Incandescence

A step closer and I finally saw it. The metal door standing in front of me; vague symbols covered with moss. My memories are still so vividly clear, but the lingering darkness taints the reality. Like this place, once so beautiful, so oddly mesmerizing is now close to an abandoned hell. Where shadows linger in streets and blood runs cold. Where the wicked rules over and each soul is a demon of its own. I braced myself and walked forward, not knowing what is yet to come. Then I heard its silent groans, getting deeper with every moment passing by. Heavier steps echoed as the bright red eyes peeked from the fog. The crescent moon glistened as the scale-covered skin stepped out in the light. But then I saw a beautiful young boy, like he was the only one there, all along. Yet something about him continued to set apart; his fiery red eyes seemed to gaze at me as a long scar ran down his face. He gazed at me as his mouth twisted into a wry smile. And I held the lamp higher and walked in. “I was expecting you,” he said knowingly, his voice like metal against the other. “But alas,” he continued, “you won’t make it far. I would like to see it though,” he added with a lopsided smile, “how far you can stay alive until my magic in the air suffocates you.” I watched quietly, as he disappeared into a cyclone of feathers only to spot a crow flying by, as if, welcoming me into the grave darkness. I felt the chills running down my spine. The eerie darkness. A familiar feeling. I continued to walk down the aisle until the same familiar feeling washed over me again. It was the place I remembered as a kid. The very place that was dear to me. But it felt so different now. Just like the whole city, and these cold walls. Though, I walked further and saw a shadow by the shore. The stench in the air burning my throat. It felt like acid, dripping down my lungs, his magic seeping deep into the bones. I found an old, tattered boat with a person holding the paddle. He was covered in a black robe, his half-flesh half-bone hands peeking through the black fabric. I would’ve been afraid but the ability has left my brain. Guess, in this grim world, nothing haunts me anymore. Like every emotion has been replaced by a perpetual gloom, drowning me over and over again. As I moved closer, I saw something else. Something different I hadn’t ever noticed before. It was silver like the soothing moonlight, a shining figure hovering over me. Calling me. Guiding me. Like in this cursed place there's still a single blessing alive. Could this be a trap? I wondered as it pulled me towards it. The sound of the howling wind moved past my ear, just as the faceless man greeted me. I looked again in the direction of that hovering light but turned out it had left me already. And so I decided to walk forward like it was never there to begin with. He held his hand out, like asking for something. “What?”, I asked him but he didn't speak. Nor did he hear or see. He was a faceless man, how could he? The ring, I remembered. My mother's ring that had kept me company all these years. It was the only thing I had to trade so I traded it, hoping it would be enough. He had no face, no eyes, no ears, but still, I followed him, thinking to myself, He won't wait if I don’t go now. He took it, his movement almost mechanical, and he stepped into the boat, still floating somehow with the tattered base. I could see fishes, the rotten, half-dead carcasses floating around. The ripples in the water letting out crying sounds. I heard the cries and the melancholy, the deepest of anything that’s ever been. The birds in the sky, half-dead and yet flying somehow. To me, it was a horizon between death and life. And then I saw it. The beautiful work of intricate designs, standing in the middle of the dome-shaped architecture. It was huge than I ever expected. Surrounded by the roses running all over the shafts, I found the hourglass. Crimson blood pouring with every moment passing by. To say the least, it was beautiful. More beautiful than anything I had ever seen. “There you are,” he greeted me, almost too surprised that I made it here somehow. “You know what it is. Don’t you?” he asked after a pause, possibly studying my gaze. I averted my eyes from the hourglass to the direction of his voice, the dark shadows covered him until I saw those red eyes again. They were beautiful, covered with pain. Like everything around us really bothers him in some way. “Why wouldn’t you though?” He said then, almost like he was blaming me for this. And why wouldn't he? “After all, it was you who started it.” I stood silent, taking the burden of his harsh words. The sting of it biting harder than the poisonous air. “So many times, I told you not to go there," he reminisced, his voice laced with regret. "How many times have I called you back. And yet, you never listened. You were too curious from the start. And so you wanted to see how it worked. I told you not to touch it at any cost. And you promised you wouldn't. So I let you study it. But you broke your promise and tampered with it. You touched the sacred rose and cursed the whole kingdom. Cursed the people who lived here. And you cursed me. Why did you have to do that?” he said quietly, his words barely audible. “Why did you?” he shouted, demanding answers. The truth was, I didn't know. “I was just a kid. I never wanted this to happen,” I told him honestly even though it didn't make a difference. “No you didn't” he repeated, almost as he understood. I studied his eyes, a flicker of warmth. Before they turned cold again. “But then,” he continued, “we do things we don't want to do. Just like... I don’t want to kill you but I would have to.” "No," I stammered but he barely listened. "I have wasted so many years being trapped here while you remained free to go anywhere. I was forced to drain the life force of every single soul when you were the one who brought all this upon us," he shouted. "You think of me as a monster, don't you? But look! Look around yourself and tell me. Tell me how am I the monster when you were the one who did this all of it to me?" he screamed, turning into a giant scaled-figure again. "... to everyone around us?" he barked. "But... but you told me to go, find a cure. You told me to run away before it consumes me and to come back with help and cure that would save all of you," I reasoned. "But did you? Did you come back? I waited and waited until there was nothing left. Until all this darkness consumed me. Until I couldn't fight it anymore. I still tried to hold it in. But you never came back. Not until now, not until it was too late to save me. To save anyone. While you were out looking for the cure, the curse that you summoned on us seeped in. Took the life away until all that was left was a rotten corpse. I heard echoes and cries of children, of men and women alike. Of every bird that flew over the kingdom as the water of the lake turned into poison. As the air turned into stench that burnt all the flesh away. I saw the sky turn darker, clouds covering the sun for eternity until nothing ever grew here anymore." I could sense the sorrow in his eyes, the helplessness he would've felt over the loss, as everything he ever stood for slipped away like sand. His eyes met mine again, a disarming resolve. "I waited and waited for you, until all that was left was anger, hatred, and a deep desire. A desire for revenge," he plunged towards me. His hands were replaced by sharp claws. "No," I shouted, as I tackled his blow but he was faster. "No stop!" I shouted. "This ain't you," I cried, holding my wound from the claw mark. "You don't know me," he shouted back before attacking again. "We can turn it back. The hourglass we can turn it back," I told him. "And then, we can go back to the time it all happened..," I explained, "then we can stop all this from happening." "You're so delusional aren't you?" he spatted, almost laughing at my foolishness as I looked at him with confusion. "Every time," he said with contempt, "Every time you come here, tell me this time we'll turn it around. Feed me the same lies over and over again. That how this time we'll write a different ending, that this time you won't betray me but one way or another you do it again." "But as you said, this time, it will be different. We'll end it, for once and for all. This time, you'll die." "This time? What do you mean? Have we lived this again? Why can't I remember?" I asked in confusion. What is going on? "You're not the one who is left behind. Why would you?" he shouted. "You're not the one who is tormented. You are always the one who runs away. And I am the one who is left behind with all these people to face the doom. This time, I will not let it start again. This time this cycle ends. And the cycle ends with you." With these words, he plunged into my direction, for one last blow. With no place for me to go, I knew it was over. So I braced myself for the final blow. If it has to end and it has to end with me, then it will end with me. I waited for the blow that never came. All I heard was the glass c***k and break down into a million little places. All I saw was the red light oozing out painting everything in the colour of blood. Crimson. Blood. Red. Until it was dark again and I saw the light. The birds chirping and the blue light of the star that shines upon the Rigel. The droplets of water falling down, as clear as rain. "This worked," I saw clear blue eyes looking at me with a curious gaze, his face light up with a charming smile. "I can't believe it actually did." "What?" I asked. "You thought I'll kill you," he laughed. "Didn't you?" I asked, still disoriented from the series of events that had undergone. "I thought I should scare you for all the times you left me but you don't remember. You told me last time that there is a way but like every time you would forget when the cycle will start again. So when this time when you came back, I knew what I had to do to get us out of the loop," he smiled. "Break the hourglass?" I asked, following his line of thought. "Exactly," he smiled, the scar not covering his face anymore. "But I had to tease you a bit you know, for all the trouble you created in the first place," he smirked, his eyes back to blue instead of red. "You're so cruel," I pushed him away and he burst out laughing. So I smiled too as I took in everything around me. It's been so long, but it's good to be back home.