CHAPTER ONE In the palace of the blind There sleeps an ice grey queen Day and night her sand clock ticks Ruby red and venom green She’s waiting for her lover She’s been waiting for years She’s waiting for Lucifer The stars drown in her tears Piety slits open She knows her time has come The dagger’s already in her heart Grey and cold and numb She’s putting on her crown of eyes For gods to do her bidding So run home children, say a prayer For Black Sun is rising I woke up cold, wet, and naked. And I did not know why.
“Agent Oliver Winthrop,” said a voice in the pitch black. A woman’s voice. Icy and distant, muffled by the thick glass and glowing blue liquid. I took a sharp breath, and felt the cold gurgle into my lungs. Felt it surged through my pounding heart, freezing up every vein and muscle. “Agent Oliver Winthrop. The Bureau calls for your service,” the voice repeated. Closer. Faster. Ah yes. Oliver. The Bureau. It’s coming back now. My eyes flickered open to a world blue and swimming. Had it always been that way? My feet landed on the white tiled floor still dripping. The hall was tall and dark, with a handful of low hanging lamps to illuminate the basilica depth. Rows upon rows of glowing blue lined the wall, some empty, some holding a floating body. Taxidermy would be most fitting. They drifted in small plumes of air bubbles, milky blue, like the fetuses of some deep-sea leviathan. Habitually, I turned around to find a black locker standing dutifully next to my tank. A white towel hung on the side, spotless, like the Bureau preferred most things. Maybe even whiter than her dress… That happens sometimes. In flashes, in patches, in violent dreams, they come back. The Bureau does not take chances trusting their agents, not even with their own memories. It may be the own thing it cannot keep spotless—their reputation aside of course, but I suppose that is out of a sense of professionalism. Keeping Her Majesty’s hands clean is dirty business.
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Tony LiFull-time dreamer. Part-time high school student at Woodside Priory School. Archives
April 2017
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