Bona Fide Queen

Five

It was not completely dark- my subconscious, I mean. Or at least I'm pretty sure that's where I currently was. That is where dreams happen, right?

Because this definitely had to be a dream.

I stood in the vast and void of my dream. There were no floors and no walls. It felt strange-there was no up and no down, and no possible way for me to find my sense of direction.

But it wasn't completely dark.

A heart beat, or an eternity- I could not tell because I had a feeling time worked differently here- passed before a light flickered on. Then, suddenly, there was a floor. It was a mirror, that reflected myself into it. I saw my violet eyes and my curly dark hair. I saw myself. Kneeling down for a better view I looked more, curious by the strangeness of it all.

But there was something that didn't quite make sense.

As I studied myself more deeply, I found that I was in a form fitting white dress, sleeveless and flowy. Small white roses adorned my hair, and I felt like I was filled with light.

Yeah, this must be a dream. I actually felt good. Rare that that ever happens, I thought sarcastically.

Before I could really question what was going on and why all of a sudden I was dolled up, the mirror image of me faded away and was replaced by something else, something darker. A shadow flickered into life, it's onyx inkyness pulling away the light and sucking the life towards it. Then it took form.

A serpent slithered into what almost seemed like a standing position, looking straight into my eyes. It startled me and I was urged to move away from my kneeling position, but I couldn't. It was as if I was stuck- rooted to the ground by invisible hands.

Something about this encounter told me that I was not in control, and that I needed to be here and hear this.

Suppressing my frustration and urge to run-which I couldn't do anyway- I waited.

"A rare color, your eyes. Like jewels, they are." The snake hisses out in a cruel and evil way that made my spine shiver in fear and revulsion.

I was already confused and a bit worried, but now this snake thought it could talk like Yoda? Yeah, I wasn't about to deal with this. I was tempted to voice as much, but instead, using a little restraint, I said: "Who, or What are you? And where am I?"

The snake hissed out a laugh, it was menacing and disgusting and grated against my nerves.

"I am apart of you, child, I am Nicoli."

I tilted my head.

Nicoli? Wow, well at least his name isn't Joe, not that there's anything wrong with being named Joe, but in situations like this, wasn't some ancient weird name required?

"Apart of me? Why? What do you want from me? Is this some dream? Am I just high?" My word vomit of questions shot out one after the other. But I held off a little, not wanting the snake to get mad. Last thing I needed was a mad snake.

The snake seemed almost to contemplate for a good moment my words, weighing them.

"All in good time. For now, enjoy your Mate while you can."

"My mate? What's a Mate?" I asked frustrated. I was tired of learning things and having no clue what it meant. Much like math class. Except this was another level of crazy.

Darkness once again filled the void like place, no longer did I see my, nor the snake's reflection. The abyss like place of my subconscious stirred and slowly, my sensations returned to me.