Prologue
She was
surrounded by flowers. They ranged in
fragrance and hue. Some were lilac, some
daisies, lavender, roses, orchids, hyacinths.
It was the colors that captured one's attention. Unlike any she'd ever seen. They were vivid, vibrant shades of sun orange,
amethyst purple, sapphire blue, ruby red with amazing emerald greens. Some shown in multiple colors like red and green
for bloodstones. Dark carnelian red, smoky iridescent quartz. She stared into
her sky; it always looked like sunset with vivid blues and purples mixing with
reds and oranges. Cloudy enough to make a lovely image, but never so cloudy
that it seemed gloomy.
She inhaled deeply as she lay in the field of
flowers understanding the message she was being given as the scent of white
sage floated laced with the fragrance of the flowers. Eyes closed she pushed
deeper into herself. From her field she
could determine all she needed to know.
She needed to find who was calling her, had been calling her for months
now. But always lingered the thought, this one is a stranger and doesn't want
to be found. She felt the pressure of a hand. It was larger than hers, firm and
rough. The breath on the back of her
neck was steady and calm. He lay right
behind her, right under her, right beside her.
In this place he was practically a part of her.
She tried to turn around to face him, but was
stopped. The sensation was odd for her, these things were always under her
control. No one got to make choices for
her here yet here he was stopping her. She pressed harder and was met with more
force. Abruptly she turned and the world pitched to black. She was falling through her field. The flower base being ripped away as her nose
was assaulted by burning flesh. Her eyes
flew open and she saw the petals smoldering beside her as they all fell. She looked down to see herself falling
towards pits of lava, banked flaming mounds of earth and oceans of burning
water sizzling away, salting the air with it's demise. Creatures colored with
flame and smelt snapped their jaws at her ready to devour her. Flame winged imps and demons swarmed above
them taunting them with the kill they couldn't have whipping them into a frenzy. Sea leviathans with several heads and tails
swam freely in the burning oceans eating all that crossed their path. Stubby,
stumpy moss covered beasts resembling jackals roamed the flaming mounds
unheaded. There was peril at every stop.
She threw her hands in front of her face to
shield what was coming her way. Then
suddenly she stopped falling. An arm
secured her at the waist as strong arms pulled her around and she pressed her
now tearstained cheeks to his neck.
"Who are you and why have you brought me
here?" she asked.
"I'm sorry. You were never meant to be here.
I like your field," a deep masculine voice replied.
"What hell are you from?"
"The worst kind, the one of my own
making."
She vaguely noticed that they were moving
upward. And within moments she was as
she was before on her back in her field his presence there but not intrusive.
"How did you get here?" she asked him
knowing that if she tried to face him again she would be dumped into his hell.
"I don't know. I've been trying to figure it
out. But I'm selfish enough to not mind
if it doesn't bother you."
"You need my help."
"I have all the help from you I need. Right here in your field."
"It's more than that. You don't understand what I am, what I
do. No one shows up here that I don't
already know."
"I should go --"
"No wait --"
"See ya next time Flower girl."
Fiona
awoke from a dead sleep with the stranger's voice still clear in her head. She
clutched her head and doubled over in her bed for a moment. She straightened and with a deep sigh reached
for her journal and started cataloging the points of her dream so that she
could analyze it when morning came. She
lay back on her headrest when she was done shaken. Who was that man haunting her dreams? He had been there for months now. And over the course of time his presence had
gotten stronger as he felt more comfortable with her.
At first it had been just a brief but untimely
intrusion. She hadn’t even really
noticed anyone was there. Almost like an
itch that was easily scratched. She had
determined it was nothing and it became so.
A brief irritation she had swiftly evicted. But somehow he had found other ways in and
had made her sanctuary his safe haven.
Fiona lay back down and sighed willing herself to
go back to sleep. Maybe by the light of
a new day she would be able to make sense of this chaos.
