I step around the pond of blood in the midst of one of the gardens as I ponder about time. Here, in this pce, there are no timepieces, and I know for sure that I am not one who is good at keeping time, something so teral and literal. Nor, I think, are most people.

  How long have I been here? A few days? A week? A month? Time passes no matter what, but it does so strangely when there is no manner in which to tell it. I stare up at the vaulted ceiling of this grand hall, illuminated by ever-changing chandeliers that float in the midst of the domes, and arches painted with alien things, and I wonder, what day is it?

  The answer comes to my mind as easily as my delusions (well, former delusions, as now they're real), it is the solstice.

  Longest night, indeed, the lighting here never changes, always that dim shine coming from above, as if in a tunnel, illuminated by the sun far overhead. Shady, but usable.

  Honestly, it's a great pce for reflection, even if there isn't much of a reflecting pool, I think as I kick at the water of the aquatic garden ahead of me. The solstice has long been the only night I could really be mindful of myself. I don't really hate being the kind of chaotic being I usually am, but it is nice to have some consistent thoughts once in a while, even if it is a bit random as to what solstice I have my sane episodes on, the summer or the winter.

  So I walk for a while more, still thinking, still idly wondering if I should get some clothes. By this time, I guess everybody's seen me, so I don't think it really matters. They seem a bit wrapped up in their own matters.

  My hair is also staying mostly one color, a pleasant green, with little patches like when one pushes too hard on their eyes of some tints of yellow and navy blue.

  I never said it looked good.

  There would usually be celebrations around this time of year. I wonder what I can do...

  Eth stepped out of her room, and into the hall of the pce she called home. It wasn't really any different than usual, but she couldn't exactly make out the names on the statues, as varied as they were, nor many details about the gardens, other than the general theme. Not the worry, this had happened before, she thought as she started walking down the hall.

  She often took these walks to think. As much as books and the orb entertained her and stimuted her mind, sometimes she reveled in the peace of the hall. It was far harder to find that peace since Chaos had come along.

  She really had no idea how to act around that woman, different from anything Eth had ever seen as she was, a pale-skinned, wild, frankly insane nudist. Wick wasn't nearly as bad, being far more down-to-earth. Eth, for some odd reason that she could not quite grasp, couldn't understand why she wasn't able to truly dislike Chaos.

  Was it because she was the first person Eth had met? Or maybe it was that the unpredictability after so long of being the same was welcome to her? Surely not, she knew herself better than that.

  Walking grew more entertaining as the thoughts in her head stewed, she had found through repeated experiments, and so she continued her constitutional.

  As she did, the thoughts got deeper, and ever deeper, but no more substantial. In fact, she couldn't remember what she was thinking about a few seconds prior, and that didn't even seem wrong to her. She just continued walking, as if in a trance, thinking only about what was around her.

  Her stupor was broken when she turned to regard a disturbingly detailed statue. Unlike the others, which were perceived as general concepts, this one was on a level of detail that sent shivers down her spine. It was a tall, spindly boy, around seven feet tall, with overlong arms and legs, and a absolutely massive grin beneath pointy ears. It's eyes were deep and soulless, looking like holes in the stone it was carved out of.

  It was wearing a long, pointy hat with a ball on the end.

  She stared at it for a moment, feeling cold. Her palms were wet, though. Why?

  She stepped back while keeping an eye on the creature, and even as she did so, its eyes seemed to follow her. Then she ran. Through trees and across the tiles of the floor, she ran from the disturbing statue. out of the corner of her eye she thought she could see it, and sometimes another one appeared in the alcoves she ran past.

  More and more of them appeared, and she heard the sounds of stone on tile coming from behind her, coming closer. Her breath came in gasps, and her eyes were locked forwards, focused on escape.

  It was not to be, however, for as every statue became one of these obscenely happy creatures, they began to step out ahead of her.

  She slid to a halt, something not easy to do in a robe, and turned to look behind her, where there were dozens of the monsters. She didn't know how to fight, so she put a translucent wall all around her, hoping that the freaky things wouldn't be able to get in.

  A few moments passed where no sound was heard, and nothing happened, the anticipation hurting her chest. Then, a noise, of bells, of bells and a booming ugh.

  "ho ho ho, Ho Ho Ho, HO HO HO!" As it got closer, she sat, wondering what it could be. Then, the ughing stopped, and the jingling sounded more like the bells were on someone's clothes, rather than a vehicle. It sounded like someone jumped, then walked around.

  Suddenly, a man stepped through her shield, startling her, and she scrambled back to the opposite wall. The man wore a red fluffy suit with white borders, and a red and white pointy hat with a ball on the end. He carried a box with a bow on top. His face was piglike and tusks grew from his mouth.

  He smiled in her direction, confusing her further, and set the box on the ground. He walked back the way he came, and all was as it was before.

  After waiting and listening for a bit, Eth hesitantly dropped the shield, finding that the hall was as it always was. Simple, pin. The statues were still concepts, and the box was still there.

  She walked over to the box, somehow understanding that it would not harm her, and pulled off the bow. The wrapping paper came next, then she opened the brown rigid paper, to reveal...

  Eth woke up.

  Aethernal