Odd Man Out

Prologue

A woman’s shuttering whisper broke the silence of the candle-lit darkness. “God has abandoned us.” She said as the candle flickered and struggled to remain lit.

“No!” A man’s raspy voice sternly replied, echoing in the darkness. “God is everywhere. . .” His voice softened and faded as the air drained out of his lungs. His lifeless brown eyes peacefully stared into the fading light of the candle. She brushed his sweat soaked black hair back from his brow and kissed it. The candle’s light slowly retreated from the darkness, as if the light was draining into the man’s brown eyes—following him into the unknown and away from her.

She buried her head in his chest, her black hair pouring over his tattered white shirt. How she wished he could hold her one last time and smile down at her reassuringly, the way only he could do. In her life, no man had made her feel safe like he did. Strong and handsome, he complimented her beauty and charm.

The woman’s tears began to stream down her still beautiful face as she shook uncontrollably. She didn’t know if it was her fear, or the cold that seemed to fill the void left by the candle’s light that caused her to shake. But no strength or conscious effort on her part could slow the steady and volatile vibration of her body. Her green eyes, once revered for their brilliance and allure, belied her exhaustion—she was resigned to her fate now.

The earth tremors came again and she could hear the water begin to flow into the dark chamber. Desperately, she searched the oily darkness for the water she new was racing towards her. In an instant, which to her seemed to be an eternity, the water was upon her. It crashed against her and shot up the side of her leg, splashing her chest and face. She was trapped now, and as the water’s flow increased and began to inch up her body, shocking every nerve with its cold, she couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t God that was everywhere, but rather God’s wrath.

There was nothing in the once grand chamber now, but complete darkness and the roar of water spilling onto the chamber’s polished white marble floor. She could not believe that the dark tomb she was trapped in was once filled with such brilliant light that the very walls seemed to glow with a celestial aura. “There’s no perfume in the air now,” she thought, “no stars in the chamber’s sky, and no life in the chamber.” “The land is dead” she thought. Even as she began to float, she felt the full weight of her despair pull her down.

As the cold water surrounded her and lifted her towards the dark ceiling, the roar faded until only the sound of water splashing against the white marble walls remained. “The chamber’s main entrance must be completely under water now” she thought, as she could no longer feel the floor beneath her.

She had no sense of how high she had been lifted until the rapidly rising water smashed her into the interior of the chamber’s gold dome—sliding her up its interior towards the apex of the dome, which sat more than three-hundred-sixty feet above the floor of the chamber. She could feel the warmth of her blood as it flowed down over her face; the salt of her blood mixing with the salt of the sea water she was trapped in.

As she neared the apex, the water reached her nostrils, and she struggled to gasp for air, but the distance between the water and the dome evaporated. She wasn’t shaking or crying anymore as the water consumed her like an octopus enveloping its prey—she was resigned to her fate. She felt herself sinking back towards the floor of the chamber as the air trickled out of her lungs.

In her mind she imagined the candle light flickering and fading, that gave her some solace against the blacker than black darkness she floated in. She thought of her own life, so full, so bright, like the flame of the candle. “God, why have you abandoned me?” she asked in her mind, and as the external darkness gave way to an internal darkness, she saw it.
It was a pinprick at first, barely noticeable, but it grew steadily. It was a star—her Star. Its light and warmth embraced her. She could hear a familiar music that she was sure she had never heard before. Its’ melody called to her. Her last thought was of the Heart Stone, and with that her chains were loosed—Vala’s body died. She found rapture.

posted by RezB @ 3:53 PM