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chi•me•ra
noun
- A fanciful mental illusion or fabrication.
-A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author.
noun
- A fanciful mental illusion or fabrication.
-A vain, foolish, or incongruous fancy, or creature of the imagination; as, the chimera of an author.
Everything looked strange, like someone had thrown the once-familiar world he knew into a blender. The darkness pressed, surrounding him. Small clouds of light drifted by, illuminating his surroundings for a moment before fading.
Spike was falling head first into this strange vortex, but for some reason he didn’t feel scared. And then… he awoke.
He stood up slowly and surveyed his surroundings. He was standing on the edge of a plateau on the edge of the sky. No, he was actually in the sky and he was standing on a suspended island. Clouds drifted above and below the island, making him feel like he was standing on top of an airplane. The sun shone brightly through it all, calming Spike.
He turned around, spying it. Attached to his floating island was a giant wooden ship, like the one Spike remembered from pirate movies. It had great masts attached on the top and sides of the ship. Spike also noticed the name Sara written on the front of the massive boat.
“Interesting name for a boat…” thought Spike.
A pirate leapt off the ship and ran to Spike.
“Hello, Spike! We’ve been waiting for you!” said the man.
“You have?” asked Spike, confused.
“Of course! Now come aboard; We have some skies to sail.”
The man yanked Spike’s arm and pulled him onto the giant ship. There were at least twenty other pirates on board, all busy with their own jobs. The ship looked like it could house an army. Equipment was scattered across the deck, most likely required for sailing.
Spike felt the ship lurch as it departed from its landing spot. He held fast to the side rail and watched as they sailed past other floating islands.
Spike stared out in wonder and said, “You know, this almost seems like the world in my--”
“Imagination?” queried the man walking up behind Spike.
“Yeah… how do you know?” asked Spike.
“Ah, well you see, it is.” said the man, putting his arm on Spike’s shoulder and staring out into the sky with him. “Don’t you remember us, The Smaerd, the most feared pirates in all the skies?”
“Oh yeah! And how you fought down the Mare Empire! That was one of the coolest stories I ever created.”
“Yes, and I am Captain Cloud. This ship houses a very wide variety of pirates.”
“Huh? What do you mean by a variety of pirates?”
“I mean those who have angry tempers, those who constantly comfort others, and some that just drift away in their own little world, like that one over there.”
Captain Cloud motioned over towards a shaggy pirate that was up against the railing as well.
“So this is just an assortment of pirates, like a collection?”
“Exactly, and each has his own useful skills that come in handy. They have unique abilities that set them apart and help show that not all pirates are alike. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must go talk to our navigator on our destination route.”
“Why, where are we going?”
But the captain had already left. Spike walked over to the shaggy guy who was lost in thought.
“Hello. My name is Spike! Who are you?”
The guy lifted his head up and Spike saw that it was only a boy.
“Oh, hello,” he said, ripped away from his thoughts.
“So what job do you have on this ship? Must be pretty fun sailing the skies!”
“Yeah, it is,” said the boy, “but I don’t really have a job. I just kind of… sit alone, and like to think. I wish at times I did have a job though. Look around you, they’re all having fun while doing their job, but for some reason I just… can’t.”
Spike gazed around at the other pirates, laughing with one another, but still focused on their tasks. There were others that would keep to themselves and work furiously on their jobs, as if nothing else mattered.
“Oh, why don’t you just try? Staring out into space isn’t gonna get you anywhere!” said Spike.
“Believe me, I’d try, but it’s just because I--”
“We’re here!” said captain as he came running up to Spike.
He yanked him away from the boy and thrust him to the edge of the ship.
“Huh? But there’s nothing here,” said Spike.
“Look down.”
Spike peered over the edge of the ship to see it… the swirling black vortex that he was inside before he boarded the ship.
“Wait, you’re not gonna--”
“Of course I am, but don’t take it personally. Hope you had a nice flight!”
And with that Captain Cloud pushed Spike over the edge of the ship. Spike free fell through the air before reaching the vortex. Then it began again; the strange feeling of falling through the darkness. Except this time, he landed on something.
It didn’t hit him hard and actually felt like a gentle landing. Spike stood up to see that he was still inside the vortex and was now standing on a brightly lit path. The path had a weird design on it, like two blue ribbons coiling around each other. Spike walked to the edge of it where a door appeared, brightly lit around the edges. In front of it, a little girl appeared.
“Woh, where did you come from!?” said Spike, jumping back in surprise.
“Hi, I’m your Chimera,” said the little girl, keeping her head bowed down, her blonde hair covering her face.
“My who?” asked Spike.
“Your Chimera, silly.” said the girl, “Everyone has one. It’s like your own pet that acts as your imagination. It is a unique part of you and makes you who you are. Therefore, no two Chimeras are alike. Wanna play?”
“Um, okay.” said Spike, “If you’re my ‘Chimera’ thing, can you tell me, before we ‘play’, what that whole pirate thing was about? And what was wrong with that boy? Is he in depression?”
“That boy was just a victim to his own Chimera. Everyone has his own level of imagination. Some can create unique and intriguing stories easily while others will copy other ideas and struggle. In other words, people with a large imagination have a more powerful Chimera while the others who struggle have weak Chimeras. In the pirate boy’s case, his Chimera was so powerful that he couldn’t control it and it eventually took over. Now the boy can’t focus anymore and just lives by the ways of his Chimera.
“You see, one of the most important things in life is maintaining this balance. If you lose control of your imagination, you will be a drifter, a dreamer… like the pirate boy. However, if you have too weak of a Chimera, you won’t discover everything that life has to offer. So you must therefore learn to keep a balance of your Chimera’s power. If you can manage to complete the task of maintaining it, then your last task is to express your ideas to the world. Books are the most effective way to do it and they help inspire so many people. Spike, you have the power to maintain the balance. Now you must show everyone your ideas, reveal them to the outside world. Don’t become a drifter like the pirate boy; it’s a lot better to live in reality then inside your own little world.”
“Wow…” said Spike, “I never knew any of that… so I have the power to make a difference, or more specifically, become an author?”
“Exactly. By the way, you remember the name of your pirate crew, The Smaerd? Did you know that if you spell it backwards it spells Dreams?”
“That’s why they were all so different… they were different kinds of imaginations in the forms of dreams… some that were happy and joyful while others were frightening and scary…”
“And remember when they defeated the Mare Empire, as in the Nightmare Empire? How the empire tried to lure the pirates into their evil ways, yet none followed?”
“Yes… because my dreams, or Chimera, have the power to overcome the temptation to become too powerful or powerless… they can resist it and maintain the balance… By the way, since I’m on a roll, would your name happen to be Sara?”
“Why yes, did you figure that out from the name of the pirate ship? I am the imagination that contains and assists your dreams, just like the ship held and housed the pirates.”
“It seems you’ve discovered many things by yourself.” continued Sara, “Can we play now? Let’s go see what else lies inside your creative mind!”
With that, the girl grabbed his arm, opened the door, and led him inside.
And then… well, you can imagine what happened next.
