Seth Wakes Up

[nocturnalhippy.livejournal.com]

 This dream was different, the colours, the textures, the crumbling earth between his fingers and toes. It all seemed so... real?
He ran his fingers along the ground, grasping a handful of dry dead soil. He felt the weight of it as it slipped through his fingers and laughed. It was a laugh to shake the dust from the lungs; it began as a rattle and ended with a knowing smile.
Stretching out his arms, an action performed out of tradition rather than need, he felt bones click and tendons popping into place. He felt, for want of a better word, alive. His clothes had turned to little more than rags, no matter; new ones would soon be taken. 
Seth crawled out of the darkness and for a moment, he turned, looked back into the gloom then waved farewell to what was lost. What lay before him was the future, the future and flames.
Something was wrong, the sky itself seemed to burn with an orange hue. Fate was cruel indeed to rouse him so close to the dawn. No, not the dawn but a fire, the sky all aflame. The familiar smell of smoke and sulphur reached him, but there was something more, things he did not understand.
Perhaps then the puritans had been right and judgement day had come at last, the world was soaked in strange alchemies, the stink of industry and rot. Seth was a practical man, he would see to it that he died with a full belly and the devil take the rest.
Bare feet found a road, not a dirt track but a great stone thing, stretching out forever. What wonders had arisen in his slumber?
A noise. A roar like some great beast. The smell of flesh but masked by metal and more of the strange burning scent. Seth turned and looked towards a bright blinding light. A split second of surprise and alas that was all it took. Hot metal met dead flesh and suddenly he was tumbling through the air.
Not the warmest of welcomes, he thought to himself as he heard the sickening crack of bone splintering. Yet despite the pain he smiled, his fingers tracing the ugly scar that ringed his neck. A poor start but then he had had worse.
   

Comments

[connororeilly.livejournal.com]

is it bad that I'm hearing Seth's Yorkshire accent when reading this. Awesome little character piece.

[nocturnalhippy.livejournal.com]

Nay lad 'tis better with my dulcet tones.