by Rane F10
A black landscape of gently churning water.
The sound of a beating heart.
A cloaked figure standing, a facet of the darkness.
A dim moon overhead, revealing the endless emptiness.
The silhouette in front of him caressed the water with an oar, its soft sloshing sound a testament to the silence of the surrounding void.
He gingerly pulled himself up into a sitting position; it felt like he was swimming through molasses. He felt like he was thinking through molasses too. Nothing was right. "W…Where?"
Shhhhhhhhhhh. The sound whistled through the air, bouncing off of the darkness and echoing like wind in a cave. He lowered a hand into the water; it was cool and thick, oily.
Time meant nothing. The most stringent dimension of the universe held no power in this place. An island came into view.
It rose from the water like a tortoise's shell, forested with trees and saturated with a milky lavender light. A small beach lay directly ahead, with a smooth path leading into the island's interior, lit by lavender lanterns hanging from vertical tree roots, bent at the top.
He followed the silhouette onto the trail, his feet moving of their own accord. The path was made of a smooth but hard substance, a continuous flow of black glass, and it made a low pitched hum whenever he stepped upon it. The figure leading him appeared to be invisible to it. A clearing came into view.
It was dotted with tiny ponds, no more than puddles really, of a blue liquid. He followed the shadow past one of them, two of them, three of them. Each had a pile of keys in its shallow depths; giant keys, larger than arms.
The figure halted and turned to him. There was nothing, no eyes, no nose, just darkness. Heeeeeeeeeere
He knelt down by the puddle and reached in, drawing out a key.
He unbuttoned his shirt, casting it aside.
Beneath was his chest, a lock. A great, golden lock.
In the center of that lock, was a keyhole.
He plunged the key into his chest and turned, turning time with him, resetting the clocks, and everything melted away.
0 comments:
Post a Comment