Dreams of Imahken

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Summertime had never seen such short days. Snow blanketed the surrounding lands, tumbling from trees and glittering in the sun. Alas, the ruins remained warm and fertile as bears and bees retreated into hibernation. Yet the sun remained above at all hours, deep into the night and long into storms.

How long had it been? The seasons told stories of decades, for Illus had witnessed the summer come and go in what felt like hours that lasted millenia. Or had he been in the ruins for so long that time became a blur?

"Oh, what scores have passed, and your time went so fast." The fox trotted beside the frail, exhausted man who resembled Illus, hair gone white, limping along with weak legs and a crick in his back.

"Aye, fox," his hoarse voice croaked, "tis a pity. How I miss the city."

Illus rubbed his wrinkled, sunken eyes, coughing feverishly as he instinctively clutched the skin clinging to his ribs. They ached the more he prodded.

"What if I said I could restore your life," the fox climbed weightlessly onto Illus's shoulders, "and for quite the bearable bit of strife."

In Illus's mind did he finally see through the haze. He simply wanted to be done.

"What is the cost? What will I have lost?"

The fox's mouth curled up in jubilation. "Nothing will be sold, and you no longer old. An honest transaction demanding only a little action. My short course, concise as it were, has a source, to be free of her. With heartfelt sorrow I say, you have become Ciun's prey. The sorceress is the cause of your age, for she saps your life while you play on her stage. As I warned before, I warn you here, this is a chore, be rid of fear."

"Will I be able to see my sister?"

"And she won't have lost her glister. Anilee too, you'll no longer feel blue."

"Ah, Ani..." In his head he struggled to imagine their fleeting forms. His old mind had been stretched thin. "I hope she's found glee. Perhaps my loss made her flaws known. I certainly hope she has grown. Moved far away and on, from my naive con."

The fox's gaze wrestled with confusion and idly lingered on the wildflowers. "You wish not to have her? Has the past become such a blur?" Its dull blue eyes landed upon the moon and in a brief moment of lucidity, unknowingly let out a light purr. Then in a frightful recoil and a twinge of squirming fur, the fox ran off of Illus and away from that mental wrack.

Illus continued, "time tells a million tales, and so many force the wind in their sails. I wish mine wasn't lost to the past, and perhaps I'd tied sail to mast."

"You regret your mortality? Are you afraid of finality?"

Illus's sullen disposition left him in no mind to tell fibs. "I wish I had done something with it. It now feels like a meaningless flit. Life is not meant to be lived alone, but I have run out of time to atone."

With a cackle and a surprisingly genuine smile, the fox nodded. "Then have back your time, and begin with me this climb."

"What must I do?"

"Take her mask and follow through."

Ciun appeared. Her hair billowed in the breeze between them, gentle and fluttering like an azure veil over the mask. Illus fearfully reached through, lightly curling his digits around the mask, careful not to touch anything she may feel. Fingers met soft ivory and Ciun moved not a bit. Illus pulled against a magnetic force and she disappeared into mist.

The fox smiled and patted Illus's knee. "That is it! Every day there will be one. Be quick of wit and your youth is won."

In a moment, the fox was gone. Just as Illus had feared. He stared into his hand, wondering about this task. The mask just there was never even real. Bones aching and stomach growling, all Illus had was his grit. So why, suddenly, was his mind in such a twist? He pushed away all the doubts who would never let him be free.