Argentum

Prologue - Arhea

The downpour cascaded in thick sheets. Visibility was hard and only the din of the rain was audible to the ears. Rain was unexpected. Still, it was glorious to stand and feel the cold and the wind and the water. To be outdoors now proved to be both lovely and unwise. The wind was whistling and howling, like an angry, agonized being devoid of consolation. My shoes were soggy and I could feel the pool of water inside my socks. The way back home was proving to be very squelchy. My breath misted in front of my face as I speed-walked. I stopped short when I saw the first streak of purple lightning tear the sky. I stood breathless. I had always thought that lightning was white in colour. In front of me, even in the low visibility, roots of electric purple latched onto the darkness and the night lit up for a split-second.

I was deaf but for the song of the rain. I was blind but for the sheets of the heavens' yield. For a moment, I paused again, closed my eyes and held my breath. The shatter of the water on the pavement, the cool air surrounding me and the deafness that followed after were themselves like a strike of lightning on me. My fingers were cold and my nose was an ice cube. I bounded ahead a little faster looking forward to the refuge home had to offer.

That night, warm in bed, I decided I was too tired to read. I placed my book on my bedside table and called it a night. It was an hour earlier from when I usually slept but I had no regrets; school made sure I was always sleep-deprived. Wolfred, on seeing that I was off to sleep, jumped on my bed and pushed his snout under my arm. I smiled and threw my arm over his warm furriness.

The gentle tap-tap of rain against my window was still audible. The unexpected rain had plunged the temperature and everything seemed to be standing still. The world outside seemed hushed and in so long I had never felt the coziness which rain always brings. It filled me with peace and a sense of calm which was incomparable.

As sleep clouded my thoughts, the void twisted into a dream.

It was raining.

I was inside the house sitting in my room. It was dark outside and I couldn't see the sky. I only felt that same euphoria that rain brought me. The exultation of it was charging the air around, once again.

Then I was outdoors near the Rustav trees. There was no rain. It was only green among the trees and dark. There was a river running alongside the trees and I saw a lady squatting beside it. In the dream I didn't think to deduce that there wasn't a river there in reality. She was dressed in white, with dark hair falling around her face. Her clothes were stained bright, fresh red. She was washing a bloody garment with the water of the river. 

She was looking right at me, smiling.

When I woke, the bliss of the rain of the previous night was erased when I recalled the dream. The day was cool and gently sunny and petrichor filled the air. The green of the trees and grass was dazzling. I was quick to forget the dream because of the weather. I was feeling unexplainably elated and so cheery so as to be glad to be going to school. My Mother and my siblings and even Wolfred were surprised at my cheeriness. Outside, everything looked cleaned and washed and anew and just so very bright. As I walked to school, I saw a dark brown, muddy puddle reflecting the day and the image of the lady in my dream flashed across my mind. My mood deflated a little. But I didn't let it bother me too much. 

Dreams didn't always have to mean something.