Dream #1 - This is just the crossroads
There was a column of light in the darkness. Or, it looked like light anyway... before it started shifting in the wake of a wind she couldn't feel. It was this pale lavender-grey color speckled with stars and it wasn't until she walked closer that she realized it was a semi-sheer veil. The column of veil-light only looked to be about 5 feet in diameter, as best she could guess, but inside it there appeared to be a white marble column roughly four feet high and only two feet in diameter. On top of the pedestal... she couldn't see anything, but surely something was there?
She pressed her hands gently against the veil and jumped back when something flashed in her mind -- a city on fire, and people screaming.
She moved around the wind-blown curtain while looking for a way in, but every time it looked like there might be a break in the cloth, she couldn't get her hand in fast enough. She cursed herself - she should be fast enough to breech it. How could she miss each time?
"I have seen what has gone past..." She knew that voice... It almost sounded like a child's singsong voice to the tune of a music box. She wondered if perhaps the voice was coming from beyond the veil. She kept looking around as it continued. "... and I see what could become." She touched the veil again, and the screaming fire returned.
Which are you showing me, then? Show yourself, or at least make a reply! She tried to speak, but couldn't, and she stamped her foot in anger. I don't understand! She gritted her teeth and stormed through the veil anyway, trying not to run into the pedestal-
But when she emerged and opened her eyes, everything had changed. It wasn't a city... it was a keep of some sort, or a castle. It was dusty with age, cobwebs strewn everywhere. She walked around but saw no one. She entered a library only to find books written in characters she couldn't read. However, as she entered a courtyard, she saw a statue and approached it. It was a man in flowing robes, with a beautiful smile on his face and a crook in his hand.
"Doing as I ask will ensure your destiny."
She blinked up at the man and reached out her right hand. As she did so, a kind of swirling mark appeared near wrist and started to crawl up to her elbow. She wasn't afraid of it -- she was actually very pleased. It's high time they knew I'm not some dainty lady! This means I can... Why couldn't she remember what it meant?
She looked back at the man, throwing her braid back over her shoulder and shouting at him wordlessly. What destiny? Tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it! I can do it, then! This I swear!
"This is just the crossroads."
Then appeared two roads, one veering to the left and one veering to the right. Above each of them hung a flag, seeming to cling to thin air. They both included four crescent moons and a star, but were stylized differently. She pondered that for a moment. So what was the difference? Was there a difference? She looked around the statue and - lo and behold - there was a third road. She grinned. I'll waste no time making my decision! She walked around the statue with her head held high. That was rather easy, in fact.
No sooner had she stepped off the portcullis than she found herself falling and grabbing for the dirt wall near her.
WHAT? NO! HEY!
She focused on the wall, gripping as tightly as her hands would allow. She was surprised to feel the resistance, but no pain as she slid further and further down the sheer cliff. Looking up, she caught a glimpse up above of the portcullis closing on her.
HOLD YOUR HORSES! SPEAK WITH ME!
"This is just the crossroads," the voice repeated.
What foolishness! She grumbled, Now I have to return and try again. She was about to utter another mild curse but every time she tried, the name of a god to profane kept escaping her. She knew inherently who she meant... a god of luck and fortune, a god of merchants and coin, a god of travel... any of them would have worked, but none of their names came to her.
Finally her grip loosened and she started to free-fall. NO! I MUST RETURN! She kept trying to remember where... it was someplace important, someplace that could fix what was broken, or needed fixing, or both. It was a place, it was a decision, it was a moment in time and space, where the music-box voice and the smiling man in robes were waiting on an answer.
I swear I'll return. She gritted her teeth again, trying once again to speak. To the... I'll be- My name? Why can't I recall my name?
Just as a name came to her, something broke her fall and she bounced a little with the give of it all. It looked like the same fabric as the star-dotted veil. She was looked up into a black sky and the slowly disappearing image of the keep.
"Raux-"
But what she gulped in wasn't air. It was thick and filmy and tasted horrible and had her gasping for breath as she punched and kicked and frantically struggled to break free. In the instant she gulped, her eyes shut and now they wouldn't open, seemingly stuck together by the glue-like substance. Instinct kicked in at that moment and she braced her right fist with her left. With all of her concentration, she struck the side of her confines and went tumbling out into the cold air.
She pressed her hands gently against the veil and jumped back when something flashed in her mind -- a city on fire, and people screaming.
She moved around the wind-blown curtain while looking for a way in, but every time it looked like there might be a break in the cloth, she couldn't get her hand in fast enough. She cursed herself - she should be fast enough to breech it. How could she miss each time?
"I have seen what has gone past..." She knew that voice... It almost sounded like a child's singsong voice to the tune of a music box. She wondered if perhaps the voice was coming from beyond the veil. She kept looking around as it continued. "... and I see what could become." She touched the veil again, and the screaming fire returned.
Which are you showing me, then? Show yourself, or at least make a reply! She tried to speak, but couldn't, and she stamped her foot in anger. I don't understand! She gritted her teeth and stormed through the veil anyway, trying not to run into the pedestal-
But when she emerged and opened her eyes, everything had changed. It wasn't a city... it was a keep of some sort, or a castle. It was dusty with age, cobwebs strewn everywhere. She walked around but saw no one. She entered a library only to find books written in characters she couldn't read. However, as she entered a courtyard, she saw a statue and approached it. It was a man in flowing robes, with a beautiful smile on his face and a crook in his hand.
"Doing as I ask will ensure your destiny."
She blinked up at the man and reached out her right hand. As she did so, a kind of swirling mark appeared near wrist and started to crawl up to her elbow. She wasn't afraid of it -- she was actually very pleased. It's high time they knew I'm not some dainty lady! This means I can... Why couldn't she remember what it meant?
She looked back at the man, throwing her braid back over her shoulder and shouting at him wordlessly. What destiny? Tell me what I have to do, and I'll do it! I can do it, then! This I swear!
"This is just the crossroads."
Then appeared two roads, one veering to the left and one veering to the right. Above each of them hung a flag, seeming to cling to thin air. They both included four crescent moons and a star, but were stylized differently. She pondered that for a moment. So what was the difference? Was there a difference? She looked around the statue and - lo and behold - there was a third road. She grinned. I'll waste no time making my decision! She walked around the statue with her head held high. That was rather easy, in fact.
No sooner had she stepped off the portcullis than she found herself falling and grabbing for the dirt wall near her.
WHAT? NO! HEY!
She focused on the wall, gripping as tightly as her hands would allow. She was surprised to feel the resistance, but no pain as she slid further and further down the sheer cliff. Looking up, she caught a glimpse up above of the portcullis closing on her.
HOLD YOUR HORSES! SPEAK WITH ME!
"This is just the crossroads," the voice repeated.
What foolishness! She grumbled, Now I have to return and try again. She was about to utter another mild curse but every time she tried, the name of a god to profane kept escaping her. She knew inherently who she meant... a god of luck and fortune, a god of merchants and coin, a god of travel... any of them would have worked, but none of their names came to her.
Finally her grip loosened and she started to free-fall. NO! I MUST RETURN! She kept trying to remember where... it was someplace important, someplace that could fix what was broken, or needed fixing, or both. It was a place, it was a decision, it was a moment in time and space, where the music-box voice and the smiling man in robes were waiting on an answer.
I swear I'll return. She gritted her teeth again, trying once again to speak. To the... I'll be- My name? Why can't I recall my name?
Just as a name came to her, something broke her fall and she bounced a little with the give of it all. It looked like the same fabric as the star-dotted veil. She was looked up into a black sky and the slowly disappearing image of the keep.
"Raux-"
But what she gulped in wasn't air. It was thick and filmy and tasted horrible and had her gasping for breath as she punched and kicked and frantically struggled to break free. In the instant she gulped, her eyes shut and now they wouldn't open, seemingly stuck together by the glue-like substance. Instinct kicked in at that moment and she braced her right fist with her left. With all of her concentration, she struck the side of her confines and went tumbling out into the cold air.