The Dreaming: Dark Star (Book 5)

1.3. The Note (Imorah)

Imorah's heart was pounding as she left the room in disarray and walked further into the archives, winding her way to room twenty-four. When she arrived, she stopped and looked in hesitantly - she hadn't been here in over three years, not since it had been turned into a shrine for her grandmother, the Elder Liorah.

The room had a special glass door, and from outside, Imorah could see the comfortable couch and the quilt her grandmother had made hanging on the wall, along with a small library of books, mostly children's classics. There was a thick comfortable carpet on the floor. Imorah knew that some parents brought their children here to read. It was the perfect place to retrieve her memories - as the room held so many already, many of them painful.

Imorah breathed out, and bit her lip, holding back a wave of emotion. This had been her special place for those few months after her grandmother had disappeared.

She took a deep breath and wiped her eyes, and opened the door, and entered the room. The lights fluttered on, and Imorah put her bag on the ground and got comfortable on the couch, leaning back against the soft pillows. "Computer," she called.

"Yes, Imorah?"

"Turn the lights to fifty percent."

The lights dimmed. Imorah closed her eyes and relaxed, practicing the breathing techniques her grandmother had taught her when she was a little girl.

When she felt centred, she opened her eyes and stared at the crystal, examining it in 'fine detail' as the computer had instructed.

As she examined the crystal, she realised that she'd never really looked at it before. In all these years, she'd never really seen it.

She examined the pointed, purple translucent end, and the opaque, white broken end, and wondered where it had come from, and who had broken it off.

She looked inside the crystal and saw a crack in there; it looked like a pathway.

That was when a flash of a memory hit her. She had a strong sensation of falling. She closed her eyes, trying to bring the memory up, but when she lost sight of the crystal, the memory faded.

She quickly opened her eyes and stared at the pathway running from the bottom of the crystal to the top, certain there was something there. She travelled along the pathway, and again, it hit her. This time stronger.

Her eyes closed automatically again, but this time, the image remained. Again she felt herself falling. She had the strongest sense of deja vu. She'd experienced this before. She felt herself swept away, like a bottle floating on a swift river of emotions and memories.

Her hand gripped the cushion of the couch beneath her, and then suddenly, she was washed in a vision that was so palpable it struck her in the chest and stole her breath.

* * *

I'm walking down a hallway with millions of doors. It's the archival hallway, but instead of books each room contains a memory.

I can choose any room I want, but there is only one room beckoning me. It shines at the very end of the hallway, a bright light shining from behind a closed door.

I feel pulled to that doorway by a power greater than me. Something is directing me there, but I don't know what it is.

Was I looking for something? What am I looking for? I can't remember. But I know whatever it is, it's behind that door.

Part of me wants to stay and another part of me wants to run away, turn around and dive back down into unconsciousness.

But the light behind the door is calling me. It pulls me closer. I must see what's inside. There's something inside there for me. Something scary and wonderful.