Perfection Deception

Intervallum

Black. That was all Emme could see. Her eyes were darting back and forth, but she still couldn't even see her hand, which she was sure was less than six inches away from her face. She heard Marvel ask if she was okay, and he sounded surprisingly loud, but she ignored him.

It was then that she realized why she couldn't see anything. Emme opened her eyes.

She gasped as she saw how close Marvel's face was to hers, and held her breath, once again astonished by how many colors fit into one iris. She looked at his face, and saw that his features were scrunched up, evidently trying not to laugh.

"What?" she demanded.

"Oh, nothing," he said sarcastically. "It's just that I had forgotten how unsteady it makes first timers."

"What do you mean by 'it'?" Emme asked curiously.

"I mean this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the same flat stone she had seen in his palm before she passed out. That's what she thought happened, anyway. She grabbed his hand and pulled the stone closer. "You could've just asked," he mumbled, clearly annoyed at her sudden movement.

The stone was almost the exact size of his palm, and at first glance she thought it was pitch black, but now saw that it had flecks of green, blue, and violet, the same tones as Marvel's eyes. It had strange swirling patterns that looked random, but somehow Emme knew they weren't. In it's own way, the stone was beautiful.

"Lapis," Marvel said. Emme gave him a perplexed look. "Pardon?"

"It's a lapis," Marvel repeated slowly. "It's how you dem jump."

She was getting fed up with all of the made up language, so she rolled her eyes. "I'm amazed at your ignorance to the fact that I do not get what you are saying. Now tell me what a 'dem jump' is," she snapped.

He snickered. "It's short for 'demensional jump.'"

"Demensional jump," Emme repeated under her breath. "What is a demensional-"

Marvel's snort was all too audible. "Why don't you just take a look around, sweetheart," he said, the irritation in his voice very clear.

She glared at him, but for the first time actually looked at her surroundings. She gasped.

The first thing she noticed was that they were both completely overdressed. As she stood up and began to turn in slow circles, completely in awe, she also noticed that the setting was very tropical. They were laying on pristine white sand that stretched for miles to each side, and behind them were dozens of palm trees. In the near distance, she saw turquoise water with small whitecaps. She decided that Marvel's stupid lapis has brought her straight into a postcard.

She turned to look at him, and he smirked at the sight of astonishment on her face. "Welcome to the Intervallum."

She just stared at him, turned again to look at the beach she had never seen before, and back at him. He was staring at her, wearing a small, wistful smile. "What do you see?" he asked.

"I see exactly what you see," she said slowly. "Don't I?"

He laughed. "I almost forgot that you've never been here. Did you know that 'Intervallum' means 'space between worlds' in Latin?"

"Yes," she said. "My mother had me learn some Latin once. But what does it mean?"

"It means that this place-" he raised his arms and gestured to the landscape, '-is not part of the world you live in. It responds to your thoughts."

"Excuse me?" Emme said. That was impossible. Completely and totally impossible. "Are you feeling okay, Marvel?"

Again, he laughed. He seemed to laugh a lot at her. "Yes, I'm actually feeling fantastic today, thank you for asking."