(August, 2075)
'I wonder what Hell looks like… Would it be flames and brimstone? Endless torment? Would it be nothing? Or… is this Hell?'
Lavender eyes took in the world around her. It was red. Beautiful landscapes shaded with black shadows, what was supposed to be a sparkling ocean - replaced with the color of the midnight sky.
The world was painted by a blood red moon, hanging high within a pitch black sky. Darkened further by blackened storm clouds heavy with rain.
When the first roar sounded, the earth shook. Mountains crumbled into the blackened ocean that rose to meet and engulf the massive boulders...
'Is this hell?'
***
"Miss Whitman, would you be so kind as to recite the last words of The Beast?" Myriah Whitman, an olive skinned, black haired girl yawned quietly as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stood. Blinking the odd dream away, she blindly grabbed the unopened book on her desk. With a glance at the whiteboard at the front of the classroom, Myriah flipped to the poem in question.
"Kaṭōkkiṉ nampikkai"
Wide eyes, shielded by black sunglasses stared at the two words that seamed to spell finality for her. 'Should it look like this?' She wondered as she held the book at arms length then brought it back into her line of vision. Checking the board again, she confirmed that she was on the right page. As she was about to read, the teacher spoke up again:
"Please remove your sunglasses." The elder woman asked in gentle tones. With a sigh, Myriah removed her sunglasses to reveal inhuman lavender eyes. Often mistaken as the color of rain.
She blinked as the bright lights of the classroom assaulted her vision. "Please remove the ear buds as well, Miss Whitman." The teacher murmured. Myriahs arms lifted begrudgingly as she slowly removed the buds from her ears to be bombarded with noise. She would dare to say that she could hear everyone in the school.
Myriah would dare to conclude that she was beginning to lose her mind; after all how is it humanly possible to hear so much noise? She stood 5'4", slender and awkwardly beautiful with almond shaped eyes that gave way to a narrowed button nose and shapely lips.
The teenager took a deep breath to center and calm herself. 'Just get through the reading…' she chanted internally. 'But how am I supposed to read such strange looking words? Do I have the right book? Everyone else's books look the same…'
"Are you lost, Miss Whitman?" The teacher asked when moments passed and Myriah had yet to read. Myriah took another deep breath and gathered herself. She willed her heart to slow down lest she pass out, and she prayed that no one could see her shaking hands.
'My lack of composure would displease my father…'
Myriah looked at the poem and resolved to read the moving words to the best of her ability.
'I can do this.' She chanted in her head. 'I will do this.'
"No, Ma'am. I apologize for the delay." Myriah murmured in low tones.
The teacher gestured for her to begin.
Myriah took a deep breath and she cleared her throat. With new resolve, she looked at the open book in her hands and started to read:
"Tukkattal alukiratu (grief stricken cries)
Iravu Velariniruttam (strike the night)" The classroom was eerily quiet as Myriah read. Her voice resembled honey, smooth and sweet.
Gently paced as she read the first stanza.
"(ena) nalliravu vanattiliruntu ti vilukiratu ((as) fire falls from midnnight skies)
Kopam civappu nira kankalai nukarum (fury consumes crimson red eyes)"
Myriah took a moment to look up from the poem to see the classroom bathed in red. 'Just like my dream...' when she looked at the text again, her breath hitched. Instead of the poem she saw her earlier dream, pitch black skies with tumbling thunder clouds. Crumbling mountains being consumed by midnight waves...
'Why is this happening? Am I still dreaming?' Myriah tried not to let her anxiety show as she heard herself still reading the poem from the book in her hands. But her eyes saw something else. Something that filled her heart with pain,.
Lost in her dream, Myriah blindly continued to read:
"Kopam en eluttu urivait turitiyatu (anger fueled by writhing mewls)
Tavarana vakkurutikal palivankum nakaikalai uruvakkukinrana
(Mistaken promises make vengeful jewels)
Tavarana nampikkaiyai verukkattakka kumattai celavitukiratu
(Mislead trust coats hateful lust)
Civappu nira karikal katalikka mutiyatavai... (Crimson red eyes unyielding to love)"
Silent tears slid down Myriahs cheeks as she concluded the second stanza, internally praying it all came together. The words, though complex looking were unusually easy to read. Perhaps all of those years of linguistic tutoring is paying off... The playful thought was forced to the side by the images - countless death and needless bloodshed...
'… why though?'
The sight made Myriahs chest clench painfully, but she paid it no mind. This was not the time or place to allow the chaos that plagued her heart and mind to show.
"Appavi alaku. Kaivitappatta irattam (innocent beauty. Forsaken blood)
capikkappatta - Mele vanam (cursed be - the heavens above)
Mutal muccukku mun tirutappatta valkkai (stolen life before first breath)
Kirimcan civappu kankal mmaranankalai cariceyya piccai ketkinrana
(Crimson red eyes beg deaths mend) ... "
If anything else was on the text, it was lost to Myriah who was now completely frozen.
She felt a ghost of a caress on her forehead. 'There is no one in front of me…' Slowly, hesitantly, she dared to lift her head from the book in her hands, 'why would I feel anything on my head?' With a startling clatter, the book fell from her trembling hands as a startled gasp escaped her lips.
Lavender eyes were wide in terror as golden eyes glared into hers. She knew this appration was not real. She knew that this was in her head. The creature of feverish dreams. Wretched nightmares which plagued her even when awake.
'Are you the devil…?' Myriah wondered as she stared into the golden irises.
'Has the devil finally come for me?'
The blood red pupils seamed to bathe the classroom in red with midnight colored shadows... 'just like my dream…'
Myriah thought as dread kept her frozen in place. 'Will I ever wake up from this dream?'
She dared to wonder as those angry golden eyes glared into her own.
Seeing,
Knowing,
Calling…
'it hurts to breathe….' Memories blurred about her as her world started to tilt and spin.
'W-what is this?'
Myriah could see the black beginning to coat her vision as the monsters breath seamed to burn and suffocate her.
"W - no - i-I-i-" Her words were lost to her as the monsters' eyes seamed to consume her whole visual field.
'What is happening?'
A growl rumbled from the creature, and silver smoke seamed to dance around Myriahs trembling form… 'I-I can't breathe…it's so hot…'
"Eluntiru ilainane." The monster growled in a deep rumbling voice.
And Myriahs world went black.