[1.01.01] Moondance

She could see the lights through the darkness of the moonlit forest. The others were already there. A murmur seemed to come from the clearing, deep and menacing as a tiger’s growl. The thought of turning back never crossed her mind. There was nothing to turn back to. Now that it had happened there was no reason to, no purpose. There had been times in the past, where she had felt warmth, but that was a distant memory now. All had fallen into darkness, now she had to pay the price. Two dark figures approached her holding black candles. The time had come. This had happened before, many years ago she had witnessed it; she had been a little girl then. The whole village had assembled in the forest clearing just as they had now. The priests had stood around the great stone altar in a solemn circle, clad in black cloaks and black robes as they were chanting lines of the ancient song. The silvery moon light illuminated the altar and the priests, the village people were hidden by the shadows of the slender silver trees. It had been a young woman the other time as well. She had slowly approached the altar in the center; she had danced the old dance on the stone, with her long dark hair falling about her. The nightly breeze had made her white dress come alive with each motion she made. Then she had raised her hands above her head, the light of the moon was reflected in the long silver blade. As the priests stepped forward and obscured the dancer from the view of the villagers, they fell silent, nothing except the wind rustling through the forest could be heard, and a soft thump as the blade fell down onto the grass. When they stepped back she, the little girl, saw a deathly white shape lying motionless on the cold gray stone staring with undead eyes straight at her. But that was long ago, she hadn’t understood what it had meant back then. This time it was different, this time it would be her dancing in the light of the crescent moon on this cool summer night. She followed her guides toward the clearing and finally stepped into the circle of priests. She had been waiting for this. Calmly, she stepped towards the altar. She repeated the same motions the girl fifteen years ago had made. She repeated the motions of hundreds of young women before her. They were the damned, the living dead. She danced herself into trance. The forest and the clearing faded away and the only things left in the world except for her were the moon light, the rhythmic voices of the priests and the icy silver blade in her hands. Then she lifted her hands above her head, the moon light fell on the blade and the priests stepped forward in a single motion. All of a sudden everything seemed more clear, more beautiful and more obscure all at once. She could hear cool nightly breeze rushing around her body. She felt her heart beating violently. She saw the moon shining brightly above her. She had never felt more alive than when she fell onto the altar. As the priests stepped back, a little girl beheld the cold staring eyes of the dancer on the altar. The curse had been passed on once again…