Part I:

I descended...
Down into those dark, colde waters I descended with the tears of the Uncrowned King burning through my veins, scorching the pitiful remains of my sanity. I descended down into the nativital waters of the earth, and though my limbs knew better than to thrash, for all physical struggling for me now was over, my mind reeled with what I might find in the deeps. During my tyme in the grey keep I had heard tales of those who survived such journeys, and it was known that for ages before the walls first rose, many cultures had dedicated the bodies of fallen warriors and their royal deceased to the waters of the silver sea, the seas of crystal and fire. I must assume my eyes were open for this descent, but as there was no light in this part, I had no reference for the tyme it took to reach the places below.

Soon enough though, with the potent draught still in me, my isolated and frayed senses began to create forms and shadows to fill the empty spaces. It was horrid to see or imagine the waters of this place filled with the most terrific shapes of animals sprung from corruption. Of wings and claws there were without number, and I was amazed at the plethora of eyes...their contour and colour alluding to things poets and prophets spoke of in whispers high atop the sacred hills in the forest of the night-haunts. I saw the tails and limbs of creatures unwrit in any manuscript, beings that had peopled the worlde in ages long forgotten and best left in this tomb. Down I descended past all their reachings and glares, but ever were their cries and flailings close about me. All around me were the terrible cries of djinn and lilim, the insatiable and mournful howls of things that would be denied physical being until this worlde was unmade and the gates to this, their unholy confinement loosed that they might once more reign.

I descended down past them, until at length my eyes caught a dim shading that was not the glint of fang or eye, and soon enough I found myself sinking past strange towers and spires, all half-illuminated by the ghastly light of the underworlde. What strange suns or fires burn here to cause such lights may no living thing ever learn! At tymes I could see my reflection in windows and frames of stained glass, and I realised that I was beginning to fade, that my countenance was all ashen, and even though my hair streamed about me as I fell past grand and unimaginably ancient architecture, I could no longer feel it brushing against me. Slowly I realised I could not even feel the colde dead waters, that it seemed instead that I fell through some nethery heaven without wings. I closed my eyes against these things, and committed myself to whatever awaited me at the bottom...

* * *

I must have drifted into the soft arms of Hypnos and Somnia during my descent, for at length I awoke on what appeared to be a cobbled lane running between awesome towers and castle-like structures. They were all cast in haunting shades of purple and blue with the occasional reds and sickly greens reflected in the glass high above. There is no describing the method of construction these buildings seemed to follow, there was no overriding style or form, only the same repeated motifs of soaring walls and towers that bent and swayed in the gross illuminations of strange suns and fires. There were weird parapets and out-stretching lengths that I could only imagine have once served as bridges between these colossal monuments. Everywhere were signs of decrepitude: falling bricks and other stonework lay strewn about carelessly as if there were terrible storms even at this depths.

There were long cracks and fissures on many walls, and several of the towers and spires had been toppled as if in some long ago battle. Nowhere, though, could I find and sign of door or gate, or any means of entrance to these places. Who could know what secrets they held? Who would be willing to pay the tax of sanity and soul it would cost to know such things? It was with some horror and trepidation I realised I was holding my breath. Though I could still see my hair floating about in a tangled mass, and the dance-like swaying of sedge that grew in places between broken cobbles, I could no longer feel water about me as I struggled to stand. Shifting to a position where I knelt, I felt the burning feeling in my lungs from not having breathed in a long tyme. Panic began to set in, but I wondered, was this not the underworlde, and if I were here, what did I need of air and breathing?

Still though my lungs demanded this thing, and glancing about in this place that might be my last perception of this life should I drown now, I inhaled deeply. Air rushed into my body then, not the clean wholesome airs of the forest, nor the reeking stale breath of the tomb, this air smelled strongly of clay and the flinty scent of deserts. There was a bitter undercurrent of something that to me brought to mind several slow and gruesome poisons, and these memories set off again the pungent draught in my veins. I could feel its sorrow again, and suddenly it seemed as if the waters about me were filled with shimmering stars, all falling behind distant structures, passing through wall and tower, twirling overhead. These shining lights left sparkling tails across my vision, as comets left tails across a clear summer night sky.

As I watched their curious play about me, my eyes were drawn to the distant roof of this place. It was scarred horribly with suggestive caves and caverns that tunnelled and bore into the native rock at strange angles. The openings were wide, and seemed to drip darkness into this place. As the stars continued their plummeting, I watched in horror-filled fascination as great worm-like creatures began to crawl out of these caves. I could see faintly the starlight touching their pale, translucent flesh, and I could see their shadows dancing against the roof, and finally, I could see the bile that flowed forth from their terrible open maws. It was a blackness deeper than the shadows here, and seeing it I screamed for Death to take me. My cries must have been heard by them so far above, for soon enough they began howling themselves in fell voices that shook the very stones about me so much that masonry fell from high above.

I could see that some of the highest towers and spires were being splashed by that disgusting bile, and that upon contact the very stonework began to dissolve, and the long, slender towers began to crash. The thunderous roaring of the worm-creatures began rising to some sort of dirge-like crescendo, and they began flailing themselves in their caves. At the very thought that these terrible things might find some way to loose themselves, I lost my thin hold on consciousness and landed ungracefully once more upon the waiting cobblestones beneath me. Even in this place of death and insanity, I was caught in the nets my Muses cast, snaring me in dreams that were blissfully absent of worms and poisonous bile. Instead, I found myself in the strange city I had awoken before, though now it was not cast in dreary shades of purples and blues. There was no illumination of reds and sickly greens upon the windows and stained glass I saw about me.

I found myself in the dream of what this place must have been once, long ago, so long that no record or even myth of it existed with my people. We had considered ourselves ancient in the worlde, and thought we knew of its many pasts, but this was unknown even to us. Never had any dream or vision brought even the faintest hint of what this place and its people might have been, but I suddenly found myself in their midst. Instead of nethery darkness I found myself bathed in rich, vibrant sunlight. Having suffered in the shadows on immeasurable depths for so long I was blinded initially by the light, but soon enough my eyes adjusted to a most wondrous vision. All about me were bright colours, shining frames of stained glass that seemed to catch and play in the light of the sun, portraits of lourdes and ladies that were strange to me, though their forms were beautiful to behold.

The soaring walls and towers were here too, but gone was the decrepitude that waited in the deep. They were all gilded in metals and precious stones that made everything seem prismatic. The tops of spires shimmered faintly with a luminescence I could not place. The very stones on which I lay seemed to glow in their own faint light, and I could see flicks of quartz all about. Flags bearing unfamiliar ensigns now hung from the parapets, their designs filled with scrolling symbols and depictions of huge white birds with wings outspread, all wearing some kind of flowing white robes. Other bore grand representations of great coiled serpents wearing crowns that glittered with silvers and gold worked into the embroidery. It was looking up at these wonderful things that I caught the shadow of something passing over the sun, bringing my enraptured vision higher to catch sight of this thing.

There is no word in my mother tongue to describe the creature I saw overhead flying through the air. I could only imagine it was the living image of what I had seen on the tapestries lining the walls about me. Against the light of the sun I could see a great span of outstretched wings in soaring flight, but I could also glimpse what appeared to be robes fluttering in the winds. I would have watched it longer, trying to understand what manner of creature I beheld, but a sound very close to me drew my attention back to my immediate surroundings. Only a stone's throw from where I stood, something that looked like a man had come from around one of the corners of these exalted walls. He struck me as a very alien creature, and unlike any other being I had ever encountered in life or dream. His long, effeminate fingers held a walking stick, which is what I heard rasping on the stones.

I was caught up in his bizarre appearance, so many features that seemed almost animal assembled on a human form. His white hair hung in tresses about his shoulders, and his entire form was covered in a soft, light coloured robe of some fabric I could not identify. His face was very angular, and his eyes were a colour I could not place, they almost seemed... it was then I saw what I took for a long draping cape. Hanging about his shoulders under his hair and sweeping around behind him was a cape made of pearl white feathers. I could only guess vaguely that this was some ceremonial garment worn by the priesthood here, and they verily seemed to flutter in the faint breeze and he made to step towards me. His eyes had caught me, and I tried to focus on them, to see what colour they were, but this was all too much.

With what I took for a cape made to simulate wings and that strange white hair...what was this thing? He came to an abrupt halt though, and a venomous look distorted his features. Catching his walking stick in one hand, he gestured violently to something off to my left. He again looked to me and yelled out something in a language that to me sounded musical, and though I could imagine how soothing it could have been conveying some pleasantry, it clashed dissonantly against my ears, loosening me from the spell and drawing my gaze to this thing he gestured towards. Not far from where I stood there was what appeared to be a small boy holding a lit lantern, dangling on the end of a chain in one hand. In the other he held a leash tied to a black goat crowned in dirty-looking horns. In fact, everything about this child seemed dirty; I had seen lepers in my Homeland in better clothes and cleanliness.

His grimy face smiled, and I could see his crooked yellow teeth flash in the light. His eyes too were strange, though their colour I could place at once: they were totally blue. There was no white in them at all. They had a sickly watery sheen to them as well, and I wondered if this thing was some carrier of unknown plague or worse. Releasing the leash and gesturing for his goat to stay, he began to walk towards me. His goat glared at me with eyes that seemed to flash redly in the sunlight, eyes that seemed to carry a consciousness and intelligence often seen in the messengers of the gods. What new trickery was this, I wondered? As the young boy approached, the strange man continued to stab at him and yell in that strange tongue.

When this thing stood before me, looking down into my face, I turned to look at the other, who had stopped all gesturing. He now held to his stick as if he might collapse, and he face bore such a defeated expression I began to reach out for him. His eyes were closed and tears were streaming down his face, and as I heard the racking sobs leaving him body, I felt the clammy hand of the filthy child clasp my own. Suddenly, the bright sun overhead was blotted out, as if by an eclipse. As I turned to look at the possible cause of this, I saw the tapestries burn as if touched by invisible fires. There was a great wrenching from the earth beneath me, and I saw towers tumble, and fissures tear themselves into walls all around me.

I looked from the boy and his sickly blue eyes so close to mine to the strange man standing near by, but even as I watched his entire body shrivelled up and began to collapse in on itself. It was as if I was watching the silent work of the tomb in a matter of seconds. The flesh of his face peeled away, revealing an angular skull that soon too dissolved into the air. As his body began to sink to the ground, I saw what I thought was a cape rise up behind him in the sudden wind, and as that it did appear to be a skilfully crafted imitation of great wings. They too turned to ashes as his robes melted away. By the tyme his walking stick struck the stones near my feet there was nothing left. High above storm clouds tore across the sky, casting everything into shadows. Looking again to the child and his corpse-like appearance, he still smiled as if oblivious to this entire happening.

Before I could attempt to struggle away or demand some explanation for this, he moved the lantern so that its light was directly over me. When he moved it away, I found myself again in that nethery hell in the deep bowels of the earth. Having seen those wondrous sights and that bright light, I found all that I could see for some tyme was the light of the lantern, which I was grateful for against the shadows of this place, but against that shimmering dream I felt the gloomy burden here anew. Was I dead? Had I been called to pay my due before the sadus of judges? No more did the worm-creatures thrash overhead, but their memory still tormented me. I could still see some stars flitting about, but felt all the more crushed by their presence now. What sweet lies and falsehoods they represented here, what hope of natural suns or stars could there ever be again?

Hearing a deep rumbling animal sound, I turned again to my left to see the boy, once again holding the lantern and the leash of his goat. That beast seemed larger here, and its horns no longer seemed dirty, they seemed sheathed in blood. Its eyes still burned like coals, and menace emanated from its gaze. The boy still smiled, and his eyes looked hollow in the pale light. His tattered garments barely clung to his form, and what parts of his body were revealed were plastered with all manner of dirt and filth that I imagined could be smelled even in these waters. Mayhaps sensing some of my disgust, he shrugged and motioned for me to follow him. Taking his lantern and his leash, he turned about and began to wander through the maze of fallen walls and towers all about us. Numb and broken, I made to rise and follow him.

With my hair still floating around me as if we were in waters, I grasped him roughly about the shoulders and spun him about, wanting some answer for what was happening, wanting to know how he had followed me out of the dream. In my harsh handling and mayhaps in surprise, the child dropped the lantern that quickly extinguished, plunging us into a new kind of darkness. With that, there was a terrible roar followed by a terrible ripping sound. Soon I saw again light, and at first thought the boy had again lit his lantern or some torch. But that light was the foxfire of moors and the burning of mysts upon the field of battle. It was the light of the tomb that seemed to grow in the darkness around us. They rose from nearby, until I realised that the child could not hope to hold lantern or torch that far above.

Another ear-splitting roar came from that same direction, and it was then that I knew some other nether-creature had found me. I heard its massive wings flapping about me, and felt the current they stirred whipping through my hair and garments. I felt its talons grasp my arm, which I had thrown up in a defence posture, begin to drag me towards the fiery eyes of this thing. I watch what must have been a maw open beneath those eyes... it must have been a mouth of some sort, for I could see some kind of inner fire reflecting off many jagged teeth in the pale deathly light. Unexpectedly, another light entered my vision, and I turned towards it to again see the boy re-lighting his lantern. As I turned back to the thing before me, its dreadful grasp lifted, and with terrible fascination watched a nightmare form sink back into the black-coated body of the goat.

For a moment its eyes burned in that mysty pale colour, but soon enough they turned back to bloody red. The boy tugged violently on the leash, and the beastly thing resisted long enough to cast one more glare at me, as if to say "You were almost mine!" In a cracked, piping voice the child called to me, "That was a damn fool thing to do, and if I might presume to advise you, I would ask that you never do that again. The light of this lantern is all that keeps this creature in the form you see it in now, trapped by spells greater than those that unleashed the Great Unrest upon your worlde, greater even than the powers that hold your Father beneath the seas of crystal and fire..."

His voice trailed off at the last words, as if he had spoken too much, and I was aghast to hear of my Father from this retched child. It was long before I found my own voice, and by then we had wandered for a tyme in the labyrinth of broken walls and fallen towers, amidst the rubble of what once must have been that great city from my dream. It was with terror and foreboding that I finally spoke, my voice little more than a whisper, my eyes all the while watching at tymes the back of the boy, and at others watching the springing steps of the goat-thing over stone and slab. "You know then of my Father and what has befallen Him? What is this place, and what was that dream? Who or what are you and what manner of creature is this thing with you?" All this and more came streaming from my lips, hysteria growing with every word and breath.

When the filthy child at first did not answer or even move as if he heard me, I asked again these things and more. All of this he ignored, though he did stop on occasion and look about, as if trying to gauge his surroundings. I had lost all interest in this place or its destroyed monuments at mention of the Great King, and my mind still reeled trying to understand the dream and these two beings before me. After what seemed to my weary, beaten form to be leagues of endless trekking through this labyrinth, we finally entered a long corridor created by a massive portion of wall fallen onto its lower neighbour. At the end of this artificial cave I could see a faint blue light that wavered in watery distortion. Smiling again to himself, the boy adjusted his hold on the lantern, and with a strong tug of his leash, pulled the goat-thing towards the distant colde light.

Having lost all notion of sanity or peace, I could only follow this strange pair to whatever awaited us at this terrible end. Watching my own footfalls, I trudged on after them, fear and doubt eating away at me all the while. I looked up again after nearly walking into the boy, who had stopped at the entrance of the blue-lit passage. He stood aloof to one side of this place, holding his lantern high which again made his eyes look hollow. Their blue was the same as the light beyond, and the illusion this created made me think again on what this child could be. Pulling the leash so that the goat-thing was behind him near the wall, and seeing its fiery eyes still drilling into mine, I shuddered. The child seemed to find amusement in this, but that same dead smile crept over his face, a smile that the lantern light turned into the withered features of some twisted skeleton wrapped in filthy torn garments.

Standing as upright as his small form could manage, the child took on the air of ceremony, and when he spoke, his voice rang with ritual tones, half droning, half melodic. "This," he said, gesturing with the lantern, "will hold some of the answers you seek. I...cannot go with you once you enter, but before then I might explain some of this place before you are gone from here. If ever you return, our meeting shall not be...as pleasant, and I am afraid that you shall have to contend with the treatment of my fellow," here he tugged on the leash again, "before your soul might come to whatever rest this place could offer you. Pray that we never find you here again. Know also, that now is not your tyme, for Death has not chosen you for the now, and that you made your way here by means of another..."

He trailed off here, and if his eyes had not been hollow I imagine they would have had a profound inward stare, as if he listened to some far-off noise. My own ears could hear nothing besides the faint echoes of his voice against the stone all around us, and its sound was shrill. "You...we knew of your coming, that one day you would be here. We did not know that you would arouse the primordial dream of this place that has slumbered since before your race walked this worlde. Know that it was not your dream that we shared, it was the dream-vision of things long dead and their ancient ways. Take what you may from them, but I know not how this might help you on your...way." Here his face grimaced, and his smile twitched at the corners of his lips. He inhaled as if to go on, but his breath was stopped by a loud crashing noise behind us. His features shifted suddenly to shock and surprise, and he looked to the goat-thing and whispered something to it.

As he the leash fall from his hand, I stepped aside and moved to try to protect myself from whatever attack might come, but the goat-thing ran past me without a second glance. Down the corridor it raced, and turning a corner, was lost from sight. The child cleared his throat, and I looked to him once more. "Your presence has stirred dreadful things that slumber here. They are offended that you still carry a physical form, and if you have any hope of escaping what horrors they would unleash upon you in this life and the next, you must do what I say without fail." It struck me as strange that the body of a child could issue a voice so commanding, but I reminded myself that this was only the image of a child, and that I had not fathomed what type of creature this truly was.

Reading this on my face, he shifted the lantern between us again and said, "What I am will not save you now. You have only one hope: you must follow this passage to its end, and from there back into the worlde of the living." When I made to move into the passage, he raised his hand to stop me. "Before you go, you must leave all your earthly possessions here, for they will not aid you beyond this point, and if you reach the worlde beyond this passage, they will be useless to you tainted with these waters. All your garments and trinkets must be left here. And if you hope to make it away before our inquisitive guests arrive I suggest you make haste!" Being somewhat versed in the lore of the underworlde, I knew that some of the dead were jealous of things that might remind them of their life in the flesh.

Some spirits grew bitter that they could no longer share in those things, could no longer touch the worlde they had so loved in life. So it was with as much haste as my tired and beaten form could manage that I began to remove such things from my being. When I had trouble lifting my tunic over my head, the child yelled, "Worry not for these things, for they will be ashes soon enough. If it will not come of with natural motion, use your knife, fool." My weary mind had never even considered this, and I fumbled numbly for the short hunting blade that I kept at my belt. Soon enough my clothes were cut from me, and I sat, colde and naked, against the stone floor cutting the laces from my boots. Lastly, I rose and tossed the pendants and sigils I had worn for unnumbered moons onto the pile.

Bitterly I parted with them, for they were bound in powers that I knew had saved me from some harms in the past, but I knew they would be useless as the child had said if I survived this. Trembling with only my hair floating around my naked body, I stepped across the threshold into whatever fate my stars had guided me to. Feeling the temperature of the waters about me plummet as I stepped into the passage, I cringed, and thinking again of my Father, the strange dream-vision I had been taken into, and my terrible guide through this wasteland, I took the first steps into the pale blue light...