I was sitting in the dark in my parlor. In my favorite chair. Watching the fireplace dance and explode. The smell of spring lay dormant in the logs, released when the moisture expanded and popped. The window was open, allowing a cool breeze in that offset the heat of the pyre. The thin drapes that lined the window swayed gracefully and sporadically.
The yellow-orange light threw a harsh silhouette of my chair back across the room. I could only wonder at how imposing it must have been, jumping a few inches here, then a few inches there, quick, like half the frames in an old cinema had been lost in translation.
The teardrop chandelier hung, prophetic, over me. It caught what little bit of light made its way up there and refracted it in the hundreds of prisms. Which, in turn refracted it yet again. Small, odd rainbows shown on the walls and ceiling.
They reminded me of the demons, small and unimpressive at first glance, but upon looking away, they shifted and evolved, mutating in grotesque symbols that their prior facades didn’t even hint at. Them being like the demons made me realize that I wanted the rainbows gone. All I wanted was a short break from it all and I couldn’t even have that.
I got up, the floorboards creaking loudly as I did so, to extinguish the fire. As I walked towards it, the fire began to move with new life. It licked up and out, splitting in two. These went up to either side of the fireplace and became, bright, roving eyes. When they found my haggard face, they looked down upon me with disdain. I stared into them, wondering where they came from and why they were here.
I looked from the eyes to the fireplace. What was left inside seemed to serve as a mouth, full of dancing, writhing teeth that spoke mute words. I was completely entranced by the sight, dully wondering why I wasn’t afraid.
Then I realized why. It wasn’t the face of the devil, evil and full of rage. It was the face of an old friend that I’d hadn’t seen in too long, looking down on me for the way I’d let things fall apart. I was so ashamed the person I’d become.
Now, don’t think I’m saying this because I want your pity and sympathy. My state of mind just needs to be brought to the forefront to allow for better understanding.
I looked back to the eyes and, as I did so, they drifted off in opposite directions. A tear streaked my cheek. I was sure my friend was leaving me. Then I saw that they were moving to walls on either side of me. It induced a strange vertigo when I looked at one, for when I did, I was looking at both. I was seeing the friend’s entire face, no longer hidden by the pitiful physics of my dimension.
It was blazing with pure light. The light of convalescence.
__________________ "You are, and shall be, set in obsidian obelisk.
Those scars, these memories, will see you through"
My friend spoke in a voice that I remembered like one would remember something from a dream. Fleeting, frightening for a moment, then the realization hits that it’s not real and you feel so much better. Except this was real. The voice sounded like a cross between Native American chants, the calls of whales or dolphins, and thunder. There are no better words to describe it. Again, such as an abstract dream.
I’ll never forget what he said, just how he said it. And what he said was, “Come on, it’s time to cast these demons away. Your potential is being leeched by them. We have so much more for you to accomplish.”
In the instant before I could reply, I noticed two things. One: that the demons had returned. Strange, indefinable, shapeless shadows that crept forward impossibly slowly, only to recoil when the light touched them. If it was simply the presence of my friend, or the light from the fire itself, I didn’t know.
The sound was worse than seeing them. It was like the buzzing of a billion bees layered atop the skittering of diseased rats. But my friend comforted me through it.
And, two: that I had begun to flicker, as if in and out of existence, so fast that it wouldn’t be noticeable by anyone that wasn’t touched by the divinity, or some other like force, that my friend here had. I felt myself being thrust into another plane, then back to this one. It felt like standing up too fast. Before long, I began to see what was in the other plane, though I couldn’t define it then, and still, to an extent, can’t define now. They both melded into one vision, like out of focus eyes both merging back to the same thing.
__________________ "You are, and shall be, set in obsidian obelisk.
Those scars, these memories, will see you through"
