Oblivion
Lights in a Dream

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Sleepypanda

About this image

--- Sleepy note:

Trying something slightly different here. The story that follows this little disclosure is completely unrelated to the image, but unfortunately I can't quite create an image that would fit the story due to a lack of both assets and time, as well as multiple transparency layer issues with the Oblivion engine.

It's quite long for a single image, but I hope you'll read it anyway.

--- Lore:

Creation


She felt herself drifting. Bubbles flew all around her. Where was she?
She tried to open her eyes, but she was tired - so tired!
Finally, she opened her right eye, then her left, but all she saw was tainted red; everywhere she looked, the world around her was in a crimson haze.
There were beings outside, she noticed. Beings who weren't in this cell, which was her world. Why was the world red, she wanted to ask, but couldn't open her mouth to speak.

They looked at her, and wrote something. What were they writing? Did they not notice the world was red?
"Blood," the word echoed in her mind, and it's meaning soon followed. "I'm swimming in blood," she thought, "but why?"
The beings in front of her looked up again; were they studying her reaction? What did they want? She was so tired.
Still, the red world around her irritated her. She saw the beings outside gasp and hurry off. Where were they going? Won't they help her?

Something fell outside the crystalline cell which was her world. Another cell, much like hers, but that one was empty. It fell and shattered on the ground, but the beings were not there to see.
Then she heard lots of other things fall far away, but they were beyond walls so she couldn't see. There were screams she didn't understand. The ground shook.
Then the beings returned, and the blood was changed for something else. It was colorless and cool; she liked it.
"Water" the word occurred to her. The water calmed her, and the beings outside seemed relieved.

She was tired. She closed her eyes and slept. She slept a lot in the days that followed, only opening her eyes occasionally to see if the beings were still there outside her cell. They were.
Was it good or bad, she wondered, but she didn't know. What were they?
"What am I?", she suddenly thought, and it troubled her. She wished there was some way for her to see herself, but there wasn't.
She raised her hand. It was tiny and had no scales on it. Skin, she thought, but she didn't know how she knew.

Then, one day, another being that was bigger than the previous ones entered the room her cell was in. She knew him from somewhere; has she ever seen him before?
Yes, she has, but where? Were they related?
Yes. He was her father, she realized, and he brought her to this place. Was he going to take her away from here?
Her father approached her cell and studied her. "I am bored," she wanted to say, but she couldn't.

"Soon," He said, and his voice barely passed through the crystal and the water. Then he opened to top of the tank ever so slightly and threw something in.
She tried to reach out to catch it, to see what it was, but she was so slow and tired. The object quickly dissolved in the water.
Then her father turned around and left. Left her with those strange beings who she didn't know and who only wrote notes and looked at her occasionally.
That displeased her; she wasn't an object! She didn't want those things to study her! She wanted to be free!

The beings outside her cell looked at her all at once. Could they feel she was unhappy?
One of them went outside, then returned with something. It was very pretty. "A flower," she thought.
From that day, there was something new in the room every time she woke up; flowers and potted plants, little crystal samples and even various types of arms and armors.
She would sleep and wake up and not be quite as bored as before.

Some time later, her father returned. He spoke hastily with one of the beings, but she couldn't hear. There was an explosion somewhere outside.
Then different beings came into the room and pushed her father out. They looked at her differently from the previous ones.
Two of them spoke, but she could not hear them. "Let me out", she wanted to ask them, but they just kept talking.
Finally, one of them approached her. He tried to make some hand gestures, but she couldn't reply.

"Let me out!!" She wanted to scream. The earth shook and a large crack ran along the crystal tank.
Through it, she could hear the two beings converse. "Damn!" The first cursed, "We have to find the source of those quakes, and stop it!"
The second being pointed at her; "That's the source." He had a deep voice and a grim expression. She didn't like him. "What do you want to do with it?"
The first looked at her hard. She felt like he wanted to say something, but all he said was "Break her free."

The second being approached her cell holding a silver two-handed hammer. He lifted it, then brought it down on the crystal with all his might.
The crystal shattered.
She was free.

--- Technical Information:

Image type PNG.
Image contains no OBGEv3 shaders nor ENB. Not external editing.
Only vanilla assets used.
Location created by me.

I hope you liked the story, and would love to hear your opinions about it,
-Sleepy

2 comments

  1. Dennywood
    Dennywood
    • member
    • 162 kudos
    Wow! what a cool story!
    And nice location of yours, want to see more of it.
    1. Sleepypanda
      Sleepypanda
      • supporter
      • 9 kudos
      Thank you, Dennywood.
      As for the location... I have one other image with it currently on the Nexus (though a somewhat earlier rendition, which doesn't include the lights).

      You can check it here: http://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/images/117957/?