I dream of blood and bones.
My sleeping eyes bring visions of bodies lying on fields strewn with entrails.
Is mine among them?
I see myself in battle, but my adversaries hidden in a red haze.
When was I there? I cannot remember..
The visions, so real they seem like forgotten memories, play in my skull like shadows on the wall. Of many fields, many lands.
I find weapons in my hand, of stone, of bronze, of steel, covered in the muck and gore of war.
A figure beckons in the background. Dark, stooped of shoulder, black of visage.
I do not wish to heed him, but my feet carry me to his side.
I’m standing before a bog field. The air is damp and smells of peat. I feel a sharp pain, and the world turns black.
I’m rising from a bog and the dark figure beckons.
I stand at his side and await his bidding.
I rise from a pile of bodies, stinking in the hot sun, covered in blood. Is it theirs, or my own?
Far away in the mists, the dark figure beckons.
The shadows flicker, and I see the face of my enemy as he delivers me the killing blow.
My body falls, to join my comrades in the muck and gore. Blood and bones.
I feel my last breath slip from me.
Then the dark figure beckons, and I rise.
I waken, startled, and tell myself “this canna be real! I’ssa fever dream is all!”
But my forehead is cold, clammy, and damp. Only my eyes feel burning hot, like embers.
And I know that when I sleep, I will return to dreams of blood and bones.