[attr="class","aurelie"]

[attr="class","aurelie_body"]In the bedroom of her small apartment above her shop, the red-haired smith Aurelie lay dreaming.

Her dream began innocently enough, with the starlit warmth of a beautiful summer evening at the beach where she and Jack had had their first date. In the way of dreams, everything was slightly exaggerated from reality: the heat was even more oppressive, the stars even more numerous and dazzling in the purple-black sky, and the tingling of first-date excitement making her feel abuzz with sparks of electricity. Together they walked along the beach, held hands, awkwardly flirted, and shared dinner on the pier.

She dreamed of seeing the fateful dropped sushi roll tumbling end over end into the ocean and feeling the deep stomach-dropping horror that one only feels in dreams. Her impulsive lunge to save it felt like a leap off a towering cliff, not a fall off a pier only a few feet above the water. The descent into the sea seemed to take a thousand years, and every second of the way, the elusive sushi roll always remained just out of reach, taunting her as she sank beneath the ocean's surface.

The water closed over her head, just as it had in real life. This time, though, she saw Sharpedo swirling around her, their jaws slavering with bloody mist. There were nightmarish Eelektross with terrifying lamprey-like mouths and blade-sharp Barraskewda swimming toward her at breakneck speed. All these predatory creatures surrounding her in the water made Aurelie's heart pound with terror. Yet, they weren't even the worst thing she faced.

No, the worst part was the sound of Jack still on the pier, laughing at her. Laughing! She flailed around in the water frantically, trying to dodge the hungry sea creatures, seeking some way to reach the surface again. All the while, he sat there and laughed mockingly at her clumsiness and helplessness, knowing as well as Aurelie did that it was her own fault she was there.

Then one of the Barraskewda shot forward and pierced her left eye before she could even react, leaving her in darkness forever, and sharp teeth closed over her arms and legs and face—

Aurelie woke up flailing her arms and gasping for breath, as if still imagining herself under attack by sea predators and cruel mockery. Babbling something hysterical and incomprehensible, but clearly terror-filled, she finally wrenched away the blankets atop her and sat bolt upright in bed, gulping down huge lungfuls of air. Finally, she managed to pull off the sleep mask covering her face and look around at her familiar bedroom, and the realization of where she was and—more importantly—what had happened in real life flooded her half-awakened mind.

Shivering a little all over, she shook her head and ran her hands across her face. Instinctively, she turned for comfort toward the sleeping form beside her in bed, reaching one hand out to reassure herself of his presence.

[attr="class","cred"]VEL OF PIXEL PERFECT