Chapter Text
Prologue: Veiled Beginnings
As consciousness returned, the feeling of the cold stone beneath her and the searing headache assaulting her mind was the indication that she was –miraculously- alive. Hands stinging from the many cuts she pushed herself into a kneeling position, muscles screaming from the abuse. In her mouth a mix of dirt and blood clung to her tongue, and she was happy enough to spit the vile mixture out as her vision became sharper.
What she saw had her almost praying to Dirthamen to guard her locked heart, afraid that she had not regained any form of sense.. A world of darkness, full of stone adrift in the space is already terrifying enough, the thick mist and silent shades watching ones every movement. Her hand, the left one, screamed in pain again. Hissing, she looked down expecting to see broken skin, blood, and bone. The sneer dropped from her face, the look of shock that replaced it aglow from the eerie light bursting forth from her palm.
A noise from the darkness had her head jerking up, eyes alert and searching. Her eyes connected with pairs of glowing yellow orbs, at least ten sets! Body taught, she backed up slowly in a crawl her, ebony hair a wild mess in front of her eyes. A cold sweat broke out on her brow, breathing shallow as she lifted herself up against a twisted rock, eyes still glued on the ones that haunted her.
Another voice reached out through the emptiness, reaching her ears as unintelligible garble. She turned to the source high above her, lifting her untroubled hand to shield her eyes from the illuminated being that stood at the peak of stone steps. The fears in the dark abated slightly, cast out by the intense brilliance of this being, and all thought was dispersed, save for the intense need to reach this person.
So with heavy feet, she fought against the pain in her body with each step, climbing the stone steps to reach the plateau, unafraid of the eyes that followed slowly for the moment.
Her luck was short lived, for the creatures of shadow seemed to realize her intended destination, and began to follow at a quickened pace. The savage snarling caught her attention. She pulled her eyes from the glorious sight, looking blow into the blackness- and felt her stomach drop. Stalking her were the sickly glowing eyes, their owners a mangled mess of rotting flesh and fur and teeth, hungry and bared in her direction. Wolves mad with hunger, hounding her.
She broke out into a frantic sprint, heart in her throat as she lept and climbed over rocks, cutting her hands further on their sharp edges. The vivid being knelt forward, reaching out to her with all it’s might, calling to her in words she could not comprehend. The wolves were almost upon her, mouths salivating at the meal almost within their sharp teeth. A clawed paw tore at the side of her thigh, earning a scream.
Their prey threw herself upon the rocks, hand outstretched to the one inches from her fingertips. Their fingertips barely touched as the demons of her dreams bounded to her, and then the light bursted forth, overflowing to encompass her and banish the ones that haunted her.
Before blackness took her, she saw the face of her savior, a sad smile upon her face.