The Journey ~ Part 2: Ensnared

by - 4:24 PM

Ensnared

Icy rain could not beat harder, nor soak more heavily than the radiant sunlight. The weight of it presses the hunching shoulders low, but not with heat. It grows unbearable – the feeling of bright and glorious sunshine – until, at last, Ariel scoots back.
She rises, shakily, to her feet and with a soft sigh, turns her back on the shafts of golden splendor. Not even twenty minutes and she has already buckled under the inner weight. Her heart beats heavily as, haltingly, her steps carry her back into the cavernous darkness.
Stopping beside her bed of moss and leaves, Ariel drops to her knees, dull brown eyes searching in the shadows. She reaches out and lifts a bundle from the ground, cradling it like a babe to her chest. A wild and desperate smile twists her features as trembling hands struggled to unwind the clumsy knots.
Three enormous, luminous stones roll silently from the dirty rags and fall glintingly into Ariel’s hands. She brings them up to her face, eyes gleaming greedily down as they absorb the toxic rays. So beautiful, lovely, luminous. The lights from dark places. She had found them waiting for her. They had begged her, with their alluring rays, to take and keep and treasure. And such she has done.
But now . . . now she cannot bear the sunlight – its rays are too keen and piercingly pure; now she cannot remember where she’s from – so lost is she in the obsessive fog; now she cares no longer for her journey and recalls it only as a distant longing, so sweet, it makes her heart ache to think of. So she does not think of it – or at least she tries.
“What is a crown when I have gems?!” she thinks, caressing the gleaming jewels in her hand, “Nothing could be so lovely, so shining, so precious, so perfect, so . . .” she does not say ‘pure’ for, deep down, she knows the gems are tainted and false. They are not pure and no amount of gleaming brightness can ever make them so.
“I don’t care,” she whispers, wide brown eyes gazing as if lost into the faceted gems, “I don’t care. I don’t care. I do not care.”
“Ariel,” a low and far-off voice whispers. Up her eyes flash, darting wildly around the surrounding shadows.
“Wh-who’s there?” she stutters.
“Ariel,” the voice says again, now nearer and warmer, like a whisper in her ear. She shudders, but remains still, “What are you doing, Ariel? And where are you going?”
“What do you mean?!” she cries into the darkness. But the voice is gone. What did it mean? Who was it? She can’t . . . but Ariel knows. She shakes her head, trying to cast the name from her mind. Why else would she have inhabited this darkness if not to escape him? No, he cannot be here! She will not believe it.
That’ll make him go away,” her desperate thoughts whisper. Slowly she stands, pacing further into the clinging shadows, before sitting again and covering the light of her gems. She will wait for him to go, denying his presence until he gives up. Then he will leave her alone . . . for good. A faint and far-off ache stabs at her heart as the last flickering remembrance whispers brokenly, “But we do not want him to go!”
Yes, yes she does and clutches her gems ever closer, drinking in the benumbing rays. No way out and no desire to find one. Only further, deeper and darker inward. She does not want him enough to cease wanting herself.
~ ~ ~
“Ah, Ariel,” a low voice murmurs. Softly the gray eyes flicker as through a curtain of crystalline sheer they watch her shudder and huddle in her den, “She has lost her way,” the voice continues. Turning, the gray eyes meets a gaze of deepest blue.
“That,” the other man replies, in tones no less clear and calm, “Is why the Adonai has sent me. She needs help and strengthening for the way.”
“She is not afraid,” the gray-eyed man says, turning back to the sheer.
“Which was her greatest mistake,” the blue-eyed replies, “She forgot to fear the wiles of the Tempter and has fallen into one of his snares. I must show her the way out.” And he stands.
The gray gaze turns once more to meet the blue, “The temptation has conceived strongly within her.”
“I know,” the other replies, gazing beyond and into the sheer, “She will need great strength to break free. Adonai’s strength. That is why,” and looking into the elder’s eyes, he smiled, “He has named me Oswald.”
With a nod, the gray-eyed steps forward, laying a hand on Oswald’s shoulder.
“Be swift and may your mind be enlightened to perceive the will of Adonai.” He murmurs. Oswald bows his head briefly, then turning, strides from the cavern.
~ ~ ~
But those who desire to be rich, fall into temptation, into a snare.

1 Timothy 6:9


You May Also Like

1 people are talking about this

  1. WOAH!!!! Are there any more chapters after this one??? I really hope so, because I can't wait to learn what happens next!

    ReplyDelete