Maddox rested his palm on the mossy green stone, each one hand cut and stacked together until they formed a magnificent bridge that arched over his head like a rainbow. Greenery seemed to shroud over what was left of the overgrown pathway until all he could see around him was the painting of a garden on the stone behind him. It was as detailed as the dragon with a hint of similarity in brushstrokes, but strangely, he didn't recognize a single flower. In fact, he didn't recognize the plants around him either. They were bright and green, bending around the path and choking out the stones until he had to jump from place to place to stay on the path.

Maddox gripped a branch on one of the sturdier bushes as he urged himself across the path, each step sending him teetering to the point of falling over. It was like he was caught in a dream, so dazed by the sudden beauty around him, he hardly caught the realization that none of it could be real. His hand dragged against the bushes as he went, feet trudging up stone steps, but as he reached the top of the stairs and raised his eyes, the spell snapped.

As far as his eyes could see, snow-capped mountains surrounded him from every angle, their tops lit red by the rising sun. They seemed almost as if a natural barrier, strutting into the sky until even the tops of the nearby buildings couldn't be seen from the other side.

And the buildings! Each one was almost as tall as the mountains, city streets upon city streets stacked on top of each other until they reached for the sky in magnificent winding pathways. Mazes of bridges lit by glowing orbs of blue and yellow connected each towering structure like city streets, cobblestone covered in flowering green moss. Houses and structures were stacked on the mountainsides as far as he could strain his eyes, each one choked out by such lush greenery, he was surprised the homes even fit.

But the architecture didn't stop there. As Maddox curled his fingers around the post at the end of the bridge, he leaned over to reveal almost miles more of stunning buildings. A crystal clear river ran down the valley of the mountains, towers of stone-built rooms piled on top of each other until they touched the sky. It almost seemed as if they were running out of space, throwing house after house on top of each other until there was no longer any pattern, no form to the society built but the great desire to keep building.

Maddox held his breath, hardly able to believe that any of it was real, hardly able to imagine that it could even fit into a dream. But at some point, perfection had to be real. To create a concept so abstract as perfection, one must have a template, one must have some kind of unachievable goal in mind. Staring at the city before him, Maddox knew that the creator of perfection had at one point gazed at the magnificent city just as he had, so in awe at the creation, that he couldn't find another word for it but flawless, untainted, gorgeous,

...Perfect.

"Um, excuse me?" The spell shattered as Maddox spun around to face a woman dressed in a simple white blouse and a sky blue skirt that dragged on the cobblestone as she walked. Her face was aged with wrinkles and the skirt was stained with lingering dirt. Kind, hazel eyes stunned him still, the words hardly leaving his lips as he grew tense with fear.

"I didn't do it." He breathed the words, not sure what he was referring to, but knowing that he couldn't stand to be accused.

"What?" She asked gently, just as confused by the phrase as Maddox, but he hardly waited for a response. He was too busy running across the nearest sky-kissed bridge.

With his heart pounding, he tumulted across the streets hung over the great chasm of a river, his eyes drifting over everything in fear as he ran. Statues of gold and silver fluttered past his eyes, gorgeous wooden doors carved with thousands of stories, and people stunned to see his fleeting form. Maddox knew he had to get away from them, knew he had to escape as he jumped down a flight of stone stairs.

A shout shot from his lungs as a half-buried root caught his foot and he fell forward, stone scraping his face. It stung the palms of his hands, but he was more terrified of the sinking feeling in his stomach as he fell...

                                                                     ...and fell...

                                                                                                               ...and fell...

The shriek caught in Maddox's throat as he felt a warm squish beneath him, the consistency of mud. As opened his eyes he saw the sky above him and around him, but below him...

Maddox shrieked again, his heart about to pound out of his chest as the giant creature floated below him. Its skin was a grayish-pink that squished beneath him like jelly, huge tentacles trailing from the cap until it was nothing more than a giant jellyfish soaring through the sky.

"Stop it! Stop it!" He shouted to no one in particular, begging for the vivid dream to end. The perfection was too real, too terrifying to any longer be considered perfection. Catching sight of another bridge pressed up against the buildings like a floating road, he tensed his muscles. He was going to make it, he was going to make it.

That was, until a tentacle flung up, squarely hitting him in the side. Tumulting through the air again, Maddox felt the rough scrape of stone against his cheek, so dumbly terrified, he hardly felt the pain.

Barely missing a beat, he sprung to his feet, stuttering as he took in the sights. The street was bustling with people of every shape and size, stands and tents set up on either side of the wide bridge like some kind of farmers market. He had landed a bridge lower than he was intending to.

But he couldn't pause for the people. He needed to escape.

Maddox pushed past person after person, feeling the rising fire growing inside of him. Hold it in...hold it in...don't burn... the cries echoed over and over in his mind, an endless prayer he knew would never be answered.

Suddenly, a blow ricocheted through him as he tumbled backward, crashing straight into a stand of strange fruit, blood red berries smashing onto his face. A thick, syrupy green substance ran across his chest, turning the shirt a terrible vomit color as stray bits of wood bit into his back.

And then, everything was fire. Maddox felt the tears evaporating off his cheeks as he burned, too terrified to make it stop, to get up and face everyone around him, so he let himself burn. He let the flames wrap around his wrists and ankles, covering him in the most dangerous flowers he had ever seen. He let it catch the bits of wood around him, spreading, growing like the infectious disease his parents feared it was. And he let it grow, for the first time in his life just letting it happen.

And for the first time in his life, it stopped. Staring back at the crowd, he let his eyes linger on a single man whose hand was pressed firmly against Maddox's wrist. His pale skin seemed to glow with a brightness of the sun, red hair adding a new youngness to the slight wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. The glowing skin was splashed with freckles, and bright green eyes turned him into a living Christmas tree.

"You're in a lot of trouble kid." He spoke firmly, but Maddox hardly heard him. His entire body had gone numb.