Walking in the darkness, all alone and without hope. That's how it is for me now, how it's always been. My eyes can see nothing, my ears can hear not even the slightest sound. "How did I get to this forgotten place?" I whispered and shook my head. All I can feel in this cold place is emptiness. Hungry and tired no matter how much of this darkness I consume and how long I close my eyes. Although I am not even sure if my eyes are ever open because all I see is darkness. Close them, darkness. Open them, darkness. "Am I sleeping?" I begin to run as fast as I possibly can towards an end I cannot see.


"Why are you running?" Stopping dead in my tracks and turning in all directions I call back, "Who's there? Where are you?" The voice was female and seemed close, close enough for me to touch. "I am you, I am everywhere." Still turning, I call out again, "What do you mean, 'I am you?'" "Open your eyes and you'll see." I shook my head, "My eyes are open." The voice chuckled, "Then close them." What could she possibly be babbling on about? Closing my eyes won't make me see. "Sometimes," she whispered, "what we see with our eyes isn't what's really there. The darkness that you can't escape, you're the one keeping yourself imprisoned."


Though it made no sense to me I slowly closed my eyes. I shouldn't trust this person, I thought. But what have I got to lose now? Even with my eyes closed there was still darkness. I was about to remark on this when I saw something, a glimmer in the black abyss. "What..." I started walking towards it and the voice continued to speak. "There is nothing in this world and yet life exists. Hope is an illusion and yet all creatures believe in it. Time cannot be measured or controlled and still people try." I kept walking. "What is fair? What is right? Who am I? Where am I going? What is my purpose?" I kept drawing closer to that glimmer of light. "Is life and death the same thing? Am I awake or am I dreaming? Why does my heart hurt when I'm alone? Why do I keep trying?" I could see it now, the small glimmer of light, it was the source of the voice. A small girl was rocking back and forth with her head between her legs, kneeling down low. "Do I really exist? Why have I been here this whole time, alone in this light?" My eyes widened in realization, the little girl was myself, when I first came to this darkness. She was the part of me that I locked away, deep inside. The part of me that felt those feelings of hope and love. Slowly, I reached out to her and placed my hand on her shoulder. In that instant light surrounded everything, the darkness was consumed by it and I had to shield my eyes.


The girl slowly rose and turned to face me, her blue eyes turned red from the tears that had been falling down her pale cheeks. "So you see, you are me. The second part of the whole, the anger and sorrow." I looked around at her world, the world filled with light. My mouth opened wide to let out a scream, the scene before me... It was horrible. What I had mistaken for light was actually flames, wild flames everywhere, engulfing everything. I started to back away and she stepped forward, mimicking my movements in reverse. "Now that you've come back we can be whole again. Now that you've returned we can be free." She extended her hand towards me and my own hand unwillingly reached back to her. "Let's become what they all feared. Let's escape this prison they put us in." I shook my head, "I thought you said I put us here!" She chuckled, a sinister grin spreading across her face. "You imprisoned yourself in the darkness, separated yourself from the truth, from the light." "What truth!" I tried to move but my body was locked in place. "That there is no light or darkness. That we only exist as long as we consume everything around us. That our death was only the beginning." Everything came back in that instant, the memories I had forgotten. The blade that plunged through my heart, my lover that put it there. The flames that destroyed what I had built, the smile of the one that bewitched him. The truth: I am the darkness. "That's it," she said "that's the way." She took my hands in hers and closed her eyes. I squeezed her hands in mine and I felt it, the blade. The pain came back all at once and I screamed, a blood curdling scream.


My eyes opened wide, the flames were hot around me. I looked at my chest, at the thing that took my life. Anger consumed me and I grasped the hilt of the blade, pulling it out of my heart. "I-Impossible! You're supposed to be dead!" The witch's eyes were wide in fear and she tried to run. I sprinted towards her, escape was futile while I was in this state. I grabbed her by the wrist and savagely pulled her back. Gripping the blade in my hand tighter I brought it to her neck, my eyes full of hate. "Derrick, help me!" I dug the blade into her shoulder, "Don't you dare speak his name. The spell you placed him under faded as my life was taken, but you wouldn't know that, would you." I turned the blade and she screamed in agony. "Unlike me you won't come back from the hell I send you to, your soul forever imprisoned in the flames that you have created," I hissed as I pulled the blade from her shoulder. I moved in close to her ear and whispered, "He belongs to me and no one else. This Kingdom is mine and mine alone. Thank you, for freeing me." I stuck the blade through her gut and watched her kneel down, blood seeping from her lips as her eyes started losing any glimmer of life.