Delusions

Jude

         When asked about his hallucination by professionals, he doesn’t know what to tell them. The visions of wrong were always there. His senile great grandmother -Mama Goldie- says he “has the sight.”

Mother says Mama Goldie is batty, and that medicine will make the visions of wrong go away. He takes them, eager for the visions to disappear. But they don’t. He still sees things he isn’t supposed to. He just now feels like he’s watching from underwater. As if he’s detached from it all…

 Sixteen years later, on the horizon the wildflower fields were in full bloom, flowing and swaying in the gentle breeze for miles. The sunset filled the sky… though beautiful there was a strong aura of loneliness permeating within those deep oranges, lively yellows, fiery fringes of gold, and soft sparse cotton candy pink clouds.

Jude sits on the roof of his own luxurious, personal prison, his family's large estate, miles of wildflowers to the west, and vast forests to the east. Nervously waiting for the delusions, to begin with nightfall, his breathing becomes heavy with fear.

Like every sunset, the whispers begin to flow in with the breeze. Once the sun has disappeared into the horizon the quiet twilight dissipates, and a gentle song begins swirling around in Jude’s head.

The music coming from so far out of the forest that its words had become indistinguishable, lost like ashes in the wind; Delighted squeals of laughter melding in with the music, as though children were skipping through the vast fields, and playing games in the forests.

Osiris

Wispy spirals whipped helplessly in the wind, inky in the midnight skies on the full moon. Pointed ears decorated in jewels peered out from the nest of ebony curls.

At the edge of the forest, he stood, his bare feet planted to a sturdy branch as he watched the object of his affection.

A melody spilled from his pale lips, knowing the words were spinning around in the young mage's head, beckoning him to find the source of the song.

As Osiris stood, endlessly watching his mortal, the moon reminded the Festival of Flora was in full swing.

If he wanted to do this right he needed to do it now. There was no other time or day. It needed to be now.

Within seconds he blipped in and out of physical space, moving at such a speed he pulled through time and space like going through a wormhole.

Moments passed and he’s scaling the outside wall of the mansion his mortal sat upon, wasting his precious life away on the odd pills that make him unresponsive to the siren call he’s been singing from the forest for the last sixteen years; singing his song, beckoning Jude forward, begging for Jude’s attention.

Jude

Before him stood the man in his hallucinations, the one from his drawings he did late at night when no one was awake.

War paint running from his large blue eyes like mascara falling from that drunken girl that Jude has seen at a family event. The man opened his mouth and the source of the song Jude listened to in his head poured from the visions mouth.

Brown eyes widened as Jude realized the hallucination before him was not a hallucination at all. He stumbled backward, scrambling to be free from the nightmare before him.

“You’re not real!” he yelped as he jerked away from the crying man who’d lifted his hand to touch Jude.

Mama Goldie chose that moment to appear out of nowhere; her hand landing silently on Jude’s shoulder.

He sprung forward, spinning on his heel, hand outstretched as though his open palm could do any damage that way.

“Oh my sweet, naïve boy, Judas, of course, he’s real. Just like every ‘delusion' you and I have.” She was most definitely lucid from the look in her eyes. She leaned her head to the side to get a better look at the man. “Has been many years since I’ve seen such youthful Fae… Let me guess, winter court… Unseelie. And by the tufts of white tucked behind your bejeweled ears, I’d say royalty, young prince, perhaps?” Mama Goldie ‘hummed’ before she leaned forward in a calculated manner. Mama Goldie delicately bent her frail body into an odd formal bow.

Jude looked back at the man to see his reaction. He was lowered into a similar graceful bow. From this position, Jude could see the white streak of his hair, for the first time clearly and not in visions.

The man opened his mouth to speak but only music came out. His dark eyebrows furrowed and he tried to speak again.

Slowly but surely as he tried, the song slowed down into words. His musical voice finally sounded almost human, almost gruff if something so soft could be called that.

“I’m the heir to the Unseelie throne.” Smugness permeated his voice like a stench. “It’s such an honor to meet the Matriarch of Jude’s family.” He lifted from his bow and immediately knelt on one knee as though begging. “I've been trapped in this realm for 16 years, only able to travel between realms during Yule, Beltane, and Samhain. But I am stuck wherever he is until the blood bond is complete.”

“Of course, of course, my apologies, dear… My old mind slips away from being away from the realm for so long. I hadn’t realized….” She trailed off her eyes wandering. “Well, have a good time with your little friend. Be back before midnight, Johnathan.” Jude sighed, her mind was gone once again.

“Goodnight mama Goldie, and it's Jude, not Johnathan.” He whispered, patting her shoulder and she wandered back downstairs.

Jude turned to look back at the fae prince. His hands reaching out to Jude, he was pulling into a bear hug. The dark curls tickled his nose.

A deep tugging feeling in his head made him faint as the prince warped them off the mansion roof and into the forest edge- blipping them into the space on the outer edge of the trees.

Jude opened his eyes and found himself to be tucked underneath the softest cloak imaginable and folded inside the prince's arms.

“What's your name?” Jude questioned quietly from his cozy place wrapped up in strong arms. He’d wondered the visions name for so long and to find him to be real, he had to know; had to ask.

“Unseelie Crown Prince Osiris is my title… but before you began your odd medication… You called me Si.”His voice was too fast, too musical but he was so close it was easier to understand the contradictive husky and high melodious voice.

“Osiris… Si…” The names of the prince tasted so odd on his tongue. So right that he wasn’t sure how he ever forgot. He poked his face out of the cloak to look at prince Osiris.

There wasn’t time to say much else for they warped through the realms as the moon rose high. Flying through the realm to the castle that floated amongst the clouds.

The Festival

         They landed in the middle of a cloud, cobblestone road was crowded with festival-goers. Carts and stands lined the streets; filled with neat trinkets and decadent treats waiting to be bought for hefty over-priced coin.

         Jude was released from Si’s hold, people stared; some gasped and some cheered but for the most part, it was rude comments towards Jude.

 Rumors spread like wildfire through the festival and arriving at the castle gates minutes before they did.

“The prince is back.”

“His familiar is with him as well.”

“It’s a MAGE.”

“He’s an untrained mage.”

“What a useless choice in familiar.”

“He just learned he was a mage.”

“Poor pitiful mortal.”

“A mortal? So not even full mage.”

“Why choose to have a mortal for a familiar?”

“That’s so tragic"

“He looks like a peasant.”

“Dressed in that garb, of course, he is.”

         The comments spewed like acid at and about them as they walked through the festival of Flora. But still Si kept his head held high. He was above it all, parting the crowds as he dragged a nervous Jude about the festival, looking for passage to the castle.

         They stood in front of these endless steps that lead higher up into the sky. A figure was descending from said stairs at breathtaking speeds.  It was Osiris’s brother Orion. A woman, small and meek followed in his shadows.

         “This…? This mortal is what we’ve all been waiting for you to bring home?” Orion scoffed at them as though they were a joke, the small woman forcibly laughed, looking uncomfortable, “I challenge you to a duel. Now.” Orion leaped into the air, ice swords materialized out of thin air. Swinging and ducking the brothers went. Osiris’s sword was aflame with a royal blue aura. But he still wasn’t as competent in swordsmanship as his brother.

         Soon Osiris lost his sword and was pinned to the steps, his brothers’ fur boot on his chest, sword at his throat. The icy blades nicked Osiris’s adam's apple, blood pooled at the small wound and dripped down until it slowly spilled to the step with a soft splat.

Something feral and inhuman boiled in Jude’s blood. He held his palms out and static crackled. Energy building and he ran forward, Grabbing Orion off of Osiris. Flinging them both to the side with a sharp thud as Orion landed on his back.

         A current ran through Orion's body and he began convulsing. The woman screamed trying to get Orion to stop shaking… But it couldn’t be stopped. Though nearly everything in his life had been a lie or coverup one thing he learned in this new lease on life rang true. He’d do anything to keep Si alive- no matter the cost.