The cage was damp and cool. Water drops serenaded the dim light of many candles. An exotic woman dressed ceremoniously kneeled at the mouth of the cave. Though her lips moved quickly and purposefully, no voice arose. Before her she had scattered various significant stones and metal ores. A heavy, leather-bound text lay open on the ground. Mystical markings and horrific illustrations splattered thick, discolored parchment paper.
After a moment, her lips ceased their dance, and her long legs lifted her body gently and firmly. She gracefully arose to walk steadily into the cave. In her outstretched hands she held a writhing bird and a handful of black ash. Reaching her last flickering candle, she halted and smeared the bird with ash. It escaped, disgruntled, from her grasp, and fluttered anxiously out of the cave.
The woman grinned to see an irregular trail of black dust painting the floor of the cave. She painstakingly placed her feet, heel to toe, along the path. With each step she took, a candle was snuffed by an invisible force. As the last step was taken, her skin crawled and a shiver crept down her spine. She took an extra step beyond the ash, leaving a blackened footprint behind. Her next step was to land in the air, as two magnificent wings sprouted instantly from her back, and her skin was blanketed with speckled feathers. Her soft bare feet rippled into talons, her jaw melted into beak. A beating of wings and shimmering of light, and... stillness.
 unedited · Wed Feb 09, 2005 @ 02:42am · 0 Comments |
