Dream of the Raven's Gate XIII

Three women in white marched in step over beautiful grassy plains and down shaded, tree-lined paths. Each taking turns to drag their fingers over the bars of the ever-present iron fence, it's aging black bars reaching towards the sky.  They traveled in near silence, calling to the wind with wry smiles, and humming tunes that could best be described as rhythmic.  Each woman stepping lightly, but with a purpose held in thier footfalls. no dust soiled their shoes, no speck adorned their dresses.  No indication that they were real at all, other than thier presence in one's vision.

They stepped on.


The tormented creature, wrapped in his black shroud, waited for the calling and the madness again. He felt the shift as the Great Old One opened his eyes and gazed, at last, upon the green fields that were ready to receive Him. The depths of the tomb were irrelevant, and the time between blinks an eternity.  This was His time, His place. He would not again be turned back from owning the Dreamlands. Not ever again. The Key was here, ready to be taken, and that mortal creature would give it willingly.  In the pits, the hellish green glow began to writhe and glisten. It's tendrils working throughout the lush world just beyond . . . Chaos would rise and the world of men would be next.

The body of a man floated in the abyss, cradled by the luminous green flesh. His black eyes, unseeing in the darkness, stared. His snow-white hair lay streaming in all directions. The Great Silver Key lie within his hollow soul, and The Ancient One was drilling deep into his being to grasp it.  A whisper came out of the black, and fell upon his deaf ears as a clear peal of a tiny bell. "Remember" it sang. One word, nearly silent, but repeated... "Remember". The light ignited behind the man's eyes and he felt the struggle begin anew. He saw the Key flash bright, shudder, then cower behind his nearly-shattered psyche. It was almost time to lose, the man understood. It was almost time to give forever to the Chaos...

Three women stepped brightly into the blackened rays of a distant sun. Karasu knelt silently and waited for his Master to begin His ascent. The storms in the real world were roiled with Leviathanic fury and the seas churned with His power. "Husband..." Karasu's horrified eyes snapped open at the sound of the woman's voice.
"Husband," it repeated.
"Father." Another voice, similar, but younger.
"Grandfather" A third. Then all in unison, "Karasu".  He could not resist any longer. The punishment would forever mark his very form, but he could not resist. He rose, the cloak spreading like a death shroud around his form. "You are here without the boy. Why? how is this possible?"

"Oh, Husband..." The oldest woman wrapped her arms around Karasu, he melted into her as generations of misery throttled his black heart. He wept. He'd kissed this woman in her casket so long ago. She should not be here, not now, not without the help of the Key's Master...
The middle woman threw her arms around the creature. "Father!" He turned his face to her, stared into her eyes, and saw... something... unexpected.  Malice. He saw another reason for the presence. He turned quickly to the woman he called wife. He saw it there as well. Then he cast a glance at the youngest... And was taken to the ground by it. He was bound, and left helpless by these beautiful woman in white. He was unable to rise, unable to shift from this plane to another. He was held captive by the treachery of these women . And he realized too late that his fate had been manipulated so very long ago.

"Margaret... You?"
"Fool of a man. You had to have hope for the boy, didn't you? You couldn't simply do your job as the Great Old One commanded? Of course not. The fatherless boy, grown into a man, then given to the Ancient One as a gift by his Priestess. Did you think you were drawn to us that day by chance? Did you not know that we needed you to see the boy's eyes? You must remember when you saw us all together? When that useless hack gave his sanity to channel you?  You do. You remember. And you remembered your great-grandson's eyes.  You had to. You needed to know his eyes.  Have you seen them now? I have. They look a lot like yours. And he STILL won't give the Ancient One that damned Key.  YOU TOLD HIM HOW TO HIDE IT, DIDN'T YOU?" She screamed, fury in her voice.  Black ochre pouring through her veins and darkening her alabaster white skin like hellish roots from her collarbone upwards towards her face. "YOU WILL MAKE HIM GIVE IT TO US"

Karasu felt sickened for the first time in ages. His wife, Priestess of the Ancient One. his Daughter, and his Granddaughter, too. The Cult had found them, had given them power. His wife kept the secret and raised his daughter to carry the traditions on, and she had. The Cult had made them masters of men. He realized this all too late to save himself, it seemed. He slid away, shrinking into the womb of his cloak. The bindings kept him there, on the stone threshold, but he shrunk away, searching for the child he loved... those eyes must not ever be his own.  His Grandson. .  . The one he left screaming at the hands of his Master.

The betrayal wounded the Creature beyond his own comprehension. He was a pawn.

And he was broken.



Continued

Blue Dream

Deeper and deeper
     I spiral, becoming one with the murky depths
          Flesh pressed against bone as the pressure rises
               My heartbeat slows with every passing moment
                    I close my eyes against the rising darkness
                         Fathoms beneath the rolling waves
                    Where it is calm
               Where it is cold
         Where the black wraps me in comfort
     The stillness and the silence
Gripping my existence
     Calling me down.....
          Down...
               Down...
                    To where songbirds are not heard
                         To where my racing mind becomes untroubled
                    Serene in the deathlike cloak
               Of the home I fall into
          Again and again
     Deeper
Until
     I am
          A stone in the sea...
               Without resistance I tumble
                    And twist
                         Until I come to rest
                    Without light
               Or sound
          Or companionship
     I am alone
In the deep blue sea
     And it is pacific
          In it's serenity...