Secret Desires & Fears (G-4)
Timing: After the visit to the realms in which Gemma talks to her mother about the runes ('A Great and Terrible Beauty' pg. 286-288).
They glow, a flame attracting the moths. I am the moth, helpless to continue to reach out for the power of the flame, as are we all.
The runes buzz. They hum a familiar and alluring lullaby, filling the whole area with their song.
I am compelled to touch them. What could it hurt? They can't be as dangerous as mama tells me... can they? I am want to find out. If only I could touch them, judge them for myself... if only I could feel their mysterious power against my finger tips. Only for a moment, of course.
My hand reaches forward without thought, everything around me seems to stretch, but I do not notice or if I do, I do not pay this change any mind. My index finger is only but an inch away from touching the tall, thin crystals that call to me so, then everything flashes white.
I'm not standing anymore. I don't know where I am or what I am, human or not. However I am oblivious to this all.
All I can see are the clouds above. They twirl and crawl past me ever so slowly. As I watch I can only think to compare it to a slow and steady dance.
One of them resembles a cat, no a kitten, like the one before that I watched with mother. It moves ever so slightly, almost as if it has a life all its own.
Suddenly, like before, it changes into something else, something dark, something unrecognisable. It is only a flash, but I am startled. I let out a short, yet high, shriek.
I'm falling. I'm falling head first into a deep canyon of some kind. The bottom is coming fast, but it is not yet in my view. I reach out to grab onto something, anything that could stop this nightmare.
I pull back when I feel cloth. I was expecting to feel something more wood-like in texture, maybe a branch or outstreached twig. I turn abruptly in my fall to my right side to see what I had grabbed onto. I see the others; Pippa, Ann, and Felicity. They fall with me quickly.
Something is different about them though, something is not the same. It takes me a moment to pin point this, but... they're unconcious, in deep sleep.
I blink in confusion for a moment before beginning to call out to them. The wind steals my words and I am mute even to myself. I try in vain once again and it's as if my words have been left me. I hear only blank gasps and screams coming from myself instead of the sentences that had formed in my mind.
They are falling faster than I am now. I try one last time to reach them, but I can not even get close enough to do so. Suddenly, the bottom of this great hole is just below us. A raging river awaits our arrival.
My eyes bulge at the sight and I attempt to draw back against gravity, but it is no use. I close my eyes and ready myself for the impact to rip me into shreds.
Laughter fills a green clearing. I lay on my stomach in a patch of green clovers. My eyes are squinted and tiny tear drops are forming, but I do not feel sad in the slightest bit. Just now I realize, the thundering giggles are coming from me.
My fit continues and I look up from the ground to see Kartik laughing lightly with me a few feet away. He lies on his back, twirling a dandelion between his long fingers. A gay smile is spread across his face and his eyes have an peculiar shine to them.
My laughing dies down after a few minutes until it's just half a chuckle. Kartik has stopped completely by now. The smile has left his lips, but his eyes remain the same.
Without warning, he thrusts out his left hand, holding out the flower, offering it to me. Two or three of the small white parasols fly off into the wind.
I smile at him and shyly take it. My cheeks have no doubt changed into a more rosy color at this gesture.
As my hand grips around the small flower's stem. I notice that there is no longer any of the small parasols left on it. They have all left it barren, now only a stub. My brows furrow at this.
I look back to Kartik and I am caught in his gaze. Our eyes meet and there is pure silence for a minute. But then I notice, there is something wrong with his eyes, they are unfamilar to me, they are not his own. A sudden smirk crosses his lips and I fine myself beginning to get up, struck dumb by his expression.
As quickly as I left it, I am back where I started, by the runes in the realms. Now there is a considerable distance between the shimmering crystals and me. It seems I have retreated at least five feet back from the huming gems. It seems almost a fearful act... yet after only a moment I begin to draw near again.