Winged Falls

//Chapter Seven//

Mason stumbled through the cave in the center of the forest. He didn't know what he was running from, only that it was dark and unnamed and terrible—and the unknowingness of it made it all that much worse. The stone walls around him were illuminated by barely enough light to see by, and Mason knew that one misstep would result in the unknown thing catching him.

Mason craned his neck back, trying to catch a glimpse of what he was running from— a mistake. His feet hit an uneven patch of ground, and his body pitched forward.

Instead of hitting the stone floor, though, Mason kept falling, his body turning on end. A scream ripped from his throat as he saw the ground far, far below. There was no way he could survive a fall like that— he had to do something, but there was nothing he could do. Mason squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the moment of impact.

It never came. Mason heard a faint snap and felt wind gusting into him from above. Still breathing hard, he opened one eye, then the other.

His feet hung in midair, half a foot above the ground. Something must have caught him! Mason turned to look at his savior and was greeted by a large pair of colorful wings, beating to keep him aloft.

A second glance revealed that the red, yellow, and blue wings were attached to his back.

Mason was frozen as the wings—his wings—lowered him to the ground. As his feet touched down, a voice echoed in his ears.

"Dreaming again, Pine Tree?" The voice was unlike anything he had ever heard; it was like it had multiple layers, and the sound sent a chill running down Mason's spine.

With his brain still reeling from the sight of the wings, it took a minute for the meaning of the words to sink in. "I'm— dreaming?" That made sense— and he was obviously still dreaming, what with the wings. And now that he was aware of it... he was having a lucid dream! Mason had read about them, but never actually had one.

"As bright as ever, I see." The voice came again, and Mason spun in a circle as he tried to pinpoint the source of it. As he did, Mason took in his surroundings, which he hadn't noticed before: he stood in a huge room with a vaulted ceiling even higher than the cave's. The walls and floor were made up of large stone bricks, many carved with intricate designs. "Although, truthfully, it wasn't so much a dream as it was a nightmare. Good thing it's over."

Mason shuddered at the memory of running through the darkness. Definitely a nightmare. "Yeah. Wh— who are you?" As he spoke, he completed the circle, and his eyes landed on a long carpet leading to a throne.

Above the throne, the Illuminati floated. It glowed with a steady yellow light, and Mason took a hesitant step towards it.

This dream just kept getting weirder. Mason had seen the Eye of Providence on the back of dollar bills, but never with the top hat and bow tie worn by this creature. At Mason's words, the eye in the center of the yellow triangle widened. "You really don't remember me, Pine Tree?"

Mason frowned. "Why should I? And why are you calling me a pine tree?" Something about this creeped him out, and he wasn't entirely sure if his nightmare was over.

"It's on your shirt." The triangle pointed, and Mason looked down at the small blue tree on his pocket.

"Oh." Mason wished he had his Journal with him. Maybe Ford had researched the Illuminati in the past and there would be something to help him.

"Where are my manners? I haven't introduced myself." The triangle floated higher above the throne. "I am Lord Cipher, the All-Seeing Eye, the Liberator of Dimensions, and the most powerful being in the multiverse." With each word he spoke, he grew bigger, and the many-layered voice pitched deeper. Mason took a step back, then another, willing himself to wake up.