dimensions | original

The Lace Web

 Dia gave him a critical look. At least, that's what it looked like. It was hard to tell, those dark beady eyes looked as if they were always judging him. "I didn't say you would. I said I foresaw you to. It is nothing but a warning. I am helping you."

"And what happened the last time you tried to help me?" Mark asked. Dia squawked angrily as he reminded her of when she had first given him shape-shifting abilities.

"You were the one to slip up. I shouldn't have given irresponsible teenage boys a gift for their generosity, no, I shouldn't have plucked you from obscurity to change your life, no, I should have left you and forgot all about your existence. I should have let you stay back, to let you wither away in the dust until the only remainder of your existence is a pile of old bones."

Mark tilted his head down in shame under the onslaught of Dia's angry words. "Geeze, Dia, calm down." he muttered. Luma just blinked. She seemed quite baffled with everything that was happening, and Mark became even more worried for her mental state.

"Well you, my wolf, must watch your words. Such rudeness, such accusations will get you killed. Mark my words, little Matchitehew." Dia shuddered, her feathers ruffling.

Mark nodded, his head barely moving. He listened to Dia, mainly because she had been through it all. She had been the shape-shifter who had given both him and Keme the ability to shapeshift into different animals, but had been later punished when Mark first attacked the village boy and began the start of the werewolf line. Dia's punishment had been very similar to Mark's, since she had to move the Dimension where Spirit and Sacrifice lived to 'work' for them. But the twins had no use for a crow-girl, and Dia was left to her own devices, and occasionally spoke with Mark.

When Dia and Mark were both submitted for 'punishment' Dia, unlike Mark, got a choice on her punishment. She would get to keep two forms: her natural human form, and an animal of choice. She chose crow, for reasons that no but her knew.

Well, except for me. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: narrators have special privileges. (And also burdens, for one. I have had to bear the mass of this story for many years, and still it weighs heavy on my heart. But I cannot deny that it is just as welcoming and lovely. Besides, my heart can take it. I do regular maintenance on the machinery of the heart, and I can assure you that mine is quite fine, thank you very much.)

And I know that Dia chose to be a crow that was where her heart was- in the night, in the sky, hunter, hunted, a forbidden creature, falling feathers and completely dark. A shape-shifter's go to form can tell you a lot about the person, and Dia's tell us that she is wild and true and mystical. You can tell that she is a person that lives in some sort of dark fairytale, and she knows it.

***

"Dia, can you please take me to the twins?" Mark asked carefully.

Dia cocked her head to the side. "I will. I can see that there is no convincing you otherwise."

Luma looked up and spoke for the first time in several minutes. "He is oddly determined."

Dia just laughed at her. "I know, Luma-child. I know. Now, come, and follow carefully. Taking the wrong path could kill you."

"What?" Mark gasped.

"We're going in the Lace." answered Dia. "It's the easiest way to make it through. But there are some rules to follow."

"There are?" Luma asked hesitantly.

Dia straightened her wings and sat up importantly. "No eating, drinking, or breathing in the Lace. All magic-doing is prohibited unless you are Licensed, and doing algebra is strongly advised against."

"Algebra?" repeated Luma.

"Yes. It is a long story. Also, you must only speak in lies." Mark wrinkled his nose in disgust. Dia continued speaking confidently. "So we must try not to talk at all. Really, just follow my lead and you'll be fine."

Mark frowned. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Spirit loves 'hanging out' in the Lace. Sacrifice is good with it because there's a lot of dark energy. Whenever they're not plotting in their castle or going psycho, they're in there."

"Alright, I suppose..." Mark swallowed fearfully.

Dia didn't say anything. She just let out a long caw and disappeared.

There was no bang or flash of light, she just disappeared. But it only took a few seconds before she appeared again, but this time she was a little girl.

Her hair was wispy, and felt limply to just above the shoulders of her black-leather jacket. Her dark-orange undershirt was tucked into a knee-length black pencil-skirt, so that she almost looked like a sort of evil school-girl. She turned her head, and Luma shuddered under her dark, wild gaze. Dia's petite, Asian-like features and pale skin was a stark contrast to her slightly ominous and darkly colored clothing.

"Here we go now. Remember the rules and follow my lead." The humanized Dia's words were short and sharp. She took Mark's and Luma's hand, and suddenly they all twisted into the air and out of the physical world.

They were in the void. Lights, bright and flashing, twirled and twisted around in a sort of dance as the trio sped through the tunnel of color. As they flew through the strange portal, the colors became progressively darker and slower-moving until everything was stilled shadows.

It was tremendously dark. Dia's croaky voice cracked the silence with a fluent 'reassurance.' "We are where we meant not to be." she whispered.

That only made Mark feel petrified with nerves. He anxiously tried to go over the rules in his mind. Oh crap, I can't breathe. How do I not breathe? Mark, think! Can I talk? Oh yes, in lies, that's what Dia meant. Oh crap, I've always been a dreadful lier... That was always Keme's strength. He always did better in stressful situations...

"Match, Mark, my little boy, you are doing terrible." Dia smiled at him, squeezing his hand. He almost let go, realizing that he was still holding hands with the crow-girl, but he remembered that she had told him to follow his lead not once, but twice.

"Where aren't we?" Luma asked, her voice hollow and uncertain.

"We are where we meant not to be." Dia repeated, but this time her voice was strained. "We may be a little too off target. Don't turn around fast."

Mark swallowed as he did the opposite of what she told him to do... And found himself face-to-face with none other Spirit. And where one twin was, so was the other.

A/N: I meant to upload this literally two weeks ago, but some stuff happened and I wasn't able to upload this due to homework, basketball, and my further discovery of the addicting stuff that is kpop. I know, I know, I've become one of those people. (It's okay though, I'm not completely brainwashed nor have picked up any koreaboo-ish traits.)