Date: 12/07/09; Time: 5:43 am; Place: Chicago
As the sun sets, and the artificial lights take over the bustling city, rarely do you find a street that’s not being walked upon…. and if you find one, that’s one place you’d never want to go to. And this is what Henry Bloom realized facing a divide in his path, swallowed in total darkness. Silence, as eerie as it could have been, contrasting with the bustle of traffic about 10 yards behind him, colliding in the estuary there, he couldn’t help but curse his not so good luck for the 23rd time, standing at the interface, feeling apprehensive going ahead, tired to take the longer route, he had no choice but to give into his laziness and move on, remembering his first (and the last) visit to a haunted house in an amusement park…
“That wasn’t frightening, but this surely is!!!” gulping down his fear, he moved as quickly as his body could manage, still suffering from fever, while his mind cursed the guys who caused the lights to stay off (as usual).
Henry, 21 years of age, 5ft 11’’ height, medium built, studying literature at Richardson University, catcher in his college baseball team, had been used to this path to go back to his apartment each evening from college practice , and didn’t mind the darkness , but couldn’t help feeling uneasy, for some unknown reason.
Somehow he managed to reach the end of the path, a mere 80 meters (a few turns included), and heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of the usual lively traffic about 10 meters away.
And then he heard footsteps, quick, strong, but almost unperceivable, and strangely, he couldn’t get where they were coming from, in spite of having a great knack for the same , since birth, and improvised upon due to his task as a catcher. It was just when he was about to step upon the roadside footpath when a hand clasped his shoulder, gloved, strong and commanding, followed by a voice, almost taking the life out of him. Nothing scary in it, but for some unknown reason (again) his legs gave away, his breath felt airless, and his body didn’t seem to understand the fact that it was supposed to be falling over in the state it had come in.
“I love this effect, you know?” a male voice laughed, and Henry could swear that the cars and people at the street were still, absolutely still. So was he, although that was simply because he couldn’t feel his body enough to move it.
“Don’t mind that, really” the voice again laughed lightly,” you should think sometimes about what you are and where you are heading to……… not because you can change it…” he laughed and as his hand vanished from his shoulder, and the traffic suddenly woke up to their ferocious speed and intensity, he heard the voice again,” but just to have something worth to think about!” and a cold laughter, bringing back the feeling again, echoed and faded into the blaring of the traffic. Henry looked at his watch, and he found it was spinning like crazy.
1:00 a.m., a time when one rarely finds anyone walking down the Brighton street, except someone having trouble finding his way back home after a night at a nearby pub. So obviously, it was strange enough to find a hooded figure, walking pretty sensibly, giving off a feeling of absolute control, yet having a vagueness that would be indescribable even to oneself, and even stranger was the fact that he was suddenly joined by three more hooded figures, all of them kneeling down in front of him, and talking in hushed tones, or to be precise in strange whispering sounds, a part of a language that was nowhere near anything used anywhere in the world in terms of the phonetics or the syntax or…. absolutely anything at all, which could be translated roughly into a few panic filled sentences.
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“The ribbon is broken, Sire.”
“The guards are both confounded, Sire; they do not even understand anything anyone says.”
“We are not able to trace anything in that whole dimension, nothing at all, Sire”
“Well, well, isn’t this a bit too convenient now? I would say, in the fear of being clichéd…. do you have anything to add, Morpheus?” the standing figure said, with a slight snicker, as another figure appeared in the group.
“Sire, I just wanted to politely suggest that it is not advisable to avoid that kind of contact within this dimension, and that too with a human. I mean it’s almost like advertising yourself to the cosmos.”
“Oh well! yes maybe,” the standing figure said in a thoughtful voice, a voice which the listener would feel has the power to pierce one’s soul, and just dissipate it , “but I don’t think anyone here has a chance of recognizing me unless I formally introduce myself.” He said with a slight, dark, mischievous smile under his mask.
“Yes, Sire.” He said, shuddering, as he felt the weakening effect of that smile on his soul.
“Tell me one thing, why are you guys so worried about the ribbon breaking down? It’s supposed to be taken care of by Thanatos and Hades, so why bother me when those two will not be knowing ABOUT it until another Earth hour? If you really think things are that bad, why anyone in Olympus isn’t stirring up?” the standing figure sighed, his words unhurried, releasing a commanding presence, turning away from the four of them.
“Sire, the thing is that….” One of them started explaining when the one named Morpheus interrupted, “Sire, I know it’s not worth worrying about what happens to the ribbon or anything that even Thanatos can see to, and certainly Hades can as well. But it’s the manner in which this has happened,” as the one he was referring to inclined his head towards him,” And even more importantly, the Olympians didn’t even know that anything of such dire consequences had happened….”
“I know that quite well, Morpheus .” he interrupted coldly, “It’s worth examining…..Maybe….. but, why should I,” the pressure of the last word almost making the four kneeling figures lose all their strength, ” get in front of the Olympians when this can be sorted out for the time being without that? I’ll wait, and of course I may have to get on It. but it’ll be better without a doubt,” he said, eyeing the four of the,” for you to keep it up without me getting into it fully.” And with a cold laughter that shook them to their very cores, he vanished into the darkness.
After a minute of silence, the four figures stood up, and Morpheus said, his voice layered with frustration and anxiety,” I am seeing this happen for the second time, and the consequences were damning enough back then to not allow me to leave it to those twelve fools to manage it alone. It’s too soon to happen again, and I don’t have any damn idea what she’s up to now, but whatever it is, its not leading anywhere near a surprise party, that’s for sure.”
And then, amidst a sudden gust of wind and dust, the four of them disappeared just like their master.
Source - HTLNBlog