The gravel underneath me pulses with my every step, and I shiver as cold air brushes against my pebbled skin. My gown of dark gossamer doing very little for my body temperature.
The dress is of a deep red, clinging to my curves in long swipes of fabric draped along my shoulders and crisscrossing over my breasts. A black mesh gossamer covers the rest, if you could say it was covering it, more like framing.
Black heels with golden embroidery reach up to my mid-thigh with elaborate ties.
I feel like a Queen.
Even though I failed earlier today,
I kick one of the rocks on the path, and it skips ahead. As I walk, I kick it again. And again.
"Your dreams have been becoming more and more..." I gasp as I hear his voice, turning around adruptplty to come face to face with the one and only...
Thanatos.
"Boring?" I suggest.
"Apathetic." He amends. His voice raspy, as if he was just crying.
I look him from head to toe, leisurely, taking in his deep black trousers, and a red tulle button up blouse, his hands tucked into the pockets of his pants, and his hair swished back unrulily.
His eyes seem focuses, though, soley on me. Taking in every move, every expression that flashes across my face. I frown at him.
"What did you do?" His question catches me off-guard, and I just continue to stare at him.
No.
"I didn't do it."
No.
"What happened? " he tries again, urgent now, to be told the truth.
"Nothing,"
No.
"Liar." His stare blankets me, and the darkness surrounding us folds inward, suffocating me as it wraps around my body.
But I do not make a sound, allowing Thanatos's shadows to cover me in pure darkness and suffocating wickedness.
They start surrounding me.
They start closing in.
I finally let out a scream as faces, distorted and wispy race in front of me, wrapping around me tighter.
And tighter.
And tighter.
"THANATOS!" I scream, practically begging, as his shadows circle me. I almost cannot see save for a few stars up ahead. Their bodies blocking out all light. Showing me pure darkness. Nothing esle.
Desolateness.
Hate.
Despair.
No.
"What happened, Viviendel?" Thanatos's voice bellows towards me, racing acorss the plane I once was.
But I am nowhere now.
In eternal darkness.
"What happened?" He asks again.
"I LOST!" I yell, breaking to the ground, my knees scratching along the gravel path, granules of rocks long weathered digging into my knees, leaving small implements and imprints on my skin as my dress snags around me.
"Lost what, Viviendel?" Thanatos's shadows loosen, and I take a breath, seeing a bit of light peak through their wispy bodies.
"The trial," I put my hands over my ears, pushing on them, trying to stop the stillness of the shadows, the sound of the silence around me as I lay there. On the ground. Pebbles digging into my elbows and knees as I hunch over, sobs racking my body. "I lost..." I hiccup. "The trial."
"WHAT TRIAL?" The shadows whip back from me, thrashing as Thanatos calls them back, fury in his gaze and he holds mine. Stalking towards, he crouches, his trousers pulling taunt against his knees.
"The..." I swallow tears, staring him down. "The trial the Queens put me in. They have been training me, and I failed."
He grips my shoulders, pulling me up to my knees. "What did they make you do? "
"Tame a hound," I answer, pushing back my cries. Pushing back how much of a failure I am.
A disgrace.
"A Faerie Hound?" The Tomairsitkiz pushes.
I nod.
"Can you still become Queen?" He asks, his fingers inching up slowly to my chin and lifting my head up to face his. My lips wobbling.
"Yes, I can." I shake my head, and stand up. Away from him and his grasp. I gather myself.
"Then stop crying, Darling," He grabs my face again as he pushes to his feet in one subtle thrust. "You will become a Queen soon." He wipes a tear with the pad of his thumb, and it scratches along my face soothingly. "Queen's are strong. They do not fret."
And then he was gone.
I rub at my eyes as I awaken, my head pounding, and my skin slick with sweat.
It takes a few moments for my breath to reach up to me, and my eyes to adjust, and then I see a pail of water by the door.
Ea gives me one every day.