Eyes Of Infinity

1

The young couple drove slowly up the long, winding drive-way. The natural beauty of the place put them in a state of awe. They had heard many wondrous things about where they were going but nothing could have prepared them for this, and they were left speechless for many minutes.

After booking into their room, the young lady, who was weary after a long day's travelling, retired to bed, whilst the young man gazed out longingly at the breath-taking scenery. He soon felt the strange energy of the place enter his soul &, as darkness fell, he began to have strange sensations & increasingly dark visions. The sounds that had met them at early evening began to change. The twittering of sparrows and the glorious song of the thrush had transformed into the haunted hooting of hunting owls. Instead of the yelps of domestic dogs, it was the cries & barks of prowling foxes that now echoed through the valley, as did the rhyme & slither of mating slugs, & every so often, all this was pierced by the bone-chilling scream of a rabbit or a vole that had been too slow to escape from its hungry captor. The moon cast its ancient glow over all the land, & the young man's attention was suddenly drawn to a rustle among the elm trees on his right. And then, before he was even aware of what was happening, a gleaming pair of eyes locked onto his. Instantly he was completely mesmerised, & it was only when those fiery eyes blinked that he felt himself released, & as he attempted to regain his awareness, he was sure he glimpsed a strange, white creature slink away into the wood. Entranced, but confused & utterly exhausted from the long journey, & believing he must have been dreaming, he climbed into bed & soon fell into a deep but restless sleep. His dreams that night were immensely strange, as animals & people, & stones & buildings, & trees & water changed shape & merged into one. On awakening he was haunted by the memory of a scintillating essence, of a creature that had teased him throughout & had seemed to be a highly sensual yet dangerous being.

The young couple spent the following day walking in the beautiful countryside, & each step seemed to bring new wonders to their eyes & senses. The perfume from the flowers & trees made their heads swim, & the dragonflies, mayflies & honey bees danced & flirted around them. The final part of their walk revealed a majestic waterfall, & it felt to them both, particularly in their current, enchanted state, that this mass of water & spray was the centre of all the energy that enabled such vibrancy, colour & scent to flourish. It was as if the waterfall was the divine giver of life & both its source & its end, as it began its long journey into the welcoming arms of the ocean far away.

Arriving back at the hotel, they prepared to meet the young man's father & both their families, at a celebratory dinner that was being held to celebrate his birthday, as well as their own impending engagement.

After the delicious meal the young man made a birthday toast to his father & to his new fiancee, before he wandered into the foyer of the small hotel, looking to replenish his drink. Imagine if you can his astonishment when two glittering, sparkling eyes, identical to those he thought he had seen in the garden the previous evening, met his! Stuttering, he just about managed to order his drink, & was then bade to follow the owner of those deep, beguiling eyes into the large garden. He followed the captivating being as if in a trance, & her sensuous feline grace made her look as if she was a new species of creature, but one as yet completely unknown to science.

Sitting down on the garden chairs, he was finally able to look at this adorable creature completely. And whilst her enchanting, pearl-like eyes devoured him also, he noticed her sumptuous white coat, which sparkled like glitter under the shining silver of the moon, & was more luxurious than the finest silk & softer than the snowy down on newly-hatched birds.

His gaze was, however, inexorably drawn towards her sparkling eyes, which were now blazing under the starlit sky. He felt his soul & will-power dissolving, & soon found himself revealing his deepest secrets to her. Within a short amount of time he felt his entire being crumble, & as soon as his willpower had completely deserted him, she led him with barely a sound, into the dark woods beyond.

Sometime later, his fiancee, increasingly concerned as to the whereabouts of her beloved, came out into the garden to look for him. She thought that she heard an unusual sound, a low murmuring which sounded like somebody in distress. Full of anxiety & strange presentiments, she walked slowly towards the sound that was was coming from the bottom of the garden, & was astonished to find, not her fiancee, but a beautiful young man crying on the grass. As she approached, he gazed up at her & she was immediately astonished at the mesmeric eyes that met & captivated hers, & almost as if she had lost control of herself, she sat down next to him on the luscious, abundant grass. Her heart raced furiously as she beheld the eyes that gripped her firmly, tighter than the trap of a barbaric hunter & her soul now as helpless as a fly that had unwittingly wandered into the clutches of a Venus fly-trap.

With herself now as emphatically entranced as her groom-to-be had been before her, she gazed at the figure at her side, desiring him intensely, yet greatly confused by his feminine grace, and almost feline, slender hands. But all at once, those ravishing eyes once again met hers & as her resistance drained away, an enchanting kiss was placed on her sweet lips, the most sensual she had ever known or had even dreamt existed, & which felt to her like the touch of the gods from long departed times & lands. Thoroughly lost & enraptured in this sea of ecstasy, the last thing she heard was a low, deathly, ground-shaking growl, & she departed from this world seeing her face reflected in the pools of the eyes of neither a woman nor a man, nor a woman dressed as a man, but a majestic, snow white leopard.

II.

A few weeks later, a young boy was crying in his small hotel bed, after having been sent there by his parents without him having eaten hardly any of his supper at the hotel's restaurant. They were furious at how obstinate he was being, & were greatly concerned about where his passion for making things up & telling ridiculous stories could lead to. And although they got to finish their supper following his dismissal, it could not be said that theirs was a happy meal.

The first time they had told their son that he must stop telling lies, they had merely scolded him. But when he then flatly refused to retract his statement on the second time of being asked to do so, his mother had warned him gravely that he would be sent immediately to his room, no matter how hungry he was. But when they had asked him a third time to admit that he had been making things up, their son had stamped his foot in annoyance & shouted back at them at the top of his voice, scaring the rest of the guests in the process, that he wouldn't admit to lying, as he was telling the complete truth. His furious father had then grabbed his arm & marched him back to his room & informed him that he would continue to go without supper until he learnt to stop telling tales.

The young boy, crying back in his room, was quite certain though. As he had said to his parents after they had just sat down to eat, he had seen a strange white leopard at the bottom of the garden from the car window as they were arriving at the hotel, & no matter how hungry he was, & no matter how many of his tears fell before he finally managed to get to sleep, he wasn't going to pretend otherwise.