Chapter Two: Mars is Bright Out Tonight


"Death cannot stop true love; it can only delay it for a little while."
---The Princess Bride


I ran after him. The wind had picked up, blowing his combed back hair; it played with the silvery strands above his perfectly formed head. There was a sense of grand masculinity about him.

"Wait. Don't ignore me!" I was getting agitated, and knew in my mind that I had only assented to my fathers request due to curiosity. I wanted to see what creation he would surmount to invent. Like I said, he is a brilliant man, teetering over the edge of destruction and madness. And here, in this dream realm, a man who can at will change from a monstrous metallic form to this made me even more inquisitive.

"If I am to help you get out. How the hell did you get in here!" my voice was rising on hysteria. I stopped myself. Maybe this guy wouldn't understand women anyway. Probably as typical as the next man but he stopped, and nearly bumped up to his rigid back. The smell of cinnamon wafted my nostrils and the musky scent was stronger now. He had stepped at the other edge of our hallucination sphere; another cliff that made us awe over at the breathless scenery.

"Amazing." I breathed next to him. The stars were bright out tonight. At this side of the cliff ran no water below but a peripheral view of sparkling super novas that blinked at us at a close range. Blue-black night sky painted as if someone had painted it with a gentle long brush stroke and plastered pretty glittery pieces in perfect mathematical order.

The reddish hue of the ground, with it's multitude of cobblestones aligned just as orderly and the grassy hills hid behind the swaying trees. Everything around us had a quality of eerie beauty.

He finally spoke, "You know the story of Orion don't you?" He pointed out to the top most star. "And the scorpion?"

I almost laughed aloud. Here we are in the middle of a dream, I think, and he wants to give me mythology lessons. Some dream guy, papa.

I snorted, "Yes. What about it?" Whether or not we should be discussing astronomy didn't occur to me how long I would be in this realm and acquiring the knowledge to get him out and allowed him to continue with his story,

"Constellations seem to pose an interesting foreshadowing, or a mirror to the possibilities of the future and past relations. In mythology, it is the Scorpion or aptly named Scorpius, which had been set on Orion by Gaia who by the way was maliciously plotted by the jealous Apollo..."

I have heard this version of the story but remained quiet by his side, wondering where this is going. He stopped after a few minutes then turned to me. "So, we will discuss the matter of you trying to get me out."

"If my father had trapped you here, why would I want to save you?" My arms were folded.

"Because," he leaned down and I stepped back automatically, wary of his kind. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was real. As real as I. That his story of being trapped here was true and if so, does that mean my father would also trap me here as well?

He noted my hesitation to let him close and smirked, "Don't worry. If I wanted to fight you, I'd have done so. In this realm you can produce your weapon of choice, did you know?"

His arms spread out and he tipped his head back as he gazed above, "You can have anything you want, except your freedom." Then laughed,

"Choose your weapon of choice."

"Is this a dare?" This man gives me astronomy lessons and wants me to fight? But my mind already flew ahead of me and I conjured up a shotgun in my hand. It felt heavy and my eyes widened at the revelation of such magic. Yes, I remember now, in dreams, you can at will, if you have the strength to conjure up anything you want. It gave me a sense of renewed power. Was I so like my father?

"Aim it to me," he challenged.

"I thought you said that anything here would be for real." I tipped my head back to gesture at the other side of the cliff where the water flowed.

"It is. What's the matter? Are you afraid?" his icy voice taunted me.

I scowled at him, "I haven't been afraid for a very long time!"

My fingers itched to try it while he threw a dare at me. How could I resist? It wasn't as if he were a real man anyway.

Pressing back the trigger, it drew me back as the gunshots flew at him and he remarkably avoided it without a sweat, maneuvering away with such ease that I was gaping.

He landed on the ground without harm, "Is that all you can do? I begin to wonder why your father wished he would have had a son."

"Go to hell!"

I didn't know when or how but I replaced the shot gun for a pair of pistols, each packed with bullets that could seek its prey.

The adrenaline I felt rushed through my brain and I fired my shots, tracing bullet holes through that could penetrate the aligned trees and cut through cobblestones, making them fly up the air. He was quick, lightning speed, and before I knew it, he was upon me.

He toppled me on the ground. My teeth bared, "Get off me!"

"That's the way. You're getting good at this and I think if you can conjure anything up at will. I'm on my way out of this hell hole. And pay a visit to your dear old papa."

Before I could spit in his face, I woke up. My eyes blurred into clarity, looking at the sky light and the blanket of stars. I saw the god of war.

My fathers voice was near, "What did you see, girl?"

I looked over at him. "Stars. I saw stars and the smell of cinnamon." I kept quiet for the most part. I didn't tell him about that guy.

"Anything else?" he looked distrustful.

"No."

I looked back at the skylight: Mars winked at me.