In a silent room with no windows, no lights and no doors, a man and a woman sit on the ground across from each other, eyes closed, legs crossed, knees and fingers touching. Both are as still as stone, their faces a sculpture of serenity, their bodies grounded in this place, their thoughts scattered throughout eternity. The rise and fall of their chests the only movement in the room.
Time passes and the world beyond goes by. Stars die and galaxies are born. Comets fall and oceans rise. And deep beneath it all, life begins to grow while the man and the woman remain the same. But as humankind climb from the ocean and cities are formed out of metal and rock, small almost imperceptible changes begin to form on the two. On the man's face, the early crinkles of tension. But as the years go by his brow begins to furrow and soon tension gives way to fear. Because on the woman's face, serenity has twisted to tiredness. And eventually, as the tiredness persists her face drains of colour. She waivers, for a moment, then starts to fall forward. The man, reaches out his hands to catch her shoulders. Holding her tight and holding her up. After a time, he goes to remove his hands, but she starts to fall forward again.
As he continues to hold her, her breath becomes shallow and he begins to sweat. For the first time in eons they speak.
"I'm dying." She says.
He doesn't reply, but after a time as light begins to fill the room their features come into view. The man's eyes have opened, and his skin begins to change and glow. As light and life travel through his veins, into his hands and across to the woman. For a moment, her face becomes stronger, her back straightening as she begins to take her own weight. Then the light begins to flicker. At first it is slow, then rapidly increases before the man cries out and everything goes dark once more.
"There isn't enough." She says.
"How much longer do we have?" He asks. His voice raspy and deep, tired yet firm, eye's closed once more.
"It's already started."
He leans forward and holds her close, their bodies meeting for the first time since the earth was formed. Tiny lights flicker into life around them and drift about the room. At first they are like scattered colourful grains of sand, but soon they become a storm. They fill the room, swirling around the two on invisible currents. As they increase in speed they join together forming neon ribbons of light. Then suddenly they stop, as if suspended in time.
"You won't have long, you have to be sure." She says.
"I know." He replies, holding her tighter.
"You have to let go." She says, pulling back, taking his hands in hers as she pushes him away.
"Not yet." He whispers.
With a final show of strength, she takes his hands and places them back on his knees. He resists, so she holds them down. Forcing him to stay until finally he relaxes, no longer fighting her, accepting what is to come. She lingers, for a moment longer, with her hands on his, savouring her final thoughts. She breaths in deeply, then removes her hands.
And light swirls back into motion, separating as tiny particles begin to drift toward the woman. And where they touch her they flare into brilliant multi-coloured flames, burning through her skin and into her soul.
When all but she is covered in light, the flames begin to die down and move towards her face. Her body underneath is revealed, charred and burnt, turned to ash. The fire is drawn into her open eyes as they become a swirling shining cosmos. The woman braces herself, pulling together the last of her will. And for the final time, she closes her eyes. The brilliant light in the room disappears and everything goes dark again.
The man holds his breath, savouring these last moments. But time moves ever onward and so must he. And so, he breathes. And as the air disturbs the room, the charred figure of the woman collapses to dust.
The man reaches into the ashes with both hands and pull out two glowing oval stones. Stones with an inner light of every colour that ever was and will ever be reflected in their depths. He transfers them to one hand and stands up.
He opens his own eyes, a vortex of darkness, pulling and tugging at the light of the stones - revealing the price he too has paid. He holds his hand out above the ashes and concentrates.
As he gathers his will and focuses, the ash begins to shift and pull itself together. Condensing and forming itself to his will as he clenches his fist. He removes his hand and the ashes are gone, a small smooth black box sits in their place. Gently, reverently, he kneels down, opens the box and places the stones inside. When he closes the lid, the room is dark once more.
He sits again, in front of the box, and composes himself. Finding peace within his mind.
And in a room with no windows, no lights and no doors. A man reaches out, places his hands on either side of a box, and disappears.
*****
ergh. This was difficult to write (and I'll probably come back to it and fix a few things up). But will hopefully give you all a sense of what is coming up.
Hope you like it.
Heath
ВЫ ЧИТАЕТЕ
Neon Black
Мистика"In the space of a breath, in a moment between this and the next, everything can change." Ever Black's life is forever altered when she is attacked on the train by a man that no one can find, and no one else can see. Increasingly strange events...
