autumn twilight

I emerge from the box, wrapping the cloak around me tightly, my bare feet sinking into the cold slush on the black ground. There is a bright light streaming down from a little above me, coming out of some boxlike thing attached to the outside of the building. There is much more light in the main causeway, but the sounds and feelings of the spirits have left. It is deserted.

I walk out of the small pathway, my feet pushing through the snow, as though they were questing for the cool earth beneath, but encountered only the strange black paving. There are more lights here, of all shapes and colors. The light is dazzling to my eyes. Not as harsh or bright as the cruel sun of this place, but disorienting. The light comes from everywhere, but doesn’t seem to illuminate much at all. The black street is mostly free of snow, as if it cleared itself, or as if the snow could not last upon it.

I look up to the sky, and there are no clouds, but there are also no stars. The buildings rise all around me, but I can see the sky. There are no stars. I shudder against the thought. Where do these spirits find inspiration? Where do they gaze when waiting for Her to communicate with them? I pull the hood of the cloak over my head and begin to walk North, through the city. There is nobody present, only a stillness as eerie as the place itself. Before crossing I had sensed the abundance of spirits here. But now, almost none at all. Those spirits that I could feel around me were in buildings, moving slowly. None of them with the power that I had come looking for. I could feel power under the black streets though, sleeping deep within the earth. There were spots, north, where it spiked up, reaching to the surface before moving deeply beneath it again.

I walked toward those. Surely, if there were spirits of power here, they would be near the power. Quietly, I set off towards them.