The sweet aroma of tea filled the air. Everything was calm and peaceful. The city stood in all its glory, shining brightly in the twilight. People roamed the streets, carrying bags from luxury stores. Shiny fancy cars rolled by, with equally fancy men and women driving inside. Pigeons flew through the lush green trees and over people's heads. As the sun sank, the stars slowly faded into the night sky. They were dim at first but while the darkness overcame the city, they shined brighter than ever. Music played in the restaurants, bars, and concert halls. People went about their evening, getting ready to begin their nightlives or going home to sleep.

Anika sat in her room, drinking a fresh cup of peach and honey tea. A waft of steam rose from the white china cup. The soft sound of classical music played from her record player which she kept in a corner of her room. Being alone at home meant that she could freely do whatever she'd please. Yet, she still chose not to be a rebel and go party like other girls. She heard the other girls her age walk by her house, giggling and gossiping as they made their way towards the local nightclub. Anika paid no mind to them. They would be ruining their lives by drinking so much alcohol. She was invited to many parties, and to bars to drink, but she always declined the offers. Alcohol wasn't her thing, neither would it ever be.

Anika looked towards her wall where a poster was hung. There were seven shadowy figures, all of them with horns that crossed at the tips. One of them was missing their left horn. That wasn't there before. Anika put down her tea. She recalled seeing a poster of a boy band on there, not shadows. It soon came to her that she was dreaming. It wasn't real.

As if that realization caused a reaction in the odd world, the music suddenly changed. It became strange and out of tune. Things began to ignite, she could see the flames in the reflection of her mirror. She bolted towards her window, throwing the curtains open. The girls that once walked down her street were on fire. But they continued to walk, laughing strangely now. Looking towards the sky, she could see a single super fortress. The plane soared in the air as an air raid siren went off. Then, another plane came from the sky. Another, and another, until hundreds blocked out the starry sky. Something was wrong. The dream world was beginning to collapse, or did it know that she was aware of the dream? Anika looked back, seeing that her tea had fallen over, and rather than the tea being clear, it was pitch black. It flowed like a waterfall, rushing towards her. She ran out of the room as it burst into flames. She screamed for help, but there was no answer. The roar of the planes above drowned out her cries for help. Various explosions rang out in the twilight. Bombs were being dropped everywhere, thousands per second. Skyscrapers crumbled like sandcastles, houses fell apart like stacked cards. As she opened her door to escape, she was met with a bomb that dropped just a few yards from her lawn. It exploded, causing a cloud of smoke to obscure her vision. She ran regardless, trying to find a way out of the mess. Flames rose higher than the skyscrapers, with towers of smoke billowing. Everyone around her was still on fire. But, they were smiling. Something crashed down nearby. It was the frame of one of the planes, on fire. Many of them were burning up in the sky, crashing down onto the city below.

Anika watched, too afraid to keep moving. She held her fist to her heart, sweat running down her forehead. Her eyes widened, the flames dancing in them. She could see a large bomb fall from the bomb bay of one of the planes. It fell slowly, almost not moving at all. Another one fell from the bomb bay. Then another. She shook her head and kept running, hoping to find a way out of the ruins. She ran past the music hall, which was on fire as everything else. Music kept playing, and ballerinas kept dancing on the stage. They were on fire, smiling like every other person in the city. It was a nightmare ballet, where everyone would burn in a fire. One of them resembled her in such detail that it was chilling to the spine. She had brown hair, which slowly began to turn black from the fire that consumed her. The hall collapsed and the music halted. Anika screamed, dodging falling planes, buildings, and bombs that exploded. Tears pooled in her eyes. It was all a nightmare, where she had to relive that day. No one could get her out of it. Nightmares like these were eternal. She broke down into sobs, stumbling along the way as a building fell in front of her, blocking her way. There was no way out of the burning maze. The planes shifted in the sky, making their way towards her. They burned and crashed down, progressively getting closer and closer. Then she saw a person standing in the distance. They had no smile. But she couldn't see them. They walked towards her, holding a hand out to her. Anika wept, reaching out to the person. The nightmare would end here, right? Of course not. Before she knew it, more people emerged from burning ruins, smiles on their faces. They reached towards her, hoping to grab her and end her life right then and there. Anika took a step back, then another. She placed her hands onto the hot concrete of the building behind her. It was inclined enough for her to climb up. Turning around and jumping onto the ruins, she began climbing up until she could see a way down. The burning people still followed at a turtle's pace. She could faintly hear their agonizing moans and whispers. What did they want from her, exactly? It was a question she didn't know how to answer. It was a nightmare after all, and nothing was supposed to make sense. She slid down the other side of the building, back onto the street. She caught a glimpse of something running away. It looked like a person dressed in all white. Yet they were running in a way that made Anika realize that they were making a path for her to run through without being harmed.

Courage rose up into her. Anika sprinted after the person, leaping over the roadblocks in her way, over metal frames and rubble. A clear path was there. Where the flames didn't reach, that was the path. To where though? It was unclear. The stranger didn't look back nor notice Anika. Their white dress trailed behind, along with a silver scale that they held. That scale. It was familiar. She looked at the broken glass from a storefront, seeing that reflection once again. A strange figure lifted up a scale, and then a shield appeared before them. The image was gone when a bomb took down the store. She could not lose sight of the person, or else she'd never escape the nightmare.

After running for what seemed like hours, Anika saw the figure eventually disappear around a corner. She cried out, not wanting the person to leave her here. She followed them around the corner, only to find an open cellar door. She jumped in, pulling the door shut. Now, everything was pitch black. Except for a white light nearby, resembling yet another door. Anika heard something bang against the cellar door, and something was trying to open it too. She made a bold decision to run through the white light. Just as she did, the cellar door flung open, and fire consumed the cellar.

Everything was light now.

Anika was surrounded by a field of white lilies. She broke down again, weeping. The warm sunlight touched her gently, and the fresh aroma of flowers filled her nose. She could see a beautiful white weeping willow ahead of her, and the same person she saw led her out of the nightmare.

They were a tall, yet beautiful woman with a skull face. She had six horns that curled at the tips. Her body was silver with white stars, and in some parts, transparent like a ghost. Her bones were visible in those parts. A white blindfold covered her eyes, or, what would be her eyes. The white dress she wore fluttered behind her as if it had a mind of its own. She walked towards Anika, kneeling down as she approached. She gingerly caressed her cheek, then stroked her head.

"It's over now, dear."

"I'm here."

"There is nothing to fear anymore, my child."

She spoke in a motherly voice, and if she could, she would be smiling. For a second, Anika could see two men standing under the tree too. A man with beautiful red hair and a golden visor, and a man with sleek black hair with dark armor. The man with black hair leaned against the tree with his arms crossed, while the red-haired man only watched the woman. He wore white robes, quite similar to the dress the woman wore. Both had halos behind them, which floated silently. A single crow landed on the shoulder of the man against the tree. But they were gone when she blinked. She focused her attention on the strange woman. It was really her. She was the one that saved her. The one who stopped the atomic blast from incinerating her.

So many questions were raised.

"Why did you save me?" Anika sobbed.

"When the bomb exploded, and now when I was stuck in a nightmare." She gripped onto the woman's dress, suddenly burying her face into her chest. Her weeping got louder, and her tears sparkled as they fell to the ground.

The woman said nothing for a while, but she soon took Anika into her arms. She carried her to the willow tree. There was no trace of the two men she saw just now. Everything was untouched.

"The world is full of sin. Blackened with corruption. My work had failed all those years ago when the Great Judgement came upon the universe. There is no good in it anymore. Your city was plagued with leaders who did not care about others, only themselves and their wealth. Your world is infested with war, chaos, death, and crime. People are brainwashed with propaganda, forced to believe what is false. Yet, you are not. You are different, Anika." She gazed out at the endless sea of white flowers. It went on for miles before disappearing into the horizon. The world was heavenly, yet lonely. With nothing else but a tree, there was no one else to speak to or nowhere to go. Anika was silent at the response. But she wondered how different she truly was. She saw herself as ordinary. Someone who liked music and the performing arts. Not some person who could save the world or something. She felt the woman wipe her tears, then she looked up at her again. She couldn't find what to say. The woman only spoke more, knowing well about her confusion.

"There is something I see within you that you do not, my child. I have been watching the human children of this world, but none of them have what you have. They are plagued with propaganda. I have seen many become mindless people, obeying every rule there is. But for what? There is no goal." Of course, her answer would be something just as confusing. Something within that she didn't know about? Anika knew herself well, but maybe the woman was right. She didn't know herself that well if she didn't see something the woman did. She wanted to know what that thing was, but it dawned onto her that it was something she had to figure out on her own.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

There was no point in being told what it was. The fun was finding it herself. The journey she'd go on to find the answer and bring that thing to fruition. It was better than being told and ruining everything. Perhaps it was magic or talent that she had hidden. There were thousands of possibilities. Now that she was in the Church of Decay, there was a chance that she could discover what was hidden. More courage flourished within. But she still recalled the memories of that day. The bomb exploded and incinerated everything around her, the screams of people during the airstrikes. The sirens, the planes, everything. Even the sound of gunfire as the men in helicopters shot whoever tried to escape. She felt a ghost pain in the leg where she had been shot. Looking down, she saw no scar or a wound. Only the same tan skin she always had.

She looked out towards the sea of flowers, seeing the men again. They frolicked through the flowers like children. The crow followed the man with black hair. The man with red hair leaped into the air but was flying. Anika stared up at the woman, many questions reflecting in her eyes. But when she looked back again, the men were gone. But there were flower petals falling from the sky where the flying man once was.

"You must be seeing my boys."

"Sweet like honey, but powerful like Gods." She looked towards the flowers. She slowly put Anika down onto the ground, then she walked away, out of the shade of the tree. Anika rested against the tree, watching the woman hold out her hands. The men appeared, now wearing white robes. The red-haired man took her hand and spun the woman, beginning to dance with her in the flowers. Things were happening so much already. The two men passed the woman to each other, waltzing through falling petals. It was like a performance in a dream. Not a horror-filled nightmare of bombs and fire.

"Moon and Crow, my beautiful boys." The woman said to the men, who then smiled softly.

"Mother. You are as beautiful as the day we lost you." 'Moon,' the man with red hair replied. Anika's eyes widened again. Those two were the woman's sons. What baffled her was what Moon had said.

"What does he mean by... Lost you..." Anika whispered to herself. She heard footsteps, then before she knew it, Crow was standing above her. He held out his hand.

"Care to dance, my lady?" He asked her, a warm smile coming onto his face.

Soon enough, Anika was gliding through the air, dancing with Crow. She felt different, almost as if she was in the afterlife. Her worries lifted from her shoulders, there was no way the fire could reach her any longer. She pirouetted through the ocean of lilies, then was thrown up into the sky by Crow, only to be caught again. Both Moon and Crow seemed to act odd, like if they were in a trance. Or, they were just at the point where they had no worries and were glad to simply share a tender moment with their mother and the girl she saved.

Even if her nightmarish dream world collapsed outside of the white light door, she knew that she was safe. The planes fell from the sky, and the atomic bombs wiped the entire city, leaving nothing but barren land. Massive craters remained where the bombs exploded. Not one person remained. Not even a single building. The smiling horde of people that had been following Anika was gone in the blast. Their blank smiles disintegrated into nothing in milliseconds. Multiple mushroom clouds sprouted from the ruins, towering above them for miles into the smoke-filled sky. The poster in Anika's room drifted in the wind, untouched by the flames and explosion of the bombs. It landed miles from where it came from. As it touched the ground, it immediately burned up. But when the smoke cleared, the fire died and the clouds disappeared, it appeared that there may have never been a city there. There was no evidence to prove it. Maybe foundations of buildings here and there, but even they were destroyed beyond recognition.

Anika began to feel tired, yet she didn't want to stop. She leaped through the air, landing gracefully. Then she was met with Moon, who took her hand and waltzed with her. It was a switch. Now Crow was with his mother. He said something to her, and she only stared at him before ruffling his hair. She took Crow's hands into her own and they both spun, beginning to dance. Maybe this was all just to ease her mind more and help her fall asleep. It was working though. Because as she continued to dance, her eyelids began to feel heavy. No. Not now. She couldn't. She tried to stay awake by doing even more complex dances. She didn't want to sleep, she wanted to live this moment to the fullest. Forcing herself to stay awake for longer, she was determined to finish her dance with Moon. She looked at him, feeling dreamy. He smiled down at her, then as the sunlight hit his visor, she could see his eyes. They were pitch black with orange flashing pupils. Those eyes, they weren't human. Moon wasn't human, wasn't he? Neither was Crow. It was no surprise. It wasn't like anyone was human in the world anyways. Or so she thought. Maybe she was the only one. The Church of Decay was full of strange people and equally strange things. It would come to no surprise if she discovered that there was one other human or none at all. However, she wondered if she could meet all three of these people in the waking world. They had to be real for sure. If she saw the woman save her from being incinerated, she had to be real where she was now. But exhaustion slowly overcame her. She felt her body slow down and become heavy, then stop. She slumped to the ground, her eyes closing. Moon picked her up, and that was the last of it. He carried her towards the willow tree, then he laid her down. The woman and Crow stopped. They came over to Moon's side. The woman knelt down again and used her finger to mark a sigil over Anika's forehead using her magic. It was a sigil of a moon and what looked like a bed, then words beneath. The words read out "Somnus." Anika fell into a deep sleep, which would wake her up from the dream world.

It worked, and Anika was now wide awake. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes.

".. What was that dream... And nightmare.." She asked herself, trying to comprehend what she had experienced. A replay of what happened not long ago but worse, than dancing with two lovely men and their mother. She could recall their faces. The smiling red-haired man stood out to her most. She wondered if she had seen him before. Someplace in the past. Anika stared out her window, seeing that the moon was still shining brightly. It hadn't moved at all, meaning that it has been nighttime since the day she got here. There was no daytime, only an eternal night. It would be hard to adjust to constant darkness.

She got out of bed, sighing with relief when she noticed how her leg wasn't hurting anymore. The room was still dark as it had been before, but it was different. It wasn't the first one, but a totally new room. She threw on her robes, determined to find the men she saw in her dream and the woman. Surely they had to be here. There was no way they just appeared like that and weren't anywhere in the area. Anika opened her door but was shocked to see how dark everything was. The chandeliers were dark, not one candlelit. But she heard feet shuffling and some faint voices. The entire hallway was near dead silent. It would be hard to navigate. Yet Anika quickly noticed a dying candle on what looked like a table. She snatched it up and began cupping her hand around it, trying to rekindle the flame. It relit, now with the flame burning bright enough for her to at least see where she was standing.

Walking down the hallway, Anika felt as if she was being watched. Footsteps sounded behind her, but when she looked back there was nobody. It didn't really phase her, at this point she knew she had to be used to the abnormalities of the Church. She changed her stride, now making it more firm and determined. Keeping her head up and gazing straight ahead, she focused on her goal. Surely there had to be a way to find those three people. One thing she recalled to keep in mind was the white lilies. Those elegant and fragrant flowers covered the entire ground in the dream world. If she found those, the Mother of Obscure had to be near. She reached a fork in the road, now unsure where to go. Two options, left or right. She began to feel strange deep down as if it was her body trying to tell her to go right. She trusted her gut and turned to the right, continuing to walk. No one was near. It was dead silent now. It was her and whoever was following her, unless it was her own imagination.

Just up ahead, she faintly saw a milky light. It had to be moonlight. She began to speed-walk, keeping the candle near her. It had to be a way out of the Church, or to a courtyard. Maybe the willow was there, or a clue leading her to find those people. She almost could see Moon hold his hand out towards her when she approached the light. Soon enough she saw a massive courtyard, where there were beautiful hedges and flowers. It was like a small maze but had places for people to sit and chat. Metal chairs and tables were laid out in some areas, with flower vases with bright red roses in them. Tiny white lanterns were lit in the corners, letting off a warm golden glow. Anika walked through the courtyard, looking up at the gorgeous moon above. There were crows flying above, and white stars glittering. She stopped, now taking in the sight. A small fountain was in the middle of a hedge circle. It was made of marble and was in the shape of a robed person with a spiked crown holding a book. The book leaked crystalline water. Near it was a few small pine trees, and then a single marble bench. It was dreamy, especially at night. Something else caught her eye though. Anika watched a white petal drift down from the sky. It was a lily petal. She gasped, holding a hand to her mouth.

She slowly looked in the direction where it came from, seeing a massive bed of white lilies. It stretched for many yards, then in the middle was... Someone lying down in it. They had their arms crossed across their chest and wore a beautiful white dress. They looked peaceful, as if in a deep sleep. Beneath their arms was a red transparent scar. Her bones were visible, but no organs.

It was her.

It was the Mother of Obscure.