A Dark and Starless Night

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Eve opened her eyes to darkness. She sat up, water spilling off her. It was neither warm nor cold, and, as she stood, she found it was only ankle deep. Light spilled from an opening not too far ahead, so she walked towards it.

I've been here before, she thought, as she moved towards the light.

She placed a hand on the wall, the jagged rock scraping against her palm. Uneven stone gave way to smooth, cool, refined marble as the tunnel opened into a wide, expansive cavern. There were steps that were almost the same height as her, all building a pyramid. The ceiling was raw marble, Zyrnan white with grey layers running through it.

"Hello," a deep and warm voice said. A man sat on the bottom step, his legs dangling over the edge. He was muscled and his skin was the same shade as hers. He was handsome, and his dark hair was wavy.

"Hello," she said, tentatively.

He lowered himself down and approached her, the waves from his movement lapping at her ankles. As he got closer, she met his eyes, startled to see that they were a beautiful shade of amber. She had seen those eyes before, but she couldn't think where.

"My name is Althian," he said, dipping his head.

"I'm Eve," she replied, looking around the chamber. "I've been here before."

"You're starting to remember me," he said, smiling. Something about that smile unsettled her. Inside her stomach, something writhed and thrashed. She placed a hand to her stomach and it eased a little.

"Do I come here often?" she asked, looking around again as she moved closer to the pyramid.

"Not often enough," he said, sounding like a chastising relative. "There's something different about you this time. Something... lucid."

"Who are you?"

"I already gave you my name, Eve."

He had. But she wasn't really asking who he was. No. She wanted to know what he was. He was more lucid than any dream-person she could remember.

"I'd like to tell you a story," he said, gesturing to a seat that hadn't been there before. It was covered in cushions that were black and seemed almost alive as they sparkled and shimmered. She sat, trying not to touch the cushions.

"I have nowhere else to be," she said, offering him a thin smile. She wasn't as lucid as he claimed she was if she couldn't control and alter the dream.

"Do you have siblings?" he asked, settling in to his own chair, leaning back against the cushions.

"I don't."

"Lucky. I had three younger brothers. My greatest loves and greatest heartbreaks, each of them. I never loved a man or woman, only had room in my heart for my family. And they betrayed me."

He stared into the distance as he spoke, as if he was absorbed into his memories. If a dream person could have such things. She knew not to ask him questions; he probably wouldn't even hear her as he continued.

"It all started when my youngest brother met a woman. She was beautiful and cunning, a viper in the trappings of a soft and gentle woman. She drew him in, corrupted his mind, and turned him against me. All without me even having met the viper. I only found out what kept my brother so far from home after they were married, and she was ripe with his child.

"I couldn't lose him to her, to the creature growing inside her. So, I had to intervene. I sent my other brothers to talk some sense into him, to urge him to come home. But I couldn't let her remain. That child would ruin everything, everything. If our father had found out about the child everything would be over. Everything we had worked for years to accomplish. He wouldn't listen to the others.