Falling Stars

Introduction

Somewhere in the mountains of a little known Welsh shire called Acbria, a woman was wading her way into a lake. It was dark at night and her body was a pale whisper between the reeds. She knelt down in the shallows, arms supporting her pregnant stomach. The water trembled and shook, the silty ground beneath her jarred and the centre of the lake suddenly broke open into a gaping hole. A few moments went by as the water settled again around the wormhole, not a single drop falling into the abyss blow. The hole was a vision of nothing-ness, a sight of pure space and not a single object, a piece of star-less sky. Then from its depths a spark flew. An ember began to glow and soon it was shooting its way up to the surface with a roar. A chunk of searing gold popped into the air and for a split moment broke the sky with its sheer bright light. And it dropped, falling, until it was caught suspended in thin air above the opening of the hole.

With a crescendo of bird noises, the surrounding area was immediately cleared of any wildlife. Yet, the woman remained, keeping her head low to protect her eyes from the light. The orb pulsated like a beating heart, the light twisted in waves from it to crawl across the lake's surface to the woman. There was almost something seductive about the way it moved, in curls and waves like it had a mind of its own. It swam between her arms and legs and needled golden thread between her fingers and toes. Soon, her illuminating figure so that she became beacon-like in the darkness.

A shadow sketched itself onto the backdrop of reeds between pulses of light. The shadow danced and twirled into a demi-human shape. The figure it constructed for itself was a feminine one. Although the entity had a human body, it too had the wings of what could only be compared to as a swan. They were huge, wide and beginning to glow. The glow grew into an untameable brightness that rivalled the spinning light around the woman, it didn't take long to realise that the entity was likely the author of the same light. The winged entity waded into the water towards the lady in the lake. With one hand the entity held the woman's hair back in a ponytail, with the other she dropped a fine powder into the water in front of her. As the powder hit the water it tinkled and infected the lake with a luxurious glow. The entity spoke, 'open your eyes and fall into your reflection, and your contract will come to a close'. The woman leant towards the water and saw herself in the liquid gold.

Her reflection which was separate from her physical reality struggled for breath as her head fell further back into the viscous liquid. She watched herself choke on tendrils of molten metal, as the stuff filled her nostrils and occupied her veins. Then she felt the pain herself. She choked, unable to make sound and clutched her pregnant stomach. Inside it was lurching around, stretching and contorting. It was time to give birth to someone else's child.

On the bank stood a silent couple hand-in-hand. The starlight wings of the entity trembled before crumbling and tinkling into the water like the powder had. The light and luxurious glow evaporated as sudden as the entity did, as if it had all been blown away like dust off an old book. The bare woman, pale and unconscious, fell backwards into the backwater with a new small lanky body clinging to her chest. The onlookers came forward anxious to receive what they had been promised; a child. A shawl was placed over the baby girl and she was lifted from the woman's body.

The water was once more still and unaffected. Yet, unbeknownst to the pair, they were being watched through the lake as it was a secret looking glass between the mortal and immortal realm. Blurred reflections of the scene were already being projected beyond the sky in a chamber that had no floors, walls, or corners. Let me tell you about this place or more accurately called, space...

Three days prior to this happening, away in a far pocket of the universe there awoke a great being from its slumber. In the mortal notion of time, it had been hibernating for thousands of years but for itself it had barely taken an hours nap. It remained in its womb of darkness and took a deep breath. It wasn't air that filled its lungs but rather shadows or absence of light. What was released was the opposite, light and energy. The darkness filled the being up and burned ferociously between its ribs behind glass-like skin. To perceive the immensity and greatness of the being as a human would be impossible, thus I will refer to it/him through human associated terms.