The cold winter world scene was abruptly ended as darkness flooded my vision and I found myself alone. The darkness was impenetrable and pant overtook me, a chilling raw panic born of the worst nightmares and fears. My breathing became ragged and small, infant-like whimpers left my mouth as I tightly wrapped my arms around myself.

I felt cold on the soles of my feet and looked down, realizing I wasn’t wearing shoes at the same time I found my attire was a threadbare plain brown cotton dress. The hem was cut at mid thigh, my pale skin glowing under it, and the sleeves were long, down to my wrists. As soon as my feet touched the cold floor my surroundings came to my through my panic.

It was cold. And damp, I could hear water dripping off somewhere. It wasn’t as dark either, as my eyes adjusted I could make out parts of rock and see the ceiling rise above me. That’s when I realized I was in a cave. A dark one, deep underground. I could imagine the weight of the tons of rock above me and a shudder came at the thought.

I like space. And air. The walls seemed to close in on me, making me close my eyes and take a deep breath before opening them again.

The rock itself was a dark earthy brown. The area I was in was slightly small with a high ceiling covered in various lengths of staglites. A few dark areas, tunnels I presumed, showed in the corners of my eyes. I slowly willed myself to calm more when an illogical urge to be ready to defend myself from possibly lurking monsters in the dark shadows came.

There was a little light through the source was not an entrance or a crack in the ceiling, it seemed instead, to be coming from a sight that made me stop breathing and stare.

In front of me was a girl. She had long straight hair that went to her lower back and was an unnatural white. She was barefoot as well but was dressed in a white floor length dress that I knew would swirl as she walked. The sleeves belled slightly at her wrists. The hem was a little muddy and there was a braided belt around her waist that looked as though it was made of hair a light coffee and cream color I stared as she moved, her head tilting up and her hair falling back to show a face as dainty and majestic as the rest of her. Her eyes were a vibrant blue, shining with experience and wisdom. Her face itself was a little gaunt but defiance showed through her entire being. Though she was striking and I felt as though in the presence of great authoring, I also saw two striking things.

The first was that the faint light seemed to be coming from her, radiating off her skin and though I wonder at it left my mind quickly.

This was because the second was that her wrists were shackled to the wall on either side of her and her feet were chained together.

“They’ve never sent a woman before, pray tell me, what shall I endure this time?” The girl’s voice was clear and sweet. The suddenness of which she spoke though sent me to jump back a foot and stare more.

“I-I-I what?” Was the only response I could think of.

“Don’t play,” She laughed in resignation, “I know you’re from them. None of my people have been able to get here as you know. I’m stuck.”

“Stuck?” I repeated, “Your…your people? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The fake humor on her face fled at this and shock took its place. “You….you’re not from them?”

She seemed to think this over for a few silent seconds, her mouth slightly open. Then she lunged forward toward me to get as close as she could, causing me to jump back. She started speaking swiftly and firmly, “You must get help. Go back and find my people. Find them and let them teach you. You must help them,” my world started to become dark around the edges and I felt my knees grow weak along with hearing a roar that seemed to come from somewhere else in the cave. The girl’s head whipped to one of the tunnels and with renewed fever she said, “You must help them! For I fear you’re the only one who can.” The last words I heard from her faded off to a quiet noise as darkness joined me again.