High within the tower of Cylad, she slept.
She dreamed.
She stood on the edge of a precipice, upon a single stone amid torrential waters rushing to meet the air like a greived lover who wishes for death. Storm clouds, dark and menacing, covered the sky, moving across with an unnatural celerity. A pale and slender man was suspended before her, his body and hair whipped by the same wind that buffeted her. It threatened to wrench her footing, to plunge her headlong onto the sharp and jagged rocks below, but she was not afraid.
The man's haggard face, strained and drawn with pain, lifted to her. Green eyes bored into her own, eyes she knew better than her very self. She reached for him, only to find that she could not move. She was rooted to her place with no more freedom than a statue, forced to watch as the pale man twisted in the air. His eyes fastened to hers as if she were a rock in a swiftly flowing stream, as if she would keep him from being pulled under. He cried her name, but she could not answer.
Inky blackness began to seep into the man's eyes, pooling over the green, the white, until nothing but darkness filled his gaze. He floated stilly among the wind that yet troubled her, a cold smile wrenching his features, perverting them. He no longer spoke, but settled upon the water before her, standing on its undulating surface as if it were firm enough to support him. His fingers reached up to touch her cheek, and his touch bit into her flesh...
Her eyes came open to darkness, the sharp, coppery taste of blood on her tongue. Her cheek rested upon cold, smooth stone. As she stood, counting teeth to make sure none had come loose, she realized she was no longer in the meditation chamber. She was in a tomb. Did she yet dream' She went to the enterance and pressed the heavy stone doors open, letting herself out into the cold air of winter. She stood in a graveyard she did not recognize. Her head tilted upward, to use the stars to get her bearings. Two moons sailed blissfully overhead...
Where in Ytrewtsu's abyss was she?
She dreamed.
She stood on the edge of a precipice, upon a single stone amid torrential waters rushing to meet the air like a greived lover who wishes for death. Storm clouds, dark and menacing, covered the sky, moving across with an unnatural celerity. A pale and slender man was suspended before her, his body and hair whipped by the same wind that buffeted her. It threatened to wrench her footing, to plunge her headlong onto the sharp and jagged rocks below, but she was not afraid.
The man's haggard face, strained and drawn with pain, lifted to her. Green eyes bored into her own, eyes she knew better than her very self. She reached for him, only to find that she could not move. She was rooted to her place with no more freedom than a statue, forced to watch as the pale man twisted in the air. His eyes fastened to hers as if she were a rock in a swiftly flowing stream, as if she would keep him from being pulled under. He cried her name, but she could not answer.
Inky blackness began to seep into the man's eyes, pooling over the green, the white, until nothing but darkness filled his gaze. He floated stilly among the wind that yet troubled her, a cold smile wrenching his features, perverting them. He no longer spoke, but settled upon the water before her, standing on its undulating surface as if it were firm enough to support him. His fingers reached up to touch her cheek, and his touch bit into her flesh...
Her eyes came open to darkness, the sharp, coppery taste of blood on her tongue. Her cheek rested upon cold, smooth stone. As she stood, counting teeth to make sure none had come loose, she realized she was no longer in the meditation chamber. She was in a tomb. Did she yet dream' She went to the enterance and pressed the heavy stone doors open, letting herself out into the cold air of winter. She stood in a graveyard she did not recognize. Her head tilted upward, to use the stars to get her bearings. Two moons sailed blissfully overhead...
Where in Ytrewtsu's abyss was she?