Bright. So bright. Lights flash past, psychedelic, mystifying, astounding, mesmerising, all go past in the blink of an eye. But the eye doesn't blink. Eyes are wide, as if pinned open. Visions flash, past, present, future. All is melded into one, then split into a dozen strands of life, each one turning and curling around within your sight. Music plays, a crescendo of clashing sounds, creating a masterpiece of contrasting form and style. A chorus sings hymns in some forgotten language of old. You don't understand, you can't. You merely listen, you simply stare, enraptured by the display across your mind, tattooed visions playing an engaging symphony of light within your soul.
Darkness falls. The visions stop. Replaced with more, they continue to play. The lights aren't as bright, but the music plays within your head like before. It gets faster. Tempo becomes upbeat, the words you hear become warped and twisted. The lights become darker and duller, purple and green and black across your view. Rain falls from nowhere and lightning strikes from within your imagination. Your eyes are spirals in a crystal frame, as your sight moves to the outside. You see yourself melting, eyes like jelly and legs and arms dripping to the ground. But the ground is no longer there. As the surroundings vanish so do you, bit by bit, piece by piece. You start to disappear. The lights fade, steady, the music starts to quieten. Sleep.
Your slumber ends with more visions, horrific in their nature, dark in their delights. They torment you. Screaming pierces your ears, fire and ice exploding into being all around you. You see the people near you ripped apart by vicious figures, but what they are you cannot tell. Blood sprays into the air, a fountain both beautiful and surreal in its very nature. Some lands on you, all over. The figures are drawn towards you, licking the drops of blood from your naked body, dragging their claws against your skin. But your skin is no longer there. Flesh creeps and muscles tighten, as the creatures, no longer mere figures but horrific forms that belong only in your darkest nightmares, rip your body in two and pick apart the bones and organs. You scream but there's no sound. Your tongue is gone, your mouth sealed tight, sewn with a needle and thread. Your eyes are pinned open once more, there's no escape from the nightmare. The pain is unbearable. You feel like a million knives are being plunged into every part of you. The screams of those around you suddenly stops. Silence.
You wake once more, alone. A corridor stretches in front of you. At the end is a mirror. You walk slowly towards it and take a look at your image inside the black glass. Normality. The pain has stopped, the creatures of your nightmare have gone. But it's not over. The walls drip, blood seeping from cracks and faces staring in the dread gore that runs down each and every facade. The mirror no longer shows your image, but that of a beast, more vile and disturbing than those which saw to your earlier torture. You run back along the corridor, away from these angry things, but reach a dead end. There's no way out. You feel a sharp pain in your chest and look down. Blood drips once more, but no longer from the walls. It drips from you. You fall to your knees, and with barely a sigh, you become still.
