The fire burns brightly, flickering wildly like an enraged beast.

The shadows dance off the walls with a rhythmic flow.

To and fro.

Every stomp flicking red sand and ashes up around me. Rumbling in my chest, the same pulsating drum beat. My mouth is dry, but my face is wet.

Still, no moisture finds my lips.

I turn, becoming aware of movement behind me. And from the shadows, a warm breath grazes my cheek. I turn my gaze toward the glowing embers before me. I see a figure in the flames.

A woman.

She is standing in the fire.

Her palms raised.

Her eyes ablaze.

"Our soul." She says, reaching out to me and stepping out from the flames. "...is dying."

She kneels gripping me to settle opposite her.

"See this?"

She traces her fingers over my scars lightly and carefully. Her beautiful face cringes in pain.

Fresh wounds tear into her arms, and she whispers,

"...this nearly took us away."

She allows a single tear to slip down her cheek.

A single silver tear.

"We are broken, my love," she says to me.

I can see the flames dancing in her eyes as she looks at me.

She places a soft, warm kiss on my lips.

Oh, how it lingered.

She whispers now, into my ear.

"...but we still know how to love."

With that she got up, leaving me kneeling in the dust.

I stood up, feeling the ash between my toes and the warmth from embers slowly fading. The dawn seemed to claim the beasts for slumber.

And my soul had sentenced me to life.

12_04_2018

excerpt from my dream journal.