Alexandria's Genesis

Chapter 1~Waking Up

                                                *****

     My cheek lay flat against something cold. The air was still, save a few dust-flakes and the eerie whistling of an unidentifiable wind. The darkness of the auditorium was a hazy violet that still allowed my vision to barley be useful.

   The top half of my body rose from a stage floor. Curtains were drawn high and swayed gently, brushing against the marble floor. I stood on shaky feet. Littering the stage were all kinds of instruments, battered and aged almost beyond recognition and like the chairs, stained glass windows and chandeliers, they were coated in a layer of cobweb.

    At first I thought I had just imagined the faint stream of music that tugged on my chest and had defied the silence by existing, but then it grew louder, to the point where I couldn't deny it. It was a sweet melody born from the strangest combination of cords that somehow came together in a beautifully terrifying song that dared me to follow it.

    So I did.

    I moved slowly towards the brooding slit in the curtain. The music was tugging at me, jeering me to move faster, but I only made a failed attempt to resist. I found my feet moving faster with the growing volume until I was almost running.

    I stopped in my tracks at the sight of a boy sitting on a stool, his long, tanned fingers gliding over ivory piano keys. It was so beautiful I almost dropped to my knees and cried.

    When the song came to an end, he stood up slowly and faced me. He was tall and slightly muscular, with fairly broad shoulders. He was young, about eighteen. His brown hair was tousled slightly and his eyes were a shade of green that I had never seen before. Almost a jade green, but with too much light in them to be even that dark a shade; possibly emerald, but they held to much mischief and mystery to be so light.

      He approached me slowly, and soon, we were standing so close that I was almost cross-eyed looking at him. His smile sent a somewhat sweet weakness down my legs, and, like he had taken a glimpse at my thoughts, he snaked his hands around my waist. I glanced nervously at the ground behind him but he tilted his head so that I was forced to look at him. One of his hands moved from my hip, to the side of my breast, then to my shoulder which became completely bare after he'd gently removed one of the straps of my nightgown.

       He lowered his head until out foreheads met.

       "Zina," he whispered before his lips exploded unto my collarbone and migrated slowly upwards to my neck until I felt his warm breath at my ear. I closed my eyes to his deep, even breathing and fisted one of my hands in his hair. He moaned quietly and pulled me closer before he disappeared completely.

       My eyes flew open. I was in a different place altogether, this time. Porcelain pillars soared to a milky white ceiling that was carved intricately by hand. Purple, scarlet and gold curtains were draped across the walls. A peacock skittered across the tiled mosaic floor that I almost recognized, trailing its colorful tail behind it.

      Music that I didn't have a name for floated through the palace. I knew it was a palace. It had to be. Muscular men and pale-faced women in togas danced in a stiff, synchronized motion. They didn't seem to notice me.

      I was turning my hands over and over, marveling at the gold bracelets on my wrists when I heard his voice again.

     "Zina," he whispered in my ear, but when I turned he was no where to be seen. "Where are you?" I asked with no idea if he would hear me.

     "Come find me." He breathed again, this time from the opposite direction. I wasn't sure if I should be scared or not at the playfulness in his voice. I caught a familiar pair of green eyes weaving through the crowd.