Faye and Ruin

Through the Veil

I tucked my legs in tighter, not ready to open my eyes as I waited for the sounds of the city to caress my ears once more.

But they never came.

Instead, I was met with the hum of evening creatures that stalked the woods at night. Owls hooting, wolves howling, and foreign cries of things I had never heard before. The ground below me felt damp, soft, unlike the hard concrete in the alleyway. It was as if I was laying on a bedding of luscious grass.

Prying my eyes open, I gazed around me at the sight. Beautiful silver streaks of stars speckled across the most open midnight blue sky I had ever seen. The grass swayed in a gentle breeze, calm and unthreatening encompassed by thick trees that rose to the sky, just brushing against the canvas that was stretched above me. The forest was ancient, and seemed to whisper to me, surrounding this beautiful meadow that was filled with flowers of colors so vibrant like I had never seen.

The fresh smell that breached my nostrils calmed the burning and pounding within my bones and I pushed myself up onto my knees to allow my surroundings to press into my memories. No words could quite describe the serenity that surrounded me.

A serenity that was shattered as I realized that I knew where I was. This beautiful meadow laden with flowers of indescribable beauty had once been flooded with the deepest reds of blood and darkest pungent smells of death.

It was the meadow from my dreams where the King had stripped the witch of her powers, cut out her tongue, and then plunged his sword into her side.

The harrowed screams of that nightmare flooded my senses until a massive crack sounded from above. Louder than I had ever heard and within an instant, the stars disappeared from above me and the darkest clouds rolled in.

Thunder clapped, so loudly that the trees buckled from the sound.

Lightning struck, so frequently it couldn't be real and flashed around me, so close that the hairs on my skin stood up. It was loud, overwhelming and the brightness that crashed through the ground from every strike caused my eyes to ache.

As the rain began pouring down upon me, I tucked my arms around my head and pressed my face towards the grass to shield my eyes from the torrential rainfall. The drops were so large and fell so fast, they smacked into my body in painful waves between the loud bangs of thunder. My ears were ringing from the sound, my back bruised from the drops of water and my eyes hurt from the bright piercing flashes that broke the black night.

And then it stopped.

All at once, the torture faded from around me and all that was left was a pounding in my chest. My heartbeat was so erratic from the fear and confusion. The storm had left so quickly, the calmness returning so rapidly that if it wasn't for my soaked hair that tugged at the pins underneath the braid and my wet clothes that caused me to shiver, I would've denied it ever happened.

I waited, one more second before looking up from the ground and there stood the most terrifying but beautiful man I had ever seen surrounded by the blackened clouds.

Not a drop of water slid from his body covered in the most interesting fighting armor. It looked to be leather, covered in scales. But the midnight black scales seemed to shimmer with subtle blasts of silver across his body, almost as if they were alive. It hugged and wrapped around the most muscled figure I had ever seen. This man with thick legs, powerful yet deadly silent, stepped towards me without a sound.

He had to be at least six and a half feet tall yet barely whispered across the ground. Broad shoulders pressed against the shimmering fighting leathers that glided down arms built from a lifetime of battles. His hands, large and calloused, held two broad silver swords, angled slightly towards the ground but in a readied position. Swirls of ivory white and black tattoos peeked out from under the leathers that came to a point across the back of his hands.