PSYCHENOIA

Once upon a time, in the forest of Nevronia, there lived a weaver named Conscio, who weaves day and night though nights and days are one and the same on that vast, ever-dark land. The weaver was in love with Anima, whom he once met in the Dreamscape in the beginning of their time—they never met again. Since then, he weaves infinitely using the threads of strings from the hole in his chest to recreate what little he remembers about Anima.


Subco, the owl friend of Conscio, is skeptical and disregards of Anima’s existence, as he is skeptical to everything which Conscio believes in. None of the two remembers how they met for the first time, even if they meet every time.


Subco calls the string sculpture “Unco” instead of Anima, much to the weaver’s chagrin. The owl strips strings from Unco every time it leaves. The bird ties the strings from one branch of a tree to another so its snail friend Synapsus may pass through. Each time the snail slides from branch to branch, the ghost of Mnemoriah appears and sings a story.


All who dwells in Nevronia love the songs of Mnemoriah, except of Conscio, who weeps ponds of tears when the ghost sings joyful and sorrowful symphonies. Subco dislikes seeing Conscio that way. So the owl tries to avoid stripping strings containing such extreme melodies from Unco, and leaves those strings forever buried by newer ones drawn by Conscio from the hole on his chest.


This cycle went on and on for many, many years. Conscio kept on weaving. Unco continued growing. Subco kept on tying strings. Synapsus slides. Mnemorriah sings. Until one day, she doesn’t.


Denial. Synapsus slides from one branch to the next but Mnemorriah was nowhere to be seen. Subco has to bring more strings than usual before the snail succeeds in calling the ghost. This leads to the owl unwittingly tying strings with sorrowful hymns to the trees. Conscio begins to notice this, but Subco refuses to answer why.


Anger. As Subco takes more strings from Unco to make up for Mnemorriah’s state of flickering in and out of existence, the ghost began singing the songs that irk the weaver more frequently. Tears of Conscio flooded Nevronia and slowly dampened its trees.


Bargaining. The flood of tears formed a lake in the middle of Nevronia, called by the dwellers as Demensus. The lake consumes trees more around it the more it grows. Subco flew over the spreading stream of tears and caught an eye on a mysterious figure lurking in the darkness of the lake. Subco tried to talk to it but received nothing in response. The owl returns to Conscio to tell about its presence.


The weaver, upon learning about what Subco has found in the lake, began weaving exhaustingly in search for clues, turning Unco into a big ball of strings. Finally finding the right strands, Subco tied the string to the trees for Mnemorriah to sing the answer. The figure in the lake is Owl Zheimer.


Not much is known about Owl Zheimer, the weaver and his friends learned, aside from that its presence has destroyed myriads of forests like Nevronia in the long, long past, and there is no stopping it. This did not stop Conscio and the rest from doing so. But every attempt they did was futile.


Depression. Anguish spreads among the dwellers of Nevronia as Demensus slowly consumes more trees. As the flood of tears comes near them, Conscio and Subco have to keep rolling Unco farther away from it. This made it harder for Conscio to continue weaving. Subco cannot roll Unco and tie strings in trees at the same time. Thus, Synapsus could not call Mnemorriah either.


The weaver saw a dim spark of light from afar and decided to trail towards its direction. Reaching there, Subco and Conscio realized it too late that they have been lured into the Land of Amygda. The spark of light comes from the gap between the two big rocks in its entrance. Unco helplessly rolled straight towards it and got trapped in between.


The rocks began stripping strings from Unco, arranging them like a lyre. Synapsus, in hypnotic state, started sliding across these strings. Mnemorriah appeared one more time to sing the most harrowing song of all: the truth.


Acceptance. The ghost does not stop from singing. As the rocks of Amygda continually strip Unco of every string, Mnemorriah sings every forgotten song that Conscio and Subco buried deep, deep inside. Happy songs. Sad songs. Painful songs. Hopeful songs. The songs are so mesmerizing they barely noticed that Demensus have already caught up on them. Instead, the weaver welcomed the flood by letting out more tears. As Conscio gets submerged in the flood, he returns to Dreamscape.


Mist covers everything in the weaver’s dream. He saw the blurry silhouette of Subco flying towards him. As the owl reached the tip of his finger, the bird became Anima.


One final drop of tear fell from Conscio’s tired eyes. He couldn’t help but give the woman she loved a tight embrace. But as he does so, the mists cleared out and he was hugging Unco, now just few strings left from completely fading away.


Before the rocks can pull off Unco’s last string, the weaver grabbed it with his hands. Mnemorriah appears in front of him, singing one final calming song, a lullaby, the voice of the woman he, the owl, and the ball of string truly ever loved: his mother.


Conscio closed his eyes as the snail slides through the hole in his chest and fills the void in his heart. He could feel Subco and Unco from within him, for they are one.


And they all died happily ever after.


(…except for Mnemorriah, who shall live forever as long as we cherish the memories of our dead.)

The End