You stir beneath your dark slumber...
you raise your head from the velvet of the couch,
as you hear the loneliest of bells toll out...
you have been in the reception room,
of the Sinister Meeting Room so long...
that the sunlight is a dream,
and the ocean is a tune that plays in your head...
you leap as a shadow lamp blows its' light,
and momentary shadows...
disguise the Interlude sign,
that still sits in the same place...
once it reappears,
you see it has changed...
and that new words upon it now read;
'You must stand and jump...
through the fire and sleet,
you must tread out far...
and follow every street,
follow our shadows...
now down the hall,
listen not to the voices that echo...
calling to you through every door,
for you must reach the land where the colours are aged...
where the light endures,
and the horizon draws near...
even as the darkness presses in too,
for to reach the true heart and place...
you must travel a little more.'
You get from the couch,
and walk forward beneath the blown light...
you feel yourself surrounded by shadow,
and your heart like ice...
eventually you pass the hall,
and its' ghostly inhabitants and leviathans...
and beneath your feet,
old wooden boards...
replace the carpet there.
You travel into night...
beneath glistening faded stars,
you hear the licking...
of water against,
the jetty you move along...
you hear stories,
whispered to you against the wind...
from out there in the void,
as you glimpse your first light and guide.
The voices from the water speak...
'There are a great many mysteries here,
songs that play at half past one...
through the moaning wind and the pipes that line the jetty,
We knew a boy that used to dwell near here...
he was cursed to appear as a cat,
and sometimes as a monster...
for he had lost his wings you see,
and had been doomed to walk the sands of our shores...
for all of time,
now he has disappeared to us...
for the ocean has taken him,
the ocean has taken him...
and now,
please allow us to introduce your guide...
he is a weathered man,
who sometimes appears more a part o the sea and sky...
than the land.
His eyes are a murky blue...
and at times he will feed upon your deepest of fears,
but he is your only chance...
your only guide,
and follow him and trust...
that he will lead you byy the light.
He answers to the name Kraken...
and you must ensure,
that not once do you look into his eyes...
or allow your back to turn.'
Kraken leads you silently...
away from the jetty and the dark sea,
and into a wood drenched from the just-fallen rain...
and with great pools that glint,
from within ornate tree roots...
you are led deeper and deeper into the forest,
and the trees crowd about you more and more...
your head fills with a fogginess,
and at times you lose track...
of where you place your feet,
a lone wolf releases a chilling cry...
and it is only then,
that you realize that the lantern has dimmed...
almost entirely,
and Kraken has shifted away into the gloom...
You stop...
your heart growing colder and colder,
as the night and trees and fear presses in...
and then,
you feel a heat...
scorching your back behind you,
and you turn.
There stands Kraken...
though now not a weathered man,
no...
now he hunches beneath a cloak and hood,
the sharpest of smiles cutting across his face...
as he holds fingers that burst with flames,
closer and closer to your skin...
he seizes your wrist,
burning down through your skin...
as he whispers hoarsely to you;
'For us to travel further...
you must allow me to mark you as mine,
to be bound to my storms...
my leviathans and to be eaten away by my darkness,
for your fear shall nourish me...
and come Child,
there is no other way forward except through me...
so hold still,
you are already partway mine already...
just look at your wrist.'
You pull back...
scratch and yell,
and somehow manage to slip your wrist...
safely away from Kraken's fingers,
you sprint away through the woods...
even as the darkness that was a man,
swarms after you...
now just a chaos of tidal waves,
lightning, currents and reaching arms...
and you understand finally,
that Kraken is the boy who lost his wings...
who became something else,
became this.
You run and run and run...
until quite suddenly,
you are leaving the forest...
and you are in a field of blue flowers,
beneath the evening moon...
and Kraken has disappeared.
Their scent fills you...
and as you reach down to grasp a handful,
they reach out to you too...
and blue dreams explode into the air,
you struggle to believe what you see...
or if it is even real,
as the blue become a stream beneath you...
and you are swept away,
away from the woods...
away from the field,
and away from all you know...
you travel past crumbling cities,
and ships made of white bone...
that long ago broke against forgotten shores,
until eventually...
the stream deposits you,
in the most grandest of lagoons...
and it is then that you realise,
that the sky is dark for all but the stars...
and that a monstrous light,
floats upon the water...
in the near distance,
The she-Moon turns to gaze at you...
as you drift closer and her eyes blink slow arcs at you,
and then her words are all around you...
slow and Heavenly;
'To enter the final heart and place,
you must make a choice now...
allow me to engulf you,
to be devoured here...
and within you shall find,
what you have been searching for...
so long,
the only other option is to wait here...
perhaps Kraken shall find you again,
and perhaps he shall bleed you of everything good...
within.
Make thy choice...
traveller of whim.'
You remember again Kraken's burning fingers...
and his promise to mark you as his,
and with no hesitation you swim closer to the she-Moon.
Her mouth drops away into darkness vast and wide...
yet at its' very end,
the smallest of lights flickers there...
you are tugged by a current,
deeper into the heart of the she-Moon...
and closer to the final light.
You past shades of shadow in brown and silver...
and faded tunes that echo incomprehensibly.
Then...
of a sudden,
you are there...
cascading out into a whole new world.
The sky here is lilac...
and its' waters divine,
a city glistens on the shore in the distance...
and a ship floats on its' moor,
You realize that you can stay here forever...
that this is your new life,
a world different to the one we know...
without its' jaded personality, horrors and control,
you feel the smallest of wings grow upon your back...
and lift you from the sea,
as you are flown to the shores of your new home...
now you may rest,
and burn the darkness away...
with the light.
For a hundred million golden nights hence.
Have you ever reached a point in your life, where no matter what your age or circumstances...you know that you and your world must change? I've been feeling the quickening of time since I was very young, and now I know...I must not live like this anymore, I cannot. It must happen soon.
A new idea has radiated to life within me...something to combine both writing and pastry, and to allow me to work for myself. It is merely a matter of time and Fate. Words have become so powerful...and mayhaps one day they will evolve and transform enough to become actual beings.
We are capable of absolutely anything...if only we could break out of the dream they've locked us in.
Much Love and I hope you too can find your new land.
Miss CLScarlett xx
P.S. I hear tell that a ship is setting sail next year from the cities' dock, though there are whispers it will leave this Spring for different waters. I have received a message...and it is now apparent to me that I am to attend this voyage, and sail to new horizons.