Close your eyes

...

"No wonder they cast you out of the overworld, you don't know how to fucking act," He snarled his remark in my direction, "Obviously, we're not comfortable with each other, let me introduce myself,"

He stepped back from me, placing both his palms up in front of him, in an attempt to show he wasn't any sort of threat to me. Taking three more steps backward, once he reached his desired position in the void, he straightened himself out. His hands moved to his chest, running down his torso, fixing the creases in his jacket. When he reached the lower end of the cloth, he swiftly swiped at it before moving his gaze back in my direction. Upon our eyes connecting, I noticed the pit of black that had laid in his orbs in the moments before had disappeared and transitioned back into the familiar soft brown.

A deep grunt erupted from his direction, he cleared his throat and offered me what was supposed to be a charming smile, "Constantine," he stretched his right hand out in front of himself, "and I'm already familiar with your title, no need to refresh my memory,"

Cocking my head to the side I gave him a blank stare, "Like, Constantine The Great, the Roman emperor?" It sounded ridiculous coming out of my mouth, but then again everything right now seemed to be some sort of impossible.

Shaking his head, a soft chuckle left his mouth, "I'm no roman emperor…but I am great at a few things," He flashes his smile at me once more, "it's just Constantine, but my friends call me Costa,"

I nodded, still trying to wrap my mind around the situation, "Seeing as we're not friends, I'll call you Constantine," He placed his right hand over his heart and sported a hurt expression on his face, dramatically reacting to my snarky remark, "you obviously know what's going on, care to fill me in and spare me the headache?"

Removing his hand from his heart, he took in a deep breath, nodding and straightening himself out once more, "Bia, you've been a naughty girl, even though you haven't seen it, they have,"

I furrowed my eyebrows, even more confused than before, "They? Who's they?"

"You'll find out eventually, don't interrupt me again, I had a whole spiel and we won't get through it if you ask me clueless mortal questions the whole time,"

My jaw opened to tell him off once more but before I got the chance he turned on his heel, his back now facing me. He raised his right hand, motioning me to follow him as he began walking forward.

"Think of this place as a waiting room, you have a destination, but it's not quite ready for you yet. And I know, you're thinking, 'Well, what's my destination, I don't even remember how I got here.' That's the point, love."

He stopped walking, following suit I did as well, turning back to face me he shook his head, "Bia, you wouldn't believe what you're capable of, it's extraordinary," He turned around once more, "you're going to like this part, close your eyes,"

I scoffed, "No," Who did he think he was telling me what to do?

"We really need to work on you being difficult, I'll add it to the list, now close your eyes so we can get through this on time," He spoke as if seeming annoyed with me.

Crossing my arms over my chest I shrugged my shoulders, "I don't want to close my eyes,"

Constantine sighed, "I asked you nicely Bia, what happens next is your fault, remember that," Suddenly I felt uneasy, was he threatening me? I noticed his right hand moving down at his side, his fingers smoothly moving up one after another. I looked up to catch his eyes, the black pits were back, and the fear in my stomach grew once more.

His right hand stayed by his side, his palm facing up as a black and purple cloud began forming above it. It started at the center of his palm, spinning in a cone shape as it grew to the size of a fist. Slowly, he brought his hand and the cloud up in front of his face, he smiled like a little kid on Christmas.

Moving his eyes from the cloud to meet mine, he took in a deep breath and blew it into the cloud, pushing it in my direction. After blowing it from his palm, it didn't even take a second before it reached my body. It grew and expanded, surrounding the void around me. I could see Constantine through the sheerness of the mist. He stood there, arms crossed over his chest as if he were waiting for something to happen.

The mist began darkening, causing me to lose sight of him, and as it darkened it began to spin around me. A wind formed within the space, taking my long black hair and throwing it around as the fabric of my clothes began lifting as well. I wrapped my arms around my body, partially because I didn't want to be exposed, but mostly out of fear of the unknown.

"Close your eyes and it'll all be over," I heard his voice in my head, it was almost inaudible, but this time I listened. I closed my eyes and as I did so, I slowly crouched down, wrapping my arms around my knees and balling up on the floor within the chaos of the mist.

The wind being created by the spinning cloud became louder, consuming my head as I shut my eyes even harder, hoping for everything to end. Suddenly, I felt my body become lighter, and as the wind calmed down I didn't want to open my eyes again, afraid of what might happen if I did. I didn't notice it before, but I was shaking, I felt my hands frantically moving against my shoulders as I hugged them tighter around myself.

A sudden warmth touched my shoulder, "Open your eyes Bia," Constantine had placed his hand on my shoulder, rubbing it with his thumb, "don't you remember what happened last time you didn't listen to what I said?" My body tensed, and my eyes opened.

I sharply took in a breath, overwhelmed with what I saw as my eyes refocused. No longer were we in the void, trapped in a never-ending room of nothingness. Looking around, I felt a cool breeze brush along my skin. To my right, a massive oak tree, it must have been one hundred feet tall. Scanning my eyes across the area, we sat on the edge of a river, the water calm, clear, and turquoise. My eyes followed the path of the river, leading to a grand waterfall, the water falling from a high cliff above. Laying homage on the cliff was a breathtaking view of a picturesque village. The grassy paths surrounding the village were covered in flowers and blooms, creating a sense of fantasy in my mind. Children ran along the edge crying with laughter, chasing each other as who I presumed to be their mother's washed and hung fabrics behind them. Looking further, I saw the roofs of the buildings, tall and extravagant peaks on each of them.

The village continued more into the hills, but my eyes found themselves caught in the sky, noticing a flock of white birds flying above. They moved in a pack of seven, each gracefully flapping their wings as a colorful, luminescent streak made a path behind them. In total awe of what I saw, everything began feeling like that of a dream within a fairytale.

My gaze continued to follow the majestic pack of creatures as they continued to fly through the sky above. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a black figure begin to fly up behind the flock. Turning my attention to it, I noticed it was alone, but had the same build as the white birds. It was jet black, almost like a silhouette, instead of a colorful luminescent streak, it had a path of smoke following it. The silhouette moved faster than the others, and as it came up behind the flock, it opened its beak, exuding a funnel of fire straight into the pure pack of white that it followed.

Gasping, I couldn't take my eyes off of the scene, the white birds screamed into the sky, echoing through my ears as their burning bodies fell to the ground. My eyes followed their movement and saw the laughing children standing below where the lifeless bodies would soon land. I was in shock, thinking those children don't even know what's coming, they'd be scarred for the rest of their lives. But then, I noticed the children holding baskets next to each of them. As the thud of the first carcass hit the ground, the children jumped and cheered, as one of them ran up and tossed its body into a bucket. One after another, the thuds of the lifeless birds hit the ground and each time, cheers came out of the children as they collected them.

I felt sick to my stomach.

Constantine patted my back then clapped his hands together, "Dream sequence over princess, let's get a move on, we don't want to be out here past dark," He offered his hand out to me, helping me stand up from my previously grounded position.

The white void suddenly didn't seem too bad.