The first thing I noticed is that the moon was broken. A shard of yellow and white bone shone through the orange sky. Breaking the peaceful darkness and turning it into something quite different.
The second thing I noticed was that the world was on fire. The air was thick with smoke, warping what should have been the peace of the black skies and orange moon. Just as the chunks of flaming debris fell to the ground, more would rise up to replace the old.
The third thing I noticed was that I was on fire. As I looked down at my arms, they were barbequed to a crisp, the dripping fat shining with a nuclear black. The ground under my burning feet was melting the tarmac, forming eating pits of all shapes and sizes.
But, none of those were the things that I noticed. Not really. They were just background, scenery, details. What I really noticed was the one thing, the only thing that mattered.
It was her.
She stood tall, her black as black skin shining and perfectly smooth. Her hair fell in waves of golden brown and black, with every colour in between. She wore a long dress and was covered in a cloak. The colours were harsh, a portrait of pain and suffering. They would fit anyone as well as they fitted her. And, they did fit her.
She was surrounded by an orange glow that had a blackness inside it. It was as bright as the fire around us, but as dark as space. At the out edges of this light, the world was black and white.
She was death, but she was also one of life. An end, but also a beginning. She was all of them.
Then, the fire consumed me and I was gone.
I woke up in a field of yellow grass. The sky was a pink sky, with a lemon yellow moon. The sun was a big hot ball of fire, high in the orange sky.
A huge black spider sat in the middle of a tiny web, right in front of me. It must have been the size of a truck and, despite feeling nothing, I found I could feel its eyes. All eight of them. I felt them all looking at me, through the web and through me.
And then, very slowly, the spider began to change. Her black legs twisted and changed until they were golden and shiny. Her eyes closed, and small angelic wings appeared from her back. She was just as beautiful as she had always been.
'You know what you have to do, James' the spider angel said.
I nodded.
I walked across the orange grass, stepping over the burning roads and fallen houses. I walked for what felt like hours, but was only minutes.
I walked until I was among the ruins of a town. What was once a home to somewhere around a million people now had nothing in it. No people, nothing. Or no one.
I walked until I found her. She was short and small, hardly bigger than a normal person. Her head was covered with a thin sheet of liquid and razor thin blades. She was alone, so far as I could see.
She smiled at me.
'You have returned' she said.
I nodded.
'This is what you have to do' she continued. She had a grave voice as she spoke. 'This is what it means to be human. This is what you have to do'
A smirk came to my face as I looked at her. 'What do I have to do?' I asked.
'This ' she said, her smile fading a little. 'You have to drink until you are full. You have to drink until you can no longer drink. Until you '
"To know the true power of stars. To feel the infinity of the ocean.