Nomi

[opeebomu]

Just a quick write. My first post too. Any criticism is very much welcome. My grammar isn't the best. So any suggestions where that is concerned is also welcome.

 

EDIT: "Nomi" is not Nomi Sunrider. Also, it's just a provisional name.

 

"Tell me, child," it inquired, "Why were you chosen?" The room was quite nearly without light. But it could be seen, following the inquiry, that it was a shadow, and the shadow had raised its apparently hooded head. The half of the face that could be seen caught what little light there was to reveal sharp, protruding objects on either side of a blood red face. The first impression Nomi had of the face was that it was empty. It lacked any sort of emotion. The emptiness conveyed a heavy coldness, and suddenly she recognized that the room they were in was freezing. The thin mats they sat upon on either side of the room seemed to be the only thing between Nomi and an icy ocean which was the floor. She shivered and tucked her legs close to her body.

 

The red-faced shadow seemed on the verge of speaking, but made no effort to do so. Nomi shifted uncomfortably. Her mind was racing; she was thinking countless things at once, yet thinking nothing all the same. It then dawned on her how afraid she was of the shadow. It was like a horrible statue: cold and unmoving. Someone had brought it in and placed it on the other mat before she came in. It was obviously not a statue, though, because it spoke. It's mouth hung half open in dead anticipation, revealing devlish, pointed teeth.

 

"Innocence." the shadow hissed. A sudden, piercing fear sprung within Nomi and she then felt the impulse to hide her face. The half face of the shadow disappeared from her vision, but the image of it grew in her mind until it was quite large enough to loom above and all around her like a specter. She felt as if it was preparing to consume her. The teeth were sharp enough to bite clean through her face. The image receded slightly and Nomi felt the impulse to look upon the shadow once more. The shadow had adjusted its hood further back on its head. Piercing the dark, two luminous, yellow eyes could be seen. Nomi hid her face again and began to whimper silently out of sheer, childish terror.

 

"We will be spending a lot of time together in the coming years."

 

- - - -

 

Snow was upon the ground, but it was hard and unforgiving: not like Nomi remembered it. The snow gave off a dull light. It was the only source of light in the great expanse of night that was before her. She looked to the heavens, but there was no heaven. The night was without a single star. The moons could be seen, though, both hanging limp near the horizon. Could they be the moons? Neither gave light. The light from the snow was all that gave the celestial objects shape; the light was so faint that the moons were only little slivers against the black.

 

As far as Nomi could tell, there was nothing in the expanse except for this hard snow and the two moons. Walking on, she found that she was suddenly at the foot of a great tree. It stood alone in the snow, bending back and forth to a silent wind. It bent further each time until it gave a great cracking noise that reverberated through the night. The sound of weeping grew from the tree, as if it was bent over in its tears. Like a whip, the tree suddenly twisted and grew. It's black branches turned and spread. The image of the tree blurred into a shadow darker than the night that loomed over Nomi's head. All was silent for a moment, then the shadow gave a great groan that entered Nomi with an incredible force. She fell at its foot and it fell upon her, consuming her.

 

The blackness of the shadow broke and gave way to a real blackness. She was lying awake, trembling in a cot upon the floor. She felt the need to weep, but there seemed to exist an emptiness within her that, of a suddenness that seemed characteristic of whatever she had dreamt, grabbed the unwept tears and dragged them to nothingness.

 

The room was warm. Or, at least, it felt warm in comparison to earlier that night when she had met with it. Nomi laid down on her side once again and looked with a blank stare to the wall opposite of her. Where am I? The question seemed purposeless. Why was she asking it? Why did it matter? She felt confused and lost, but felt nothing of it. There was nothing to think. Why did she have nothing to think? Where did the questions go? It made no sense. There was nothing to make sense of, though.

 

- - - -

 

No matter how hard she tried, the small sphere gave no hint of rising off the ground. She bit her lip harder out of sheer determination, drawing blood this time, but the sphere only sat in place. Nomi released her effort and looked helplessly to the cloaked shadow sitting half a meter away. The shadow tilted her head in recognition. It appeared to be mock sympathy. Nomi clamped her eyes shut and braced for the pain, whispering a quick plea. And surely it came in a small arc of electricity from the shadow. It seared the skin on her arm, traveling up and then around it. The electricity only lasted a short second, but the pain made it feel like a good minute; it brought tears to her eyes, but crying would be the worst thing to do. Tears brought more punishment. She wished that she could feel the emptiness she had felt last night when she awoke from her nightmare.

 

"Let us try again." The shadow spoke with it's characteristic emptiness. Nomi dug her palms into the cold floor and her teeth into her swollen lip, and made a greater effort. The threat of pain loomed over her and she pushed harder out of sheer will to live. The sphere gave hint of moving and Nomi honed in on this movement. She focused on where it seemed to be rolling and willed the sphere to move there. The sphere moved slightly and she pushed harder. She continued to push until the fear turned into frustration. A fire grew in her belly and the sphere began to tremble, rising slowly from the floor. Nomi latched on to the fire that was spreading throughout her and with all of her might imposed her will to raise the sphere, and the sphere suddenly shot to the ceiling.

 

The sphere never came down. Nomi looked up and saw that the it was lodged into the hard ferrocrete. There was no way of explaining it. She had never moved anything before. So despite the task having seemed impossible, the outcome that she had wrought was unbelievable and had left her without words. She looked expectantly, if somewhat fearfully, to the hooded shadow, and it nodded ever so slightly in recognition.

Edited April 10, 2013 by opeebomu