twisted around my legs, my body and my head, covering my mouth. I looked into the abyss, but I could not see the bottom. It was dark down there. And cold as well.

I did not understand what was happening. I felt like if I had been brainwashed, with no memory at all. I could not move but only my eyes. I could only control my thoughts and feelings including my emotions. I could not control anything else. I was prisoned. I noticed that I had gills on my neck to breath underwater. It seemed so realistic. The shapeless shadow approached.
“Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you.”
Please, let me go, I begged in my head as one of the plants was still covering my mouth.
“Why? You don’t seem to want it. I am a creation of yours. Therefore, I know everything about you. Because that is how you made me.”
I was slowly beginning to understand. Whatever this thing was, it knew all of me. Even my deepest secrets. We were in my mind, so it seemed logical. And that was how I wanted it to be so. It would not let me go because it knew that inside of me I wanted to remain prisoned. I did not want to be freed. I could tell anybody would think I was weird. But it was how I truly was.
“But I am unfinished. I need you to complete me. You already made my voice and a part of my personality. You have to finish what you have started.”

I closed my eyes, listening to the melody of the whales. The shadow started to swim around me and my imagination went on as a sudden image of Dazenth appeared in my mind involuntarily. I have always wanted to be a dragon. More since I met Dazenth. I imagined a long tail with a submarine flower at the tip. A long body with magnificent wings. Wings formed with a long very thin and boneless arm with only one finger and a soft soil with a small transparency, almost shaped like a bird wing but without the feathers and with pointed tips. Next were the legs and paws, then the neck and the chest scales. After that, the head. The ears would be like the wings, with a small thin arm and a rounded soil attached to it. Not forgetting the muzzle and the hair. I was hesitating with the hair. Should I have made it like regular dragons, running from the top of the head to the bottom of the back or to the flower at the tip of the tail? Or made it just long like hers with no hair on the neck, back and tail? Perhaps no hair at all? It was difficult. But no as much as for the horns. Yet, after a long moment of thinking, I decided to make her hair on the back of her neck with a mane and regular horns. Even though I was not sure about it.

When I opened my eyes, the shadow took all the shapes just like I wanted them to be. And now, the colors. A purple body with dark blue-purple chest scales, magenta wings and ears and the flower would be red with a slight touch of yellow towards the center as well as a small pink fuchsia flower attached in the middle with a stalk of yellow pollen. The hair would be robin's-egg blue. Only one thing remained at present. Her eyes. She came to me and put her head closer to mine. Her eyes opened with black empty eyes and bloody tears. No, that was not exactly how I wanted them to be. She closed her eyes and as she opened them again, her eyes were magenta. A magenta color which was shading from darker to lighter from the bottom to the top with bubbles like a magenta ocean. With vertical pupils. The bubbles could be noticed only when looking closely to the eyes. It was so beautiful.

She would have black bracelets on her front legs and a choker on her neck along with an earring on each of her ear. They would glow in the dark, even underwater. I was not sure about her size so I decided to give her the ability to change it on will. I was still hesitant about many things, yet she was a creation of my mind, so I could change her appearance whenever I wanted.

I stared at her hypnotizing eyes. I loved her how I made her. But I was still asking myself questions. I could hardly think about something.
“Thank you, sweetmeat. I love this appearance! Now, there is something I would desire the most.”
Yaï?
She stuck her muzzle to my nose, her head against mine. This time she was not speaking with her mouth, but through her thoughts.
I would love to share your body with you.
My…body? As I was trying to put my own thoughts in orders, I felt the tentacle-like plants releasing me and going back into the abyss. But I still could not move. It turned even darker than I thought it would.

I was confused once again, unable to understand what was going on. She started to speak in my head with a mysterious and creepy voice.
Welcome to my deep realm,
Where from darkness grow water elms,
And where swallowed you will be,
By your own mistakes and misery.

You do not know me, but I know you,
Among them you created me too,
With your mind but your control,
Bigger will become my role.

Welcome to my dark home,
Surrounded by a shield as a dome,
Where you will soon be trapped forever,
Where not even your screams will be heard either.

You will be led by your betraying emotions,
Led into the amazing deep ocean,
Into my endless dark blue lair,
By your greatest sorrow and blind despair.

Welcome to my dreamless view,
Where not a single light comes through,
One day, you will join my side,
After your lost soul enough will have cried.

They will not be fair with you,
And your worst nightmares will come true,
And dark shall become your wounded heart,
Yet you will be safe in my only shadowed light.
She then changed her voice back to normal and swam around me once before stopping in front of me.
You created me without knowing it. Yet I already existed deep inside of you. I waited before finally going out of the shadow. You cannot trust anyone outside your mind. But you can count upon me. I will never betray you. Not like those who call themselves your “friends”, and this red dragon who call himself your “mate”. This one will cheat on you one day, trust me. Me? Never! You’re my creator and I shall follow your lead. I will be loyal to you. Always. Forever. Join me, and I will protect you from those dramatic events, from those traitors. From the sorrow and misery. I’ll take good care of you.
I could not do anything but to listen. She had a dark nature, it was obvious. But I trusted her anyways. I was wondering where Rosemary and Kama-Rin were. And just like she read my mind, she answered to this question.
Rosemary and Kama-Rin are still there, hiding somewhere, watching and listening. They may be useful for both of us too.
Useful? For what? She did not reply to that question however and took me in her front paws before flying out of the water.




I understood we were in the lake all along as we broke the ice. The rest of the lake was not frozen, only the surface. But when I was underwater, I could swear it was not. She brought me to the top of the mountain, where she put me down and landed next to me. She was taller than me, around the same size as Dazenth I suppose. She looked at the landscape.
“Now, a name. I was thinking about Zeïkira…”
“…Zayko Ember Hydriëwira.”