A Fool's Goddess - Chapter Seventeen
I didn’t notice when the gentle hands of sleep pulled me into unconsciousness. I was awake one moment, then I was dreaming.
This normally wouldn’t be anything I’d give a second thought to. People dream every night, of course. Yet this was different. I was completely aware that I was in a dreaming, fully cognizant that I was treading the realm of fantasy and illusion. Even as my senses were filled with sights and sounds that didn’t exist, I understood the cause of such phantasms.
But, more importantly, I recognized the dreamscape.
I was on top of a mountain, looking over a sea of clouds at sunset. A stream was bubbling next to me and I could hear its water freely run along the side of the mountain. I was seated on boulder, gazing upon a horizon that beautifully transitioned from gold to obsidian while stars glittered in the evening sky. It was a scene I had memorized years ago and continued to see everyday.
I was on the mountain in Tornara’s portrait.
I was not confused nor left in disbelief. Surprised maybe, but certainly far from unhappy. To be in the place I had wished to visit for so many years was indescribably fulfilling. I was satisfied to my core, whole and content.
I could feel that this was not the Pleasant Lands, that I was still very much alive. I intrinsically understood that this was a vision granted to me by the one closest to my heart. Without hearing a word, I knew that Tornara had chosen to bless me with this experience.
Whether it was a gift, a message, or just a passing whim did not matter to me. She could have intended for this be some sort of punishment and I would still be glad to receive it. She had spoken to me in her way. What more could a mortal ever wish for?
I was, in a word, complete.
For a time, I simply stared out at the sea of clouds and the twilight sky. I was overjoyed to be blessed with such a vision. Tornara’s domain was truly divine, yet my unworthy eyes were leering at it. It was both sacrilegious and unavoidable, an act someone as weak as me could not hope to stop. I wanted to take in as much as I could before I woke up.
However, my focus was shattered when I heard a voice.
When I heard her.
She giggled, a polite, endeared laugh. The sort of laugh one makes when they see someone close to their heart act in a silly manner.
I turned to the source of that laugh.
I don’t know how long she had been there. I was alone when I first looked around, but now she was seated beside me, within arms reach. Sitting to my right was my beloved Goddess.
Tornara, the Goddess of the Afterlife.
As I had seen her so many times before, she was again dressed in that flowing blue garb. Gold jewellery adorned her body, crowned at the top with her shining circlet. Her dark indigo hair cascaded down behind her and flowed onto the boulder. She looked at me with her beautiful eyes, those magnificent pools of viridian. Smiling, she held a hand up in front of her mouth as if to hide her earlier laughter. Her other hand rested on her lap as she sat there so daintily.
I was at a loss for words.
In the moment I needed them more than ever, words failed me. I was completely speechless. Seeing Tornara, my Goddess, my love next to me so clearly and perfectly, it was not something a human heart could easily recover from. I forgot every other part of my existence in that moment, and I sought only to gaze upon her.
She giggled again before setting her hand on top of the other on her lap, still smiling that familiar, welcoming smile.
“Good evening, my unfailing adherent… my sublime artist… my beloved Lior…” she lilted with a voice that could have belonged to no other.
I felt myself take in a breath to speak.
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