Sorceress of the Second Sphere

19. Serenades of the Dark - Loldirr

The darkness shrouded itself around Loldirr. It felt restricting, limiting and suffocating. It clung to her every being like a snake wrapping itself around its prey.

Moments ago, she remembered being in the Emerald Forest, devouring the last piece of the hare she had hunted earlier. Watching her mismatched companions preparing their bedding for the long night ahead, and then she was here, in complete darkness.

She sat, her knees pressed to her chest as if she was determined to defend herself from the darkness around her. Attempting to stretch her legs, the darkness pushed back, forcing her knees to push deeper into her ribs.

Loldirr's breathing became hard, her thoughts of imprisonment weighing down on her psyche and as she attempted to move her arms to determine the location she was in, the shroud pushed back, smothering her movements.

The darkness felt alive, prodding and poking her as her breathing became more ragged and more frustrated. Sweat soaked her brow, the darkness pushed against her. Her muscles screamed in agony as they felt constricted and had nowhere to go.

She screamed, at least she attempted to, but no sound escaped her lips, no ears were there to hear, all there was, was the endless darkness crushing and brutalising her. Feeling her tendons starting to snap and her bones beginning to crush, the pain was unbearable, she wanted it to end, desperate for the darkness to consume her and smother her.

Then she opened her eyes.

The embers of the fire, long put out, could not stop her ragged breathing, and the calmness of the moon couldn't relieve her from the anxiety that plagued her. Flailing her arms as they experienced unimaginable freedom, tears streamed down her face as if the incident was some brutal reality, but as Sir Gervais Vanderbilt immediately rushed to her side, embracing her like a father protecting his scared child, it dawned on her that it was nought but a dream.

She nuzzled up to the undead man, the heat from the fire still radiant on his shoulder, unaware as he stroked her hair to ease her anxiety.

"A nightmare?" he asked.

Loldirr pushed herself away from him as his voice shattered the realms of conscious and subconscious. She refused to speak, nodding, almost embarrassed of her reaction toward the man she couldn't decide to loathe or appreciate.

"Tell me of it," Gervais responded, his accented voice somewhat calmer than usual.

Loldirr explained the feelings, the anxiety and the longing for death that she desired through the darkness, and for some minutes, Gervais remained silent, eager to absorb as much of the detail that he could muster.

Gervais edged closer, half expecting the huntress to move away, but this time she remained sat, her arms and legs pressed against her body as if the darkness was once again around her.

"What does it mean?" he asked.

"It's a dream, it does not mean anything," Loldirr responded, her voice harsh and hoarse.

"A dream speaks volumes if you are willing to listen," Gervais said, briefly looking toward the bright clear moon in the sky. He turned his head back to Loldirr, "Prophecies are born from those who dream the future. Some believe the gods tell us of their desires through them, while other times it is simply our own body speaking to us through rhymes and riddles. Tell me what your heart feels when you recall this nightmare."

"Dread," Loldirr explained, "condemnation."

"Who's?"

"Mine!"

Gervais looked at her, knowing that she was plagued with guilt and terror.

"I acted in anger, and in my anger, I reacted in haste, and that haste caused me to push a man to the most horrific death imaginable," Loldirr explained.