The hours passed and the clock struck past midnight. And sleep eluded me.
Ludwig and Liam had yet to return. Meanwhile, Alexa had finished her task of sprinkling golden dust around my room to ward off any potential threats. But she quickly excused herself, claiming she had urgent matters to attend to.
Despite her initial presence, I soon found myself alone in the quiet of the night.
I couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss. But I couldn't pinpoint the source of my anxiousness.
With each passing moment, the silence of the Lancaster Castle left me restless and unable to find solace in sleep.
I realized that my worries were fruitless. There was little I could do as a mere human amidst beings of power and magic.
A glimmer of determination flickered within me. Perhaps there was still a way I could contribute. But what could I offer with my mortal strength and limited knowledge?
Hours passed as I pondered various scenarios and potential ways to help. Exhaustion began to weigh heavily on my eyelids.
Suddenly, in the grip of the dense white fog, a biting coldness seeped into my bones. It sent shivers coursing through my muscles. Panic surged within me as I struggled to break free. My voice barely a whisper against the silence.
"Help me!" I cried out. But my pleas were swallowed by the icy air, choking my throat and narrowing my chest.
Darkness engulfed me, snuffing out even the faintest glimmer of light from the moon and nearby candles. I fumbled blindly in the darkness.
"No," I pleaded, the desperation evident in my voice. "Please..."
The coldness pressed in on me from all sides, threatening to consume me entirely.
The strange, searing pain assaulted every inch of my body. Each sharp point feeling like a twisted dagger piercing through my bones. Numbness spread like wildfire.
I felt helpless, writhing in agony as I cried out for it to stop.
"Please!" I begged, the intensity of the pain unbearable.
Amidst the chaos, echoes of anguished cries and agonizing shouts reverberated throughout the room. It filled the air with a deafening noise.
I pressed my hands against my ears in a futile attempt to block out the tormenting sounds. But they persisted.
I felt my strength waning, my energy slowly being drained away with each passing moment. Every fiber of my being screamed out in agony. Until a destructive shout shattered the deafening noise, leaving behind an abrupt silence that enveloped me like a suffocating blanket.
In the stillness that followed, the darkness began to recede. It gave way to a faint glimmer of light that gradually grew brighter. My eyes adjusted to the newfound clarity.
I realized that I was no longer trapped in the void of my room. Instead, I found myself standing beneath a moonlit sky, its pale light casting eerie shadows across the landscape.
But something was wrong—the sky bore no stars.
It made me think about the unsettling question that echoed in my mind: "Where… am I?"
Struggling against the dusty ground beneath me, I attempted to rise to my feet. Only to find my legs refusing to obey my commands. With the aid of my arms, I eventually managed to stand. But my trembling limbs threatened to betray me at any moment.
I surveyed my surroundings. I realized that I was situated in the heart of a dense wilderness. The gnarled trees twisted and contorted into grotesque shapes, their branches hanging ominously overhead.
Despite the silence that permeated the air, I pressed onward.
Suddenly, a deafening explosion shattered the silence, causing the very ground beneath me to tremble. The splintering branches and cracking trunks filled the air.
Then a wall of flames erupted from the forest, engulfing everything in its path. In the midst of the chaos, the faint cry of a child pierced through.
With adrenaline coursing through my veins, I wasted no time in fleeing from the inferno. I sprinted through the dense undergrowth as my heart pounded in my chest.
I continued to call out for help. Each of my cry was echoing into the vast expanse of the forest. But it was met only with silence in return.
The voice of the child reverberated in my mind. I pushed my body to its limits, my legs burning with exertion as I propelled myself forward with every ounce of strength I had.
The relentless cries grew louder. And I raced against time itself.
Finally, as I rounded a bend in the twisting path, my eyes fell upon a scene of devastation. There was a wooden house consumed by raging flames, thick of grey smoke billowing into the air.
I cautiously approached the burning house, and my eyes widened in terror at the sight of the bizarre creatures surrounding it.
Their bodies shimmered with an intense heat. They resembled molten lava and hardened stone. And their humanoid forms exuded an otherworldly aura that sent a chill down my spine.
With each step they took, the ground beneath them sizzled and crackled. They moved with purpose, their hands wreathed in flames as they added fuel to the inferno engulfing the house.