This is getting old and so are you
Everything you know and never knew
Will run through your fingers just like sand
Enjoy it while you can
crash
At first, all Jin could hear was waves. He could hear them crashing up some nearby shore, but echoed differently in the endless blackness. Something was off. Some shape. Jin opened his eyes wide.
Crash.
Sudden light, though not nearly as bright as a beach should be. Cave. He must be in a cave. He could see black words painted on large patch of white paint on stone before him as a distance. Ceiling. Jin was on his back. He was in that cave. Crash.
Jin laid flat on his back staring saucer-eyed at the ceiling while a phrase repeated itself in his mind over and over,
the moon and stars are together again at last
He looked at the carvings on the ceiling– they appeared to be Greek, a language he didn't know. That phrase… he was sure that’s what they said– he was certain of it.
Jin became aware of his body’s configuration. Crash. He laid straight, legs straight, left arm flat, almost against his body. His right are… where was his right arm? He tried moving those fingers. Something soft and cool. Crash. Jin turned his head to his right, spotting his right paw immediately. It was resting in a small patch of daisies juxtaposed against the barren dirt floor. This was his first glimpse of the cave floor and side wall. Now he could see the cave’s unusual shape. Dome-like. A stone bubble. It was in fact that damn cave. Crash.
Beyond his arm, his eyes followed the cave wall and saw where it opened to a mouth over a deeper area of the cavern. Underneath the waves crashing, Jin could hear water flowing– a different water. A river. Something sharp ripped through his mind. A task? No, a memory. Something happened– oh, God, something just happened.
No… God, no…
His eyes focused on the white form beyond the daisies. It just happened. Oh, God… Crash.
Jin leapt up, ignoring the oncoming headache as blood rushed around in him. He scurried to the vague shape under the white sheet.
…no…
A small pathetic cry burst from him. He knew who it was, he just couldn't find the words. The slight breeze from the cave entrance caused ripples of cloth to tease the shape of the body underneath. The small body. God, no…
Jin could feel the warmth running down his cheeks; he wasn't even aware he’d been crying.
send my body back
Jin sobbed a bit. Crash. He painfully lifted the body. So light. So heavy. The water felt cold to his fingers as he laid the body in the water. His headache was gone. He continued the task at paw. Floating the body in the current, Jin reached up and opened the cloth to reveal the face. That little face. So beautiful, though now lifeless. Crash.
Jin ran fingers gently down the side past the closed eyes and round the chin under the closed mouth. So cold. All for him. He let himself cry out loud.
Can’t believe this happened. All for me.
can’t believe, can’t believe.
More tears, more sobs. Crash. The body grew distant. Distant, distant, gone. He reached up to wipe his face, but realized his right sleeve had been completely disintegrated. He sobbed through this slight paused and wiped his eyes with his left sleeve, still intact. He swallowed his sobs and cleared his throat. He knew what he had to do. He stood up and turned.
Bright. The cave mouth was bright. Crash. He stood in the entrance. Warm, sea air rushed lazily past him. His fingers ran across the cave wall on his right. They fell into small depressions. Carvings. Before he looked at them, Jin knew what they were– another phrase.
i am a lonely soul
Crash. Glancing at the letters through the glare of the outside, be could tell they were Latin– another language with which he was unfamiliar. His fingers fell away and Jin walked outside. His toes hit warm sand. His fur ruffled with a fresh sea breeze. The sun, or whatever it was, shone through a clear sky. Jin wasn't sure exactly what color the sky was anymore. The beach surrounded him on all sides, save the cave behind him. He knew what had happened.
The other small islands in the water poking out through the endless blue before him were all he could see forever. These islands had what looked like tall, black spokes on their outer rims in uneven portions. Some were closer.
The ruins of some structure jutted out from the crashing waves– wood beams soaked and rotting. Upon these beams, the spokes were more apparent: tall, black figures like pelicans, but with long, straight, sharp beaks and hollow, black eyes that all seemed able to focus on Jin. He could feel their stares, their cold stares. They gently swayed in the wind, almost contemplating.
He knew what had to be done. Crash. His mouth opened as two words came out.
somnium in.
With a new face,
you might surprise yourself
to be continued
