Ivory Tower

Glass Tears

'Ivory', Herald thought in sorrowful amusement, 'an ivory Tower resembled his predicament perfectly yet diverged at the last bit. An Ivory Tower was defined as a state of privileged seclusion or separation from the facts and practicalities of the real world. It was what the dictionary in the library stated and while the definition pinpointed his seclusion and entrapment from the breathing world, it wasn't one showered with privilege or avarice. Heralds imprisonment was one lined with a perverse sense of observation. Where he was the reluctant mouse in a enteral cat game.

Huffing with annoyance he arranged himself more comfortably in the chair he was reclining in. He sometimes withdrew from his dispassionate behavior and mused on his ongoing stay within the cavernous halls of the towers.

When he was younger and much more hopeful he had taken to every waken day like a fish with water. His fervor to explore had been seemingly unlimited and he was determined to discover a exit or some explanation to his sudden abduction. He had missed his mother, father, sister, and brother so dearly and- and wanted, no, needed to find them.

However, similar to the common pitfalls of men, he was swayed by human naivete and soon fell into the despairing ritual of monotonous boredom. Now, he wasn't always surrounded by silence, in the inkish black nights where he saw even the nightwatch towers disparte from view he could quietly make out horrid screams and ravaged panting.

The howls and screeches were the things of nightmares and seemed to inhabit the nights of the the tower in an almost ritualistic manner of every full moon.

Herald had learn quickly, quivering within a kitchen cupboard, his heart beating a mile a minute and his sweaty palms clasping together in feverish attempt at prayer.

The next morning, when he'd crawled out with scraped knees and a teary eyed face, he always distinctly gaze at the giant statue that protruded with many hands. It seemed to shift after every night of terrors and among all the statues seemed the most foreboding.

Herald paused in his musings and decided to abandon the library in search of basically anything else. He strode over to the ornate entrance to the cavern of books and slipped through the widen gap. From then on he was left wandering the icicle built walls searching for something of interest.

While making a sharp turn he realized he had entered The Gallery. He slowed down and then tread down the walkway with hesitant footfalls. The Gallery was stuffed with ceramic statues that while they looked artiscally made, had faces that were lined with horror.

It was also the room that housed the Hand Statue, a statue of many hands, specifically nine hans on ea. It seemed much more otherworldly from the other sculptures and leaked an ominous presence. Herald leered quietly at the statue as he made to leave the gallery. As he left only the creaking of ceramic skin was heard.

-oOo-

The sky outside the towers were beginning to grow more blacker than the usual soothing violet. Herald poked his head out of one of the many small windows that were carved out.

He gazed at the secluded towers in the distance and observed how right at the stroke of nine the silver lights that usually illuminated the towers extinguish. He thought the the sky seemed to appear as an endless void.

Clearing his mind Herald made way to find a place to hide till the dreadful night was over. However, passing quickly by the the door to The Gallery he noticed that the frame was unhinged.

The heavy doors were swung open and dust seemed to crumbled from the disturbed arch. Herald hesitated. He was unabashedly curious about what could have cause the abject destruction, on the other hand he valued his life.

Sparring one more glance at the leading hallway promising safety he determined face the doors and slipped cautiously inside.

He wished he didn't