Darkness clung to Argider like a second skin.
She found herself standing in a void, the atmosphere suffocating.
Around her, shadows flew around, whispering incomprehensible things, their voices a chorus of malice and despair.
Her feet felt heavy as if chains bound her, yet when she looked down, she saw only pale skin stretched too tightly over bone.
Before her, light flickered, illuminating a path that seemed endless.
With nowhere else to go, she took a hesitant step forward.
The ground beneath her feet shifted, morphing into cobblestone slick with crimson.
She realized it wasn't cobblestone, it was a mosaic of faces. Faces she knew.
The bullies from her childhood stared up at her with unblinking, glassy eyes, their lips stretched into mocking grins.
Her brother Rhaegor's face was there too, twisted with rage, his mouth moving silently as if choking on unsaid words.
