"The Fallen Veil"

Enjoy the story and stay tuned for the rest of the gallery on our website this week! - C&C

She fell.

And she fell.

And she fell.

Then blackness, a sweet relief from reality, overtook her.

Slowly she drug her eyes open, eyelids scraping and clawing their way upwards so she could see. So much sand, where was she? How had she gotten here? She ran her fingers through the sand pushing herself up to look around. As she got up she realized she was clad in white chiffon and lace. Reaching up to touch her head she found something on her head, a crown of sorts? Somehow still poised on her head despite the fall. Sitting perfectly entangled in her red and black waves.

Suddenly fragments of memories started to flash in her mind. A place? People? She didn't know but it didn't look like here, here she was alone. She tried to think, to recognize or remember, but the more effort she put into reaching for them the further away they got. Disappearing as quickly as they had come. 

She got up to look around, that seemed like the logical choice. She knew she would have to find food and water soon. As she stood, her skirts whipped in the wind. She gathered them up and began to move. There was no sense of direction, the sky was full of clouds and all she could see was miles and miles of sandy desert.

As she made her way through the deserted land she noticed she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. Something that she was supposed to be doing or looking for… a mission in this place. But what was it? How was she supposed to know her purpose when she didn't even know her own name? 

She cursed the blasted crown on her head and its discomfort. She took it off and laid it in the sand at her feet. She walked a while more before sitting down herself.

She didn't know what she was doing. What was the point of this? She had so many questions and no answers. Wouldn't someone come for her? Surely there were people wherever she had come from that would be missing her. But hours passed and she was still wandering the wasteland alone. 

Desperate, she started to cry out. Begging and pleading to a god whom she could not name for some kind of guidance. Then she realized it was unlikely that whatever god she may have previously known would follow her here. In this place, she would have to be her own god.

So she gathered her skirts and decided to let her troubles fade to the back. At this point there was nothing more she knew to do and worrying wouldn't help. So she danced and swayed to the rhythm of the wind. She started to feel more relaxed as the evening grew darker, the sun slipping behind the dunes. 

Maybe to find herself she would have to lose herself first.

That was when it happened, she remembered her name.