She was posed so naturally on a throne of ever squirming fire. Ropes of red tied with brilliant shades of yellow. A constant flow of what appeared to be magma that never hit a wall. It circulated much like blood does in the veins; pumped from the core where the sound of a heart pulsed like a stifled drum. I noticed that her skin didn?t burn, and her expression never twisted into something painful. Immune to the heat that it hummed with as if she, herself, was part of the white-hot element. Dressed in a thin gown that almost seemed like glass while her flesh glittered like a thousand diamonds had been crushed into a powder. Lips red as rubies, eyes as fierce as topaz. These were the things I noticed first as I stared from only a few feet away.

The world at large wasn?t a world at all. Far from empty, it was an eclipse of dawn and dusk. An oil painting of what would happen had the two moments collided into one. Stars seemed larger than the three oddly shaped moons and were whispering amongst themselves. I strained to hear what they were saying but it was all gibberish. A language I couldn?t understand, much like how I was illiterate to what I was seeing. There seemed to be no end to the stretch of velvet flowers that covered the ground. I could pick out a few that I recognized; lily, hibiscus, lantana, hyacinth, chrysanthemum. I was struck with watching how they moved ? not in a breeze, or a sudden gust of wind, but the way they flourished as if putting on a show.

?Beautiful, isn?t it?? She spoke, and the sound was almost coy. Inviting. A chorus that seemed almost too poetic to even be heard.

?Yes.? I replied, dumbfounded and yet at complete ease. I wanted to move closer but my legs refused to work.

At her sides were lotus sitting bodies. One, a man?s body that had the physique of a god, the other the sharp and lean elegance of a woman. Naked as the day they were born and with the heads of wolves. Never once did they seem to blink or take their animal eyes off of me.

?Have you had this dream before, Elizabeth?? The question seemed as curious as my expression had to have been.

?I have.? How I responded surprised even myself; I was nonchalant about the entire scene. Was it possible for a creation of my dream to be privy to such knowledge? That all of this was a made up landscape I had cooked up in my psyche?

?Who are you??

She smiled, and I felt something like familiarity tug at my memory.

?You don?t recognize me, Elizabeth??

?I don?t know.? I answered and found myself looking at her. Focusing on her face rather than the unique creatures that began to migrate behind her. Unusual beasts, animals I had never been witness to before. Her hair was what spun gold had to have been and left down in a wild show of careless luxury.


?Of course you know, silly girl. Come now, wake up. Who am I? Look harder, dreamling. You will see. You have to see.? There was a type of urgency to her tender-hearted tone. Almost a pleading that she was not ashamed to show me.

?Look harder, Arcadian.?, said the man with a wolf?s head. His ears cocked forward and his shoulders tightening.

?Look harder, Wildling.?, a recycle of the same phrase from the she-wolf who softened her streamline spine.

?I don?t know what you?re asking me to look for!? There was no notice, at first, at how my own voice had changed. How it was suddenly frantic; a child who didn?t know the answer.

?Look harder, my love.? This voice had come from over my shoulder, and I didn?t need to look to know which mouth it fell from. I felt his lips near my neck, an arm wrap around my waist. And I felt my bones melt beneath my skin which was set on fire ? the feeling of lust and love twisting into a gorgeous affair. My fingers tried to run across his arm, but they found nothing. A phantom that touched as he did, and spoke with a power that seemed to shy even the creatures who began to dance behind the woman on her fire-throne.

?I don?t know what I?m looking for!? Repeating this, for clarification, as if my voice was the only one not heard. ?Please, just tell me what I?m looking for!?

?You?re looking for you. You?re looking for me.?

?Remember, Elizabeth.? It was him, again, nestling his invisible mouth against my ear. Coaxing a part of my soul to the surface that I had never given a chance to be seen. ?Remember, and be reborn. I will be here to witness it, to nurture it. Come to me, Empress.? He gripped tighter and whirled my body around to face him ?

???????????????????????????????????-

She awoke to cold sweat and an empty space to her back. The very shadows seemed to have thickened themselves in the corner of her room before dissolving, thinning out to wilt beneath the dim flickering of lit candles.

Breathing in a gulp of air, feeling as if she had been submerged under water for far too long. A ripe taste of something unknown was beginning to regress on her tongue but left a sweetened flavor of strawberries on her lips.

Instantly, she drew her fingers across her delicate brow, wiping away hints of sweat and trying to smooth out the wrinkling of a frown. For what seemed like forever she slouched in the comfort of her bed, letting the sheets ripple like silk waves across her naked thighs.

?Fuck.?, it came out as a murmur while she stretched languidly to gather up her pill bottle on the bed side dresser.