Seta's Fall

Chapter 4

She was falling without sound into an icy cold abyss. Above her, Roberto Garibaldi laughed, his eyes calling her a fool as Rialto's tiny arms reached out for the only mother he'd ever known. Her body felt no pain from its many breaks and lacerations. It only felt the chill air closing in around her. She should be screaming. Maybe she couldn't. Maybe he'd stolen her voice too. Maybe she didn't fear the fall. She knew someone waited at the bottom of the abyss to catch her and deliver her into a hell no mother would ask for. She closed her eyes, hoping to hit the ground and shatter, no longer able to feel her loss. She hoped to become nothing.

"Foolish."

She opened her eyes, and found herself looking up into a cerulean sky lit by a pearlescent blue moon. She sat up, her body able to perform the task without complaint. She was not shattered, and she was not at the base of the cliff.

She sat in a forest, everything tinged blue by the moonlight. She was not alone. She'd heard the voice. It did not belong to Eron. It was old and withered. Female. She'd heard it before and naively, had listened to it. She'd believed it was there to help her. She'd been wrong.

"Show yourself, Dream Teller."

The air five feet before her shimmered as the old, leather-faced, hunched over woman crept forward, her milky white eyes seemingly focused on her. A rope of coarse white hair peeked out of her hooded cloak.

Seta picked herself up from the pine needle covered forest floor. She wrapped her arms around herself, trying to block some of the chilly air. It had always been cold when she'd found herself there before, but not this glacial. "It was never this cold when you came to me before."

"This is the dream realm, and it presents itself differently to each visitor, although most do feel extreme cold. It picks up on your emotions. Fear is a chilling emotion."

"I am not afraid." Seta lowered her arms, balling her hands into fists at her sides. "I fear nothing."

"Of course you do. You are a mother. You fear for your son every moment you are away from him. You fear for his safety. You fear for his soul. You fear that you may never see him again. Fear not, Seta. Unfist your hands. There is no need for false bravado here, no use in lies. I know what is in your heart and what battle rages in your mind. Fear not, young one. You will see him again. I assure you of this. Your life was spared for that very reason."

Seta stared into the woman's eyes and only saw a sea of white. "How can sightless eyes see that my hands are clenched?"

"I may be blind, but that does not mean I can not see. I see it all, often before it happens."

"You saw my death before you saw Rialto's birth."

"I saw them at the same time, many years ago."

Seta rushed forward and wrapped her hand around the old woman's throat, sinking her fingernails into the crepe paper folds. "You could have prevented it! How could you encourage me to have a child I would lose?"

The Dream Teller disappeared, leaving Seta holding a handful of nothing.

"I told you to leave with him. You did not listen. Still, you did not lose him."

Seta turned, but did not see the woman. She stood alone in the blue forest. "Where are you? Show yourself! Answer for what you have done!"

"This was not my doing."

"You told me I would have a son. You encouraged my relationship."

"I told you to leave with him."