Chapter One

On the coast, everything was perfect. The sky met with the sea, the sand swept about the shores, and our love floated in small motes upon the air. It was like poetry, the way the sun shone upon the reflecting waters and upon her deep eyes. It was the right place, the perfect place for love. Little did we know, it was the wrong time.


Zack's eyes seemed to stare into her soul. Aris's eyes seemed to reflect the sea. The moment was one of complete simplicity, of that kind of perfection you only held once in a lifetime. It was that feeling that could stop time once it grew strong enough, once you savored it for so long. The ocean seemed to capture them in a deep, fragile lapping, the picture ready to break apart any second. The intensity swelled with each passing moment, creating more of that special aura pulsating from their two souls together. Aris couldn't take is anymore. And Zack knew it.

His arms lifted around her shoulders, and she was leaning into his caress, and everything disappeared except for that growing intensity between their lips, shimmering down their bodies. The moon seemed to glow upon their frames, creating a dim spotlight across the wet sand. The sweat from the warm night and the water droplets from the soft waves made them gleam, one beautiful creature forming, growing together. Nothing could of been better than those emotions becoming one, creating a perfect elixir that left them both breathless. It was as if each was essential for the other.

And then they were pulling away and staring into each other's eyes again, that smug smile sitting in every pupil, a contentedness settling upon the scene that could never exist in any other circumstance. It was an explosion of calm and tranquil fondness. Just as the feeling settled, another explosion arose in an orange glow with a roar of sudden hostility, leaving ghostly yellow gleaming across their faces.

Chapter Two

It was beautiful in a way, the golden shrapnel cutting through the thickness, the bronze waves raising above the Earth. As the glass held the bright fiery colors, they drifted towards my eyes in a slow haziness, although I knew they were speeding at me, about to slice my skin and bury into my flesh, like jagged rocks in still waters. I was sure no one had ever saw such dangerous, strict beauty. It was an ice cold kind of beautiful, even though all I could feel was heat.

The fire was billowing up from the water, sending slick, sharp creatures out from beneath it's bright clouds. Zack cringed back, grabbing Aris's shoulders, but she only stared deep into the flames in a kind of stunned awe. And then everything was burning, and there was the smell of singed hair, the smoke from steaming skin, the screams from the heat. The feeling of dying love in the air. All that was racing through Zack's mind were the remnants of that one kiss- his first and last - and how that feeling would never be with him again. Aris's mind had pushed those thoughts far away. She was taken by the imminent something of the fiery skies and waters, the way it moved around them and seared their bodies. Once more they molded into one, huddled together in a burning ball of flame. And in a way, those last few seconds were almost as perfect as the moment before.
Chapter Three

The darkness was vast and spacious, but at the same time it suffocated me. It was humid and heavy, as if it were a dampened blanket wrapping around my form, a fabricated anaconda devouring my very being. It was holding me firmly in place as something beckoned me from beyond. I suddenly felt a deep want inside my soul, a longing for the entity calling from beyond the black mass of nothing. But I could not move, and was left alone to fold in upon myself until a scene bloomed from the terrifying dark. A lonely twisting stream started to flow into my veins.


Aris felt the pain fade away, and everything became still. She had no recognition of her eyes opening, but suddenly she was seeing. Yet everything was a haze, a blur of black space that surrounded her. Then smoky fibers seemed to take her body in a chokehold, paralyzing her. Around her, she felt an uncomfortable hotness that seemed to invade her heart and lungs. She felt warmth, light and sunny, unlike the humidity of the black robe squeezing her. It seemed to emanate from something just out of sight and reach. Her mind immediately ached for the pleasure of the greatness that floated somewhere in the eternity of darkness.

Zack was choking and sputtering, but could force no sound from his voice. But the tightening lessened until it had disappeared, and a scene started to unfold before his eyes. In the back of his mind he thought he heard a scream, high and rigid but faint in his ears. He was suddenly lost in a thin stream that seemed to flow into him, giving him a refreshing breath as it panned out. It shifted into a babbling brook, then grew bigger. It was now a churning river of white rapids, and Zack almost sunk to the bottom by the waves that looked eerily like hands when he was tugged away by an icy cold grip. As he turned upon the bank, he came face to face with a hooded figure. A shifting face, sometimes a cow skull, sometimes human.

Aris broke one hand free from the smoke and reached out. Barely visible, a deep black satin hand seemed to swipe out towards her, grasping the air. Aris felt a chill run down her spine. This thing was not what it seemed to be. But she thrashed against the grayness, tearing it away in long wisps. She grew exhausted though, sweating and adding to her hot misery. She fell, defeated, and let the smoke devour her figure.

Zack did not scream or back away from the creature. It was oddly comforting. It seemed to inspect him for a moment with its empty sockets, then held out it's hand towards the wide, treacherous river. Out of the grass grew long, white twigs of ivory that spun together until they formed a great white bridge. The creature looked grimly at Zack and pointed its scythe across to the land ahead. Zack nodded and started toward the bridge.

She saw bland, drab colors. Then she felt the freezing waters and broke through the surface of the water. Rain pelted her, slanted from the strong gales of wind. barely noticeable through the rain, there was a stark white face that passed in and out of sight. Staring, Aris felt a jerk. Before she could grasp the muddy shore, her head was under the icy ocean, and something was holding her down. Water washed through her lungs, burned them. Icy cold turned to searing hot. But just as she was about to black out, something grasped her and threw her onto the muddy ground. A decaying skull wriggling with maggots stared at her, then the figure it belonged to pointed a long, sharp scythe towards the water. A dark, grey bridge, splintery and old, sprung into the downpour. With no other way to go, she trudged onto its old, decaying boards.

For Zack, the stroll across the bridge was short. The bridge was firm, the world surrounding him beautiful, and when he reached a misty vail, he walked through with no hesitation. Aris seemed to trudge on for hours, the boards breaking beneath her and shadows flickering around her. She reached a dark cave, and could barely bring herself to go forward. But she pushed through and came out the other side.
End of One