Darkness enshrouded her. The kind of dark she could lose her entire sense of self in. Eyes closed or open mattered not. Suffocating in its emptiness. Yet for her, there was comfort in the nothing. Comfort in the absence of what her life had become.
Fire erupted from the nothing and leapt into the air, dancing a chaotic tango, swirling, dipping then thrusting higher, coiling around imaginary figures just outside of comprehension. A rumble and whoosh rattled through the silence like a steam train spinning in a tornado.
“Breathe in” came the whisper. “Breathe in… embrace the chaos.”
She stood still and obeyed the command that had come from beyond. Breathing in. inhaling the energy that surrounded her. Devouring the chaos into the core of her soul.
Then silence once more. Darkness too. This time with a chill. She wrapped her arms close to conserve body heat, mist visible from her breath. Mysteriously illuminated in the absence of light. Curious, she paid close attention to the breath, slowing each time to witness the mysterious flow of the vapour as it dissipated into the nothing that was.
Suddenly, from nowhere, the mist wrapped around the presence of a face right in front of her and screamed a silent, haunting, scream. Startled at the vision, she jumped back a-gasp, and the being was gone.
Holding onto her breath, too scared to release the vapour out of fear of what may be revealed. A moment, then, a moment more and the pressure was too much. Her breath bursting from her lungs. The eruption of vapour blasting into the nothing, wrapping around a hundred figures, all staring into her with menace and rage. The vapour reached far into the distance, then erupted into fire. The figures screaming as they twisted and contorted, the flames consuming them. Their forms melting, disfiguring, vapourising.
And then once more, there was nothing.
What was this strange realm she had found herself in? What force had brought her here?
She sat down and directed her thoughts inwards.
“I am here,” she spoke with her inner voice. Her internal image visualising her hands cupping the centre of her being. “I am here!” She repeated with absolute conviction. A warmth surrounded her.
Her inner world was light. Compressed into a tiny centre at the core of her being. Held tight by a lifetime of protective walls, forged by the harshness of what lay outside. In here there was peace. In here was purity. As she delved into the light of her soul, the darkness surrounding her faded. She knew with intuitive certainty, this was the seat of her power, her strength, her truth. She knew that no matter what came at her, nothing could reach this sacred world within. And she knew that one day, she would tear down those walls and send her light out into the darkness to brighten even the darkest of souls.
But not today.
Today, her light was for her and her alone.