Chapter 3: 3.- Erica’s Dream

 

Before she woke up completely, or even half way, she felt something linking to somewhere in her chest, behind her sternum.

She heard a noise similar to the clinking of chains, around and above. Finally, she felt a tug, something was gripping her tightly, slowly at first, but soon at full speed. At that instant Erica came fully awake, and saw that what was pulling on her chest was a golden chain. She did not know how it was attached to her, nor did it hurt, but it was pulling her at tremendous speeds through a black space with different terrains. She saw mountains, seas and forests on the sides, above and below; rivers, deserts and jungles, all passing like gusts as the girl traveled, yet all on a different plane, as if under a dark cloak.

From one moment to the next, the chain stopped pulling and disappeared along with the black tunnel. Erica blinked a couple of times, stunned, until she realized she was in a place she had never seen before. It was some kind of castle built of a white material. Its architecture was curved in several areas, pleasing to the eye, but nothing very recognizable.

She had appeared in an outer hallway that connected a tower to the main structure. The sky above was milky white, all around was a sort of city girded in darkness. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound, it was as if time had been broken in that place.

Curious, the girl headed down the only road in front of her, towards the castle. She crossed the threshold that led inside, but as soon as she entered the first room, the sound of a door closing to the left caught her attention.

—Is there anyone else here?— she wondered.

She went to that door, not paying much attention to the few decorations inside or what the purpose of that room was. She opened the next one, only to find a fluffy, golden tail sliding down one of the room's exits to the right. She would have to go faster if she wanted to catch up with it.

She continued to run after whatever was ahead of her, quite amused. They crossed dozens of rooms and a good handful of corridors. Erica tried to throw herself with all her might and run at top speed, but every time she could only see the tail of what was in front of her, never the entire body. Soon she came upon a flight of stairs that descended several meters in a long spiral. She descended through many floors until she reached a dark corridor.

There she stopped, shy. There was only one way her furry friend could have gone, but she felt she shouldn't be there, as if it were a forbidden place. Still she continued stealthily stepping onto the red carpet. On one side were huge windows showing part of the city in the distance, with dark and gloomy buildings. She wondered if anyone would live there, it didn't look like a very friendly place.

At the end of the hallway she came upon another door, and after the door there were more stairs, only these went straight down. The room was large and dark, with no other purpose than to walk through it, but it provoked the feeling that something was around as she crossed it, as if the darkness had life in that place. Erica felt the same fear as when she was a child and would sneak out of her bed in the middle of the night to get a drink of water, and then return at full speed so the monsters in her head wouldn't catch her. Tense, she began to descend faster. She was alone, she didn't need to perform in front of anyone. However, in the middle of the stairs she noticed a luminous figure in the distance, at the end of the room. It was her furry friend. She couldn't see what shape it was, but it glowed even in the dark, and that made her feel better. She thought it would wait for her, but as soon as she got a little closer, it disappeared.

Soon she reached the top of the stairs and went through the door at the bottom. She continued down a short, strangely narrow hallway, until the way opened. She came upon a canyon, a precipice, an immense pit.

Stupefied, she stared at it for a long time, but the sky was dark and there were walls on the sides. No, this was not a canyon, but a gigantic room. It was so big that if it were filled with water, it could easily have become a lake.

There were several surrounding floors, all overlooking the center. There, from the sky to the ground were two intertwined chains, huge, each as wide as a freeway. They moved a little, very slowly, as if breathing; from time to time they contracted slightly, as if pulsing. They were golden, so shiny that they seemed to emit light of their own, or perhaps they were.

Erica gazed at the chains in awe of their magnitude. It took her a couple of minutes to shake her surprise. Her luminous furry friend was nowhere to be found, but she didn't feel bad about it, she figured it would have other things to do.

She soon noticed that one of the lower floors had a horn—shaped protrusion, which came close to the chains. Precisely at that moment a fellow was walking along the horn toward the end. He was a knight covered from head to toe in white armor, walking slowly, but surely. Strangely, he was surrounded by normal—sized golden chains, which fluttered above him like trained birds or, rather, like elongated fish swimming in the air.

The knight advanced to the tip of the ledge. The chains paused, ordered themselves and spun around him, quickly at first, then stopped. Next, they turned away from him and ran through the air as if carried by a current. Up and around they went, skimming the edges of the room, until they approached Erica and began to form circles around her, as if they wanted to play. The girl did not know how to feel, until she noticed that the knight was looking at her through his helmet.

—Oh— she thought — looks like I got myself into trouble.

She turned around and prepared to run, but at that moment she felt a pressure in her abdomen. Looking down, she noticed a golden chain that held her tightly. She tried to push with her body to free herself, but the knight pulled the chain and the girl was grabbed across the entire radius of the titanic chamber. For a long time she flew backwards through the air, so fast that she felt that her brain was going to come out of her nose. A moment later he stopped. She had not been hurt, for two arms caught her. Looking up she found herself held by the gentleman. He then held her face tight and pulled her close to his cold white helmet to get a good look at her. Erica tried to see her face inside the helmet, but perceived nothing but darkness. Then the knight turned to the large chains, without letting go of her. He gazed at them for several seconds, breathing heavily. After a moment he returned his gaze to her and with his free hand he covered her eyes.

—What are you doing?— the girl protested.

She tried to open them, but it was difficult with the knight’s hand on her. She struggled for a long time to get them to open, until she realized that there was nothing to cover her eyes, except for the eye—blinkers.

She felt noises of someone moving around. Sleepily, she rubbed her face and sat up in bed. Her dad was dressed and pacing back and forth, as if he were late for an important event. Erica looked at the window of her hotel room, but there was no light coming through; it was still dark.

—Dad?— she called out to him.

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Lucifer stopped and looked at her, somewhat surprised.

—Did I wake you up, princess?

He quickly approached her and sat down on her bed.

—What is it?— she asked, suppressing a yawn.

Lucifer smiled at her.

—I'm sorry, something came up and...— he looked away, something he never did. Erica noticed that his eyes suddenly became watery. Something wasn't right— I have some things to take care of, my princess.

Erica tilted her head to one side, too sleepy and too ignorant to understand what was making her dad so upset.

—Did I do something wrong again?—  she guessed.

—No, no. Not at all. You're the prettiest daughter I could ever have.

Lucifer put a hand over the girl's ear, and with his big bear arm he pulled her to him and kissed her forehead.

—Then what is it?— she asked.

Lucifer looked in another direction again, contemplating the idea of explaining everything to her, savoring it, it would be so easy... but he chose not to do it.

—These are old problems, from before you were born— he confessed — things you don't need to see. If all goes well, I'll be back in three days.

Erica nodded, a bit distressed, but she trusted her father. She followed him with her eyes as he got up, took his things and opened the window of the tenth floor where they were.

—Wait— his daughter called after him.

Lucifer turned around, a little faster than she would have liked. He looked upset. Erica felt incredibly helpless for not being able to offer him help.

—Yes?

—If you don't come back in three days... How do I find you?

—You don’t— he asked — it's dangerous.

Erica smiled. Her father knew she was not going to obey him in that regard.

—When I find you, let's play wrestling— she suggested, assuming that after three days of not seeing him, she would be eager to feel his arms around her — or let's dance, whatever you want.

Lucifer smiled too, wondering if such an occasion would ever come. Then he closed the window behind him, jumped off the balcony and disappeared into the darkness of the night.

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