Silent Hill: Fateful Dreams

Chapter 20

Linda opened her eyes slowly, awaking from blackout after falling into the darkness. She was surprised when her body felt no pain at all, considering that she probably fell from big height. Opening her eyes, she saw two faces above her, but to be precise, only one face, the other one was blank. When her vision became clear, Linda then realized that Alessa and her guardian bent over her.

"Are you alright?" Alessa's gentle voice rang in Linda's ears.

"Um, yeah, I'm ok," Linda replied, sitting up and looking around. "Where are we now?"

"This is a ceremonial chamber," Alessa explained. "It is right under the inner sanctum."

Linda looked around her once more. The ceremonial chamber looked as bizarre as any other place in Otherworld. This room was round and had strange-looking walls, like covered with leather or even flesh, at least it had colour of flesh. The ceiling was as unusual. The more Linda stared at it, the more her eyes played optical tricks on her. Generally it looked like black sun in yellow sky, and now and then it seemed like its thin rays were moving. The floor this time looked pretty solid and covered in rust, and similar "rays" were seen on it, just like on the ceiling. No matter how strange Linda felt, but this room felt much more comforting than all the rest she had been to. And having Alessa and her faceless guardian near, she felt safe and protected.

Looking back to Alessa, Linda finally spoke:

"I finally found you. It seemed like eternity while I travelled through this town, although I have no idea of how much time has passed."

"Yes, and I'm so happy when you are finally here, with me," Alessa smiled happily and nearly jumped into Linda's arms. Linda gladly returned the hug, holding this happy child in her embrace. She could barely believe in everything that was happening, that she had been the best friend of Alessa in her previous incarnation, like a sister for her, and now she was back here, in Silent Hill, to see her again, only now they looked more like mother and daughter, as Alessa still looked like a very young girl, while Linda was now a young woman. But it didn't matter. They finally reunited and enjoyed this moment of happiness.

"I'm glad you made it through and reached the chapel," Alessa continued. "I suppose it was a hard journey for you, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, you could say so," Linda said, sighing. "I have read that Silent Hill is not a safe place, but I sure didn't expect to see this part of the world, and especially its inhabitants. Luckily, not many were on my way, and I tried to avoid them as much as possible, but I must confess that I had to kill a few of them to survive."

"I see. And I must say I'm sorry for making you go through what you could consider to be hell," Alessa said. "But I want you to know that all that you see around you is a manifestation of my inner feelings and emotions, my suffering mixed with the cult beliefs."

"Of course, I understand it very well," Linda said, caressing the girl's hair gently. "No one would ever want to go through all this torture that you were forced to suffer. And the town's power manifested it all in what we see now. It's pretty logical. I just didn't expect to find myself in this world." She sighed and continued: "You know, the chapel's corridors were the only place where I saw burning fire and even something similar to lava. I wonder why?"

"I can explain that," Alessa began talking. "You see, your journey ends here, in the chapel. To be precise, in a ceremonial chamber under the inner sanctum. Maybe you didn't know it, but your destiny was leading you here. You are here for a reason. And the burning fire you saw here represents burning rage in your heart."

Hearing this, Linda tilted her head in confusion.

"Rage? But I'm not in rage at the moment. What do you mean by that?"