A Self-Study Within A Broken Mind

My dad is my hero. He goes all over the world, visiting places across oceans and over different continents. He meets so many people everywhere, makes friends, and brings me back toys from all over the world. I love my dad so much, but he is away a lot. Mom is a powerhouse, but she misses dad, too. We wait for him to return when he has a bit of time. Most of the time, he only sleeps and leaves before I wake up, but recently he brought me a present from a distant country, translated to English from a very strange language. The book’s name was “ The Shining Eves: Magical Flowers of Legend ”. I had never heard of Shining Eves, but they were said to be important, and the way seasons changed. The more I read, lost in the magical world of four flowers only depicted by the season they welcomed, it became clear that these flowers blossomed in secret. The few who have seen the flowers bloom got sick with four very different things. The person who saw the Weeping Silversea could not stop crying, ...

"Wake up, Barney,” a young voice spoke into his mind. Was it the end at last? Was this some semblance of a hopeful afterlife rearing its head, or was this darkness all it would be? “Come on, wake up, sleepyhead.” Barnaby felt pain all over his body. No, that life he led and lost wasn’t over just yet. With this thought, memories of his family now gone flooded back in. He couldn’t recall how they met their end, but the pain present in his body meant that he pushed himself past the limits. Perhaps that was enough. Barnaby tried to fade away from the pain, let go of life at last and join his family, but a small hand slapped his forehead a few times. Was he already there? “Barnaby!” The voice said louder. There was light beyond his heavy eyelids. Above him stood a young girl with shimmering golden eyes. Her face was covered in mud and blood, but she was not bothered by it one bit. Her lips curved into a smile making her look menacing paired with darker spots all over her body until sh...

As soon as I entered that V-scape, a message popped up to greet me from the only person I’ve met there, Ledeon. As it had been upwards of a year since I'd last been in contact with him, it was a surprise. “Wow,” he said in the message. “You haven’t been on at all since I met you. I take it you didn’t like the Dark World?” A prompt popped up to reply, but I hesitated. When my eyes focused on the reply prompt, a text box popped open. It was speech recognition in the highest of forms. “I did,” I said, to myself in the middle of the town to compose a reply. “I was just dealing with a lot at home. A friend just had a baby, and this might be the last time I’m ever in this place. Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing here.” “Huh,” he replied. I expected more, but he didn’t send anything else until I was half of the way to the next town. With the green filter, the gray environment looked desolate, but beautiful. “Send me your location. I’ll show you the coolest parts of this V-scape b...