Drip Drip Drop

Drip Drip Drop

Drip Drip Drop

All Laura could hear was the gentle fall of water. The dripping drops made such a musical sound she wondered if, in reality, there were no drops but an actual artist pronouncing the syllables to match the sound of dripping waters instead.

Her eyes were heavy. Nonetheless, she forced them open to see a huge void surrounding her. There were no drops nor the skillful singer anywhere to be seen. The voice was gone. The void also felt heavy. A sense of extreme despair veiled over her thoughts the moment she'd seen the inescapable reach of the void.

Fighting against the overwhelming darkness, Laura focused her mind to think. To think of anything. Anything other than the void or the emptiness or the darkness. No thought however surfaced in her drowning mind. She remembered no past, she had no present and neither did she feel convinced of having a future. All her life seemed to have originated from this void and would ultimately reunite with the nothingness here. Being born from the nothing and having merged with the nothing at the end of all time, her memory was nothing.

Remembering nothing, able to think only of nothing, she began to feel truly lost and helpless. A sense of unexplainable dread and fear encroached her. And yet her eyes could shed no tears. Her only comfort was that nothing stirred in the nothingness. Soon even she couldn't stir in the nothingness. A realization of her essence merging with the void struck her. All her senses began to fade like her memory or knowledge or even the ability of thinking. Soon she wouldn't be able to distinguish herself from the immense void surrounding her. The nothingness was swallowing her, slowly, bit by bit. Or she was swallowing the nothingness. It was hard to tell. For her essence was herself and so was the nothingness. Two sides of the same coin, one conscious of all, one the all knowing unconscious, the void.

Yet Laura couldn't help but struggle against the nothingness. She was not yet ready to merge with the nothingness. She was not yet ready to let herself lead into nothingness.

Her life had a purpose and unless the purpose was done, she couldn't sink further. And yet she kept on sinking further.

"What's happening to me?" She shouted. No word however left her pale lips. The gift of speech was already stolen from her.

Yet her helpless call did not go unanswered.

Drip Drip Drop

Drip Drip Drop

Drip Drip Drop

The voice, as a distant memory, again materialized in the emptiness veiling her. For once a hope of survival rekindled in her vading essence. The dripping sound continued and grew stronger. It was then she realized the thought of the sound being that of a highly talented singer was not wrong. The approaching sound indeed seemed like that of a singer.

Soon the darkness before Laura started shimmering. Grey streaks zapped everywhere around her, turning brighter and whiter. They gathered to form a figure of intense light and energy. The brightness soon settled revealing a lady. A ghostly aura shrouded her and the void no longer seemed frightening.

She had misty eyes. Her face was long and solemn, yet strangely pretty and familiar. Perhaps it was the kindness and warmth that radiated through her eyes that made her seem so divine and beautiful. Her lips were dark red, the only color that wast on her other than white. Her hair were silver and white, brighter than Laura's, so long and majestic that they shrouded her back and reached right until her feet, brushing the plane beneath. She wore a gown, again white. Strangely enough, the gown was torn at hems. She wore no piece of jewellery; there were no necklaces, no ornament to align the river of silver-white hair, nothing but a big pearl ring sitting proudly on her index finger. Even her skin color was whiter than the ones Laura had ever seen. They radiated a strangely comforting vibe.

"There's nothing to worry, dear. You are falling. You are vading. Reuniting with your true essence you are, dear. This void is you. Embrace it with a frightless face." She said in a very soft and soothing voice. A strange sympathy echoed in her insisting voice.

"It's near, Laura, not very near, but near indeed. Your demise is near. Before long you'll be dead. With that, your void shall vade. And new void shall take birth in your fading essence. That of mine."

The voice changed into a call of a raven. The raven's tongue was obviously beyond her level of understanding though strangely enough it's sound reached her heart. It was a sound she was to worry about. Yet it was a sound she was not  to fear.

"Who are you?" She asked. Timidity wavered Laura's voice before it could reach the source of the sound. Yet it did.

"Ask yourself, dear. Ask yourself who I am, or who you are. I am you, and you are a part of me. I'm the eternal void that gave birth to yours. And now I'm only seeking what was promised to me." The voice echoed in the darkness.

"Anahita?" Laura asked with her eyes widened and stretched.

"Yes indeed. I'm Anahita, the Angel's Moon and I seek a permission of yours. Your call shall save a few lives, few truly important lives today or perhaps perish them all. I was once an angel, I could read fate. But now I'm a fallen one. The gift is taken from me. All I can do now is try my best so everyone survives and that I'm doing. That attempt however asks your assistance too."

"For that you must embrace the void, you must accept death. But I do promise this shall not last  too long. You'll live again and I'll hide in the deeper void yet another time."

"To save all the people you know from the terrible play of the fates and god, do you allow me to gain control of your body, mind and soul? All I ask is for a YES."

Laura was deeply puzzled by all of this. It was the first time she'd heard of the existence of the Angel's Moon. To accept death and let her gain control of her essence was perhaps a stupidity. Yet she couldn't help but think otherwise. The void must've had taken her ability of thinking after all.

"Yes." She whispered.

For once, nothing happened. Then everything happened at once.

The form of Anahita glowed more silver and stronger. It soon faded and the darkness around seemed more threatening all of a sudden. The void no longer felt like the earlier void. It grew much denser, much darker, and truly frightening. Swirls of darkness formed all over this dark existence. They materialized into shapes of snakes. The snakes of darkness began to slither all over and towards Laura. As they grew closer, their form grew huger and huger while her mind would quake with unimaginable fear.

Before long, thin and thick, all kinds of snakes of darkness were all over her. They tore through her clothes and skin, slithered over her bones and ribs. They were all over. And yet that wasn't all that scared Laura. When the snakes tore through her heart, there was nothing there, no flesh, no blood, but only a gaping hole, a smaller void in this bigger one.

She had no soul.

Then, in an instant, the darkness devoured the whole of her.

■□■

A very short chapter. But an important one. Don't worry, I've no plans of postponing Sebastian's battle. What more? As it is quite obvious, Anahita will also participate in the battle. Will Delroy call one of his mates also? And would the Dead King Art kill Sebastian? Not to mention that mysterious man Pamela came with. And, well, did I mention a strange term in this chapter. Angel's Moon was it? XD

I hope you are enjoying the plot ^_^