Delilah and the Hall of Dead Dreams: Chapter 1 – The Cost of Dreams

Chapter 1 – The Cost of Dreams

Everyone has a dream in life. Many people go out of their way and take the most dangerous risks to achieve their dreams. Among these dreams is Delilah who wants to be one of the most entertaining puppets in the world. Since puppets are best at entertainment, she has to do a lot to stand out from the hundreds of other puppets. She’s tried singing, comedy, and acting, but every puppet managed to outdo her and get more attention. During one event, her parents cheered more for the eventual winner than her. This crippling loss made Delilah run away in shame.

While wandering the town, she comes across the new and interesting building that was built recently called The Hall of Dead Dreams. Many people have gone to it and come out as different people. The changed people say they fulfill their dreams, but they also act strange at certain times. Curious to see what’s in the strange building, Delilah enters the building to find a dimply lit antique shop with no one inside. The orbs on the shelves have different events in them taking place each labeled with a specific dream. Each dream plays out within the orbs as it shows the beginning, middle, and end of the dream, but the one that catches her eyes the most is the one about being a famous actress.

“Ah, an actress is what caught your eye,” a man says from behind her.

He startles her by coming out of nowhere. The man has a long nose, big head, and is dressed properly in a black tuxedo and bowtie with black pants.

“Oh, yes. I’ve always dreamt of being one of the best puppets to entertain people and put smiles on their faces,” Delilah says to him.

“That’s a lovely dream. Most puppets want to be entertainers just for the riches and the attention they’ll get, but you’re different. I can see it in you. You can be what you dream of.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so. Isn’t that right, dear?”

“Yes, dear,” a woman says from behind Delilah. A woman is dressed in a long white dress that acts as a contrast from her husband in black. “But before we say anything else, I think we should introduce ourselves.”

“Oh, I must’ve forgotten my manners because I was so excited to see a puppet of such quality as you. My name is Fidato.”

“And my name is Onesta. The orbs you see in front of you are called dead dreams because they have no one to give them life, however, you can be that person if you place one within your heart. You said you wanted to be one of the best actresses, right?”

“Yes! Can you help me bring my dream to life?”

“I can at a simple cost. After you put this orb in your heart, you will lose a part of yourself. That simply means that you will lose whatever was preventing you from achieving your dreams,” Onesta says.

“It’s a side effect of the orbs. If we didn’t put a trade-off on them, then the devil certainly would’ve done it for us. You can trust us. We are trustworthy people. Don’t you think that the people who make the dreams of others would be?” Fidato says.

“We’re the most honest people you can find. Guaranteed. I’m sure you’ve seen our happy customers in town. Our good deeds speak for themselves.”

Delilah quietly considers the offer.

“So, will you accept your dreams coming true at such a small price?” Onesta asks.

“You won’t do anything sinful. We promise,” Fidato reassures.

After thinking about it some more, Delilah answers them, “Yes! Please, make my dreams come true!”

Fidato and Onesta smile then laugh before Onesta grabs an orb from the shelf and gives it to Delilah. This orb has the appearance of a flower with a golden eye in the center. The orb shows Delilah a scene with her receiving attention and love for her acting. She only needed to look at it once to be sure to put the orb into her heart. When she looks back up, she sees that she’s in the scene she just watched. She continues acting unlike she’s ever acted before and manages to win the attention of the entire town.

“That was great, Delilah!”

“I didn’t know you were such a good actress!”

“You finally managed to find the spark to light up your career!”

Among all the praise Delilah received, she hears the voices of her parents.

“That’s our daughter!”

“I’m so proud of her. I knew she would eventually impress everyone.”

This praise from her parents brings tears of joy to her eyes. The exhaustive day ends in a feast for Delilah. She then goes to bed only to awaken shortly after. Unbeknownst to her, her body has changed so that her eyes have become triangular and her hair has become spikey. All she knows is that her body feels strange and that she’s not in control of herself as she walks out of the house without waking her parents.

“What’s going on?” she asks herself.

“I’m trying to remove some obstacles in our path to our dream,” a darkened version of her voice inside her says.

“What do you mean? Who are you?”

“I’m the new part of you that helped you entertain everyone today.”

“What do you mean? I did that.”

“No, you didn’t. I did. You gave up part of yourself so that I could achieve your dreams.”

“But who are you?”

“I’m you or more specifically a new part of you. One that can help your dreams come true.”

“What is happening right now?”

“I told you already. I’m trying to remove some obstacles in our path to our dream. I’m in control of your body and I’m going to take care of your rivals.”

“Don’t hurt them!”

“I’m not going to hurt them. I’m just going to level the playing field. Now, go back to sleep.”

When the new part of Delilah tells her to go back to sleep, she falls back to sleep in her head, but only partially. She hears the muffled sounds of walking, cutting, and the slight sounds of muffled screams. Once she wakes up, she starts thinking to herself like she did last night.

“Hello? Are you there? What did you do last night?”

There’s only her and herself in her head. She does her daily routine and goes out to do more acting. This time she tries to get a role in a musical. There are other puppets there who are trying out for the position. What’s strange about these puppets is that there are a few of them that say they were attacked by a mysterious and scary figure as an excuse for why they aren’t able to perform their best. Their valid excuse doesn’t help in them getting the role though they are told they will be considered for later when they get better. Delilah gets the role in the play, but she feels like she didn’t earn it. This is especially true since the judges didn’t find her singing too impressive.

Wondering if her singing didn’t improve with her acting, Delilah goes to sing in a singing contest and falls short.

“I thought that orb was supposed to make my dream come true,” she thinks to herself.

“It did,” the dark voice from before says, “You’re an amazing actress, but you aren’t an amazing singer.”

“You! Did you have anything to do with those puppets who were injured?”

“Maybe I did. What does it matter?”

“You hurt them!”

“So what? I told you I was leveling the playing field. We wouldn’t have gotten the role if they were feeling okay. Just be glad that we can entertain people tomorrow with our amazing performance.”

“I guess that’s I can do.”

“Thatta girl. Let’s practice our lines for tomorrow’s performance then get some well-deserved rest.”

Delilah does what her thoughts tell her with a guilty feeling in her chest.

Hunted by the Hound of Heaven: Story 1 - Good Shephard

Story 1 – Good Shephard

In the Kingdom of the Lord, everyone is given their job by the King.

One boy was so excited to finally serve that he went straight up to the King with a smile on his face, bowed down on both knees, and said, “I am ready to serve you, my King.”

His parents and the rest of the children there were shocked at the boy’s display, but not the King. The King gave him a blessing in silence, handed him his pitchfork for his job as a farmer and hugged him before sending him off. The boy became a marvelous worker as a farmer and one of the best. He joyfully did his job day in and out as every piece of work, every action that he did was for the King. For his services, the King graciously rewarded the boy with whatever his heart desired.

When asked for what he wanted, the boy said, “I want to faithfully serve you for all eternity. Please make it so I can do this.”

Moved by his request, the King gave the boy a blessing that few men received. The years flew by as the boy got older and older until his unrelenting energy for work burned out and got him sick. Now a teenager, the boy watched from his room as replacement farmers did his job for him. Not only did each worker do better than he did, but they also were praised higher and given more gifts than he. After some time passed, the boy felt forgotten. The only people that came to him were the people who gave him his food and medication and even they left him to help and cheer on the new workers.

“What is even the point of me even being here?” the boy questioned, “These workers replaced me and then some by doing a better job than I ever could. The King has no use of a mediocre in His Kingdom such as I. I was never a great worker. If I went back to work now, I would only hold everyone back.”

The boy snuck out of his house with nothing but his pitchfork and left the gates of the Kingdom.

As he looked back on the shining Kingdom, he said, “They’re better off without me. My replacements are already there and doing a better job than me, so my skills and even my existence is obsolete.”

The boy journeyed far from the Kingdom and came across a small farm. Since he was hungry, he worked for his food and because of his service, he was offered a job and shelter there.

“Please, stay and work for me. I’ll give you anything you want,” the owner said.

“No, I’m an obsolete worker worth nothing. Please, do yourself a favor and find someone else,” the boy said as he headed out.

Along the road, the boy came across a man being mugged by thieves. With his pitchfork, the boy fought off the thieves and scared them away.

“Thank you so much for saving me, boy. Come home with me and I’ll make you a feast worthy of someone as brave as you,” the mugged man said.

“Thank you for the offer, but I am not worthy of your gift. Please give it to someone who is homeless instead. Surely, they are more worthy than I,” the boy said as he kept wandering.

Again, the boy found another person in need. A woman fell near a cliff and was unable to climb up. The boy used his pitchfork to lift her up and out of danger.

“Thank you so much for helping me, good Samaritan! I’ll give you anything you want!” she said.

“Please, don’t give me anything. I’m not worth it,” the boy said before he walked away.

He didn’t get too far from the woman before he saw a figure that was walking from the setting sun. As the figure got closer, the boy couldn’t help but get on his knees. The King traveled by Himself all the way from the Kingdom only accompanied by His white snake and golden dove that He’s always with. The boy was immobilized by fear and could only keep his head on the ground. The King stopped in front of the boy who offered up his pitchfork.

“My King, I am not a worthy servant. Give my pitchfork to someone who is. Perhaps one of my replacements will make better use of it than I,” the boy said.

The King took the pitchfork then placed it back into the boy’s hands while he gripped his hands tightly. This made tears begin to flow from the boy’s eyes.

“I’m truly sorry for what I’ve done. Please forgive me and allow me to work in Your glorious Kingdom again! I’ll do anything!”

The King picked up the boy from his feet and embraced him. He then took Him back to the Kingdom where a coming home celebration was held for the boy. The boy went back to work as a farmer who did his job better than ever. Not even his replacements could keep up with him. By the end of his life, the boy became one of the kingdom’s best farmers.

Another lost sheep was one who dwelt in another kingdom. The kingdom itself was under siege by the King’s.

As the lost sheep recounts, the gates that were made of the finest materials of the earth were being broken down as if they were made of straw. We had lost all our battles against the King and now His armies were cutting through ours and soon the entire kingdom will burn down. So many other kingdoms fell beneath us so easily, but not the King’s. When we waged war against him, no army or weapon of ours could match His. I was sitting and watched it all in the safety of my home. My anonymous suggestion that I sent to the rulers was ripped up and mocked. I thought it would be best to negotiate peace with the king, but they didn’t want to hear it.

The rulers only wanted to slay the King and His people to make us the kingdom above all. What fools. Other people in the kingdom have thought the same as I and have tried to escape, but the rulers cut down everyone who opposed them. There is no way for me to escape. Either the King’s army will cut me down or my own. That was until I heard a peculiar knock at my window. To my shock, it was the King Himself with His snake and dove.

I fell back and said, “Please, grant me mercy, King!”

He held out His hand.

“Do You want me to join You?”

He shook His head to tell me yes.

“What need do you have of a lowly sinner such as I?”

He only answered by extending His hand further.

“If You wish it to be so, then I will follow You.”

I took His hand and He carried me out of my house. As we walked the streets of the burning city, His troops ignored me and protected me when the soldiers of my kingdom saw me defecting to the King’s side. The King even killed my attackers who got close enough to strike me. I wanted to look back at the destruction that was happening, but He turned my head forward. It’s probably best if I didn’t look anyway.

When we were outside the kingdom’s gates, His troops on the outside congratulated me for choosing the right side and repenting and gave me drink and food.

I looked around then asked the King, “Are You going to save anyone else? I don’t see anyone else here from my kingdom.”

He shook His head.

“No? Out of everyone in the kingdom, You came only to save me?”

He shook His head to say yes. My knees grew weak as I bowed down to Him and kissed His feet.

“Th-thank you, my King! I will always faithfully serve You for this unimaginably great kindness that You have done for me.”

His troops were exiting the kingdom as it burned to ash and fell around them. Today, the once glorious kingdom is ash and rubble and those who try to scavenge its remains or build atop it fall dead within a day.

Yet another lost sheep was in a bar that was in a small shanty town with the worst of sinners. The topic of the King came up. Some people in the bar exited it while others drank more. Others dared to talk falsely about Him.

“He’s a tyrant! When He isn’t sitting on His throne all day, He’s waging war and burning down kingdoms.”

“I hate the fact that He destroys others who disagree with Him or refuse to be allies. He treats them like villains. Doesn’t He know that not everything that He thinks is a sin is evil?”

“He’s supposed to be this great King that helps the innocent and poor, but all I see in the world is suffering and poverty. I think He’s hurt more people than He’s helped. He’s such a hypocrite.”

“Don’t you have anything to say about Him, mister? You know more about Him than we do,” a scantily dressed woman said to a man in long rags.

The man in rags sat and drank with a scared expression on his face while appearing to be still.

“You were a high priest or something, weren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” the man finally responded.

“Yeah, you got to talk to Him yourself.”

“You got the wrong man.”

“Those robes you’re wearing are just dirty priest robes, aren’t they? You must know something.”

“Do I look like a man who would?”

“…I guess not.”

After a couple seconds passed, a man in the bar asked, “It’s been awfully quiet the past few minutes.”

“Yeah, I don’t think the town’s been this quiet.”

“Quit complaining. I actually like this silence.”

To their surprise, the King walked into the bar with his snake and dove on Him. Everybody except for the man in robes moved in shock. The King stood silently looking around the bar as the air in the building seemingly disappeared as everyone struggled to breathe. The foolish woman went up to the King and hit Him before spitting in His face.

“You’re supposed to be a forgiving fella, aren’t ya? Well, forgive me,” she said before hitting Him again.

Her hand that hit the King started bleeding and before she knew it, every part of her was bleeding until she bled to death on the spot. Another man tried to fight the King by throwing a bottle of alcohol on Him then threw a match to burn Him.

“Burn in Hell!” the man said.

The fire did nothing to Him while an invisible fire burned the man who attacked Him. No matter what the others tried to do, the invisible fires on the man would not go out before the fires subsided on the King. Everyone else sat quietly in fear as the King approached the man in rags. The King tapped the man on the shoulder then held out His hand.

“You know what I did, my King. My sins are horrendous and worth an immediate execution. I’m surprised I even managed to live this long with You knowing what I did.”

The King still held out His hand in silence.

“…and still You give me the chance to repent and pay for my sins. Your mercy truly knows no bounds. Please, forgive me.”

The man in rags takes the hand of the King and walks away with Him back to His Kingdom. Along the way, the scorching heat of the sun and thirst for alcohol attack him but looking at the King gives him strength. By the time the King returned from the long journey, the man in rags looked nothing like his former alcoholic self and his robes were as white as snow. A celebration was made for the man before he went back to his priestly duties.

My next book is out for free to download!

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In her quest for deeper truths behind reality, Lizzie finds a hidden library under an ancient destroyed city. This library has every kind of book that ever existed including books that transport people into their pages to tell them their lessons. Everything seems like a dream until Lizzie starts digging too deep to find the dark secrets that should have never been discovered.

Lizzie and the Lunatic's Library: Chapter 4 – Foolishly Intelligent

Chapter 4 – Foolishly Intelligent

When Lizzie exits the book and is finally on the outside, she immediately feels a heavy mental pressure that feels like it's tearing her mind apart. Around her is a completely white library with black books that hold deeper knowledge. She looks to see that some of the mannequins in the room with her have completely mutated their bodies with extra limbs, cracks in their bodies that reveal the eye-filled black sludge within them, and other limbs that seem like blades. Some are absorbing the eye-filled black sludge from the books that enter their minds through their eyes, nose, and mouth. The deep secrets behind all truth and reality beckon sweetly to her. She resists it as she avoids the mannequins and tries to find something to burn the library down. Fortunately for her, the deformed mannequins are barely paying attention to her as something draws their minds to it.

This same thing doesn’t let up its assault on Lizzie’s mind as her mind numbs to the pain. She doesn’t feel that she has total control of herself as her mind is forced to move to a place that is sucking her towards it. The place she is led to is a gathering of all the mannequins in the library that are becoming one with a man and Ms. Ebrietas in the center of it all. Lizzie’s mind is freed from the pull as all the energy in the library is concentrated in the center. As Lizzie regains control of herself and her mind clears, she looks at what’s happening.

“You’ve made it just in time,” Ms. Ebrietas says, “We’re finally going to ascend beyond our moral limits and are going to learn the secrets behind everything. Come, join us.”

“I refuse.”

“That’s a foolish decision. What changed your mind?”

“What I’m seeing plus a man I met in that nightmare you trapped me in. He said to remember Master Willem’s advice.”

The man steps forward and says, “You saw Willem? Well, his advice was useless and only held us back. He told us that we were right in thinking that demons lack humility, but the real answer was wisdom. We have wisdom because we’re using what we have wisely.”

“Yes, we are,” Ms. Ebrietas says before using her power to turn Laurence into eye-filled black sludge.

“What did you just do?”

“It doesn’t matter. We were going to be part of the same being anyway. I just wanted to be in control of it all. I could tell you more if you’d like.”

Lizzie’s mind hurts and feels like it’s tearing itself apart as she looks at the transformation Ms. Ebrietas is going through. She stumbles away as she continues for something to start a fire.

“Come now. You’re like me. You must want to know more.”

The more Ms. Ebrietas talks the more Lizzie’s mind tears itself apart, so she disconnects her fingers from their sockets and uses them as earplugs. While looking around, an idea comes to her.

“Of course. It was obvious,” Lizzie says to herself as she goes back to the locked book and tries to open it.

She bangs the book against the floor. The floor starts shaking and her head automatically turns to see Ms. Ebrietas in a hideous form. It’s similar to a crab in form with two large eyes and six smaller eyes in them. It has two large claws with one that has an eye in it. One part of the abomination has a mouth with teeth on the outside with hundreds of eyes in it. On top of that, Ms. Ebrietas’ face is deformed with a large mouth taking up most of it. Just looking at it, makes Lizzie’s eyes struggle to see anything clearly while her mind thinks over a thousand thoughts a second while not being able to concentrate on one.

“I have never felt so euphoric. There are so many new things that I can think about. So many new things I know. So many things I’m still trying to comprehend. It’s time to ascend to a higher plane of thought. You’re going to love it!”

Ms. Ebrietas is about to grab Lizzie with her claws until Lizzie uses whatever strength she has to move back and make Ms. Ebrietas use her claws on the lock of the book. This unleashes all the lunatics in the book who start a ruckus as whatever they imagined leaks into the real world, which includes the fire Lizzie needed. Ms. Ebrietas tries to control the situation with her mental powers and new body but is unable to do anything to the lunatics who have already lost their mind. Meanwhile, Lizzie stumbles to the exit to the room. She goes up a staircase and finds herself at the library’s entrance where Ms. Ebrietas first met her.

Lizzie looks for an exit as the library begins to go up in flames and be destroyed by lunatics. She bangs on the wall she came through.

“Come on! Let me out already!” Lizzie says as she bangs her head against the wall.

When she blinks, Lizzie sees that she’s on the other side of the wall with her head in her hands and a book. Part of her wants to know what’s in the book, but she closes it and tosses it aside. She ascends back into the ruined city for a breath of fresh air.

“I’m fine with what I have,” Lizzie says aloud, “I don’t need to know everything about the reality to enjoy life. There’s too much to go through in one life anyway.”

Looking around, she sees a familiar man in the distance with a black tuxedo, pants, and top hat. He stops and turns around and tips his hat without revealing his face.

“I don’t need to know what he’s going to do.”

Even though she didn’t gain as much knowledge as she expected, Lizzie gained wisdom instead that can be said to be more valuable than knowledge because a wealth of knowledge used poorly or not used at all is foolishness and a waste.

The End

Lizzie and the Lunatic's Library: Chapter 3 – Into the Madness

Chapter 3 – Into the Madness

The fall into the book knocks Lizzie unconscious as she hits the ground.

“She awakens to see herself in a library that looks similar to the one she was in.”

“Hello?”

“The girl asks herself. She’s confused as to what happened to her and where she is.”

“Who’s narrating everything I do?”

“Questions race through her mind as to who it could be. She came to a mysterious library for answers and even after that, she has more questions than answers. The girl walks through the library and follows the sound of the voice to its source, but she opens the wrong door and comes across a ghastly sight.”

“What the?”

“She says in disbelief at looking at Harold who is still struggling to put himself together, but can you blame him? He has three head, four and a half arms, and three legs.”

“Sorry for my mess, miss, he says. I just need to find my heads to put myself back together. Not wanting to deal with him, the girl walks off to another room and opens it to see another sad sight.”

“Be careful. My eyes are all over the place. The slippery things just won’t stay in me. This is Ms. Madness as we call her here because of all her knowledge and her eyes, but because of all her knowledge, her burst from it and has a hard time keeping her head together. The girl closes the door and goes to check another one but stops and thinks before she opens another one. She walks around tuning her ears until she has a good idea of which door to open and would you look at that, she opens the right one! The mannequin who was narrating her events is a fine gentleman with a black tuxedo and black pants with eyes on it as if he didn’t already have enough eyes on his head.”

“Please, stop it.”

“And enough mouths on his head too.”

“Who are you and why are you narrating everything I’m doing?”

“I’m the author of this book you’re in. May I get your name? It can be repetitive for my readers to keep hearing you referred to as a girl.”

“Lizzie.”

“Lizzie. What a wonderful name!”

“How did I get here?”

“You got thrown in here by that librarian. What was her name again?”

“Ms. Ebrietas.”

“Ah, yes. That’s it. That woman is a lunatic. She thinks that filling your soul and body with deeper knowledge will ascend your mind to a higher plane of knowledge so you can become smarter. It’s vanity as I have learned. I was a librarian before.”

“You were a librarian like her?”

“Similar, but not as crazy. What’s the good of all the knowledge in the universe if you aren’t going to use it properly or even use it at all. There’s a reason why it is said that the poet only asks to get his head into the heavens while the logician seeks to get the heavens into his head. The poet knows his limits and that his head will split if he tries to get the infinite into the finite.”

“But isn’t there any knowledge we don’t know that will be useful? There has to be.”

“That’s the same kind of thinking she had. Trust me when I saw that we were made with limits for a reason. You’ve seen what happens to people when they ‘ascend’. Ebrietas will end up the same way or worse in no time. That library needs to burn.”

“I guess there really isn’t any other choice,” Lizzie says as she sits down.

“There isn’t and you better get it through your head. If you were designed to handle deeper truths, then you wouldn’t fall apart and go insane when you had it.”

After a few moments of consideration, Lizzie says, “Fine. I understand now. Will you help me escape and destroy the library?”

“Nah, you can do that yourself. You shouldn’t really leave either.”

“Why?”

“When you leave here, you’ll be in a place where your mind will be constantly assaulted by deeper knowledge. You’ll hear all kinds of things including the secrets of the past, present, and future. They’ll sing sweetly to you and either drive you insane, turn you into eye-filled black sludge, or make you like Ebrietas and that’s when you have eyes within you. You don’t have any. That was a smart move, but you’re more likely to turn into eye-filled black sludge or go insane now.”

“I’m not going to stay here for the rest of my life.”

“Oh, my dear, if only that could happen. You can’t die here. Trust me, I’ve tried.”

“Then that gives me even more of a reason to get out of here. Didn’t you say that the library should burn?”

“I did, but it could do that without our help. If the book we’re in burns, then we’ll all burn and be freed.”

“Well, I’m going to escape and burn it myself.”

“Hold on there. If you’re serious about this, leaving the book isn’t going to be easy because there’s a lock on it.”

“How do I unlock it from here?”

“It’s a lock on a magical book. What makes you think it can be unlocked from the inside?”

“Come on, you’re a knowledgeable librarian. Don’t you have any ideas?”

“…you know there actually might be one thing you have to do, but you’re not going to like it.”

“If it means I’ll be able to get out of here, then I’ll do it. What am I supposed to do?”

“Disassemble yourself and roll your head all the way down there.”

“Down where?”

“Have you looked down at the lower floors of the library yet?’

Lizzie looks over the railings of the library and sees that the rest of the library is a mess of other places such as forests, houses, churches, cities, and much more. Above her is much of the same in what seems like an endless series of places that don’t mesh together with crazy mannequins with deformed bodies.

“This is a place for crazies and lunatics of all kinds,” the man explains, “The minds of the mad mannequins in here create what you see around you. The reason why the library around here seems so big is because I’m probably one of the only people in here who still has some sanity left in them.”

“I can’t even see the bottom. What about the rest of my body?”

“What about it?”

“I need it! What do you think?”

“I’ll send it down with you. Your mind is your most important instrument, right?”

Lizzie is still as she looks down and imagines falling down into the madness.

“If this is the only way…”

As Lizzie stands on top of the railing, she takes a deep breath before dissembling herself and falling into the madness below. Her head falls into a cone filled with eyes on its sides that is actually the head of a person. She exits the person’s head via his mouth and is spat out to a pinball-like area where other people’s heads are being bounced around by people who are playing the pinball game. A flipper misses her, and she goes down a hole into a mountain. The mountain rumbles as an avalanche of mannequin parts fall down the mountain. Lizzie is caught up in the avalanche as she then falls into a place filled with desserts.

The mannequins combine and eat ice cream, chocolates, and even the heads and body parts of the other mannequins that are covered in sweets. In the chaos, Lizzie manages to roll her head to a hole in the room that makes her fall into a golf course where she is hit into the mouth of a giant mannequin that is somewhat alive. The throat of this mannequin leads her to an ocean of black sludge. She sinks to the bottom of this ocean as mannequins who have made themselves into mermaids and other forms of aquatic life that swim around. At the bottom of the ocean, Lizzie is taken by the claw of a bird that brings her deeper down.

As the claw of the bird tears her away from the ocean, it tears a hole in the sky of the next place as a flood falls from the sky of a fantasy battlefield with mannequins who have made themselves into dragons, unicorns, elves, dwarves, knights, kings, and queens. A barrage of arrows flies into the air and hits the bird that lets go of Lizzie. She falls into a lake that ends in a waterfall that makes her fall further into the darkness. The fall isn’t too far, and she lands on total darkness.

“Whew. Is it finally over?” Lizzie says to herself.

A flash of light illuminates the area to reveal a single hole to escape from it. Lizzie begins rolling her head to it as another flash of light shines as several figures start approaching her.

“Oh, come on,” Lizzie complains.

Another flash happens seconds latter to reveal the monstrous mannequins with deformations in their body and eyes on their bodies and faces. Before the next flash, Lizzie is able to get to the hole just in time as the mannequins almost snatch her. This next place she lands in looks to be the bottom floor of the library she was in where she entered from. The man from before lands on the floor with the rest of Lizzie’s body.

He lays it on the ground and says, “Your body, madame.”

“I hope nothing bad happened to it,” Lizzie says as she reassembles herself.

“It wasn’t anything bad I couldn’t fix.”

“Ugh. What do I do now? Is there some kind of exit here or secret lock I need to break?”

“You don’t have to do anything. I’ll just send you through the lock.”

“What? Are you kidding me?”

“Nope! This isn’t even the bottom of this madness. I just created it here before you arrived.”

“You made me go through that nightmarish obstacle course for nothing then?!”

“It wasn’t for nothing. What you were feeling was similar to what you’re going to feel when you get out of here. I was preparing you for it and seeing if you are truly serious about what you say you’re going to do.”

“Thanks then, I guess.”

“You’re most welcome. Oh, and when you see Ebrietas and a man by the name of Laurence, tell them to remember Master Willem’s advice.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Thank you. I’ll be praying for your success.”

Light generates from the fingertips of the man as he sends Lizzie out of the book. Even as she is exiting the book, she can feel the mental pressure of the outside heavily weighing on her, but she bears it and holds onto the hope that she can succeed despite it.

Lizzie and the Lunatic's Library: Chapter 2 – Mind Over Matter

Chapter 2 – Mind Over Matter

Even though the shelves of the library are neatly organized, Lizzie has a hard time finding the correct books that she’s looking for because the covers are in strange shapes such as one shaped in the form of an eye. Along with this the title and the back of the covers have cryptic summaries and descriptions of what’s inside of the book. There are even a couple books that Lizzie thinks are the ones she’s looking for only for her to open them and find them pointing in the direction of a different book.

“Who makes a book solely to tell you to read another book?” Lizzie says aloud.

With a bit of patience, Lizzie finally finds what she’s looking for. The books told her to put several together that happen to already be together on the shelf. She connects them and opens them at the same time to enter it. Once she enters into the book, her body disintegrates.

A voice from within the book says, “In the quest for deeper knowledge, you must learn to use your mind more than your body. Information is metaphysical after all, so you must make yourself the same.”

Lizzie tries to move but feels unable to. She struggles with it until she remembers that she’s supposed to make her mind do it. Her mind begins to think of a body as Lizzie forms an image of herself that she can move around in. She looks around to see that she’s back in the library with her body lying against a bookshelf.

“Yes, this is really you,” a voice within the book says, “You didn’t think you would learn how to transcend within a book, did you? You need practice in the real world. So far, you’ve gotten farther than a few other people who picked up this book only to die because they were unable to create a body for themselves. Go ahead. Take a walk around. You’ll find that there’s more to your surroundings than there might seem.”

As Lizzie’s eyes open the entire room becomes colored white with a few grays to outline figures and objects. She doesn’t know it, but the color of her eyes have changed from black to white with a white circle in it. With her new eyes, she sees angels and demons along with souls of people floating up to Heaven or sinking down into Hell.

“Are you my guardian angel?” Lizzie asks a nearby angel that floats near her body.

The angel doesn’t respond and doesn’t seem to notice her presence, so she reaches out to him only to be stopped by a long arm that reaches out from the book.

“Don’t wander too far from your body and don’t touch anything you don’t yet understand. Demons can appear to be angels or act like other mannequins. What you see around you knows more than you do, so be careful. Now, as we reach the end of the book, I’d like to tell you one simple question that will allow you to be more knowledgeable than most others. What do demons lack that angels have?”

Once the book closes, Lizzie finds herself back in her body. This new and exciting ability has Lizzie fired up to learn more, so she goes to Ms. Ebrietas to learn more.

After telling her what she learned, Ms. Ebrietas says, “Learning how to walk outside your body is an impressive feat in such a short amount of time and is proof of your conviction to find deeper knowledge. The answer to the question you were given is this. Demons lack humility. Their pride weighed them down to Hell. Your search for knowledge is a sign of humility because you are saying you don’t know everything and need to know more.”

“That’s good to know, but what should I do next?” Lizzie asks.

“Use your ability. Do you think that the eleventh floor is the only hidden collection?”

“Ah, I see. Can you tell me where the hidden rooms are?”

“No, I won’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because it takes away from the thrill of adventuring, but since you seem so much like me when I first discovered this place, I’ll give you a hint. Search in the place where you think hidden information will be.”

“That’s not much of a hint.”

“It’s all I’ll give you. Besides, it’s a good hint. The library is organized and that means topics of similar natures are close together.”

“Okay, I get it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Ms. Ebrietas watches Lizzie as she walks away with a smile on her face while noting in her mind to keep an eye on her. Lizzie goes up to the floor on theology and checks the walls to see if she can go through them but can’t find a place in the wall to go through. She then finds a safe place to hide as she goes outside of her body. Her ethereal body can go through bookcases; however, she isn’t able to go through certain walls. She does eventually find a wall she can go through and finds herself in a similarly colored room to the eleventh floor with a completely white room with objects outlined in grey. There are other mannequins in the room though they seem completely captivated by the books they’re ready because of how still they’re standing. Angels and demons are in this room as well. They fight for the souls of those in the room while being unaware of Lizzie.

Lizzie tries to avoid touching people and higher beings as she browses the bookshelves. Many of the books are on how to control yourself out of your body though few of them are on deeper knowledge. While looking for books, she finds that her fingers can go through the white shelves. Wondering if there are secret books where she can’t see, she travels beyond the white shelves to find black ones with a black sludge-like substance on the floor with slight bumps in it here and there.

“Eck. What is this stuff?” Lizzie asks herself as she carefully walks through it.

In the center of the sludge are three bookshelves back to back filled with books. Curious to see if there are more secrets, she checks in the small space behind the bookshelves to find a small bookshelf crammed in the back with only a singular book. The book itself is called Accessing Deeper Truths and it doesn’t have a summary or a clue as to what it’s about. Even more curious than before, she opens the book to find an eye opening that pierces a light through the center of her forehead.

“Do you seek deeper knowledge? Deeper truths?” a voice rings in her ears.

“Y-yes. I do,” she responds.

“Then you must ascend beyond the limits of your mortal state. By that I mean you must be like the angels. To ascend into deeper knowledge, you must make some changes to your being that takes off the restrictions God placed on them. I have discovered that you can do this with more eyes. Just as the thrones in Heaven have many eyes, so must you.”

The light that pierced through Lizzie’s head begins transmitting a feeling to the rest of her body. A feeling that feels that makes it feel like something is opening up all over her. The feeling is similar to that of an eye struggling to open itself because that’s exactly what’s happening. Hundreds of eyes appear on her and struggle to open themselves as Lizzie resists it.

“Do not resist. This is what you wanted, isn’t it/? There isn’t any other way to ascend into deeper knowledge than this. I would know. I’ve dedicated my life to doing so. Now, I am sharing with you the results of my life’s work.”

After realizing that it’s a fruitless effort to try to prevent the eyes from opening up on her, she closes the book, which makes the eyes on her disappear. She throws away the book and takes a breath.

“That can’t be right. It just can’t be,” Lizzie says as she backs away from the center bookcases.

Lizzie quickly exits the secret area and in her rush to get out, she accidentally touches one of the mannequins. This makes the mannequins move and begin to crack. Black sludge begins to pour out of them that starts to fill the room. Once the sludge hits the ground, eyes start opening in it. Lizzie makes her way out of the room as it floods with sludge and eyes and back into the normal library. She searches for her body only to find that’s gone.

“Who took my body?” Lizzie asks herself.

Before she can think about where to search for her body, Lizzie hears someone walking to where she is. Thinking this person might have to do something with her body’s disappearance, she hides in the bookshelves. While in the bookshelves, she can hear someone walking around the area her body was in. There’s silence as the person stands still. Unsure and afraid if the person will she Lizzie’s ethereal body, Lizzie goes further away from where she is before she peeks her head out to see who’s out there. Ms. Ebrietas is the person she heard walking around.

“Poor thing must be scared and confused,” Ms. Ebrietas says aloud, “I remember being the same.”

Lizzie asks herself if Ms. Ebrietas is the reason this is happening. She then notices cracks in Ms. Ebrietas’ body that reveal eyes within them. An eye focuses on Lizzie and Ms. Ebrietas turns her head in response. Lizzie hides in the bookshelf unsure if she was seen. Just to be safe, she goes to the other side of the shelves and listens to the footsteps of Ms. Ebrietas as she walks around. That is until she’s surprised to see Ms. Ebrietas walk through the bookshelves despite her body not appearing to be in an ethereal form.

“I already knew where you were. My eyes can see both the mortal and the ethereal,” Ms. Ebrietas says.

“What happened to my body? Where is it?” Lizzie asks.

“It’s undergoing the same changes mine did. To know deeper knowledge, your body must ascend. The creator of this library told you something similar, didn’t he? Our mortal minds cannot comprehend truths beyond us. What is in this library is minuscule compared to all the real knowledge that is being kept from us. If you really want to know more, then you must become like me.”

“I don’t want to. It’s so unnatural. Maybe there’s another way.”

“What you’re doing already is unnatural. There is no other way.”

“What happened to those other people I saw? They couldn’t move and their bodies were filled with black sludge and eyes.”

“They’re in a state of limbo overwhelmed by knowledge. They tried the way you’re thinking about and failed. You must become like me and ascend into a higher state of being to know more.”

“No. I refuse. Just give me back my body so I can leave.”

“I can give you back your body. Your soul and your body are connected to one another after all.”

Ms. Ebrietas lifts her six arms in the air and Lizzie is pulled back to her body that she sees is getting sucked into a book. The book closes and locks itself.

“Let’s see if you can get out of here,” Ms. Ebrietas says as she flies to where the book is and takes it away to a secure location.

Prayers I say throughout the day

Morning Prayers
Our Father, 3x Hail Marys, Glory Be, Prayer to my Guardian Angel,  By Thy Immaculate Conception Prayer

After that, I'll say, "Thank you, God, for another day. Please God give me the strength and wisdom I need to do what You will of me today. Good morning and love You."

Afternoon prayers.

Rosary

Chaplet of Divine Mercy

Seven Sorrows Devotion

http://www.themostholyrosary.com/appendix1.htm

Act of Spiritual Communion

Eternal Father

  

 The Golden Arrow

Spiritual Adoration Prayer

A Prayer for the Forgotten Dead

Consecration to the Sacred Heart

Memorare

Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel

Prayer to St. Joseph

Prayer to St. Peter

Prayer to St. Jude

O, Holy St. Jude, help me when I feel hopeless and alone. Come to my aid in this great time of need and ask God to assist me in my troubles and sufferings especially in (state intentions). Amen.

Prayer to St. Padre Pio

 Prayer to St. Anthony of Padua

 O, Glorious St. Anthony. I salute you as a good servant of Christ and a special friend of God. You once were favored to hold the Christ Child in your arms as you cherished His world in your heard. Today I place all my cares, temptations and anxieties in your hands. I resolve ever to honor you by imitating your example. Powerful patron, model of purity and victor over fleshly impulses, please win for me, and for all devoted to you, perfect purity of body, mind, and heart. Amen.

Nighttime prayers
Our Father, 3x Hail Marys, Glory Be, By Thy Immaculate Conception Prayer, Prayer to my Guardian Angel. I then pray in silence to God for however long.
After that, I pray, "Please, Jesus, please, Blessed Virgin Mary, please, St. Joseph, help my family and friends and those outside the Catholic Church submit themselves to God, so that they may one day be saved. Please also help your Church, the papacy, priesthood, and laity submit ourselves to God so that we may do as you ask of us.
Please, Lord, help the people I forget to pray for, the people I don't exactly like, and the people who I don't know who are in the most need of your help.
Please help the people who deal with the same temptations I deal with and the people who make the things that tempt us. Please help us to resist our temptations effectively so that we may be faithful servants of You.
Please help the poor and rich of the world, so Your Will may be done by everyone and so that You may be loved by everyone as you should be. (include the people of the area you live in)
Please help the poor and holy souls of Purgatory because they love you above all things and submit to Your Will.
(Add further intentions with things that you struggle with)
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I love you. Please save souls.

Jesus Prayer


Thank You, God, for everything You've given me. Thank You for Your unending mercy and love. Goodnight and love You.