The young woman stirred restlessly , her bed covers lying crumpled on the floor, having been flung away as her dream had increased in lucidity. But of what was she dreaming?
At that very moment, her heart was beating as it never had before. Before her dreaming eyes, was the very embodiment of all her desires & even if she had wanted to look away, there was to be no avoiding his icy stare. As he glided confidently toward her, her hand gripped the pillow tightly as she followed his slender, snake-like frame, his deep, melancholy eyes & silken, jet black hair. He leaned towards her, & after whispering some silent words that only her soul could hear, put a beautiful, purple flower into her hand. With her pulse racing dangerously, her over-excited mind began to activate the safety-valve action that often awakens dreamers from those strange, subterranean depths when the dream become too sublime, as happens when a person awakes suddenly with fearful symptoms of vertigo if death brushes too close for the dreamer's sanity. As she awoke, the image in her mind's eye became nebulous & although her hair was stuck to her brow & her lace nightdress damp with perspiration, she sighed deeply, & smiling at the memory of her dream, fell almost immediately back to sleep.
At that very moment, her heart was beating as it never had before. Before her dreaming eyes, was the very embodiment of all her desires & even if she had wanted to look away, there was to be no avoiding his icy stare. As he glided confidently toward her, her hand gripped the pillow tightly as she followed his slender, snake-like frame, his deep, melancholy eyes & silken, jet black hair. He leaned towards her, & after whispering some silent words that only her soul could hear, put a beautiful, purple flower into her hand. With her pulse racing dangerously, her over-excited mind began to activate the safety-valve action that often awakens dreamers from those strange, subterranean depths when the dream become too sublime, as happens when a person awakes suddenly with fearful symptoms of vertigo if death brushes too close for the dreamer's sanity. As she awoke, the image in her mind's eye became nebulous & although her hair was stuck to her brow & her lace nightdress damp with perspiration, she sighed deeply, & smiling at the memory of her dream, fell almost immediately back to sleep.
~
There are some people who maintain that dreams are a mere recycling of the previous day's events, & that no particular attention should be paid to them.
There are others that say that dreams are warnings from another realm, & if heeded, can be prophetic in diverting unpleasant situations or preventing personal catastrophe.
Some people suggest that they are buried memories, which surface occasionally & can even take us way back in time, beyond that of the individual's life to a collective unconscious, & the very dawning of our species' history.
There are some that believe that dreams are representations of our deepest, darkest desires, & would be so disturbing to us if presented literally, that they instead appear as symbols, thus protecting the conscious 'I' or 'ego' of the dreaming person/subject.
And there are some that believe that daemonic forces are the cause, & that these forces prey on their victims whilst they lie sleeping, injecting their prey with surreal images of wish-fulfillment whilst they take advantage of their delirium to drain the life-force of the dreamer. A male demon will often father a child in this hideous way, whilst female demons will use the male's reproductive energy to impregnate themselves. For decency's sake, your imaginations will have to picture the fearful situation that arises during this type of demonic possession, & there may be little or complete truth in any of these theories regarding the source & function of the human dream.
~
Whatever may lie behind the causes of the human dream, Viola, the beautiful heroine of our tale, awoke early that morning just as the first hazy beams of sunlight were beginning to filter into her room, when, in her misty drowsiness, she was struck by a sudden stabbing pain in her hand. Imagine if you can, dear reader, her surprise when she glanced down & discovered that she was still clutching the strange, purple flower that her perfect, ideal lover had entrusted her with just a few hours earlier in her dream, & which now lay clutched in her lily white hand.
With glazed eyes, she rose from her bed, & as though sleepwalking, left her room & unannounced, entered her brother's room. Her brother, who was just about to leave the house as he was a keen huntsman, was surprised to see his beloved sister up & about at this early hour, even more so as she had appeared to have left her inhibitions in her sleep, for her nightgown had fallen open & she seemed blissfully unconcerned at this occurrence. Before he could gather his thoughts together, those sweet eyes that he had loved for so long, held him spellbound. Suddenly, she slipped her arms around his neck & as his whole world swam he was completely unaware that she was quietly pulling his razor sharp hunting knife out of his belt. Less than a minute later, he was lying cold stone dead, killed as silently as if it had been done by the hand of a trained, professional assassin.
Some people suggest that they are buried memories, which surface occasionally & can even take us way back in time, beyond that of the individual's life to a collective unconscious, & the very dawning of our species' history.
There are some that believe that dreams are representations of our deepest, darkest desires, & would be so disturbing to us if presented literally, that they instead appear as symbols, thus protecting the conscious 'I' or 'ego' of the dreaming person/subject.
And there are some that believe that daemonic forces are the cause, & that these forces prey on their victims whilst they lie sleeping, injecting their prey with surreal images of wish-fulfillment whilst they take advantage of their delirium to drain the life-force of the dreamer. A male demon will often father a child in this hideous way, whilst female demons will use the male's reproductive energy to impregnate themselves. For decency's sake, your imaginations will have to picture the fearful situation that arises during this type of demonic possession, & there may be little or complete truth in any of these theories regarding the source & function of the human dream.
~
Whatever may lie behind the causes of the human dream, Viola, the beautiful heroine of our tale, awoke early that morning just as the first hazy beams of sunlight were beginning to filter into her room, when, in her misty drowsiness, she was struck by a sudden stabbing pain in her hand. Imagine if you can, dear reader, her surprise when she glanced down & discovered that she was still clutching the strange, purple flower that her perfect, ideal lover had entrusted her with just a few hours earlier in her dream, & which now lay clutched in her lily white hand.
With glazed eyes, she rose from her bed, & as though sleepwalking, left her room & unannounced, entered her brother's room. Her brother, who was just about to leave the house as he was a keen huntsman, was surprised to see his beloved sister up & about at this early hour, even more so as she had appeared to have left her inhibitions in her sleep, for her nightgown had fallen open & she seemed blissfully unconcerned at this occurrence. Before he could gather his thoughts together, those sweet eyes that he had loved for so long, held him spellbound. Suddenly, she slipped her arms around his neck & as his whole world swam he was completely unaware that she was quietly pulling his razor sharp hunting knife out of his belt. Less than a minute later, he was lying cold stone dead, killed as silently as if it had been done by the hand of a trained, professional assassin.
~
There are those that believe that incest is a terrible crime against nature & that the laws that forbid its practice should be upheld without mercy, & they will often call on ancient texts & scripture to support this view.
There are others, however, that believe that the taboo against brother & sister relationships are nothing more than societal prejudice, &, like witchcraft, born of superstition, & that in fact all true lovers become after a while as brother & sister, their souls entwining ever deeper as their lives grow together, until they become so entwined it is scarcely possible to tell one from the other, & this shows itself by small tell-tale signals, such as couples finishing each others' sentences or looking increasingly like one another in visual appearance.
Whatever you choose to believe, dear reader, there is no denying that the people who found Viola's brother said that they had never seen him looking as radiant as he did when they had found his body, & the talk of the small town soon echoed far & wide with stories that Viola's brother had died having tasted a supernatural form of bliss.
There are those that believe that incest is a terrible crime against nature & that the laws that forbid its practice should be upheld without mercy, & they will often call on ancient texts & scripture to support this view.
There are others, however, that believe that the taboo against brother & sister relationships are nothing more than societal prejudice, &, like witchcraft, born of superstition, & that in fact all true lovers become after a while as brother & sister, their souls entwining ever deeper as their lives grow together, until they become so entwined it is scarcely possible to tell one from the other, & this shows itself by small tell-tale signals, such as couples finishing each others' sentences or looking increasingly like one another in visual appearance.
Whatever you choose to believe, dear reader, there is no denying that the people who found Viola's brother said that they had never seen him looking as radiant as he did when they had found his body, & the talk of the small town soon echoed far & wide with stories that Viola's brother had died having tasted a supernatural form of bliss.
~
Immediately after the violent scene with her brother, Viola left the house , & although some of the townsfolk that she passed at that early hour called out to her, she resolutely ignored them & headed towards the olde church. Concerned for her safety, a few of the peasants decided to follow her, keeping at a safe distance, however, for all knew of the terrible dangers of attempting to awaken a sleep-walker.
As she approached the church, Viola's heart skipped a beat as she saw once again the extraordinarily handsome man who she had met in her dream. "Great God!" she gasped, "There he is! And how beautiful he looks... yet how terrified he makes me feel!" Despite her fight or flight reaction, his aura was irresistible, & as he beckoned her towards him with outstretched arms, her heart thundered against her ribs as she edged ever closer towards him.
The frightened peasants who had gathered watched from a distance as she made her way further up the path. Viola, still clutching the purple flower that he had given her, handed it back to her perfect lover & fell into a swoon as he put his arms around her shoulders. In the hushed silence that followed, she let out a simple cry as his teeth pierced her swan-like neck, & she felt a trickle of blood leave a trail as it ran down her vase like body. She then gazed up longingly at her captor, & taking her brother's hunting knife from under her nightdress, plunged it deep into his heart.
The frightened villagers screamed & ran towards her, but by the time they had got to her, it was too late.
When everything was pieced together, nobody could understand what had happened to Viola, the much-loved girl from the town on that strange, summer morning.
All the reports given to the investigating commissioner of police told the same story. Viola had been seen by at least ten witnesses walking, in her nightdress, as if in a trance up to the church, & had ignored everybody's concerned calls. When she had got there, she had stopped half way up the path & been observed acting even more strangely, gesticulating & talking as if somebody had been in front of her. She had then closed her eyes & looked up towards the sky as if in some kind of blissful ecstasy, & then for no apparent reason, produced a large dagger from under her nightgown, & plunged it deep into her own heart.
The investigator, who was much puzzled by the case, also had to report the strange fact that there had not been a drop of blood anywhere at the scene, either on the ground or, indeed, in her person, which he believed was a bad omen for all who lived in the town & the local area. Equally puzzlingly, an extremely rare, purple-hued flower had been found at Viola's side, which had finally been identified by a big city specialist collector as being of an extremely rare species, the Pustilla Vulgaris, or Pasque Flower, which only grew in the most remote & inhospitable regions of eastern Europe. This strange occurrence had been, in the commissioner's view unsatisfactorily, explained away by the theory that it must have been brought across on the unsuspecting foot of a migratory bird, several species of which used the church & its buildings to make their nests during the summer, before they returned home to the lands of Hungary & Moravia in the autumn.
Immediately after the violent scene with her brother, Viola left the house , & although some of the townsfolk that she passed at that early hour called out to her, she resolutely ignored them & headed towards the olde church. Concerned for her safety, a few of the peasants decided to follow her, keeping at a safe distance, however, for all knew of the terrible dangers of attempting to awaken a sleep-walker.
As she approached the church, Viola's heart skipped a beat as she saw once again the extraordinarily handsome man who she had met in her dream. "Great God!" she gasped, "There he is! And how beautiful he looks... yet how terrified he makes me feel!" Despite her fight or flight reaction, his aura was irresistible, & as he beckoned her towards him with outstretched arms, her heart thundered against her ribs as she edged ever closer towards him.
The frightened peasants who had gathered watched from a distance as she made her way further up the path. Viola, still clutching the purple flower that he had given her, handed it back to her perfect lover & fell into a swoon as he put his arms around her shoulders. In the hushed silence that followed, she let out a simple cry as his teeth pierced her swan-like neck, & she felt a trickle of blood leave a trail as it ran down her vase like body. She then gazed up longingly at her captor, & taking her brother's hunting knife from under her nightdress, plunged it deep into his heart.
The frightened villagers screamed & ran towards her, but by the time they had got to her, it was too late.
When everything was pieced together, nobody could understand what had happened to Viola, the much-loved girl from the town on that strange, summer morning.
All the reports given to the investigating commissioner of police told the same story. Viola had been seen by at least ten witnesses walking, in her nightdress, as if in a trance up to the church, & had ignored everybody's concerned calls. When she had got there, she had stopped half way up the path & been observed acting even more strangely, gesticulating & talking as if somebody had been in front of her. She had then closed her eyes & looked up towards the sky as if in some kind of blissful ecstasy, & then for no apparent reason, produced a large dagger from under her nightgown, & plunged it deep into her own heart.
The investigator, who was much puzzled by the case, also had to report the strange fact that there had not been a drop of blood anywhere at the scene, either on the ground or, indeed, in her person, which he believed was a bad omen for all who lived in the town & the local area. Equally puzzlingly, an extremely rare, purple-hued flower had been found at Viola's side, which had finally been identified by a big city specialist collector as being of an extremely rare species, the Pustilla Vulgaris, or Pasque Flower, which only grew in the most remote & inhospitable regions of eastern Europe. This strange occurrence had been, in the commissioner's view unsatisfactorily, explained away by the theory that it must have been brought across on the unsuspecting foot of a migratory bird, several species of which used the church & its buildings to make their nests during the summer, before they returned home to the lands of Hungary & Moravia in the autumn.
~
The whole incident cast a huge shadow over the town & a few months later, just when it appeared that everything was returning to normal, the church gardener began noticing a number of beautiful flowers, of a strange purple hue & of a breed that he had certainly never seen before, appearing in increasing numbers in various places all around the grave stones & the church gardens. However, at this point in time, all the migratory birds had long since departed back to their winter homes in the far reaches of Europe, & this time, no one was able to explain how they had come to be there.
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