13 - Syrsee
He wins
I am on a long, great sheet of ice and the wind is blowing so hard, tiny pinpricks of snow hit my face like pebbles, stinging it and making me cower.
There is a tribe of people in front of me, all formed up in a circle. They are wearing furs, and have dark hair, and they look ancient. They are all holding torches, looking down into a black hole in the ice.
Then, without any preliminaries, the monster emerges from the water screaming like something from Hell.
In the dreamwalk Lucia took me on, this was some kind of octopus horse thing. But in this one, it’s a snake. A giant viper with its mouth open and fangs dripping with poison.
“It doesn’t matter what shape it takes.”
I turn and find Lucia standing next to me. “What?”
Lucia shrugs. She’s not really here. She’s dead, I know this, but even if I didn’t know this, I would understand that she is not here because she’s… transparent. “It doesn’t matter if it’s a snake or an aquis equi, Syrsee. It’s all the same thing. Look.Look closely.”
I turn back to the snake and watch as the little girl all dressed up in fur approaches and starts to mount its head. But as I stare at it, it changes. Turns to black sand, and then, once the girl is sitting on top of it, it… crumbles.
That’s the best word I have for what I’m seeing. It turns to black sand and falls apart, taking the girl with it. She simply disappears, like she was never here.
There is a great roar from the people dressed in fur as they lift their torches up into the air. Then they are dancing, and lighting fires, and there is cooking going on. Tents are pitched, right there on the ice. Right in front of the black hole.
They begin fishing, and I watch as the low-hanging sun goes down below the horizon, and the moon chases it, and that whole day-and-night dance happens in time-lapse. The ice shifts, melts, and freezes again as this small camp inches its way back to land. Then cabins appear where there were tents. Hordes of people live here now. The buildings get bigger. They are made of ice and summer never comes. These people make massive boats and bring in great nets full of fish and seals.
And then this little village is a city.
Then a bigger city.
Bigger.
Until, finally, it is a castle made of ice.
This is when the purple mist appears.
“Why now? Why did the purple wait so long?”
Lucia looks at me. “Why do you think?”
“They… didn’t know how to summon it.”
“Everyone starts somewhere.”
“What did they do? How did they get the Darkness to cooperate?”
“They gave it a girl, of course. A Coyrah, which in the ancient language is just a word, not a name. A word that means ‘trade.’ You see, there are many girls like you and it’s been going on for thousands of years. If you want something magnificent from the Darkness, you must trade it something back in return. She is Coyrah. Just as the last girl was Coyrah. Just as you are Coyrah.”
I let out a long, tired sigh.
“You all get your own personal monster, Syrsee. And yours is called Ryet.”
I turn and look her in straight in the eyes. “I thought you said this was something magnificent?”
“Well, it is. It’s amazing. This is your bloodline, Syrsee. This is where your Black blood comes from. But it’s more than that, it’s your destiny as well. It’s where you go when you die.” She pans her hand at the ice castle. “These people weren’t stupid. They made a good deal.”
I almost snort in disagreement.
Lucia shrugs. “They got the magic, didn’t they?”
