I finally got to finishing this for a Camp NaNoWriMo warmup.
He is lost, the jungle around him abuzz and humid. But despite how deceptively lush, how deludedly effervescent the forest looks, his throat is parched, and he has been dragging his feet for miles, wandering in hopes of finding water.
The deafening buzz of mosquitos and cicadas surround him, and he feels himself slowly losing his tenancy as gallons of sweat melt off his skin, taking his sanity with it. Whatever willpower that remains in his exhausted body evaporates into the hot, sticky air and cloaks his judgement. He hears the tropical birds caw overhead, but he is unable to discern them from the inescapable droning and the refrain of a stream he has been following.
He thinks he is going in the right direction, but he cannot be sure. He is too tired, too thirsty to rely on his hearing, but he has been stripped of all logic and lucidity already. He is too desperate for survival that the only thing he can do is blindly continue to trust his ears. His boots sink into the moist dirt once again, one step after another, leaving a crooked trail of footsteps behind like that of a drunken man, continuing his earthwork of a dizzying serpentine. The only thing he can do is keep walking.
He has been chasing after the rippling of running water for hours now, but it did not sound any louder than when he had first heard it. Everything had became a whitewash of vibrant colors when his eyes began to blur. He has lost two senses already, and he knows he will soon give up his ability of touch when his legs finally give out. It will only be a matter of time before he finds himself taking his last breath. Then he will plunge into the Styx and taste its cool black waters.
As a bliss starts taking over his body, Hakuryuu starts running, fast. He is charging without restraints, for his human shell does not have the strength to suppress his brain's determination to survive any longer. For a brief moment he feels exhilarated at his speed; he is walking on clouds. Perhaps his soul has already left his body, and this was what it felt looking at the world through heaven's gates. However the lead in his legs suggest that he is still binded to a mortal body.
He puts on another burst of speed as he feels Cerberus lick the hem of his pants, one which he knows is to be his last before his legs tangle like that of a neglected marionette's as the wretched bitch drags him into the sea of death. His legs are getting heavier once again. He cannot hear the forest anymore, but the bells in the the distant don't stop calling out...calling out…
Hakuryuu's eyes open hazily and he finds himself lying forward on the ground, paralyzed by thirst and fatigue. The silver tinkling is in front of him, only steps away, but he doesn't have the strength to walk anymore. He is in the middle of lamenting his poor fate, his poor luck, and his ironic end when those bells reach out to him unexpectedly.
Somehow he is able to lift his head. A boy with his right hand outreached is standing over him, but he cannot see him clearly due to the rays of light that filter through the canopy, casting a shadow on his mysterious savior's face. He squints his cranberry eyes, trying to make out the boy's strange outfit. He is draped with gauzy silks and adorned with twinkling, exotic gems that dance in the sparkling light.
A zephyr ruffles the bells lining his clothes and sleeves like a gentle hand brushing the strings of heaven's harp inviting him into sanctuary. "Dance with me," the boy beckons with an amorous silver tongue. It flicks over Hakuryuu's neck and he feels himself slipping into a captivation of sight and sound. The boy's mystical presence gives him strength to stand up as all his rationality is replaced by desire, and he reaches out to take the boy's hand.
He longs to get a closer whiff of the anemone flowers the boy has adorned himself with, to touch his perfect skin and divine body shaped from clay with God's hand, to drink the boy's bottomless beauty to quench his thirst. He wants to bathe in the boy's charm and be enveloped by those lissome arms and flowing, translucent sashes as the boy's dark obsidian eyes hold him in this Eden while the bells chant around them.
Their fingers entwine, and all enervation from Hakuryuu's body dissipates. "Who are you?" he asks the boy, who returns his inquiry with a serene smile and flickering, enticing embers in his eyes. The boy does not open his mouth to speak, but Hakuryuu hears a voice in his head, the same alluring ditty that had flew out of the boy's mouth earlier when requesting his participation.
"Shuu."
He pulls the white haired boy close, but Hakuryuu's moves are awkward and he fumbles to match his feet with the opposite boy's foreign, alien footwork. "Follow me," Shuu whisper in his head again, and he finally bows down to submission. He lets the other boy take the lead, and immediately the tempo of their dance changes. It is much smoother now, and Hakuryuu lets himself sink into limerence as his limbs and spirit becomes fluid.
The bells rattle around them in a harmonical acapella, no longer just windchimes, but percussions Shuu plays through the enchanting dance. He is one of his props, Hakuryuu realizes, but notices that he does not care.
Shuu spins him around, and his head swims in ecstasy. Those hands that grip his are cool and delicate but strong and assertive and they seem to touch his body, reaching down, down, down as they sway. Silk envelops them like jewel toned liquor and it pours into his chapped mouth, relieving his body from the thirst that plagued him.
They dance and dance and dance and he twirls and twirls and twirls. He does not realize that he is the one in a fervor when he loses himself to the bells and indulge himself on Shuu's seductive movements as a shade descends upon them.
When it passes, all that remains is the faint laughter of windchimes from the earth.