Random story that came out of no where

Virael led me down the high street, which was lit faintly by the street lamps and silent, with not a single trace of life. Soon she pulled me away to the right, and soon we were walking down an alleyway, which seemed to lead to no where.

“Virael,” I said, “there are only houses down here, and I don’t think you live in any of these. What is going on?”

She grinned, almost mischievously, that bizarre yet familiar twinkle in her eye. “You will see. Oh, look, a cat.” She pointed towards a puffy black giant of a cat which seemed to have followed us. Though I was hardly superstitious, I couldn’t help but glare at the creature suspiciously. I couldn’t help but feel a great sense of foreboding, for the moon was also full and I was alone with this young woman who I could only imagine was naive and vulnerable. That, or that’s what she wanted me to think, and she was leading me into a trap. But what could I do? I was helpless, she was enchanting. I did not have the slightest love for her, nor even lust, but I couldn’t stop myself from following her. I did not desire to be with her – it was my duty to be with her. “What’s wrong?” She asked, picking the cat up. As she did so, she brought it into contact of a ray of lamplight, and it became clear that the cat was in fact quite small, its long fur making up most of its apparent stature. “You’re not scared of the cat, are you?”

“No.” I lied. “I’m just…I just feel a bit edgy, ‘cos it’s dark. And the full moon and black cats and such aren’t helping.”

“Why not?” Virael asked, stroking the cat which I had now decided was not an omen of evil, nor a witch’s familiar, but an ordinary cat who must have been very nice, as cats go, to have allowed Virael to pick it up.

“Just the sorts of things people associate with them. You know, bad luck, werewolves, witches, those sorts of things.”

“Do you believe in them?”

“Well…not really, but you never know, they could exist. Rational reasons for their existence have been suggested – werewolves may just be men who go mad when they see the moon, and there are real-life vampires, I just seriously doubt that they can transform into bats.”

Virael nodded. “That sounds enough like belief to me. Come on.” She continued walking down the alleyway, and I followed her despite my fears. We both continued walking, the only thing breaking the silence being the constant purring of the cat, until eventually it occurred to me that we should have reached that dead end when we were still walking. There was something strange about the way we were moving, if moving is what we were doing – I looked to the side and behind me, and I appeared to be moving, but looking directly ahead it seemed as though I was standing still. Looking up and down, the ground and sky moved behind us, confirming that we were indeed moving towards our destination, yet still the dead end in front of us was as far away as it was a minute before. I thought that it must have been some kind of illusion, or maybe a dream, yet there was something so real about the situation that I knew both of those possibilities were wrong. I concluded that this must have been magic at work.

“Virael.” I said, my voice trembling with a mixture of fear and wonder. “What is happening?”

“What happens depends on what you think will happen.” Virael said, still looking directly ahead and stroking the cat. “Magic requires belief to work, and your doubts will only slow down the process.”

I wondered if I was on the verge of insanity. Reality seemed to collapse, and I imagined monsters creeping in from every direction, vampires and witches and werewolves and all kinds of unnamed devils. “What do you mean, ‘magic’?”

“You know, magic. Sorcery, witchcraft, wizardry, enchantment, mana, the occult, the arcane-“

“Okay!” I interrupted her, coughing to relieve me of a stressful croak. “I understand now.”

“But do you believe it? Because if you don’t, I suggest that you turn back now and forget that this ever happened.”

In truth, the only thought that consistently passed through my mind at the time was one of denial. My life had been fairly mundane until that point, I had no previous experience of the paranormal. Yet that dead end remained out of reach, and there was no way I was going to run away from it, not without finding an explanation for what was occurring. “I believe.” I answered. Almost immediately the wall raced towards us, everything around us moving so fast that they became a blur, and before I could convince my legs to stop we had passed through the wall unscathed and landed face down on grassy land. I continued to lay there for a few seconds, trying to understand how walking through a wall – and not feeling or appearing to break the wall – could result in lying face down on the grass. I considered the possibility that I had been knocked back upon hitting the wall, landing on grassy ground, but then I remembered that the ground had been concrete. I looked up, to find Virael smiling at me, still carrying the cat.

“Not bad for a first-timer. But next time try not to fall over, okay?” She laughed and walked away, and I became suddenly aware that I was not anywhere near where I previously was. Sitting up, I spent a few minutes surveying my surroundings. I was on the ridge of a small lake, which it felt more appropriate to think of as a crater filled with water, for it appeared to be perfectly circular. Though it was nighttime, the entire lake was clearly visible, the source of its light appearing to come from within. It was an unusual colour, considering the time of day, for it was a brilliant blue similar to that of the Mediterranean during the day, such that it contrasted greatly with the dark green, almost black grassland around it. The stars, too, seemed unusual, as if they were out of place. Though I’m hardly an expert in astronomy, I expected to recognise at least one constellation, for it was the clearest night sky I had ever seen, yet I recognised nothing. It did not take long for me to notice the absence of any moon – it was as though it had passed from its previous position, high in the sky, to below the horizon within a few minutes. Upon coming to this realisation, I sprung to my feet and looked around for Virael. I saw her standing up to her waist in the lake, all her clothes still on and her hair perfectly dry, holding the cat protectively. I ran down to her.

“Where are we?” I asked, too shocked to be panicking.

“There is no consensus on what or where this place is.” Virael answered. “But I believe it is the product of a dream, and it does not exist within the material world, being part of something else which we can connect to. Do you like it here?”

“I’m freaked out, to be honest with you.” I said. “What is going on? Why are we here? When are we going back?” That last question seemed to be more of a wish than an inquiry, for there seemed to be no guarantee of going back just yet.

“There is no need to be scared, worried, or to feel any other negative emotion in this place.” Virael said soothingly, and sooth she did, for as soon as she spoke those words I had forgotten the peril I seemed to be in. “But in answer to your questions – I don’t know, I don’t know and whenever you want. Would you like to go back?”

The prospect of going home appealed to me, though standing in the water, as I had found myself thoughtlessly doing, did seem to put me at ease, and I suddenly felt comfortable in this place. Even so, I was tired, and I wished only to sleep in my warm, comfortable bed. “I would like to go back.” I said. “But this place is so fascinating, I would like to return some day.”

“Then return you will, and return back you will if you wish, for now that you believe you may go anywhere you wish.”

I nodded, relieved that I would be going home that night, yet I did not yet know how I would get home when I was clearly so far away from it. “How? How do I return?”

“What do you believe will happen if you walk into the centre of the lake, with one foot always touching the ground?”

I frowned. The answer seemed obvious. “I would drown, probably before I could even reach the centre of the lake. Not that it would be possible, I would surely float to the surface.” My answer did not seem to please Virael, and she scowled.

“You’re not a quick learner, are you? Come on, what happened when we walked towards that wall earlier?”

“The most terrifying experience of my life, followed by our transportation to where ever this is.”

“That’s right.” She said. “But there is no wall to walk into here, is there?”

“You’re saying that walking underwater will take me home?” As I feared, she nodded. The idea did not appeal to me – for starters, I did not think it was possible to walk when your entire body was submerged underwater, for I had always though that it was in the nature of human bodies to float to the top unless attached to some heavy object, and I could see none, but I also did not enjoy the possibility of drowning in a futile attempt to skip from A to B to Z. Even if I had just gone from Z to Y to A. “Forget it, there’s no way I’m going to do that, I’ll drown!”

“Suit yourself.” She shrugged. “But I need to go now. I will return at some point, but probably not for a while. Wait for me if you must, but I strongly advise that you do not spend too long here alone – it will do things to you. Farewell.”

With that, she walked away towards the centre of the lake, her body steadily descending into the water until it was no longer visible. The cat stayed in her arms all the time, not flinching even as its paws touched the water. And so it was that I was left alone in this place. It feels as though I have been here many days now, yet it has remained nighttime all along, and the lack of food does not seem to have affected my health. The lake’s water must contain all the nutrition necessary for survival, for it is all I have lived on. Yet even though my stay here has had no physical impact on my health, I am starting to doubt that my sanity will remain intact for much longer, and I wish to leave. Virael seemed to hint that this place is visited by other people that herself, ‘There is no consensus on what or where this place is.’ It was with that thought in mind that I decided to take this piece of notepaper from my pocket and write about what has happened these past few ‘days’, before attempting to leave this enchanting place in the manner Virael suggested. If you find that I have drowned or met some other untimely end within the lake, at least someone will know why I died. Let us hope that I will find my way home soon, or else that I shall wake up from this nightmare.