Murderer’s Song

Tufts of black crept up the sides of the high walls, tangling and curling up to reach the ceiling, where a skylight peered down, the glass encasing the bright outside, leaving only pale tendrils to waft inside.

The pale shown down onto the flat of the walls, barely seen in its pale tendrils dancing around the floor, sparking and glowing brighter and brighter yet, forcing the tufts of black crawl and hang onto the sides of the walls, before the sound of the calling arose from deep inside the closed room.

The tangles and masses of black tangled down on the ceiling, its tendrils curling towards the dancing white which sparked, before forming the shape of a circle and rising.

'Den de leon shortê, frulk ęsok!

'Vieje nuest—edo sav!'

In unison, five figures raised their arms high towards the skylight, the shining light below their feet surging forth to rise above their heads, wrapping each one in Threads of Light.

The five smiled, their faces illuminated brightly. Then they spoke for the last time, the words flowing out of their mouths. 'Ven de edo sav!'

Then the dangling Threads of Shadow draped towards the Threads of Light, and as the two met, the room's walls ricocheted, and the Threads of Resonance floated around, destructing all in their wake save the creature that was to be summoned.

The next moment a great roar overtook the room, and the image of a massive jaw with two rows of jagged teeth lunged up, flickering in the air as the Threads of Resonance attempted to drag it out, only to no avail as the creature sank back into the depths of the lit floor.

The five figures slowly emerged, the Threads of Resonance dissipating back into shadows and light, circling above and below each other, all avoiding the five bodies still standing—eyes hollow and skin tore from their mouths and noses, their arms still raised into the air.

Their smiles were bright and their pearly white teeth glistening, on it the reflection of both shadows and light.

The Last of the Five Fallen.

—————

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

A flicker of the tail and the pale red light glistened across the serpeant, slowly reflecting off each of its pale luminescent scales.

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

The serpeant coiled, looping itself around the poles which blocked its entry. Soon... 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

It slithered off the poles which had blocked the entry, edging nearer.

Thump. Thump.

Coiling around the heart, the serpeant squeezed tight.

Thump.

The pale red light vanished.

Then there was silence.

—————

For a long time there was nothing, and for a long time the creature wondered as to who it and why it was conscious. It was aware that nothing else was—it was the sole creature sentient where it lived.

Then came the relish as it realised who it was, and embraced the light—

—————

It wasn't heaven. The creature dully thought, once again of how it had anticipated so much, only to be thrown inside a heaven that was not.

It was beautiful—there were fish in the sky, which was coloured cobalt, and the mountains were in various colours, bright and dim. The grass was strangely wavy and turquoise, soft to the touch.

Then the creature wondered as to why it had possibly been upset before—the grass was so soft and fluffy, it felt it could roll in it forever. Then this question too drifted to the back of its mind and it dropped down, already lying in the soft waves of the turquoise grass.

It lay in them for what felt like a very long time.

—————

Angel shivered again slightly as he woke up, for once everything that had passed through his dream seeming clear and memorable. However, he would most likely forget soon, so hurrying out of the temple, Angel tried to call out for Hou'yi, only to see him standing not far away with the bow in his left hand and the book in his right.

At the clink of the silver shoes on mossy stone, Hou'yi turned around, his face impassive and still, before breaking into a smile as he saw Angel.

'Ah, Angel, I see that you have awoken—'

Angel snatched the book out of Hou'yi's hand and with the pen he had taken, immediately started scribbling, writing down everything he could cram in the short amount of time.

He could already feel his mind wavering, one part trying to forcefully remember what had happened, and another straining to convince the other that it was of no importance.

Forcing on, Angel's writing speed became faster, his hand clenching the pen in his desperation. There wasn't a lot left to write—and as this thought interrupted the rest of the mind concentrating on the dreams, Angel briefly wondered why he'd decided to lie down in the grass, before his mind cleared once again and he continued writing, before finishing it off with a sketch of the landscape he'd found himself in.

He also realised how useful the Thread of Melody truly was. He was already struggling to remember dreams, and even with the Thread of Melody calming his mind down, he had met a brief turbulence. If he had not woven the Thread of Melody into his foundation, then he could have lost a lot of valuable information.

Angel wrote down a note to make more contraptions for side-effects of the Thread of Melody in the future.