Ice Queen
by Angel Maxwell (Eternal SailorM) 

Disclaimers: Everything here belongs to me. That's right. Me. Mine. Steal, die, after being beaten with a sledgehammer. Vague disclaimers are no one's friend.

Notes: Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem "A Dream within a Dream": "Is all that we see or seem/But a dream within a dream?"; as well as a line from the Evanescence song "Everybody's Fool": "You're not real and you can't save me". However, most of the inspiration comes from Within Temptation's "Ice Queen".

How long now had she slept? A day? A week? A month? A year? More? She thought that perhaps once she had counted the time, but now she was not so sure. How could she have done that anyway? Oh yes, the time that existed within her dreams' minds was her marking points.

At first her dreams were ugly and animalistic, covered in hair and barely capable of communication with their fellow dreams. Gradually she came to find new dreams though, and as time passed, they became more beautiful. With their increasing beauty came increasing complexity, and that kept her intrigued. She wanted to watch them, to see what they would be able to do next.

Something told her this was not her first sleep. She had slept before and dreamed so much that, when she woke up, her dreams were still there all around her. Waking dreams, that's what they were. Beautiful dreams, somehow made real by the dreaming. Real and so very, very close to perfect.

The name of one of her dreams floated up to her, and she smiled. Her favorite beautiful, waking dream, all deep reds and blacks and silvers and palest blue. She liked that dream. Where had it now gone? Had it fled her in search of a new dreamer? No. Another set of dreams had taken it from her and destroyed it and defiled it and tried to make it less perfect and she wanted that dream back now...

Somewhere in the Mediterranean, a small island is covered in snow...

She knew that all around her was snow and ice and cold. It had never bothered her before, and it certainly didn't now. The cold was her eternal companion, and it kept her wrapped in her dreams. It was her great hidden refuge, where she could escape her reality and dream. Wait... What was her reality? Was it the snow and ice, or was it the people who moved around and had lives and families?

Families... That brought one of her first dreams back to mind - or rather two dreams she'd had so very, very long ago. Almost identical, excepting one was fourteen and the other three the last time she saw them. Had they fled her for another dreamer as well? No. They too had been taken by other dreams. She'd seen them both several times since then, since she'd gone to sleep again; even if they looked different every time they reappeared, they were still two of her most recognizable dreams.

Now, though, almost all her original dreams were gone. There were two clearly recognizable ones left: one full-blooded, the other half-blooded. Even her two precious reoccurring dreams were gone now, having laid themselves to rest. The world she'd seen when she last awaken was now long gone, but even its inhabitants were disappearing. Sooner or later, she would be the only one left.

Unacceptable...

A valley hidden deep in the Amazon river basin mysteriously starts to experience its first deep frost as a layer of snow begins to coat the trees and ground...

The world of her first waking was by no means perfect, but it was better than this! Her first waking dreams had at least respected the planet she'd cultivated for them. Her first waking dreams at least paid her proper homage. Her first waking dreams had not driven to extinction the animals of this planet.

If these new waking dreams were allowed to continue as they were, there would be no planet left. There would be no more animals, no more trees, no more of those damned annoying waking dreams.

She was waking up. It was time for the world to again see her face. And if the waking dreams died with her awakening, then sooner or later, she'd sleep again and start it all over again.

In this blue and green world, she was queen. She had ruled from the shadows once before. This time, these horrible but beautiful creatures would know who controlled their paths, who had brought them into being, who would just as easily destroy them as continue to put up with their antics. They were like her wayward children, and if they continued such antics, they would be punished. Her own true children had laid down their lives for these monstrosities, after all. She could not let that stand. She would not let that stand.

She would reap her vengeance on the world that remained. She had earned that much at least. These pitiful creatures would rue the day they ruined her gifts to them.

"...Despite continued threats of global warming, temperatures around the world have continued to drop at alarming rates. In New York City, the temperature is currently 15° Fahrenheit, while Los Angeles is experiencing record lows today for the month of July, coming in at 33° Fahrenheit. Across the country and around the world, scientists are baffled by the strange weather that has already covered parts of the Amazon basin along the equator in what could be its first deep frost perhaps since the last Ice Age...

This just in. An explosion of some kind, in the far northeast area of Siberia, in a sparsely inhabited area usually covered by a thick layer of permafrost. Miners in the area are reporting Russian news sources that something is emerging from the ice. Reports are conflicting, but it seems to be... human. It's a woman! A woman is coming up out of the ice! According to reports, she seems to be floating in midair. They're saying the storm is increasing around her. No! She's controlling it!

What? I'm sorry; we seem to have lost communication with Siberia. Moscow currently has no official statement, but it appears the Russian armed forces is being deployed to the area. We will of course keep you informed as developments are made available..."

The goddess of snow and ice, worshiped millennia ago as the unnamed Goddess who controlled the fate of the world, had awoken.


14 August 2005

Have another glimpse into the Mirror Doll universe.