Elysian
Obscurity 1 Obscurity, The Prologue 2 Obscurity, The First Chapter 3 Obscurity, The Second Chapter 4 Obscurity, The Third Chapter 5 Obscurity, The Fourth Chapter 6 Obscurity, The Fifth Chapter 7 Obscurity, The Sixth Chapter 8 Obscurity, The Seventh Chapter 9 Obscurity, The Eighth Chapter 10 Obscurity, The Ninth Chapter 11 Obscurity, The Tenth Chapter 12 Obscurity, The Eleventh Chapter 13 Obscurity, The Twelfth Chapter 14 Obscurity, The Thirteenth Chapter 15 Obscurity, The Fourteenth Chapter 16 Obscurity, The Fifteenth Chapter 17 Obscurity, The Sixteenth Chapter 18 Obscurity, The Seventeenth Chapter 19 Obscurity, The Eighteenth Chapter 20 Obscurity, The Nineteenth Chapter 21 Obscurity, The Twentieth Chapter 22 Obscurity, The Twenty-First Chapter 23 Obscurity, The Twenty-Second Chapter 24 Obscurity, The Twenty-Third Chapter 25 Obscurity, The Twenty-Fourth Chapter 26 Obscurity, The Twenty-Fifth Chapter 27 Obscurity, The Twenty-Sixth Chapter 28 Obscurity, The Twenty-Seventh Chapter 29 Obscurity, The Twenty-Eighth Chapter 30 Obscurity, The Twenty-Ninth Chapter 31 Obscurity, The Thirtieth Chapter 32 Obscurity, The Thirty-First Chapter 33 Obscurity, The Thirty-Second Chapter 34 Obscurity, The Thirty-Third Chapter 35 Obscurity, The Thirty-Fourth Chapter 36 Obscurity, The Thirty-Fifth Chapter 37 Obscurity, The Thirty-Sixth Chapter 38 Obscurity, The Thirty-Seventh Chapter 39 Obscurity, The Thirty-Eighth Chapter 40 Obscurity, The Thirty-Ninth Chapter 41 Obscurity, The Fortieth Chapter 42 Obscurity, The Epilogue

Obscurity, The Prologue

The first chapter of my gothic novel, in which a mysterious woman turns up at the Plantation St. Vincent.

· 4 September 2021 · 2 min

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The doors opened slowly, a sealed peace pouring across the threshold as shuttered doors creaked on humid hinges.

The abbess appeared against that perfect darkness, her wrinkled skin lit by a sole candle, her hair shrouded by the veil of her order. She stood against the night as though she stood against the gates of Hell, holding the estate fast from its encroaching grasp.

The abbess regarded the young woman who stood on that doorstep. Whose evening gown slipped from beneath her cloak, whose diamonds dripped from her décolleté, whose lips appeared pressed with crushed rubies. Her skin was porcelain and fair, her ebony hair combed into an elegant knot, and in her arms was held a portrait of the Virgin Mary weeping.

She stood framed between the tall colonnades of that darkened plantation, her eyes glistening like midnight hills flecked with sapphires, her breath held like captured secrets yet untold. Her countenance so still and poised she could have been a portrait, painted against a backdrop of that wild paradise, tropical palms falling into the frame with abandoned intention.

Within the shadows of the leaves, there stood a gentleman we admit to be of questionable character. He wore a black hat and a cloak that rustled in an imperceptible wind as he stepped forth to greet the abbess. "Here is Madame St. Vincent," he said, indicating the woman before him. “Delivered to the care of her husband, Monsieur le Propriétaire of the Estate St. Vincent."

The elegant woman on the doorstep took a breath, the diamonds shuddering against her neck as she did so. She could smell the scent of frankincense and myrrh falling from within, touching her with its solitude. It mingled in her lungs and, for a moment, that held breath transported her to another life. One far and away from this one. She shivered at some recollected memory. Some past unreckoned with.

The abbess saw clearly the woman who stood before her and the shadow that touched her, and she welcomed both into the darkness within. “Bienvenue,” she said simply into the night. "Monsieur le Propriétaire is nearing the hour of his death, I would that Madame hasten to greet him."

We next read The First Chapter, in which we meet Monsieur Le Propriétaire at his death bed.

Discourse 15 replies

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Winston Malone

This definitely set the tone. I’m hooked!

4 Sep 2021
Elle Griffin

Yay!

4 Sep 2021
Mark Starlin

Congratulations on the launch, Elle. 🎉 You have my attention. I am looking forward to more. 😀

4 Sep 2021
Elle Griffin

Thanks Mark!

4 Sep 2021
Lorraine Sawicki

I love the mood and language of your writing so far!

6 May 2022
Elle Griffin

Thank you so much! That really means a lot!

8 May 2022
Patrick Ellsworth

So, beautifully written. You've got me hooked. On to Chapter One

30 Apr 2022
Elle Griffin

Yay!!!! Thank you so much.

1 May 2022
Shari McGriff

Elle, where did you find the images for each chapter?

19 Apr 2022
Elle Griffin

Canva!

19 Apr 2022
Shari McGriff

Can't believe I didn't think of that. Thank you!

19 Apr 2022
Dascha Paylor 🇨🇦🍁🐻‍❄

Bravo! I love the hints at a mysterious backstory and the all the questions raised by an arrival under such circumstances (trying not to add spoilers here).

5 Sep 2021
Elle Griffin

Thank you so much Dascha!

6 Sep 2021
G. M. (Mark) Baker

"and in her arms she held a portrait of the Virgin Mary weeping." Wow. It's got style, I'll say that for it. It's bold.

This sort of thing is so hard to pull off. The fractured metaphors. The world-glimpsed-through-lightning quality. It can so easily fall into parody. The words can so easily get in the way of the picture they are trying to paint. But your have avoided all of that.

One is aware of the words, certainly, aware of how daring the exposition is. Reading it feels very much like watching a tightrope walker walking over a roaring chasm without a net. One expects the author at any moment to put a foot wrong and plunge into the depths, losing the story in a crash of broken words. But it doesn't happen. A stark image emerges through the whirl of words, and so the bold exposition becomes part of the thrill of the story.

What will the next chapter bring? Will the author make the tiger jump through the flaming hoop or will she get mauled? Have to watch to find out!

4 Sep 2021
Elle Griffin

Thank you Mark! We'll have to find out indeed.....

4 Sep 2021