<< Sounds.
Muffled sounds echoed around me.
My thoughts were slow, seemingly dragging themselves in my mind.
Where am I? I looked around in confusion, once more my surroundings were unfamiliar and strange.
I stood in a courtyard of white alabaster stone, gold pillars formed a wide circle at the edges and beyond them was... nothing.
I couldn't see anything outside, no trees or ground, but only darkness, there really looked to be nothing there. Strangely enough though, there was a sky, but it was attached to the pitch black oblivion that surrounded the courtyard. The sky was a pristine blue that modern day pollution would never permit, clouds whiter than milk on snow and a golden moon hung over head.
Not the sun, a golden moon. I wasn't sure if this was day or night, dawn or dusk, and the slow response of my brain made thinking about it pointless.
I also wasn't alone, I should have mentioned, there were other people with me in the courtyard. Women and men, wearing silk and satin clothes of a spectrum of colour and masks of intricate phantasmal designs. There were masks of beasts, creatures, nymphs, demons and fantastical imaginings. They all were walking around, talking in hushed tones, words I couldn't hear and felt I could have understood. Don't ask why, I just felt that at the moment, standing alone, my eyes wandering around from person to person.
The energy in the place was a hushed and apprehensive one too, as if the people were passing the seconds for something to come. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but I could feel an aura of excitement and... envy?
How did I feel that? What did it mean? Who were they envious of? What was going on?
Just as I opened my mouth to speak, a sound struck the place like thunder. Not that it was loud and grated on the nerves, it was very much the opposite. The sound was quiet, low and soft, like smooth water, it flowed into my senses and everyone seemed to react to it. A large number of them all moved to the edges of the courtyard, standing in the spaces between the pillars, they didn't seem to mind the perilous darkness behind them. There gazes all turned towards the centre of the courtyard where I stood, too slow and scared to join them at the ledge.
Unfortunately that barely crossed my mind, because before I knew it, I was one of six people left in the center of the courtyard. A man and woman wearing vibrant pink and red garments, a young woman wearing a silk grey dress and a man wearing a pitch black garment, lastly was another man wearing a black and white outfit. The first pair wore matching golden masks of lions, the second pair wore different masks, with the girl wearing a weeping face mask and the man wore a black skull mask. The lone man wore a raven mask, I assumed it was a raven or crow, that was my ponder as he walked towards me.
Everyone had to be paired or something, but why was my partner a man?
Several women were standing around and could join in. But nobody went into the circle and before I knew it, the man with the raven mask stood before me, gazing into my eyes. He was a bit on the tall side, not that I was short to begin with or anything, but I could feel my head having to look up a bit to meet his eyes.
Eyes? Try black holes.
My jaw dropped as I peered into the blackest eyes I'd ever seen. From Iris to pupil, it was as if ink was the center of his cornea. I couldn't speak, not from the shock of his eyes which were really weird, but I felt something in them.
A strange sensation tingled across the edge of my perception, teasing my focus, which was already slow and became even slower. By the time I could get my eyes from his and look around, I found myself in a very awkward position. The man had his right hand on my waist and his left hand held my hand, I barely noticed my other hand on his shoulder, because with a start, I realised all six of us were dancing.
The low, soft music from before had risen in volume and tempo, it's rhythm seemed to pound into my nerves, setting my body into a zone between invigorated and calm. My feet followed the steps of the strange man before me, dance steps I'd never known in my life seemingly pulling my limbs into the correct actions. I flipped when it was called for, fell into his arms when the music demanded and got my face caressed like the two females were being done by their dance partners.
If someone was to ask me what I was feeling, I wouldn't be able to answer. My head had been lost in this moment, my foggy consciousness seemed content to follow the rhythm and nothing else should matter. No more questions, just obey and follow his lead, a part of me seemed to just want to concede to the man before me.
But like a spark, that voice lit something else in me; self disgust. Concede? To this strange guy? My foggy mind was plunged in a sea of rising ire, my hands slowing clenching to fists. I was going to sock this man infront me, clobber him anew and knock both his mask off and some teeth.
I did not get the chance.
The music altered and with a quick flip, I ended up in the arms of the lion mask man wearing vibrant pink and red. His right hand firmly grasped my waist and pulled me close, his eyes, a savannah brown, bore down on me with intensity. My kindling ire grew to a raging blaze and my hands fisted, ready to left hook this molester.
As if on cue, the music altered again and I was flipped to the black skull mask man's arms. I was prepared to be yanked again with masculine force, my fists brimming with the urge to knock some testosterone drunk fool to the ground. Fate, cruel and ever watching bitch that she was, did not allow it.
The man wearing the black skull mask held me by the waist delicately, barely touching me and his eyes looked down at me with... was that indifference or calm? His blue eyes were like a sea of winter, like glass, I couldn't read him like I could the other two men.
"You're different." I said softly, I didn't realise my thoughts were no longer as slow as they had been before.
"Why?" The man asked, his voice was indescribable, it felt good and very very not nice at the same time.
"You don't hold me like I'm an object or like I'm everything to you." I didn't know what that even meant, yet it felt honest.
"You're a person. That's all." He replied softly and before I could give a come back (was it a compliment or an insult?) the music altered once again and I was back with the raven mask man, his arm hooking me close.
"You seem to enjoy others company." The man said to me, his voice held the indication of a smile, you could hear the amusement in it.
What a dick, I thought crossly.
"You seem to be as I expected even before you spoke." I replied not amused at all.
"You don't seem happy with that." He narrowed his eyes," Do I annoy you?"
"Your grip is loose by possessive, the way someone holds a toy they play with, your eyes, why are they so dark? Nevermind, you look at me like a mom at a supermarket who can't find a discount label. You're bored and barely trying to be entertained."
I was not this observant in my life was I? I really didn't know.
"I... You... That's..." The man failed to speak and I didn't give him the chance. I let him go and pulled away from him.
"Dance with someone who won't bore you, Birdy." I said with narrowed eyes and turned around.
I just took a step, a single step away from the circle. I wanted to wait at the edges with everyone else, the darkness there preferable to the darkness in his eyes now, but that one step would be my last one there. The ground vanished below my heel, the darkness just appeared before me as if from nowhere and I gasped in terror as I was about to plummet to the pitch black oblivion. I had never been scared of heights in my life, climbing trees when I was kid was a literal hobby, but as I gazed into that unending void, fear, pure and untainted, gripped my soul.
What? How did it? Those two questions fleeted through my mind like leaves passing a soon to be crumbled rock. My eyes instinctively shut, not wanting to see the plunge from the ledge into the nothingness.
Yank!
"Huh?" I looked up and couldn't believe my eyes. The raven mask man was grasping my hand, steadying himself on one of the golden pillars and stopping my plummet.
"What...why are you... doing that?" I didn't know why I asked but my lips just moved on their on.
" You're not boring to me." The man replied his voice slightly strained," I do hold you possessively but you're not a toy. You're... I don't think I can say it."
"Why can't you say it?" I asked him with a frown and he had the audacity to chuckle.
"Well the situation you're in, is one reason." He answered snapping me back to my senses.
"Oh right, sorry, pull me up and I'll try to reach the ledge." I could pull myself easily if I reach the ledge, I'd done enough single arm pull ups it was doable.
"I'm trying but you're alot heavier than you look." The man gave a hard tug but I barely touched the ledge.
"So close, damn it!" I swore in frustration.
"Do you need help?" Another voice spoke up and I saw the black skull mask man holding the owl mask girl bridal style before setting her down.
"Hey, wait, is that you, Ia-" The raven mask man tried to speak but before he could the girl with the owl mask shouted.
"Oh my Glob! You okay mister?" She looked down at me and I saw two brown eyes, eyes I'd seen countless times before.
"S... Sarah?" I asked hesitantly and the girl gasped.
"How do you know my name?" She asked softly.
"Sarah... It's me, Lucas." I didn't understand how she didn't know that. Why hadn't she spoken to me earlier too, I was so confused.
"Lucas? But... Why are you wearing a mask?" She asked and I was about to answer but then two figures came behind her.
"Watch out!" I shouted but it was too late.
Sarah and the two men were pushed off and our decent into the darkness commenced.
"There in lays the heart, two of stone and two of one."
"The lion's roar echoes through the soul, blood will flow through the heat."
"Shatter the gate, of hesitation, bask the battlefield light in passion's art."
"The twilight jewel and the wandering woman's blood, will end what must be done."
Huh? I gazed up as we plummeted and I gasped once more, from shock and terror.
On the courtyard, all the people had vanished and two ferocious beasts were roaring and glaring around. These beasts had golden fur, eyes that shined like molten fire whilst their size encompassed the whole courtyard.
They were golden Lions.
"I think..."
The raven mask man was talking to me, even as we plunged into the dark nothingness.
"I think you're...very...dark." he said softly.
Wha- >>
The cold floor slammed my cheek as I dropped over the edge of my bed and hit down hard, waking up. I fumbled out of my blanket and gasped in the dark, looking left and right, my bearings slowly coming back.
My room was slightly illuminated as the morning sun rose its head over the horizon without hesitation.
"Lucas, up and at em, we've got church today." Mom's voice rose from down stairs.
"Coming mom." I called back.
My feet moved towards the window and I gazed at the rising sun a moment, my left hand holding my waist as if trying to remember the sensation of the raven mask man's hand there.
On my bed stand my phone vibrated and I picked it up, answering it without thinking.
"Why did you shove him away during the dance?"
I blinked.
"Sarah?"
"Yeah, answer my question. Why did you push him away?" She asked me and I could hear the pout in her voice.
"What are you talking about?" I asked her," Are you rambling about a telenovela you watched again?"
"I... had a dream and I was dancing with this guy with blue eyes wearing a mask like a skull but it was black and there were other people dancing there too. One of them was a guy wearing a silver and gold mask with a star sign on it, and that guy was about to fall over the edge because it was on a cliff I think or something, anyway that guy was dancing with another guy before that and as he was about to fall that guy he was dancing with saved him. I got lifted up by the guy who I was dancing with and we went over, and I asked the man with the star mask if he was okay and he said my name and he was Lucas, you I mean... So...yeah...why did you push that guy you were dancing with away?"
I couldn't believe my ears, she had just described my dream in horrific detail and the air became tense with a billion unattainable thoughts.
"We need to talk, meet me after church." I said and she happily agreed but I could hear it.
She was scared.
So was I.