Falling Into Words

Darkness

From deep in the darkness of the abysmal chasm that lay before me, I heard the unholy chorus. The voices rose in the deep, just a soft whisper at first but then louder and louder until they filled my head and hurt my ears. They called to me from the darkness. They bid me to come and take my place among them. They called to me in vanished, long forgotten tongues not spoken since the most ancient of times. "Come and join us," they said, "come join us, fair stranger. Come and join us."

Who were they? Why had they chosen me? I stared down into the black abyss before me and suddenly I saw ghostly shapes appear out of the darkness. Towers, palaces, streets glittering like gold, and a million spectral forms staring back at me. This was a city like no other, like none that man had built in untold ages. The voices came again. "Come join us. Come join us. Come and join us!"

Was this madenss? Was this what it was like to die? I had always known that the sea would claim me someday. Was this how it was to end? They called to me again, beckoning me to come to them, men in glittering armor and women of unsurpassed beauty in long flowing gowns. They called to me, they beckoned me, they spoke to my very soul. I looked into the darkness and was filled with a sudden urge to know, to see, to be among them. My mind screamed at me to look away, to save myself, but my heart told me to go. I had to see. I had to know.

My foot moved almost of its own will, taking one step and then another. I was over the pit now. I leapt, my body moving through the dark water like a creature born to it. They were all around me now, laughing, rejoicing, calling my name. "Come and join us, friend, come and join us!" I swam into the darkness, deeper and deeper and deeper, and the city faded away to nothing. The faces smiled eeries smiles, their forms changed before my eyes, and with a start I felt hands on my arms, my hands, my throat.

"Oh, God," I thought, "what have I done?"