"stygian demon"

the first thing i noticed was the blinding light. crowned in a halo, my eyes were pierced by a series of spears, piking at the effervescent ring. i blinked, and a blot of tear ran, tearing the flare like flesh from perfection without repair. my eyes started to water. the water ate at my feet. the wind chilled me and i did not notice. all i saw was the light and all i felt was—the earth, as ever. sand, endlessly stretching a grating mirror of the sea to my left and right. if only—there were some way—some way to pluck my eyes, float them forth, watch and die. burn, and water, and never land.

something sharply struck my toe, like teeth. it was only then i realized i was barefoot; the callouses on my heels were a fortress to the invasive sand, and by natural course, my ankles were lifted from the ground, an arching bridge to the soft calf flesh. after a brief moment, that shock was displaced by a flooding sting. i bolted up, but whatever the cause of that distress was, it had flown away and never landed. bird tracks had flitted through the sand at my feet once, but blurred as i startled.

it was hard to stand. I hobbled around, hunching leftward as i walked on one heel to keep pressure and sand from the painful site, and saw nothing surprising. i'd remembered a storm waking me up in the middle of the night, the cold water on my cabin floor. floating on my back, watching the small yacht disappear, i could remember nothing more. this beach was of course unfamiliar, if unexceptional; the shore gave way, past the tide line, to stranded froth and shells of dead things, and beyond that a thin forest. nothing moved, but everything buzzed. the land itself was a living organ. i inhaled in awe and noticed the clean air. i savored the breath. relaxing, my toe hit the sandy earth. the nerves screamed up my leg. i stumbled. Nearly collapsing into one of a few black volcanic rocks—i froze in the air for an extended moment. my view swooped in to the porous surface of the boulder, and returned, to its normal station and beyond, boring into the optic nerve. it contaminated the sensitive line with crystals, and twisted, nearly blinding me with the headache. crimson flooded my vision, and just as suddenly, retreated. And it was over. my leg in flames, the killing ache in my head, the vertigo. gone.