The Hollow
One
I thought my dreams had somehow led me to darkness. Yet my mind was clear, and the rocks were poignant against my skin. I wore the same jacket as yesterday, I realized by the feel of the fur collar around my neck. I was wide awake, but my eyes seemed dead. A black cape over me, sinking everything in shadows. A water leak somewhere. A droplet, piercing a puddle, or maybe an ocean, once and again. My legs felt weak, as if something had dragged me around for miles over a field of ice shards. Even if I wanted to use them and run, I wouldn't have known where to start. It was all the same. A cluster of black thickness wrapped in a powerful chill of the coldest wind. It occurred to me that that cold wasn't much like the one we know. It didn't remind me of snow or winter. It felt more like death.
Then they came. Or that's what I thought, anyway. They looked pale amidst the total blackout. They didn't feel like people, but neither like ghosts. They were, to me, just a presence, lingering in my vision like white noise on a broken radio. Floating. Disappearing. Barely existing.
The first sound I heard was my name, even though that was impossible. The voice pronouncing it was just a whisper. The whisper of the gusts against the walls. It sang softly, as if it lamented for me. "Mia, Mia...” it called. I couldn’t see my imprisonment, but I knew for a fact it was there, trapping me. I was in a cave.
Deep.
I had long stopped thinking about time when suddenly the light came alive. Not in a flash, or a strong beam of any sort, but in a lone, subtle dot that I can only compare to a laser pointer. Only this was golden. A bleach blond ray among the cavern. To see it prancing around through the air as if it sliced the dark mist was nothing short of hypnotizing. When I gained a partial grasp of my senses, I caught myself chasing it with my hands, thoroughly absentminded. The light was a gateway, no; it was a vacuum, pulling me toward it slowly but surely.
I couldn’t descry anything with such fickle light, so when it slid away down a wall, the only path was to follow it. I did so desperately. Crawling up the floor like a maniacal spider. Making fearful turns each time the dot went left or right. It didn't seem to illuminate anything but its own existence. So frail, so precious in its mystery. At some point it became a tad stronger, its beauty even whistled in the air with a gloomy twinkle. Then, just like that, right when I thought it was close to my eyes, almost too close, it shut off.
I was halted by a foreign object in my way almost immediately after. It felt like a body, someone standing in front of me. The dark wasn't so complete now; a slight metallic green shade was present from nowhere in particular. With this in mind I stood up and felt with my palms the being that stood there. I only felt the stomach and chest. Whoever it was, it was impossibly tall. I looked up, his face stared right at mine with its both enormous turquoise eyes, yet I didn't scream. I didn't feel there was a reason. His face wasn't menacing, he just stared with a sadness and longing I had never been acquainted with. It was the look of someone who misses something he can never have again. Only a million times greater. It was the face of a man who once had the universe at his fingertips, and then let it dissipate away forever. His voice was a sigh, frighteningly soft. Like a silk cloth grazing my skin.
- I am Swan. Welcome
Then they came. Or that's what I thought, anyway. They looked pale amidst the total blackout. They didn't feel like people, but neither like ghosts. They were, to me, just a presence, lingering in my vision like white noise on a broken radio. Floating. Disappearing. Barely existing.
The first sound I heard was my name, even though that was impossible. The voice pronouncing it was just a whisper. The whisper of the gusts against the walls. It sang softly, as if it lamented for me. "Mia, Mia...” it called. I couldn’t see my imprisonment, but I knew for a fact it was there, trapping me. I was in a cave.
Deep.
I had long stopped thinking about time when suddenly the light came alive. Not in a flash, or a strong beam of any sort, but in a lone, subtle dot that I can only compare to a laser pointer. Only this was golden. A bleach blond ray among the cavern. To see it prancing around through the air as if it sliced the dark mist was nothing short of hypnotizing. When I gained a partial grasp of my senses, I caught myself chasing it with my hands, thoroughly absentminded. The light was a gateway, no; it was a vacuum, pulling me toward it slowly but surely.
I couldn’t descry anything with such fickle light, so when it slid away down a wall, the only path was to follow it. I did so desperately. Crawling up the floor like a maniacal spider. Making fearful turns each time the dot went left or right. It didn't seem to illuminate anything but its own existence. So frail, so precious in its mystery. At some point it became a tad stronger, its beauty even whistled in the air with a gloomy twinkle. Then, just like that, right when I thought it was close to my eyes, almost too close, it shut off.
I was halted by a foreign object in my way almost immediately after. It felt like a body, someone standing in front of me. The dark wasn't so complete now; a slight metallic green shade was present from nowhere in particular. With this in mind I stood up and felt with my palms the being that stood there. I only felt the stomach and chest. Whoever it was, it was impossibly tall. I looked up, his face stared right at mine with its both enormous turquoise eyes, yet I didn't scream. I didn't feel there was a reason. His face wasn't menacing, he just stared with a sadness and longing I had never been acquainted with. It was the look of someone who misses something he can never have again. Only a million times greater. It was the face of a man who once had the universe at his fingertips, and then let it dissipate away forever. His voice was a sigh, frighteningly soft. Like a silk cloth grazing my skin.
- I am Swan. Welcome