11-04-2010, 07:57 PM
A work in progress by Alex Hadari.
The pale figures danced through my vision in their light, almost transparent robes of differing hues. Each of them elegant yet somehow radiating power. I watched as all seven of them moved to the centre of the clearing and, one by one, said the words I could not hear and performed what I could only assume was their part in this strange ritual. As the last one moved away I saw her face, beautiful in the light of the candle she held, and I gasped. It barely made a sound but suddenly all seven pairs of eyes focused on me and I was struck by the vivid colours, ranging from emerald green to the deepest crimson.
I ran.
As fast as I could move through the trees I urged my feet to carry me. I didn’t know why I’d come here and I didn’t know who they were but I knew as sure as my heart beat in my chest that they were following me and unless I could find a way to move faster they would catch me. I felt the fire burn in my lungs as I asked more of them than they could give and still the fear urged me to push myself harder.
As I lost myself to fear I ceased to think, I felt my way through the dense forest without a second thought or a missed step, relying purely on instinct and what my body knew it had to do. I could have been flying.
I heard words, chanting in a strange language echoing around me and I quickly scanned my surroundings. I stopped dead. On either side of me stood a figure and as they moved closer I knew they were the ones I had observed but they now looked different. Both were women, but they could not be more opposite and as they approached the strange chanting increased in volume.
The woman on my left was beautiful, with hair so fair it was nearly colourless and skin so pale it was almost translucent. Her eyes shone with a barely contained light that it hurt to look into. She now seemed to be wearing a strange suit of armour that gleamed white, looking almost ceramic, and around her shoulders flowed a cape that was so white it seemed to glow, emanating light of it’s own accord.
From the right her opposite approached, still beautiful beyond words, but with skin of a deep olive hue. Her hair was black as night and her eyes the deepest black with a hint of violet. She seemed to wear no armour, but where it would have been the black of the shadows seemed to cling to her body. Her clothes were of a deep purple and she too wore a cape, but it was so dark I could not truly tell if it had any colour.
They kept approaching and the words kept getting louder but I had not yet regained control of my body, my whole being still acting purely out of reflex. Suddenly the chanting sped up and I realised that they were not moving closer, in fact the look in their eyes was not of anger but of fear. My arms and hands began moving of their own accord and forming strange patterns and shapes in the air around me, leaving trails of a golden yellow energy that seemed to flow from my fingertips. With a shock I realised that the strange language was not being spoken by either of the women but was a voice I recognised all too well! The voice was mine. As the part of my mind that was still active realised this the chanting stopped and, for a split second the forest around me was lit with a piercing light and time seemed to stand still.
I saw everything around me in that moment. The two beautiful women trying to run, the remaining five beings each silhouetted in the bright glow already turned and trying to flee. A part of me began to wonder why this could be when suddenly time started moving again and the earth shook. I remembered light and heat, and a great rushing of air and then nothing. The blackness claimed me and I welcomed the end of such a terrifying dream and then... Nothing…
The pale figures danced through my vision in their light, almost transparent robes of differing hues. Each of them elegant yet somehow radiating power. I watched as all seven of them moved to the centre of the clearing and, one by one, said the words I could not hear and performed what I could only assume was their part in this strange ritual. As the last one moved away I saw her face, beautiful in the light of the candle she held, and I gasped. It barely made a sound but suddenly all seven pairs of eyes focused on me and I was struck by the vivid colours, ranging from emerald green to the deepest crimson.
I ran.
As fast as I could move through the trees I urged my feet to carry me. I didn’t know why I’d come here and I didn’t know who they were but I knew as sure as my heart beat in my chest that they were following me and unless I could find a way to move faster they would catch me. I felt the fire burn in my lungs as I asked more of them than they could give and still the fear urged me to push myself harder.
As I lost myself to fear I ceased to think, I felt my way through the dense forest without a second thought or a missed step, relying purely on instinct and what my body knew it had to do. I could have been flying.
I heard words, chanting in a strange language echoing around me and I quickly scanned my surroundings. I stopped dead. On either side of me stood a figure and as they moved closer I knew they were the ones I had observed but they now looked different. Both were women, but they could not be more opposite and as they approached the strange chanting increased in volume.
The woman on my left was beautiful, with hair so fair it was nearly colourless and skin so pale it was almost translucent. Her eyes shone with a barely contained light that it hurt to look into. She now seemed to be wearing a strange suit of armour that gleamed white, looking almost ceramic, and around her shoulders flowed a cape that was so white it seemed to glow, emanating light of it’s own accord.
From the right her opposite approached, still beautiful beyond words, but with skin of a deep olive hue. Her hair was black as night and her eyes the deepest black with a hint of violet. She seemed to wear no armour, but where it would have been the black of the shadows seemed to cling to her body. Her clothes were of a deep purple and she too wore a cape, but it was so dark I could not truly tell if it had any colour.
They kept approaching and the words kept getting louder but I had not yet regained control of my body, my whole being still acting purely out of reflex. Suddenly the chanting sped up and I realised that they were not moving closer, in fact the look in their eyes was not of anger but of fear. My arms and hands began moving of their own accord and forming strange patterns and shapes in the air around me, leaving trails of a golden yellow energy that seemed to flow from my fingertips. With a shock I realised that the strange language was not being spoken by either of the women but was a voice I recognised all too well! The voice was mine. As the part of my mind that was still active realised this the chanting stopped and, for a split second the forest around me was lit with a piercing light and time seemed to stand still.
I saw everything around me in that moment. The two beautiful women trying to run, the remaining five beings each silhouetted in the bright glow already turned and trying to flee. A part of me began to wonder why this could be when suddenly time started moving again and the earth shook. I remembered light and heat, and a great rushing of air and then nothing. The blackness claimed me and I welcomed the end of such a terrifying dream and then... Nothing…