The Cruxshadows – Ethernaut

The melancholy soundscapes seem to come from an aetheric void rather than vibrations on the air.  Languorous violins, ripping guitar riffs that can tear through any soul unprepared, yet able to nurture the contented darkness of those who understand…

Nice.

When I was a kid, I used to have recurring dreams about running away with a travelling carnival.  Is that strange?

The carnival which inhabited my dreams wasn’t the bright flashing lights, loud side-show barkers and creaky, life-threatening thrill rides that so many of you carry fond memories of from childhood.

It had been long-since deserted, repopulated, re-deserted, and once again populated with a crowd seedy enough to have given the average seedy carnie goose-bumps.  Mostly it was abandoned, but some of it was still functional.  The other children hesitated, but still shelled out the hard-negotiated advances on their allowances on the midway games which were being operated, though no prizes were piled enticing them to try.  I was only vaguely disappointed to find that the ring-toss booth had been out of commission since the last of the rings mysteriously disappeared.

On my first visit, I contented myself to wander quietly, enjoying the quiet gloom presiding over the nearly empty field dotted with the dilapidated detritus of this rediscovered miniature city.  I almost felt as though, if the dream were taking place underwater, I would recognize the Lost City of Atlantis, sparsely populated with people who have adapted and evolved enough only to be called somewhat human.

That water, not being present, was replaced by a silent haze sitting just above the ground, but not reaching up to eye-level.  Though nobody there was dead, and the carnival was clearly still breathing (even if lively would have been a poor description) the scene could fit the clichéd description of a cemetery.  Rust had set root, and paint had faded and chipped.  Everything in sight fell into the murky outer rings of the color wheel, and of those few ventured outside of the gloomier shades.