~Falling For Fall~ (On Hold)

Chapter Four

I hear it in the distance. Lightning flashes across the sky violently as thunder roars seconds later. I gasp as a draft of water leaks from above. It’s dark, so dark in fact. I can’t see much at all, but I could hear and feel, and smell. “Is he awake?” someone asks.

I feel someone’s presence fall in beside me. A lively palm touches my forehead as someone’s breathe curls sweetly around my face. “Fall?” I murmur.

I try to stand, but never manage it. I rub my fingers over my eyes, to clear them. I extend my eyelids to the fullest, but still, there are shadows. Turning my blind eyes, I guess where the person is standing. “Foehn?” Autumn whispers back faintly.

“Where am I? I can’t see you-” I role off questions as fast as my mind could process.

She doesn’t speak, but helps me stand. I lean heavily against her and feel helpless at my weakness. Fall guides me on the side of what feels like a hallway. My fingers explore over swirling lines and designs. “What is this?” I ask.

“The Hall of Fall,”

At that moment I understand that the carvings were leaves and trees as well as birds and other animals. She stops at the edge of the wooden floors. I wiggle my toes onto a cold, flat surface. Something seems to be calling me forward but I didn’t know who. I slowly fidget away from Autumn’s support, almost collapsing myself. I wobble slowly, stretching out my arms so not to bump into anything. I find myself stopping at what seems like the center of four connecting hallways, for I could feel the emptiness. I here gasps from others as my vision suddenly turns bright with white light.

My reawakening eyes adjust, and I find myself in the middle of a beautiful room with blossoms, golden sunshine, frost, and fall leaves. The other seasons stand in their own hallways, seemingly frozen in place. I back up when I see a man, brilliant with shinning light. It is unbearable, the light, but yet it is stunning in the most beautiful way. “Do not be afraid,” The voice hums.

“Why?” I ask, questioning the way things were.

He blinks with the most knowing and wise eyes. “Your heart,” He begins, “you have the heart of a Chosen One,”

His hair shimmers under the crisp moon light. “I don’t know if I can be what you want me to be,” I say.

He approaches me and speaks sharply, “Do not doubt yourself,” he pauses, “Trust in the moon and we will light the way,”

He touches my shoulder reassuringly. Joy, wonder, and happiness flower in my heart. I couldn’t help but smile with glee of the feeling.

“When do I become what I was meant to be?”

“You will know when the time is right, young one,” he says, turning.

“Wait! Will I see my sister again?” I call, his form beginning to fade into silver mist.

“Never lose faith, never lose faith in the Lady-”

He disappears in a flash of light as darkness begins to pour into my vision once more; but there was still light and hope in the distance, the moon had shown me that. The other seasons seem to unfreeze as I stand in the center of the cold, smooth floor. I couldn’t quiet recall what the moon had told me last. What did he call my sister? Or was I mistaken? Someone appears next to me. “Foehn, did you not see what happened?” Fall asks innocently.

I cringe for I was blind. I could tell Fall senses something wrong within me. “I cannot see,” I whisper.

She grows quiet as I feel other presences join together around me. Frost seems to read my thoughts as he answers my unspoken question, “It was Darkness, no mortal has ever survived his touch, but yet you did. That is the probable cause of your blindness,”

I felt devastated, for I could not see. I couldn’t see Fall standing so close beside me. I couldn’t see her startling golden honey eyes. “What just happened? What did you see?” I ask in a miserable tone.

Spring speaks quietly, “Moonlight was casted over you, making you glow with blinding light. You shown under the moon. You really are the Chosen One,”

She murmurs the last couple of words almost as if confirming a suspicion. They are not quiet used to me yet. I think. “How do we get her back? How do we get my sister back?” I ask, my heart focusing now on this new task.

I feel a sympathetic silence envelope me. “How?” I demand, “Tell me,”

I glare at what I thought was their faces, but I wasn’t exactly sure. “Foehn, we can’t just storm into his palace. We would be outnumbered and destroyed,” Frost says in an icy calm.

“I thought you all were immortal,” I snap in reply.

“We are,” Summer growls warningly, “But not by our own equals,”

“What he is implying is that we do live forever, but if another one of us destroys our spark, then we are no more,” Spring adds in with her elegant voice.

I turn away from them as Fall tries to comfort me, saying, “We will try our best to get to her, I promise,”

I growl through my teeth and stumble off through what I guessed was The Hall of Fall from the leaves drifting around me. “Let him cool off,” I here Frost warn to Fall.

I hear her sigh as I find myself leaning against the wall, exhausted from weakness. Before I could protest, I fell into another kind of blindness.

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