<< #8
How goes life, Cloudheads? I hope this greeting finds you well. Come on now, you all know this chapter is coming, right? I don't want to spell it out or spoil people who don't have a clue yet though. Think back to the events of the previous chapter. What could it all lead to? Heck, even the source of the cloud image used in the header bears a clue!
SPOILER WARNING. Turn back now if you haven't read the chapter.
It's a fever dream. (Yup, @ryivhnn, you got it right!) I really hate it whenever movies or TV series jump into high action, not caring about consequences, and then just explain after that everything was just a dream. Ugh. I really hate that explanation. So, why would I do it even though I hate it, you ask? Simple answer: it's necessary.
Since the dawn of time, human beings need sleep to function effectively. We all know that our brains don't stop working even though we're fast asleep, right? I mean, that's general knowledge, right? Just like the world not being flat, right? Okay. I'm glad we got that sorted. Moving on. Dreams are byproducts of our neurons firing in our brains. Throughout history, dreams have had various interpretations and served wildly different purposes, but really it boils down to brain activity. Now, I don't want to delve deep regarding dreams, as you can find different sources elsewhere on the internet. I don't want to get paid just by copying information * cough * that I didn't even write here on Steemit.
Just to provide a little bit of context, fever can be induced by sustances called pyrogens (yup, just Latin that sh*t and you'll arrive with why it's called that way). Strangely enough, cytokines (Greek this one), which are the immune-signalling molecules that are released by your body when you get an infection, are pyrogens. Wow :o right? So, technically speaking, "fever" is a response by the body when we get an infection. This is actually an explanation I use whenever I talk to my acupuncture patients. (Credits to my family of doctors for drilling me with these kinds of scientific facts ever since I learned how to read)
TLDR: Fever causes us to remember our dreams more vividly because our sleep cycle is more fragmented when we're sick.
With that being said, I said that this is a necessity because we can't have Ledd just up and about walking aimlessly. Also, we can't have a chapter that's all black now can we? Can we? I'm sincerely asking because I suddenly wondered about it. Since I'm writing this using the first-person perspective, I can't just switch perspectives in the middle of the story. Furthermore, since Ledd is human, expect him to have other chapters where he's asleep. I wanted to write him with only 1 hour of sleep, but that would be going overboard. It's hard to strike a balance. Taking all of those factors into consideration, I therefor conclude that sleep is a necessity.
After that brief scientific explanation, don't you feel the need to sleep as well? Don't fight it. Embrace your slumber. Goodnight, sweet prince.
For those of you who are still awake, I just wanted to share (part of) a quote by Stanley Kubrick when asked the question "If life is so purposeless, do you feel that it's worth living?"
Yes, for those of us who manage somehow to cope with our mortality. The very meaningless of life forces man to create his own meaning. Children, of course, begin life with an untarnished sense of wonder, a capacity to experience total joy at something as simple as the greenness of a leaf; but as they grow older, the awareness of death and decay begins to impinge on their consciousness and subtly erode their joie de vivre, their idealism--and the assumption of immortality.
As a child matures, he sees death and pain everywhere about him, and begins to lose faith in the ultimate goodness of man. But if he’s reasonably strong—and lucky—he can emerge from this twilight of the soul into a rebirth of life’s élan. Both because of and in spite of his awareness of the meaninglessness of life, he can forge a fresh sense of purpose and affirmation. He may not recapture the same pure sense of wonder he was born with, but he can shape something far more enduring and sustaining.
The most terrifying fact about the universe is not that it is hostile but that it is indifferent; but if we can come to terms with this indifference and accept the challenges of life within the boundaries of death—however mutable man may be able to make them—our existence as a species can have genuine meaning and fulfilment. However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.
I think that rings true not only for Zepp's story, but to all our lives as well. No matter how tough times could be, we must strive forward and be our own beacon of hope. "We must supply our own light."
Thanks for reading! Follow me, @jedau, if you want to live.
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