When one door closes....

Subject: When one door closes.... Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:22 am

A stray breeze teased a lock of hair back from the woman’s cheek as she sat on her patio in the gathering evening. The house was quiet, which was something she both enjoyed and yet still found disquieting. She was alone so often these days. As her children had grown and developed lives of their own they spent more and more time away from home. She was proud of them, they were very self sufficient and outgoing. The one thing she hadn’t counted on was how it would feel when they no longer needed to depend on her as much as they had when they were little. Lately she had been thinking about what she would do with the rest of her life. She was still young-ish, at least in terms of today’s life expectancies. She didn’t feel old anyway. Surely there were still a million possibilities ahead of her.

A soft warm body brushed against her leg and a soft meow warned her just before the sleek black form leapt into her lap. Two paws rested on her chest and greenish-gold eyes gazed into hers inquisitively.

“Well, hello your majesty….” The woman murmured softly, her hand coming up to automatically stroke silky fur. “I haven’t seen you all day. What have you been up to?”

The feline nudged the top of his head against her chin and purred contentedly before he hopped down and stalked off toward the house. Even he didn’t seem to need her very much anymore. The flap of the cat door seemed loud in the evening quiet and once again she was alone. She sighed deeply and the sound seemed to echo back at her on the breeze.

A glint of light caught her eye and she turned her head toward the source. In one corner of the patio she had created a kind of stone fountain. Circulating water trickled down some smooth river rocks that she had arranged and pooled in the concrete basin of an old birdbath and round again. Standing sentinel on the highest rock was a small stone statue, a gargoyle with its wings extended. Perhaps it was the light from a passing car glinting off the water….except that there was no traffic at the moment.

She stared into the dark corner not really able to see much more than shadowy outlines in the gathering dark. The air suddenly seemed charged with expectation and she found herself holding her breath…waiting. She felt a pressure behind her eyes and reached up to rub her temples gently. The headaches had been coming more and more frequently in the last month, each one leaving her feeling drained and weak, sometimes for days.

The glint came again. A dot of red glowing in the shadows. Laser pointer? She looked around wondering if any of the neighbor kids were messing about. When she looked back the color of the light had changed from red to blue and as she watched it faded from blue to green and then to a soft purple color. What on earth?

The woman leaned forward to investigate and gasped as a wave of weakness washed over her. Everything felt so heavy; her arms, her legs even her eyelids were becoming heavy. It was as if they were suddenly made from stone and too much for her to lift. She sat back in her chair and waited for the feeling to pass as it always did. Her eyes rested on the dark shape of her fountain and the strange colored light. Lights really, there were two now, right about where the head of her statue should be. The pressure in her head seemed to be increasing to a steady throb, keeping time with her heart beat. She felt so tired.

A strange odor registered in her mind causing her to think of a natural hot springs she had once visited. The water had been heavy with minerals, smelling dark and earthy. This scent was a bit more metallic, though, with a hint of something burning. She tried to turn her head to look around but just couldn’t summon the energy to do so.

The shadow of the fountain seemed to waver as she watched, stretch higher. It almost seemed as if the statue on top was spreading its wings and standing. The pinpoints of light winked out and then back on as if they were the gargoyles eyes blinking in the dark. The woman’s eyelids had grown so heavy that she could no longer keep them open and as they drifted shut she heard a sound like a soft hiss and then the rustle of wings.

Subject: .....Another Opens Wed Nov 05, 2008 8:01 am

In the darkness sounds wavered in and out. Voices….footsteps….doors opening and closing….sirens. Someone shined a bright light in her eyes, but she couldn’t flinch away. Her eyes stayed open once the lids were lifted and had to be closed by strange fingers.

“….we’ll know more once we get the results of the CT scan….”

The voice sounded muffled to her ears but she didn’t recognize the man talking.

“….possible aneurism….”

There were other murmured voices; one sounded like her mother telling her it was time to wake up. The woman struggled to move even a finger, but her body lay unresponsive and heavy….and yet….

Deep in her chest…in the space behind her breastbone…there was a pulling sensation. It felt as if a string were being pulled through her body, slowly drawing her upward and away. Was this how it felt to die? It wasn’t what she’d been told all of her life, or even how she’d read. There was no tunnel, no bright light, no welcoming loved ones. There was just this pull that was becoming more urgent by the second. It was as if she were needed elsewhere.

She felt a moment of excitement, on the edge of something new and amazing. She wanted to tell her family not to worry, she’d come back to them, but she couldn’t move and even then she wasn’t sure it would be the truth. The voices she could hear outside herself warped and faded becoming strange indistinct sounds that were soon overridden by a new sound. Was it wind...or water?

The sound increased to a roar, became a physical pressure on her body that she could feel. She wanted to cover her ears and scream into the maelstrom of sound, and suddenly realized that was exactly what she was doing…her voice had become the roar in her own ears as she screamed.

She closed her mouth and remained still for a moment, hands still covering her ears, eyes still closed as she just listened to the sound of her own quick breathing. Her senses began to pick up new scents, not the antiseptic smell of a hospital room, but the fresh clean scent of trees and grass and water. A gentle breeze brushed over her skin like a caress and slowly she lowered her hands from her ears, opened her eyes and looked up. The night sky opened up above her filled with a billion pinpoints of light. There was no moonlight at this hour, only the stars that twinkled and winked down at her.

As she turned her head something rustled behind her and brushed against her back. The woman jumped and turned quickly, and there was a sound like billowing sales. Muscles in her upper back moved, muscles she’d never felt before. She had turned in a full circle trying to see behind her before the ridiculousness of it all stuck her and she began to laugh. The sound had a slight hysterical note to it and she bent at the waist, bracing her hands on her knees as she struggled for control and to regain her breath.

It was the sight of her hands that finally ended her laughter. She remained as she was studying the hands that she could feel and touch with. They weren’t her hands at all. They were more slender, the fingers longer and tipped with long nails painted black. Nice effect, but her hands did not look like that. The skin was wrong as well. She slowly straightened and brought her hands up before her face. Even in the darkness she could see that her skin was a no longer sprinkled with freckles but was instead a smooth pale grey.

At that moment a crescent of moon rose somewhere behind her and her shadow was cast on the ground before her. She felt the muscles in her back flex again and saw two curved shadows rise and spread above her silhouette. She turned her head and looked over her shoulder at what appeared to be a large set of wings. Her muscles twitched and the wings rustled.

“Oh my god…” she whispered to herself.

Subject: Re: When one door closes.... Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:36 pm

Little Sister had risen, but Big Sister was yet to come. It was still relatively dark when a shape began to coalesce within the shadows of dunes, the sand drifting under a slight breeze on the clear night.

A shape over head blotted out the stars for a moment, but was soon gone again, all trace of the mysterious creature vanished.

A spot of darkness came towards her, thick and swirling, it was definitely something unnatural. As it came closer, the thickness wound away and a darker shadow was revealed.

Big Sister, much larger than its twin, rose then and the shadow vanished to reveal a woman swathed in heavy black. Her hair was a long line of black, so dark it appeared blue under the shining moonlight.

A black cloak billowed around the slim figure, with a dark dress clinging to the slender frame. Skin that shone like alabastor glowed from the wrists down and neck up. The woman seemed young, but not too young. There was an ageless quality, but the smile was warm and friendly.

"Welcome Stranger, to Illusion Vale. I'm Wraith." Her voice, feminine yet strong, soft yet carrying. There was an undertone of something else, however, something that put shivers on the skin.

Subject: Re: When one door closes.... Thu Nov 27, 2008 10:07 am

Wonders upon wonders, how was she to take it all in? The appearance of a second moon in the sky followed by a strange woman in black temporarily took her mind from the wings sprouting from her own back. She stared…she knew she did…but she couldn’t help it, the woman was beautiful.

"Welcome Stranger, to Illusion Vale. I'm Wraith."

“Th-thank you…” She stopped and took a breath. Her mouth opened and then closed again as no response came to her mind. She tore her gaze away from the woman and glanced again at the two moons in the sky. The wings on her back rustled as if in a breeze, but perhaps it was her own nervousness. “Illusion Vale…is that what this place is called? I’m not sure how I got here, things are kind of a jumble.”

She looked back at the woman, Wraith she said her name was…lovely name…lovely woman. Dark, mysterious, maybe a little dangerous? She shook her head to refocus and spread her hands out in front of her. A shrug and the large leathery wings spread fully. She could feel the night wind on them as if they were her own skin. She supposed that made sense, they did seem to be a part of her. So was she not in the hospital any longer, but in a totally different world or dimension or something. On top of that she wasn’t the dumpy, frumpy, nearing middle age housefrau she had been just a short time ago. She was….different. Not just in the body she now inhabited, but she felt different inside. Concentrating she flexed the new muscles in her shoulders and her wings gave a graceful downward sweep that nearly unbalanced her for a second. She grinned and turned back to Wraith.

“I have wings…” She laughed briefly as she fanned her wings a few more times to get the fell of them. “I’m not exactly human anymore am I?”

Subject: Re: When one door closes.... Fri Nov 28, 2008 6:44 am

Wraith didn't seem at all perturbed at the woman's staring. She knew, deep inside, that she would give even more cause for the other to stare at her, just by answering her questions.

The woman swathed in black stood silently for a moment, studying the one with wings. Her ruby red lips twisted into a thoughtful smile and she fingered an errent strand of thread that had come loose at her sleeve.

She considered the other woman, as she tested her wings and the breeze wafted over the desert sands, stirring up whispers in the night. "No... I suppose not...." she said, her voice soft and lilting, as if she were trying to hide a laugh. It was not a cruel tone, just... an amused one.

"There is much to explain to you, Stranger," she emphasised the last word - she didn't mind it, really, but some people tended to forget to introduce themselves when they first got here. It was only natural, she supposed. But she couldn't help but politely remind them.

Wraith smiled and waved a hand at the night sky with its twin moons riding high, "I suppose those give our land away. You are in a world much different from your own, with creatures that no doubt are different as well." She broadened her smile and her beauty seemed to increase tenfold. But it was not mere prettiness. It was a deep, sensual allure that tugged at the back of the mind and set the hands itching to roam.

Yes, Wraith's Sexual Aura affected women as well.

Yet under that sensual beauty was something unmistakeably dark. Something that warned the mind not to partake of the feast before it, less it get poisoned. Her soft voice purred with a malice that seemed to take no effort, yet the smile took most of the sting away.

"I find, usually, that answering your own thought of questions a better way to introduce you to this world, rather than filling your head with meaningless information you do not want to hear." She beckoned, "I will take you to shelter - for if my guess is right, you will need to hide from the sun when it comes." Her smile dimpled, as if sharing a secret with the other woman that no-one else should know.

"While we walk, you may ask questions - and hopefully gain a better understanding of me, this world and even yourself."

Subject: Re: When one door closes.... Sat Nov 29, 2008 8:37 am

She studied Wraith for a moment longer before falling in step beside her. It wasn’t that she felt Wraith was safe exactly, she was sure Wraith could be very dangerous if she chose to be, but she felt she could be trusted just the same.

She glanced down at her body curiously and saw that she was dressed rather scantily, well to her old way of thinking at least. Her upper body was wrapped in some sort of halter style top, she raised her hands and explored the neckline confirming that it tied behind her neck leaving her back bare. Well, that made sense, kept her clothing out of the way of her wings. The top left her midriff bare and for a second she covered her stomach with her hands before remembering this wasn’t the same body she was used to. She didn’t have a six pack, but her belly was firm enough with just a hint of roundness. She watched the strange fingers that were hers splay out and slip down to her waist and rest at her hips. They flared nicely, reminding her of the 50’s pin-up models she had always admired. A long length of cloth hung low on her waist, a skirt of sorts that seemed to be slit up either side allowing her legs to move freely. She could catch glimpses of her thighs as she walked. She shook her head and glanced back at Wraith a little self-consciously. Without even thinking about it she drew her new wings in around her forming a kind of cloak so that she seemed to be dressed similarly to Wraith.

“Forgive me,” she said with a bit of a chuckle in her tone. “I’m just not feeling like myself right now.”

She continued walking a few more feet then her natural curiosity took over.

“I can accept that I am not in my own world anymore, from what I remember of my last moments there that chapter of my life was closing.” She felt her eyes well at the thought of those she had left behind, and she wondered if she would ever find a way to let them know she was alright. If she could travel here there had to be a way to at least get a message back. She added that to the list of questions she was compiling in her head.

“This is all rather exciting really…new world…new body…new life…” She paused and then took a deep breath as a pang gripped her heart. She blinked away the sting in her eyes and cleared her throat. “I think that in honor of that a new name is in order.”

She stopped in her tracks and turned toward Wraith extending her hand with a confidence she didn’t entirely feel. A name had come to her, a name that belonged to a character from a dream she once had, a name she would now claim for her own.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Wraith….my name is Dracona.”

Subject: Re: When one door closes.... Tue Dec 02, 2008 10:19 am

Wraith raised an eyebrow at the name that was proffered. She knew that many who came here did not use their first names, she herself was one of them. They were usually rather accurate or massaged their previous egos, but as she took a long considering look up and down Dracona's figure - something she did little to disguise - she realised that this name was perfect. The flash of her pearly whites in a friendly smile added to her approval.

She grinned, "A fitting name. Welcome, Dracona."

Wraith looked up at the progress of the Sisters above and through years of practice judged the night to be around 9pm. There was still time to get Dracona to shelter before sunrise.

"May I ask where you came from before this? Before here?"