At first the dreams were still, nothing but darkness, air and space consuming them. She slept well.. considering how eventful the day had become. It wasn't until closer to morning did the visions come. They were small at first, showing as a simple stone on the ground, but one that, upon further investigation, she found herself picking up and swallowing. As the stone slid down her throat, she felt something grow, entangling inside her body, for the rock was no rock, but a seed of the spirit... and there inside her it had taken root. And from this, it cemented itself into her belly, or was it her heart? and here, it moved and grew and shifted, stretching forward, limbs like hands, reaching upwards inside her until it blossomed straight out through her open mouth, nose and ears, even her closed eyes shot open and were blooming flowers from deep within her soul. And these flowers fluttered until they turned into butterflies that took off against a reddening sky, scattering and turning into the dry seeds she used to toss into winds and in some of her mixtures to see such visions.
And it was here, she could observe, riding along with the dried seeds across the vastness of the ocean..... there was to be found an ancient but restless earth...
Far to the west...
But the west had wild and untamed oceans, where some claimed it fell off to the ends of the earth and into the darkness of hte night sky no one could ever reach; a bottomless hell that fell forever and forever into the stars.
It was here she found herself flying across it unseen, to lands yet unknown to the rest of the worlds. Here, ancient forests, tall enough to reach the clouds themselves devoured the lands, and plateaus rose up from the ground, surpassing even the ancient trees and cutting above the clouds where there, they capped off into flat, untamed valleys, where no animal was thought to live. It was here, she saw a sparkle, a glint of a reflection..
a sword in a stone, buried and entangled deep within the earth.
And it was here, the sky deepened in it's color, becoming hot and she felt herself sweat. And as she called out to someone, anyone; was it Enzo? She saw his red eyes, and it was he who picked up the sword, a sword that called to him, claiming him and wanting to taste blood...
Though the second the blade was removed, the ground shook terribly, and Pao found herself spilling forward, and a massive hand made of earth and rock came forth, scooping her off the tops of the great plateau so fast, she couldn't even scream and then downwards into the bowels of the earth she was swallowed, arms reaching out, leaning up towards the skies from where she was now entangled in a thorny prison of vines.
The torns clung around her body in thick bonds that it torn into her skin until she was soaked in her blood. Her bloods were even soaking the grasses, leaking into the cuts and chasms in the newly exposed earth, while the tremendous beast prowled near the surface, chuffing a taunting breath now and again as it waited for the man with blood eyes and his sword to come.
He was hungry. He wanted to eat...
and all the while she remained beneath the beast's protective gaze, within his home inside the earth... There was a glint, that caught her eyes, a hint at something that moved across the gaping holes of the earth...
And the beast moved, rising once again, craning it's long head back as it gave a terrible roar, a roar that shook the earth and split it open wider s that he could pass forward and come to the surface once again. And just as quickly as the grounds opened up to him, he gave a pounding of it's tail, ad the grounds themselves began to close up again. But even as the walls were closing in around her, she could hear the beast as it roared a second time and went on it's terrible rampage, spilling out vile poisons that spewed from it's mouth, poisonous venom that worked like acid, melting the earth and destroyed it and it's beauty, making it rot and fume and turn into nothing but grey, rotting ash and blackened, charred earth.
And the earth continued to close up....
the earth seeking to destroy her as she was smashed in between rock and dirt, buried alive... as if in her grave. And she could only see the dirts that pressed around her, and the faint crack of light to the world above, before even then, more thorned vines came for her, but this time reaching down from the surface, and from the very earth that now pressed heavily against her body as she opened her mouth to scream...
And as her mouth came open, the vines shot deep inside her, rushing past her lips, tearing down her throat and racing to find her heart.... seeking to entangle around the glowing soul spirit within. They wanted the eye, the symbol of the future... the symbol of the elder Gods. ANd as the black thorned vines took root inside her, they found it, and latched onto her soul. Pao's eyes widened.
She wanted to scream. She wanted to move. She wanted to tear the damn vines from within her. But she couldn't even breath. She was frozen, squashed tightly within the earth's crushing grip. And the moment the thorn's took hold of her spirit, her eyes turned to white, and the symbol of the eye glowed out from her forehead, burning brightly in a white, angelic color, like the clouds.
Pao'orha awoke with a start, her chest heaving with her heavy, ragged breaths. She smoothed a hand down her face, feeling at her throat, frantically touching to ensure she felt no thorned vines attempting to strangle her. She blanched, finding nothing there, and even cleared her throat to stop the invisible itch from settling in before she finally released her held breath, wilting slightly before peering over at Enzo who had been tucked away, asleep just at her side.
The dreams had made her sweat, and she wasn't sure if she had recalled everything; but she did know one thing. The dreams pointed her in the right direction...
They had to go West...
And it seemed her partner in crime was the red eyed man sleeping just to her side. Though what else did the symbolizing in the dream mean? Rattling off something in her native tongue and drawing a symbol across her chest, she moved away and began to light incense in bowls and set them all around her home. Then took a piece of salt.. and drew a picture of an eye at the foot of her door. She dind't know why, but she felt the need to want to ward off those evil spirits who might be watching them; and to her.. the salt drawings were the only way. And she even took the time to draw the eye on the back of her hand before pressing it to her forehead, where the single jewel remained between her brows, as she knelt in prayer before the sunrise light that began to spill in through her beaded curtain int he front of her store..
And from there, she prayed to the vanishing moon and to the sun...
To the new day.. and to the spirits that guided us within the world of the wake, and the world of the sleep.
