A Shattered Reflection

Admin Posts : 72 Join date : 2011-08-23

Sometimes, a single drop is all that is needed to distort a reflection, to send out ripples in resonating waves that obscure the image behind them. A single drop, in the right place, at the right time, is all it takes to change that image, to warp it, reshape it.

A single drop, with enough force, is all it takes to shatter a reflection.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through a place that both made dreams and was made of them, a single figure walked. Darkly speckled marble stretched out for what seemed like miles, and columns condensed from the cores of dead stars stretched so far upwards that it would take an eternity to scale them. Doors, evenly space every few feet on the long walls on either side of the massive hall, looked like they were carved from the darkest onyx, with heavy golden handles and hinges.

And though this hall was, indeed, many hundreds of billions of miles long, one could...shorten the journey, as it were, if they knew that spatial dimensions were more guidelines than actual fixtures of reality. And that, indeed, appeared to be the case with this particular figure, who moved with elegant haste, its long legs carrying it quickly over the black and white marbled floor. It appeared to roughly be male, clad as it was in an impeccably tailored suit made of some nameless material, but its features...well, how exactly does one describe a face seemingly made of stars and nebulae? There were no eyes, no mouth, no nose, no hair, and only the vaguest impressions of ears on either side of its perfectly symmetrical head. Its hands appeared to be made of similar material (so one could surmise that the rest of its body was likewise so, forgive the pun, stellar) with fingers that blended into each other when they touched.

The figured appeared to be curiously monitoring a multifaceted cube, each side showing different information in vastly different formats, and its nebulaic hands traced elegant mathematics into the sides, moving ceaselessly and without error -

- until it stopped, left foot hovering mid-step, and looked to the right of it, where a pillar of every wavelength of light was coalescing into a roughly humanoid shape.
"...how interesting. A visitor? I hadn't known we were expecting guests." The figure's voice was...arguably male, with an echoing, sophisticated intonation of flowing consonants and enunciated vowels.

And so, the figure finished its step and turned to wait for the new arrival, removing an imaginary fleck of dust from its cuff and clearing a throat that it didn't have.

Subject: Re: A Shattered Reflection Wed Feb 29, 2012 10:37 pm

The last thing Adelia recalled before she had lain down to rest that evening were the shapes and patterns of the quilt that lay draped down the edge of her bed. She had knelt there, bare knees pressing into the harsh wooden floor, collecting the patterns of the boards in her skin. She remembered the feeling of her palms pressed together, the brush of her forehead against the rough linen of the bedspread, and the faint smell of sandalwood. Yet, all of these things had been secondary notions, all of her mind and heart focused in a single prayer.

"Benedictus Deus. Benedictum Nomen Sanctum eius.
Benedictus Iesus Christus, verus Deus et verus homo.
Benedictum Nomen Iesu.
Benedictum Cor eius sacratissimum.
Benedictus Sanguis eius pretiosissimus.
Benedictus Iesus in sanctissimo altaris Sacramento. "

She struggled to remember the words, now, attempting desperately to focus with eyes that were not there, to see things she could hardly fathom. Light shimmered and shifted, a hand slowly drawn towards what would otherwise appear to be the vaguely humanoid figures face. Were there jagged edges at the frame of the figures form; suggestions of some kind of armor? Words poured from nowhere, clumsily and strange, as though the voice were a hand clawing out from memory.

"Benedictus Sanctus Spiritus, Paraclitus.
Benedicta excelsa Mater Christi, Maria sanctissima.
Benedicta sancta eius et immaculata Conceptio.
Benedicta eius gloriosa Assumptio."

Slowly, the figure began to take shape, forming at first the unassuming outlines of a young woman- bound in some manner of ceremonial armor. Steel and gold shimmered strangely, as though worked by some manner of woven light, of which the material was only an illusion. Very nearly, the figure pressed its back into one of the stone pillars, head turning about just as surely as she stopped herself.

"Benedictum nomen Mariae, Virginis et Matris.
Benedictus sanctus Ioseph, eius castissimus Sponsus.
Benedictus Deus in Angelis suis, et in Sanctis suis. Amen." she murmured frantically to herself, bright blue eyes darting about in a mixture of wonder, and fear.

"Quod ego ecce! Hoc regnum Dei?" the woman hissed, her voice oddly unfamiliar to her own ears. Blonde hair lay folded back behind small, round ears, and lay in waves down her back.

[[The first is just a Catholic prayer, in Latin, and the second is a really rough (and likely poorly rendered) statement: "(what) I see! Is this The Kingdom of God?"]]

Admin Posts : 72 Join date : 2011-08-23

The tall individual with the face of a galaxy and a suit that looked like it was cut from the void itself cocked its head as though pondering something, the multidimensional cube winking out of existence as though it were never there. After a moment of silent contemplation of the new arrival, the figure shrugged one shoulder as though to say, 'c'est la vie' and walked forward with a strong-legged determination.
"Roman Latin, spoken in a ritualized manner. A prayer, followed by an inquisition. How quaint." It paused for a moment, appearing to think (as best as one could surmise when reading the body-language of someone without a face) and then spread its arms wide in a welcoming manner.
"The Kingdom of God? Heaven? No, though probably the closest thing to it. You are now standing within the Hall of Mirrors, and to it I bid you welcome, however unexpected you may be. I...," the figure paused again, this time to bow, bringing one hand to its abdomen and the other to the small of its back in the low, respectful bow of a caretaker or butler welcoming a guest to his master's home, "...am the Keeper of the Glass. I ensure that...well, to speak figuratively, I ensure that dreamers...dream. Within this Hall, your form is limited only by your preconceptions of reality, time is as meaningless as the writings of an illiterate man, and dimensions are as many and as varied as the facets of an uncut gem.
"Now, honored guest, might you indulge me with the privilege of your name? Proprieties should be upheld, as I'm sure you'll agree."

Introductory speech concluded, the Keeper pulled up from its bow and waited patiently for a reply.

In its face, a star went supernova and cast half its cheek in glorious reds and blues.

It didn't seem to notice.

Subject: Re: A Shattered Reflection Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:21 am

As the unusual, galactic being spoke, the armored woman steadily crouched forward, her large azure eyes focused on his face in what could be fear, anger, suspicion, or even admiration. When the Keeper bowed, she reared back, her body going up-right and rigid, as though unsure of how to handle this. What, precisely, was the proper protocol for handling such a creature?

Adelia watched him as he finished speaking, her eyes narrowed, even as she agreed; 'Yes,' she supposed, 'it wont do any good to be rude, particularly in the face of such a... curious situation.' The woman cleared her throat and placed a hand to her abdomen, hair spilling down over her shoulders in waves like beaten gold as she bowed in return.

"...Clara Adelaide." she introduced herself. Her voice was an echo of her world, and the strange Otherness of their languages spoken aloud unnerved her. She knew, somehow, that the words he spoke were not Latin- and yet she understood them.

Adelia rose slowly, her eyes having never left what she assumed was his face. "If this is not the Kingdom of God.. what is this place I have awoken to?" The woman asked hesitantly, something akin to suspicion slipping into her very tone. The light that flashed across the strange features of what she assumed was his face seemed to startle her, but she forced herself to remain calm. A single hand seemed clutched almost desperately upon a string of rosary beads, as though they might protect her.

Subject: Re: A Shattered Reflection Fri Mar 02, 2012 12:25 am

From the described halls fluttered a most curious sight; flickering with light scrambled a figure that looked something like a bird. As it came close, it lurched forward, feathers disappearing into the light, wings and talons shifting into hands and feet, and the general size of this creature growing.

Once it was finished with its transformation it stood on its new feet, rocking back and forth. Details did not form until the general figure was finished, two amber eyes (including pupil, iris and otherwise) coalesced on its head along with a straight nose, icy white hair and stubble, and full lips already drawn into a curious, yet mirthful smile.

Donning furs and leather armor this figure stood in its new, unassuming figure, that smirk growing into a grin, and his silence breaking into a childish voice which seemed to... distort, on occasion. "Why, it was already explained to you! The Hall of Mirrors. This is the stuff people normally do not see. By the way, I swear, I didn't do it."

He spoke in a language just as foreign as the Keeper's; the tongue used on yet another world. However, she should be able to understand it.

Admin Posts : 72 Join date : 2011-08-23

With what could only be described as a sigh, the Keeper stopped itself from launching into a more in-depth explanation of the Hall as the new arrival flitted downwards from the ceiling and shifted into a form more appropriate for civil conversation.

Arguably, anyway.

"Well, Clara, it is our pleasure to make your acquaintance. My...eccentric companion is called Flicker. I think it forgot its name. He is...like you, though I suppose that is little help when you are not sure what you are, is it?"

The Keeper paused, and its fingers flowed and danced in the complicated movements of theoretical mathematics, tracing elegant equations into the air, and the cube blinked into existence again, hovering at the Keeper's side.

"To answer your question in a manner more detailed, the Hall of Mirrors is a hyperdimensional construct that actually lies outside the known dimensions of the multiverse. What you are seeing is actually just the human approximation of raw maths - a superbly detailed fractal, as it were, with the equation as long as time. As long as living things have been, so to has the Hall. And, as I said before, this is where you go when you dream - not this part of it, obviously, but through one of the Infinite Doors."

Though it would be impossible to tell, the Keeper's posture and body language adopted what could only be construed as apologetically sympathetic. "Miss Adelaide...I am afraid that it is indeed a rarity for a Dreamer to come here unless something...untoward has happened in their sleep, in which case I am usually charged with the unpleasant task of...moving them on, shall we say? Before you ask, no, I do not know if it leads to the Kingdom of God - I am nothing more than a caretaker; another example of raw mathematics being interpreted by your human mind. I also do not know why you are here, which is rarer still...," the Keeper paused, and turned its head towards a blank spot between two doors where another door should have been.

"I wonder..."