Radiance

[Souji]

Just a quick drabble, I felt the need to get it off of my mind and onto something more real. Might turn it into something more if you guys like it or not. Enjoy!

I had been running for what felt like hours, away from that loud noise, away from what was certain doom. I felt exhausted, and when it finally caught up with me, fatigue and panic overtook me and I collapsed. I was fading, my vision blurred as I saw a looming, dark figure bend over me and pick me up, but I could not feel his touch. As the figure slowly faded away, I felt a rushing sensation and I was momentarily deafened by the roar of some great current that seemed to fill my entire head. I was slipping out of his grasp and was falling.... seconds became minutes and it seemed I would fall for eternity, that it would soon be the end.

As I closed my eyes so savor this thought, that my hard and seemingly fruitless existence would soon be over, light began to slowly flood my vision, which caused me to open my eyes, slightly irritably, and gasp. I seemed to be falling into some chasm filled with light and fog, all below a solid, stained glass figure with designs and pictures that I did not know of; all I knew was that I was falling very fast and the rushing was getting louder, almost unbearable. I closed my eyes again, tightly this time and screamed very loud, except no sound came out.

At once, the terrible sound of sure death stopped and my fur seemed to stop moving and become still. I chanced a look down at the chasm and saw that I had come to a stop right before the surface of the stained glass. An unknown force gently rotated me so I would land on my feet and gently released me; I slid down onto the glass and immediately felt warmth, warmth that I had not found on the streets since I was with my Mother. I was in such a trance from the heat that I did not immediately register that a voice had spoken.

...It's ok, my child....

I froze and began to slowly look around for the voice. I struggled to wrest courage from within my heart and spoke, this time, sound flowed out of my mouth.

"W...who....are you? Where a..a.am I?"

The disembodied voice didn't answer at first, as though it was thinking of a suitable answer. The voice came, neither a man or a woman's, but it was not at all unkindly.

"Why... you don't realize this place? Surely you must..."

"I...I don't understand... I have never seen this place before... never... felt this before..", I breathed, both fascinated by this place and terrified by it. The voice (I had decided to call it that for now) apparently could sense this and immediately reacted.

"Now now... this place is not unknown to you... If you follow me... I would be glad to help you come to realization.."

A large door began to materialize in front of me, and I gasped as I brought my hands in front of my face to shield the light. Once the light had faded, I lowered my hands and walked toward the door... I don't know what overcame me, I didn't fully trust that voice, but it was either go through this door or fall off this tower into what seemed to be certain oblivion. I grasped the doorknob, which radiated the same warmth as the floor did, and I was overtaken by a sense of calm and courage. I pulled the door open and walked through.

At first, all seemed dark. I stood still for fear of falling off of something or getting lost in the suffocating darkness. It seemed that after this thought passed through my mind, a light under the floor lit up and filled the entire room with blue light. I could see that I was yet again on another stained glass floor with images indecipherable to me. I began to walk across this floor and upon reaching the middle of it, looked down.

This image seemed to be of a strangely colored fox, with more than your average number of tails and red eyes. He seemed to be deep in thought as he stared blankly ahead. Embroidering this floor were a number of leaves and crowns. In the middle, above the center were a number of smaller pictures; a griffin, a dragon, an elderly human and a pomeranian. I stood staring at this image and admiring the sheer force of power these people seemed to radiate when the voice cut through my thoughts and brought me back to (was this reality? why is it so warm...).

"I can see... you are afraid and confused. Why should you have these feelings in this place."

I looked straight up; it was the best place to look, I thought, since the voice seemed to come from overhead. "I told you, I don't know where this is, or why it feels like this, like... like home should... The only time I ever felt warmth like this was.. with Mother... when we had food.. and this certainly isn't home!", I replied, becoming incensed by these redundant questions.

"Ah yes... you are getting warmer..... This IS your home.. this is YOU.."

My eyes widened as the voice said this, and my heart seemed to beat a little faster. The warmth that was encompassing my feet from the floor seemed to almost fade away at once. "N..no, this isn't me.. I don't remember this!"

"Sometimes, my dear... the best way to face reality... is to defeat the demons of your past... You have a much brighter life ahead of you... that I can be sure of..."

I could barely take in the words, a life better than what I had? It didn't seem possible, it didn't have any value to me, because it wasn't REAL. Why would I have to suffer what I did if I was just going to be handed a new life, anyway? It didn't seem FAIR, and Mother... she didn't have to....

"However, I am sensing that you cannot move on until you release your past... the best way is to defeat it and move on..."

With her words, several black shapes emerged from the ground, each with distinctive shapes... the shapes of the strays that had once chased and beaten me for food when I was left alone... Fear struck me and I began to run away, as fast as I could, before those things could catch me. As I began to run faster, the end of the tower suddenly loomed before me and I avoided falling off the edge into complete darkness. Shaking, I slowly turned around and stared at the dark figures slowly advancing on me, prowling, stalking their prey...

My heart gave a great jolt and I shouted for anyone's help, anyone's...

Just as the first being of darkness pounced, the floor seemed to undergo a transformation.
The light illuminating the room turned a shade of brown and the picture changed, showing instead of a fox a brown, peanut butter colored dog. Emblazoned on the edges were bones and mushrooms, he seemed to be closing his eyes in concentration. Taking the extra time from the shadow's bewilderment, I noticed the other pictures in the middle; two very homely looking humans and a wide assortment of animals, all staring ahead. I felt a sudden surge of warmth and heard the voice utter its final sentence for the time being:

"This... is your new home..."

All the warmth, all the friendly looking faces... the cozy looking dog... I couldn't help a sudden upsurge of affection and a desire to get rid of the ugly things in front of me and I took to charging one and clawing it as ferociously as possible. The figure opened its mouth as though it were screaming, but no sound came out; instead it vanished into nothingness and I stood up, waiting for more. The other figures seemed to get my message and I went on, clawing and scratching until there were no more images of darkness staining what I was hoping, clinging on to, was my wish come true, to be loved again.

I stood panting, the sudden adrenaline rush ebbing away and I fell to my knees, whimpering slightly. The warmth began to subside and I was drowning, drowning in what seemed to be voices and wailing. I was rushing back into darkness but at the same time things were becoming more clear...

"M..mommy..? Mommy? Dad?!"
"-sniff-... where.. where am I? What is this..?"
".. where is our food. Mom.. I'm hungry.."

I jolted awake so fast that I immediately tried to stand up and banged my head on something hard and plastic. Desperately trying to ignore the excruciating pain in my head, I waited until my vision returned and looked out of the cage I was in and around the room.

Everywhere I looked, there seemed to be what looked like strays in cages, all upset about not being with their families, or confused about where they are. I suddenly remembered what had happened; I must have been "rescued" and put in a shelter. Looking over the inside of my cage, I saw some food and water and immediately forgot my troubles as I munched on the crunchy dry food as though I hadn't eaten in a week, because I hadn't.

After eating my meal I sat on the floor of the cage and pondered what had happened. It had all seemed so surreal and yet.... I couldn't help but feel some sort of significance out of the entire thing. At any rate, I was better off NOW than I was before the dream, if that's what it was. It was true in the respect that I would no longer starve or be beaten for trying to get food.

Laying down in safety for once gave me the time to think about my mother for once. I didn't remember much about her, because she had been taken away when I was just 2 months old. All I can remember is that she fed me and kept me warm when I needed it the most and comforted me all the time. I shivered in the cold and felt a tear slowly tugging at the corner of my eye. Letting them fall freely, I turned onto my side and hoped that the voice was right and that something, a miracle, would happen.

-End of part one.

[valerio]

Yup!
I LIKE it
I want to KNOW who the mysterious guy/gal is
So you are hereby compelled by the force of the readers to give us MOAR

Technical suggestion to the benefit of new posters: Edit the title to add 'Housepets!' before the title, so it is distinguishable as a HP fanfic from a PF fanfic.

[Barkeron]

Hmmm, looks good. I wonder too who is this mysterious person or animal.

[yoyodude]

Ahhg who could it be?

Keep. Writing.