A Picture Paints 1000 Words Blogfest

So, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve done a blogfest, but this sounded too fun to pass up, so here we go… Basically, I have 1000 words to tell you about the picture below. My gift to you is this: It’s only 805. LOL.

Link to more rules and other participants HERE.

A thousand ships lost. Men gone. I have nothing left in these foreign lands, their lush, green terrain cupped in the hands of mountainous rocks. A soft breeze wraps around me, offering solace. Peace. The lapping water over my bare feet whispers of a comforting resting place with those I have lost in my journey.

My mind is in the heavens, raging with thunder and blazing with lightning. While my heart…

…her heart…

…lies cold, alone, straining to beat against what I can only assume is a sheet of ice. Each drumming second that passes, the freezing shell grows too thick to crack. Only her heat will bring about the final thaw.

My body will fail me before my heart does. Of this, I am certain. Blood slicks the skin of my arms, my face. It taints my vision red in one eye. Sharp pain radiates through my core, and each breath I take is misery in its finest garbs.

My body knows I am beaten even if my mind and heart do not. And these two obstinate creatures of my own blood endeavor to remind my mortal flesh why we must go on. Flashes of memory remind my fingers of porcelain skin. Saliva coats my dry mouth as I recall the sweet tang of her neck, the heat of her mouth. My ears strain to hear those whispered words one last time: I love you, and Yes, I will marry you.

And now my eyes flood with disbelieving tears as they relive the smile in her eyes each and every time her gaze laid claim to my soul, for that is what she did with just a glance. She ensnared me.

The weight of what I have lost drops me to a knee. Water splashes over my thigh, cooling my burning skin. Stones dig into my bone. Lightning streaks the sky above me, illuminating the ocean floor through bloodstained water. Gold winks in the grey stones and I strike out for it without hesitation.

Water pours over my clenched fist as it rises out of the water. Sand and stone ooze and plop back to where it came from, leaving me with my prize. A long gold chain disappears into my clenched fist and I can hardly bring myself to hope that all is not lost. So it is with great care that I open my hand, and with resounding relief that I behold the locket.

Her locket.

Her whispered words resonate deep in my darkened soul. For luck.

I bite back the words that have been running through my head for weeks. The taunts that tell me she never would have been taken if I had not accepted her trinket. She needed the luck more than I. And now it seems we have both run short.

Or not.

Tucking the locket safely away, I allow hope’s final heat to give me strength to fight this final leg of my journey. I will reach her, and I may die shortly after, but not before. I will set my gaze on her one last time.

I thrust my fist back into the water and clutch the earth. Prayers I’d muttered since I could talk pled to the earth and water for their help. I lent them the last threads of my power, never resisting the tingling fire that sweeps over my body and out through my fingers.

The earth moans below me, then rises to a rumble, swaying my unsteady frame. The water laps, then pulls away until I kneel on dry land. I watch it recede and rise slowly to my feet, marveling at its new height. The water splits and crashes together, maintained by some invisible barrier while its power increases. A gentle spray layers the wind sweeping toward the shore, dampening the dried blood on my arms.

Crash after crash resounds before me until my last ally towers above, reshaped into the two ferocious beasts my subconscious conjured up. Colossal paws claw at the air. The beasts’ gaping maw reveals a deadly bite cleverly disguised in water and sea foam. The roar of each lion rivals the roll of thunder in the heavens.

I lift a hand and the beasts rise up, prepared to follow my next command. The endless crash of waves deafen all other sound behind me and I’ve never felt so powerful. I could make this moment last forever, and would if not for the siren call of the woman awaiting rescue in the great city at my back. And for her, I will topple each and every piece of stone and mortar until there is nothing but dust.

My heart breaks through its icy shell, calling her name, announcing our intention and I swing around. My beasts crash by me, lunging toward my enemy and his thousand men.

 

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