Incarna

2 - Episode 1 Dust Demon

The man came awake - with a start. There was a roaring like a sandstorm yet the air was still and sweet. He opened his eyes but there was no light, none, it was too dark. There were walls not far from him because they shimmered like dark shivering skin.

Movement, he became aware of quiet footsteps. There was no effort in the quietness, they were naturally so. Like that of a predators.

A shimmering shape emerged from the darkness and came toward him just as the floor and the walls shuddered and rippled again and then went still.

“Here drink this, I don’t have much, but enough to revive you till your rescuers arrive!”

The man took the container and sucked at the straw, cautious of what to expect; but it was coconut water and he smiled as it cooled his throat and revived him. He took in the words and frowned.

“… but you, rescued me!”

“Haaah! Me, I am merely the arms sent to carry you from the maws of death. No there are others, yes many others who you could thank. It is most likely though, that you will never meet them." The figure changed the subject. "Can you sit?”

The figure asked from the half darkness and offered a shimmering arm for the man to lean on. It was warm yet hard, not flesh like, yet comforting to hold. His head swam as he sat up and the arm supported him till the dark world stopped turning.

“Can you tell me what happened?” the man asked already knowing the answer.

“No, it is not for me to explain, mine is to prepare you for what is to come!”

The man nodded, his mind reeling from the import of what had happened to him. Whoever had rescued him was powerful and he would now have to go back to his life with all the world knowing he’d been rescued.

“What do I tell them?” he asked of the man who wasn’t a man.

“Thank you for asking this of me!” and a shimmering face emerged from the almost tangible darkness. "If you would, keep your descriptions simple. If you are questioned, if the international media get to you, be honest. They know when someone is lying. We,” and the figure paused as if to say something else. The figure moved closer and the man felt a great wave of tiredness sweep through him. “We aren’t ready to be revealed. There will be more signs from us and more like you will appear, and then there will be the others!  Yes then the world will sit up and listen!”

The mans head lolled sideways onto the arm of the shimmering figure. The great hands picked up the man and carried him to an opening door.

“There will be many, many more with different stories. The world will be amazed and the world will be cleansed!” The figure looked at the sleeping man, “and you my dear blessed one, will not remember. You will remain innocent to all that is to come until it is your turn to come forward for someone, as I have done for you!”

They stepped out into the sandstorm which parted around them like the red sea for Moses. The figure laid the man in a sheltered part of a rock outcrop. The figure set the ePIRB emergency beacon next to him and switched it on. Across the figures face flickered the signs of the ePERB transmitting successfully. The figure looked up into the sandstorm and sand lightning sparkled off the staff he pointed into the sky.

He walked back toward the door and the sandstorm followed him leaving the unconscious man in clear air. The door closed and disappeared as the sandstorm moved across the dunes away from the rock outcrop.

The man slept and dreamt of the Arabian Nights.