Welcome to Valerian Night, where the story comes to you in snippets and snatches, snapshots and slivers of 300 words every week. Your input is valued and needed, for what you say may drive the story into a totally different direction. Follow the meandering coils of story that take Alyxa Fairchild onto a direct collision course with Nightmares, Dreams, Old Deities and New Heroes as her world collides with that of Réveille, the land of Waking Dreams and Dead Gods. Trail after Morpheus as he discovers the foibles and confusions of the human world and finds himself strangely enamoured thereof all the while trying to keep his Dreamer safe and ensure the continued peace of the Real World. Let the young Jazzy open your eyes and show you that the world you see is not necessarily the world you know...

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

LXXVI: Guide

It was deliciously warm, and dry, and she was so hungry. Thirsty too. Amy sat up. She was lying on moss that was growing on rock. She was in a cave, everywhere she looked there were those things that grew from the roof and grew from the floor, here and there they had formed gigantic pillars, holding up the cavern roof. She blinked, suddenly realising that she could see quite clearly. There was no light source, unless you counted the fact that the ground and walls gave off a pale white glow. It was really pretty.

“Are you awake then, girl?” a voice asked her, making her start.

She looked around and felt her eyes nearly drop out of her head when she saw what she could only assume was a skeleton.

“’s not nice to stare.”

“Sorry. I’ve...just never seen a talking skeleton before.”

“Name’s Chiron,” the skeleton told her, adjusting the black cloth he had wrapped around his bony shoulders.

“I’m Amy, I’m looking for my friends,” Amy replied, and then remembered she was suppose to say something, “and I’m of the Living World.”

Chiron chuckled.

“I’m not gonna be keepin’ you here, girl, I just ferry people across the river when it’s time, they’s that pay. Used to anyhow, but those days ‘r long past now that there’s a new Prince on the Plutonic Throne.”

“I’d like to go to him, he knows where my friends are,” Amy said.

“Best to leave the Morning Star be, girl, he’s not to be trifl’d with.”

“I promised.”

If a skeleton could ever be described as thoughtful, now would be the right moment.

“Well, seein’ as you’re not dead ‘n I haven’t got a job to do no more, guess I’ll be y’r escort.”

Amy’s face brightened.

“Thank you, Chiron.”

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