Bereft: Demise

8 | Of Dark Creatures and Darker Dreams

The slow moving waters of the fen rolled upward over my calves and knees. The cold seeped through my skin and settled in my bones. Mud squished under my bare toes, the hem of my dress soaked through with grit and dirt. The dark fabric drew taut against my body, the mist settling heavily upon my exposed flesh. The bog extended in all directions. The sky was black, without a star to be seen.

In the utterly silent, monochrome world drifted rigid fractals. They were chipped shards of mirror hovering like falling snow.

I was dreaming. I had seen these fragments before, in another place. In another dream.

"Darius's little shadeborn," laughed a familiar voice. "We meet again." 

I turned. The titan from my past dreams was behind me, the water cresting at the top of his polished boots. He wore the same militaristic attire as he had before, the aiguillette glimmering against his chest like the body of a wet snake. His high collar was marked with odd pins and badges I did not comprehend. As he bowed from his great height, a black cape fluttered between us, the fabric as diaphanous as a living shadow. Whispers fell from the cloth as it swayed. 

The monster smiled. His sharp teeth gleamed in the marsh's dim ambiance. His eyes smoldered like dying suns.

"What...are you?" I asked as I examined his fine bones and narrow ears. I had asked in the other dream, but he had not answered me. He did not answer now. 

The images within the mirrors refracted shadows and light over the ageless titan's simpering face. 

"You've wandered far, shadeborn," he intoned. He moved, gliding through the heavy water as though it were not an inconvenience as he circled. I couldn't do the same. The mire had me in its clutches and I was slowly but steadily sinking into the morass.

"What is that?" I demanded, my voice echoing in the strange nothingness surrounding us. The sound seemed to bounce upon the fragments and return. "What is a shadeborn?" 

The creature was behind me again. He leaned into my back, his breath striking my neck and jaw. His touch hit my body like a bucket of ice water. I wanted to run—but I was held immobile by the dream's unfathomable strictures. I knew the monster's terrifying teeth were mere inches from my bare flesh, ready to rip and tear until I was rent into pieces.

The shadows followed in his wake, leaving an inked trail of black through the murky waters. Voices lifted from the blackness in a muted chorus of chittering sounds. 

"Foolish girl."

"Silly girl."

"King. King upon the mountain, upon the tor, upon the world. King below the dirt, the stone, the world."

"Kill. Kill. KILL." 

"Forgive my children," the titan whispered into my ear. His tongue clicked against the roof of his mouth in disapproval. "Their manners are...deplorable."

I squeezed my eyes shut and willed myself to wake. I did not like this place. It wasn't just because of the terrifying creature or the jeering shadows—it was because of the silence. Because of the chilling sensation of being watched. There was something else here—someone else, and it was watching with unforgiving attention.

"What can you manage, hmm? What could you do...for him?"

The monster's talon tapped along the line of my jaw before his fingers gripped it tight, forcing my eyes open.