Cyberwitch Academy: Learn or Burn

I'm sitting on the edge of the wall, on the side of the bridge, over the black lake. I'm looking down, past my dangling feet and deep into the dark, dark waters. The rich intensity of the colours in the Gap speaks of secret codes behind every drop of sensory data that my virtual eyes drink in.

I'm still deeply, deeply sad, but like I heard someone say, sadness sits close to love. And I'm not here to drown myself. I guess you could even say I'm enjoying my new life. But my coven sisters let me have this slice of alone time at the end of every session at the Secret School.

Sure enough, after a while I can see the sunken school within the Secret School. It emerges. And she is there. Mom, just as I remember her. Not some horror story caricature. Looking like she's just taking a break from some work on a project. And she waves to me and smiles. She's been here ever since she fell into a coma back in meatSpace. She's being kept alive in some secret hospital; in case they ever find a way to repair the damage done.

Then another woman comes out of the building under the water. It's the woman with the disfigured face. And I feel the strongest sense of...reverence. And she has a message for me, I know she does but it's obvious that this woman does not speak. She comes from before language. But my mom seems to know how to speak on her behalf, and she has a clipboard in her hands and she's making notes.

And then I hear the words, not sure how I do but I do. And I know that if I dive into the water right now, I can go and live with mom forever. And we can work on our projects together forever. And I'm so tempted, I can almost feel my virtual muscles firing to thrown me forward into the lake.

So, I save the message, inscribing it into my memory, repeating it over and again like a song. And I turn to walk back to school, to meet my sisters.

And this is the message.

Yay verily brewed me

When the cow considered with silver bells and down,

And play?

The empty wagons,

Down tumbled with prayer.

Begone, begone, begone, begone.

To wrap the noise begun.

Jacky shadow,

And put. And I am an unkempt hare.

And I know that it is a warning.

Something terrible is about to happen.

But I can't figure it out.

Can you?