Fantasy: The Beginning of the End

Fantasy: The Beginning of the End - Z. Smith - Part One: The End - Chapter One

Darkness. Suffocating, drowning, sickening darkness. Frantic fingers clawed at the shroud. Desperation gripped my mind in a tense vise, and for a terrifying moment I wondered if the shadows would ever release their ensnaring clutch. And then, in the center of that black mass of nothingness, I began to see an appalling sliver of pale, dreary light. But as a spring of hope began to trickle inside me, I realized the light was but a refraction, like a mirror holds a reflection or the insipid moon sheds light it stole from the radiant sun. Utter dread rushed through my veins and, as the abominable light closed its distance to me, a raspy breath shuddered from the darkness. The thing was alive! It skulked closer, closer, dragging another long, rattling breath. The need to flee overwhelmed my senses, though my legs were numb and heavy. As the terror limped ever closer, it began to draw one more horrid breath when, to my relief, I jolted my knee forward with all the strength I could muster.

And as my knee drove forward in triumphant release, it slammed with full force into the underside of the library table, rattling the lamp in the center and causing the heavy tomes to jump in annoyed disturbance. Frigid air rushed into my chest, and I winced at the admittedly dim light emitted from the table's sole lamp; then again, the glass burning lamp may just have well been the sun after waking from the intense darkness. I sat upright, slowly returning to my senses and realizing I must have fallen asleep at the library study table. I became aware of the dampness of my clothes as well, sweat having seeped into the wool shirt and cloth pants I wore. In the frigid library, made all the colder from the wintery weather outside, the soaked clothing felt as though it had been dunked in ice water against my clammy skin.

My heart thundered in my chest, still hammering a frantic beat after experiencing the terrifying darkness of the nightmare. Realizing my muscles were tensed, I leaned back in the chair and instantly regretted it, forgetting the cold, leather back of the chair. I jolted forward as the unpleasant chill of icy sweat was pressed against my back, and I cursed under my breath. Opting to sit in my chair and not cause myself further discomfort or bodily harm, I raised a hand to wipe the sleep from my eyes before turning my head to look out the window on my right. Small, rectangular panes opened onto a black world smothered in night. Icy snow caked itself onto the panes, creating a sort of fractured, frigid mirror.

My shadowy doppelganger gazed back at me through the glass, appearing as weary and timid as I felt. Green orbs peeked from behind my eyelids, and a mess of spiky, coffee-brown hair covered my scalp, falling just short of the tops of my ears and eyebrows. My usual olive-colored skin was a tad blanched from the cold sweat, and tinges of gray made harbor under my eyelids. Sweat beaded on my jaw and on the end of my bony chin; considering the state of my own reflection, I easily could easily have been mistaken for having run across the city rather than waking from sleep.

A disoriented grunt arose from the opposite side of the table, and I broke the staring contest with the Blaise in the window. Across the tome and parchment-strewn table, my companion was waking from his own nap. One gray eye lulled sleepily between tanned lids, and shortly trimmed, russet hair shimmered in the wavering lamplight. He pressed his hands firmly into the smudged-ink sheets and lifted his head as though the weight of the world were holding it to the oak table. Unlike me, his oval face was free of perspiration, though gray smudges blotched the left side of his fair face.

"Good evening, Darius," I said brightly, a smirk crossing my lips as he winced in sleepiness.

"What time is it, Blaise?" he asked drowsily, raising a fist to rub an eyelid.

"I honestly have no idea," I admitted. "I was out not long ago myself."

"Studying all day will do that to ya," Darius replied before glancing back down at his notes. "Where did we stop?"