Awakening (Book One of the Eklektos Series)

Chapter Thirty Four

Kali woke with a start to find herself on a hard, stone floor. Sweat still beaded her forehead and the echoes of nightmares twisted her thoughts. She was panting, like she had run a marathon, and her head was full of cotton wool. It took her a while to push herself up off the floor; she was weary, and her limbs were sluggish. All that remained of her dream was a distant rush of wings in the back of her mind.

Shivering, Kali stumbled slightly on the flagstones and tried to get her bearings. She must still be dreaming, she thought to herself; she had never seen these hallways before. A flutter of a banner at the other end of the corridor gave her pause. White pillars and archways of marbled stone lined the length of the hallways. Something about this place...maybe she'd had this dream before?

Glancing down at herself, Kali realised she was wearing a pale gold silk dress. She knew it was silk from the way it shimmered in the flickering firelight, and the texture against her skin. Strange; she was usually limited to sight and sound in her dreams.

Her hair was so long, long enough to sit on, and it was fastened in several places with gold clips of various designs. A bracelet adorned her right wrist, similar in design to her own charm bracelet. She brushed the lion engraving curiously.

That made sense if she was dreaming, she knew, to have her bracelet. But this still felt different. An unsettling chill crept over her as she was pulled out of her reverie by intangible whispering. Her eyes were drawn back towards the banner waving ahead of her, and she took a tentative step. Her bare feet made no sound against the cold stone floor. It was only then that she noticed that there was no noise at all in this place, but for those unnerving whispers. A breeze washed over her and drew her attention back to the place the banner had been. Now, a woman stood there instead.

At least, Kali thought it was a woman. The figure was clothed in elegant white robes with gold trim, but they were hunched over, and Kali couldn't see their face. Even so, she knew this person. Knew them from the very core of her being. Her mind was empty, but her body was striding towards the robed figure and her mouth moved to call out a name she had never heard, and yet recognised. As she struggled with herself, she managed to force her legs to stop moving and the figure stilled. The hallway went dark. The clean white stone turned grey and grimy, crumbling. The gentle breeze became a harsh, roaring wind. The robes were tattered and any sign of what colour they had once been was faded away. But the woman still stood, waiting for her.

Kali backed herself against a pillar to try to resist the wind tearing at her hair and clothes. Looking at herself again, she seemed to be back to normal. She was relieved; her jeans were more aerodynamic than the flowing dress would be. Hunkering down, she did her best to assess her surroundings, but it was hard to see with her eyes streaming against the onslaught.

The woman, standing straighter, extended her hand and beckoned Kali closer. Fear choked her for a moment and, if anything, Kali wanted to flee in the other direction. Something deep inside her begged her to retreat. But Kali was tired of being afraid. And it was only a dream. Her fears couldn't hurt her there. And it was more likely that this was something she needed to confront. To work through. So she set her jaw and took her first tentative step towards the woman.

The wind picked up and Kali thought for one terrifying moment that her feet were going to lift off the shattered walkway. She didn't know what this place was, but something terrible had happened here. And it must have been abandoned for a long time. Dead trees littered the horizon and the land was barren. She couldn't see much with her hair wrapping itself around her face with each new blast of wind, but she didn't need to see. She just needed to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward. The wind grew in force, a howling beast. Yet, something in the sound was sad to her; the wind was mourning.