Nora Sutton

The ‘angel’— if you could call it that— shook its head. Although, it was built like that of a human mans, it had a strong jaw and plump lips but where it’s eyes should’ve been, it instead was replaced with two sets of wings that were covered in several sets of eyes.

“So you’re telling me that I’m not dead. I didn’t die in that crash, and I’m alive?” Could I feel confused in heaven? This wasn’t in the syllabus.

The angel nodded and its eyes blinked.

Well fuck, and gross.

“Well that makes more sense. I was wondering why I felt so pissed and ready to destroy something. Well shit, send me back I guess.”

You are not dead but you are also not living. Heed what you say in this realm, words are binding and if spoken with truth, you may never see the afterlife you seek. You are in the center.

“The center?” I asked. This definitely wasn’t in the syllabus.

The center. A place where it is not the beginning nor the end. A place where you can go to back to the beginning or travel to the end. The center is what you mortals have named as limbo.

“Oh.”

Do you wish to go back to the beginning or finish and go to the end? Choose one, but know that once spoken, that will be your destiny and you can not choose a different path. God gives all humans a second chance but know that if you go back to the beginning, you will not remember this point of your journey.

Glancing down at my attire I studied the bloody sweater I had been wearing when I had my wreck. I had paired it with some denim jeans, also now covered in blood and some sneakers that used to be white but now were also stain with blood; my blood. Who knew the afterlife was so... filthy. I’m not sure why I thought I’d be dressed in some Grecian toga and be surrounded by little flying baby cherubs.

——————

Dark smoke billowed from the city below me. The horrid cries and pungent smell of burned flesh omitting from the city dwellers below made me thankful and ashamed all at once for the chaos I had put them through. I knew the fate of these people, and I selfishly didn’t prevent it. These dying people had been a perfect diversion, a perfect opportunity to shove my dagger between the ribs of a blood-thirsty ruler.

A shuddering sob pushes its way out of me and for the first time in what felt like eternity, I can breathe again. It was finally over. After fifty years, chained and tethered to that sick, twisted mad-man of a ruler.

Thank you, Gods. I sob again. He’s dead. That was the last time he’d ever hurt you. You made it out, not entirely unscratched, but all in one piece. The scars and burns along my body only solidified the lengths I was willing to go to leave this prison. Cities and kingdoms burn every day, but I’d bet the dead ruler of this one never saw it coming. Never saw Me coming. But I did.

I saw it burning long before I was ever in this world. The scrolls in Anathema had sealed their fates centuries before this city had ever been thought to be built. They had just neglected to count me as the sole reason for its demise.

I stared down at the burning, gods-forsaken city that had held me captive for nearly fifty years. All the years of hurt and pain and torture seemed to breach the surface of my emotions,bubbling and festering like the burns across my milky flesh. It was too much. The pain, the emotions. I hadn’t felt real emotions since I had been taken and all at once they surfaced to the top. My weak knees could no longer support me. My knees hit the ground hard, causing even more damage to the cuts and bruises they carried.

White strands of my hair were plastered to my tear stained cheeks and layers upon layers of dried blood with it. My tormentors’ blood. The blood of a tyrant. A very, very dead tyrant.

Oh, Gods. I actually killed someone. Me. A Sage. Someone who vowed before the mother goddess herself, to never take a life, be that human or otherwise.

I shouldn’t be so struck by that, after seeing people die every day in the castle, I should’ve grown a strong stomach from it. The palace guards used to show off the traditional tattoos that were ceremonially inked after every kill. But I’ve never had to physically be the one to drive the blade through someone’s heart.

You did it to get out. You did it to survive. You’re not a bad person.

This was all too much. The once warm blood now sticking to me like honey, the pungent smell of the burning city and its dwellers, the absolute hate I fell for myself.

Nausea rolls through me. And I leaned away to the nearby bushes just in time to vomit.

The sheltered world I was brought up in was long behind me.

I painstakingly picked myself up and began the long trek down to Ginzis meeting point. Our plan, for the most part, hadn’t failed yet, but if I didn’t reach the caravan before the king’s guards found me, then I knew I’d be brought to the castle and publicly burned at the stake.

I had no time to lose, I needed to find safety.

Ginzi said it would be placed near the rear entrance of the castle’s underground tunnel. All I need to do is find it, and then a life of abuse and misery would be forever behind me. No more panic between his visits, no more tears of hatred and despair when he pushed himself into my unwilling body, no more suicide attempts. Gods, a life of peace felt almost in my reach. So close to my outstretched fingers but far enough away that they only brushed them. But I knew hope was a dangerous thing for a woman like me.

The rear entrance to the castle tunnels put me far too close to the outskirts of where the castle met the Aubin Forest. Being non-human wouldn’t guarantee me safe passage through it but I was willing to take my chances. Gypsies, like Ginzi, were the only humans who were bat-shit-crazy enough to travel through it and end up unscratched on the other side. I would probably be eaten alive without Ginzis help.

The Aubin Forest was a place that housed the ancient creatures of this world. The king had told me once after one of his crueler punishments that even the gods had turned their backs on the Forest. The overgrown trees made it hard to travel through and if one of the creatures didn’t eat you first, then the wicked trees would. Anyone who went through the forest was either on a death mission or trying to escape from something.

I’d rather be torn apart by some otherworldly creatures, than to be burned alive by the hands of the deceased kings’ men. Nothing could be more deadly and dangerous than that mad-man and his obedient followers.

I’d take my chances.

The ends of my blood stained gown collected more and more mud as I ran down the wet hill. The horrid sounds of the villagers’ cries were loud and piercing that I hadn’t heard the rumbles of thunder in the distance, but by time I had made it down the slope of the hill, a downpour of rain had begun.

Silently, I thank whatever gods that were out there for causing the storm.

In my haste to escape the castle, I had forgotten about the kings hunting dogs.I was positive that they had already been sent out to find me.

Climbing over fallen tree limbs and sliding through wet mud was more straining for me than any activities I had been allowed to do in the castle. By the time I had reached the entrance to the castle's rear tunnel, I was sweating and gasping for breath.

Panting, I searched my surroundings, looking for Ginzis white caravan.

Lightning strikes, illuminating my surroundings and then my heart drops, fresh tears collected in my eyes.

The caravan wasn’t here.

No, no, no, no! Where was he at? Why wasn’t he here?

My mind was racing. I could feel how exhausted my body was and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to push it much further. This was my only way out! Ginzi said he would be here waiting for me. So where was he now?

With my mind still reeling, I heard in the distance the sound of dogs barking. No, not just one bark, but several barks. Meaning multiple dogs and where multiple dogs are, their masters are never far behind.

Oh, gods. They found me.

For a moment, it seemed like the whole world had stopped. A coldness so familiar had settled in, one that hadn’t been caused by the freezing rain, and I knew I had to brace myself for the despair that was about to crash into me.

This was the end. I was going to die today.

The barking was becoming louder. I knew that they were about to be upon me at any moment.

The world had been so cruel to me. I had fought for my freedom. Killed for it. And now I was going to die a failure and a coward, here in this godsforsaken place or strapped to a burning stake.

At this moment, all I wanted to do was lay down and forget about this world. I wanted to wake up back at Anathema and begin my daily lessons like how I used to. I wanted to see my brothers and sisters laughing and smiling again. I wanted to go back to the ignorant life I had once lived before I was brought here.

I closed my eyes and for a moment, I could see the smiles on my sibling’s faces and smell the aged books I had once studied.

The snap of a tree branch had me opening my eyes and I turned my head in its direction.

Through the rain and lightning, I could just make out the shape of a person. A very large person. A person who was standing not in the human’s territory but in the forests.

For a moment, I thought I must’ve been dreaming. That, or I died already. But when the sky illuminated again and he was still standing there, I knew I hadn’t made him up.

“What is it that you need, Seer?” he said. But his mouth hadn’t moved.

My heart dropped.

Again, he said, “What is it that you need, Seer?”

He was speaking in my mind and he hadn’t said any of those words out loud.

My heart raced and I knew that I was looking at one of the forsaken creatures who dwelled inside the forest.

I couldn’t make out his face, but by his build, I knew that he could crush any man who tried to face him off in battle. His shoulders were broad and firm, and he was taller than any of the human men I had ever encountered. Even with him being cloaked in darkness, I could tell that he was a handsome man.

Finding my words, I answered out loud, “I-I need protection.”

“From what, Seer?” he asked, his voice echoing throughout my head.

I opened my mouth to answer but the howl of a dog cut me off.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I sent once final prayer up to the gods and swallowed. Taking a breath, I stared into the black void that concealed the creatures face and answered.

“From this world.”

Please remember to be safe today and if you are able to celebrate with friends and families, please make sure you tell them how much they mean to you! Please don’t take this time with them for granted!

Today has always been one of my favorite holidays but with the virus I, like many other people, will not be able to spend this holiday with loved ones. It’s unfortunate but I know that no matter where we are we know we love one another. But I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful thanksgiving! 🦃🍁🍂

I knew I was in someone else’s dream but for the life of me I couldn’t remember why or how I got here.

This had been happening to me since I was a child, going to sleep and finding myself in someone else’s dreams, and you’d think by now—being eighteen—I’d be used to not experiencing my own dreams. But I’m not, and I don’t think I ever will be.

I don’t know how I know that I’m not just dreaming this all on my own, but something inside me always tells me that what I’m seeing and where I’m at, are not images thought up on my own. From the time I could remember opening my eyes in the dreams, something in my mind told me that I wasn’t dreaming, but that I was inside someone’s head. To anyone else looking in, it would obviously frighten them. But I’d been ‘dream walking’ as I like to call it, for a very long time.

The last thing I remember before going to sleep today was hearing the gentle hum of the fan blowing in my room. Then pitch blackness.

I opened my eyes and I could began to see everything around me come into focus. I was standing outside near a lake, just near the sandy shore. The sun was high in the sky with birds flying through a clear sky and I could feel the suns warm rays caressing my skin. Surrounding me was the sounds of laughter and life. A variety of people in all shapes, sizes and colors laying out around the lake, soaking in the sun or picnicking with friends and family.

I could make out everyone in the dream but it was always the dreamer that was in crystal clear focus. This time it was a man who’s dream I was walking in.

He was sitting by the shore on a blanket and had his arms propped up on his bent knees. His gaze, focused out on the water where a little boy was playing with a woman just near the shores edge.

The boy looked to be about no older than six or seven and the woman—obviously his mother by the similarity’s they both shared— had her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she leaned down to hug the boy, both of them smiling up towards the man sitting alone on the sand.

Dreams never seemed to make much scenes to me. I mean, I’m in someone’s head. Nothing anyone ever dreams ever pertains to me. They’re not supposed to mean anything to me. Walking around and seeing what goes on in someone else’s thoughts is interesting but nothing I ever think about twice.

The only thing I ever think twice is about the dark, blurry figure that seemed to hover over every dream I was in. A figure that had been with me since childhood and who’s face I’d never could make out. It’s presence never felt evil but it didn’t feel good either. It just was there with no reason or explanation behind it.

I shifted my gaze from the stoic looking man sitting on his blanket towards the blurry figure standing far off back in a secluded area under a willow tree. Its figure was half consumed by the shadows the long willows branches casted under its drooping top.

I have a feeling that it doesn’t know that I’m there with it almost every night. It never approaches me and I never get the feeling that I’m being looked at.

A hidden part of me wants to approach the blurry figure and see what exactly it is. Is it an angel? Is it a demon? Or could it be a dream walker like myself?

Kain Wilde.

The love of Darcy's life.

The very man she never wanted to see again but dreamed about ever night. The only man she’d ever kneeled down and worshiped - other than God.

On the scales of life, three years isn’t that long, but it's enough time for most people to go through some type of transformation.

Kain hadn’t. He hadn’t changed at all.

The long-standing joke Darcy once had with him entered her mind. She’d jokingly told him one night after he’d flogged the living daylights out of her ass that she thought a man such as him couldn’t be human. He was a God among men. Everyone and everything bowed to his command, even time itself.

When she was with him, time seemed to stand still but their time together slipped by too fast. Darcy held onto every minute they spent together, and when their time was up, she selfishly wished for more.

Darcy's heart was pounding so violently in her chest that she was sure he could hear it. Hell, he could probably smell her fear from across the doorframe.

Darcy opened her mouth to greet him but no matter how much she fought to move her tongue to speak to him, no words would come out.

Kain studied her for a moment before greeting her. ”Hello, Darcy.”

My God, it took him speaking to her first for her to say anything to him. “Hello, Kain.” Darcy's mind subconsciously remembered the standing rule while in his presence.

Kain was her master. Kain was her Dom. He made the commands. He made the rules.

People, yes. Darcy was more frightened of people than she was of inanimate objects but standing outside room 308, Darcy would’ve never thought something as simple as a wooden door could cause her to sweat bullets.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t just the door. Darcy wasn’t as much scared of its dark ominous paint that had been adorn with three golden numbers, as she was by the idea of the one person she hadn’t laid eyes on in over three years, opening the said door.

Three years. And she had come back for what exactly?

She was struggling internally. Her mind reeling, shouting with fear to run away. Her heart was pounding with it too but it’s erratic beats gave her the impression that it was beating that way for another reason. Excitement, maybe?

She was faced with three options: One, he was going to open the door, see her standing there, and slam it shut in her face. Two, he would kill her - Darcy was leaning heavily on this option. Or three, he’d drag her across the threshold of that dark ominous door and they’d do something she had been dreaming about every night for the past three years.