A strange wind kissed Gemma's face, and her lids fluttered open to a surreal landscape. Snow and thin trees surrounded her, but this terrain looked nothing like the one she called home.
There were no mountains or pines that stretched to the heavens. It was impossibly flat and seemed to venture farther than the eye could see.
Apprehensive, Gemma awaited the pain that would follow after regaining consciousness. Still, as she lay unmoving in the snow, no such agony came.
Something was wrong.
This place, the snow, all of it!
The snow she lay on wasn't cool against her skin, and she sprang up wide-eyed, her heart pounding in her chest, and her head started to spin.
"Am I dead? I can't be dead!" Gemma whispered.
Her body trembled but not from the cold that was supposed to exist in an atmosphere like this. It trembled with fear and shock of the realization of where she must be.
Purgatory.
Gemma was not raised in a religious household, but a strange curiosity gripped her one day. She began to research where one ended up if they didn't immediately cross over to heaven after death.
She found many different places and names in her search, but none ended up after death. It wasn't until she attended a seminar with Kimie that Gemma felt she had finally found what she had been looking for.
Purgatory. The place sinners of the earth end up after death to be cleansed before moving on to heaven or being cast down to the fiery depths of hell.
Remembering everything she had absorbed from the seminar about this place, Gemma raked her hands through her platinum hair and screamed into the deafening silence.
"NOOOOO!"
There was no use in questioning why she ended up in this place as she already knew, or at least thought she knew.
What troubled Gemma's mind was how it all ended.
How she left everyone, she loved behind in an instant without a chance to say goodbye. To wrap her arms around them and tell them how much she loved them and how sorry she was.
The pain from the accident may have not come, but the pain of losing her loved ones did, and Gemma fell to her knees, weeping.
"I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry…." Gemma repeatedly repeated till her voice became weak and she had no more tears left to cry.
She sat on her knees and stared into the endless vast of dead trees and snow for what seemed like days. Never growing tired, Gemma wished she could fall asleep to wake up from this nightmare that had befallen her.
As she continued to stare blankly, a shadow moved just beyond the trees, and Gemma blinked rapidly.
Did she really just see someone, or was this place playing tricks on her?
With caution, Gemma rose from the ground and moved her feet forward. Who or what the shadow was could possibly tell her what to do now.
To Gemma, following this shadow was a better option than staying ideal for the rest of eternity. Not like she had another alternative as this was the first thing she had seen beside the trees since arriving in this almost barren land.
The shadow didn't notice the girl following behind it, and a part of Gemma wanted to keep it that way. Thankfully the snow beneath her feet was only a few inches deep, making it easier for Gemma to keep up with the shadow while maintaining some stealth.
The shadow stopped, and Gemma darted behind a cluster of the thin trees, holding her breath.
Had the shadow caught on to her?
Gemma didn't know, and she found she wasn't brave enough to find out either. So she remained hidden till she heard the creak of an old hinge being opened.
Still holding a breath, Gemma peeked through the spaces of the trees, and her brows furrowed.
The shadow had vanished from where she had last seen it and in its spot was a small wood structure that Gemma was sure wasn't there before. Her eyes wandered over it and then around it before Gemma took a deep breath and stepped out from the safety of the thin trees.
'Curiosity killed the cat, Gemma!' Her mind shouted, but Gemma kept moving her feet forward. She was already dead. What more could possibly happen.
The closer she came to it, something about the structure seemed oddly familiar. Like she had seen it before, but that couldn't be. Maybe in a dream, but Gemma couldn't recall.
All she knew was that a strange pull was coming from this weathered-looking shack, telling her this was the way.
Placing her hand on the latch, Gemma turned it as an image flashed in her eyes, piquing her curiosity, and she pushed the door open, stepping through the threshold.
She froze in her steps at the unexpected lush forest that greeted her, and she turned back to find the barren wasteland was no more along with the wooden structure.
All that remained was the door and the thick greenery that surrounded her.
Lost in the beauty of this place, Gemma didn't hear the heavy footsteps approaching from behind her.
"Why are you following me?" came a booming voice, and Gemma jumped.
Turning, Gemma found herself frozen once more when her eyes met a pair of refreshing blue ones.
It was him.
The man from Kimie's party.
Before Gemma's mind could fathom a single thing, his face grew dark.
His large hand gripped Gemma's slender wrist and a pain shot through her.
'Pain? I can feel pain! What the hell is happening?'
The man yanked on Gemma's wrist and started walking in haste. Dragging Gemma deeper and deeper into the thick forest.
Gemma's head was an absolute mess as the questions raced through her mind. His words repeated in her mind, 'Why are you following me?'
'Following him? I didn't…' Gemma felt her mind had exploded after finding the answer to her own question.
Her eyes fell on the back of the man pulling her, and she whispered, "You're the shadow."
She winced when his grip tightened at her words.
If he continued to squeeze like this, the bones in her wrist were sure to break, and Gemma clamped her mouth shut.
The aura this man held was terrifyingly dangerous, and it shook Gemma to the core.
She started to wonder if this was the same man, but she could never mistake those breath-taking eyes, and although her wrist was radiating pain, the same powerful rush of electricity was also there.
They reached a town, and Gemma's curious eyes wandered over the buildings and people as they passed by.
Whatever world she accidentally stepped into wasn't like the one she came from and these people. They were not human.
Quickly Gemma cast her eyes back to the man when she noticed a few of these beings' eyes lingering on them, making an unsettling feeling wash over her.
The man halted in front of a massive stone building, glancing at Gemma momentarily before he roughly pulled at her wrist and moved them through the doors.
Gemma's curious eyes got the better of her as they swept across the ample room from floor to ceiling.
A woman approached the pair, and Gemma felt a blush creep at the sight of her.
She was dressed in nothing but a smile and piece of fabric covering her lower bits, her hips swaying in a sultry fashion as she locked her sights on the man standing in front of Gemma.
"What a pleasure it is to have you back so soon, your highness. Did you miss us?" The woman asked seductively, her hand trailing the length of his shirt.
Gemma's ears perked up at her words, and she tried to peek around the man's broad shoulders only to be blocked when he sidestepped her.
"Where is Kimimela?" he growled, ignoring the woman's question and asking his own.
The sultry woman pouted her thin lips.
Then her eyes landed on the girl with her face peeking out from behind the man. An irritated expression marked her face, and she pointed a long nail towards the back of the building and hissed, "Where she always is."
Not sparing the seductive woman another second, the man tugged on Gemma's wrist once again. They slipped behind a door tucked away in the back of the building and then down a narrow staircase that ended at another seemingly massive room entrance.
"How big is this place?" Gemma marveled.
"Large enough to hide a girl away in and to never be found again." The man deadpanned without looking back at her.
Gemma's eyes widened. She hadn't meant to ask the question aloud, and the response he gave terrified her.
At the end of the extensive underground room, a woman stood behind a table filled with glass bottles of various shapes and sizes. Hearing the approaching footsteps, she looked up to see the man she had been expecting and greeted him with a bow, "Your highness—"
"Why didn't she cross over?!" The man's voice boomed, filling the room, cutting her off.
The woman, known as Kimimela, held an alarmed expression as she looked at him and then at the terrified girl he was holding by the wrist.
"Astounding isn't it, Kimimela?" The man gritted, taking a step towards her, "Now, tell me. Why the fuck didn't she cross over?"
"How am I deemed to hold the explanation to that?" The woman defended.
"Find the explanation."
"I am not a reaper, Leviathan."
"Then ask the reapers."
"How? You banished them all." Kimimela stated in annoyance.
"Find! Them!" Rang out his final words to the woman before he turned with Gemma stumbling as she looked back at the woman. Desperation was evident in her eyes.
Gemma had questions seeping from her pores, but the way he had answered her question earlier had her pressing her lips tight. Not daring to ask him anything.
Somehow Gemma had managed to piss this man off with just her existence in this place, and if she wanted an answer to even one of her questions, she would have to find it elsewhere.
They made their way back through the stone building and into the street where a black horse awaited them.
Kimimela hurried after them and asked hastily, "Your highness! What will you do with her until I find them?"
"That is none of your concern. Unless you can not locate them." Leviathan said coolly, lifting Gemma's body onto the horse and mounting it himself.
Kimimela could see a thousand questions swimming in Gemma's eyes as she stared down at her.
Bowing Kimimela answered the question Gemma would need to know most.
Even if she didn't know it yet.
"Yes, my king."
Leviathan gave her a sideways glance and then pushed the horse forward.