Shades of time

chapter one: Entry

There she stood, heart pounding, her class mates waiting with judgement for her performance she only had 20 minutes to prepare for. The talent show was a part of the camping trip in the woods but it wasn't like she thought she would be doing it alone. Thanks to her so-called friends ditching her last minute this was now her reality... of course she opted to perform last so it would be dark enough for them to not see how badly she was trembling. She took a deep breath and exhaled, the heat from her breath rolled out like a fog as the sun had set below the mountains and the chill of the crisp wilderness air had embraced them all. She began to sing, a hauntingly sweet melody that she had heard every night as far back as she could remember, not that she had ever sung it aloud before, she knew the sounds weren't really words, but they held a secret meaning to her, like a language just for her. She began to shiver and watched as her classmates looked behind her in horror. A mass of dark clouds had filled the sky as the thunder and lighting crashed near-by so loudly it shook the ground.

"Everyone follow me!"

The camping guide called out as they were told to abandon camp and head to the main buildings a few kilometres away. The young girl was slightly relieved she wouldn't have to sing more of her secret melody in front of her peers but those feelings were suddenly pulled away from her grasp as it got colder and colder, her fingers were turning blue and before she had much of a chance to react everyone was already over the hill. She wanted to run but her legs wouldn't let her, the cold biting into her skin it chilled her right to the bones. She could hardly catch her breath as she climbed the hill, trying to follow the others, as the darkness grew she could no longer see the light from her classmates flashlights, she could see nothing. She fell to her hands and knees and turned around to try and see anything. What she saw made her heart skip a beat, a huge lanky jittering creature with a singular gaze it lumbered towards her and reached it's hand out. She wanted to scream she wanted to run, but she couldn't, a still voice within her spoke softly,

"Reach..."

She felt compelled as she turned and stood, standing barely half the creatures height she reached back. She closed her eyes, feeling it's hand grasp hers.

When she opened her eyes she could see a white sandy landscape with strange structures, as she got to her feet she could sense she was being watched. She felt cold despite the sandy nature of the landscape and the brilliance of the light surrounding her, yet this coldness felt familiar to her, something she had felt as far back as a toddler whenever she had felt like she needed help, or she had felt sad or lonely. The young woman looked around and could see thirty or forty of those creatures sanding on strange ledges and beams that didn't make sense structurally, they were smaller than the first she had encountered but still they where unnerving to watch. They looked like they were shivering with the way they moved, but not one of them advanced towards her, She began to walk, not knowing where or what to, but she pressed on. More and more of those creatures surrounded her until she stopped,

"Hello?"

Clicking and whispers was all she got as a reply as she sighed,

"Can any of you understand me?"

A large one with four arms walked towards her and reached out it's hand. She looked down at the three fingered hand and was about to reach back when an alarm began to blare, sending them all into a frenzy, they scattered and drew weapons. The girl looked around as she could see four human looking figures descending from out of nowhere,

"Wait! Please, I don't know where I am!"

She chased after the large shadowy figure who looked behind him and seemed to be trying to shoo her away. She could hear gunfire as she watched two of the four human like people vault and jump into crowds of the shadows, they fired away and began to drop the shadows like they were nothing,