Maiden Grim | A Pjo Fanfic

Ch. 31: *Loading Tragic Backstory...Error ERROR ɆⱤⱤØⱤ*

*door creaks open and i awkwardly walk thru* h-hey...how ya'll doin'?

Okay, so first off, I am SO SORRY about just dropping off the face of the earth for a while there. Writer's block and life decided to WWE tag-team my ass. I promise I'll warn you guys next time I take a break. Srs, I'm like disappointed in myself for going on that hiatus. I had a whole outline planned before crap happened but could not for the life of me get it down. I promise I'm still uber-invested in getting this story written. This time perfectionism just up and bit me in the behind. For all my aspiring fic writers out there, repeat after me: Getting SOMETHING done, is better than getting NOTHING done.

Next update will be next Sunday!

Alright, rant over. Onto the chapter...

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A desert. Sand as far as the eye could see. Day and night rested upon a precipice over the land. Painting the scattered clouds in hues of orange, pink and deep blue.

She twisted around. Grains of sand flooding the sandals on her feet. A gale blew past, ruffling the fabric of her dress roughly. The waterfall of curls she called hair crowded her face and she quickly brushed them out of her vision.

A sandstorm rose from the east, blowing over westward. It bored down a whirlwind that howled and moaned with the combined despair of a thousand specters. She moved to turn, but her feet had sunk into the sand without her noticing. It clung up to her ankle and trapped her.

The only thing she could do was brace for the sandstorm. Her heart plunged into her gut. It blew past her. The grains brazing and cutting her exposed skin like tiny shards of glass. She covered her face with the collar of her dress. Shutting her eyes and mouth closed and hoping the sand wouldn't find its way in.

She struggled to stay standing against the storm's power. Her feet slid further and further back.

Until she couldn't fight against it anymore.

Until the sandstorm finally took her.

She lifted into the air and stifled a scream. The currents of the desert's wrath knocked her back and forth, flinging her like a ragdoll. Cuts burned and bruises bloomed across her skin. She tried calling on her magic. On the familiar cold-hot power that rested there, behind her ribs and alongside her heart. Sparks of emerald, violet and orange flared behind her eyelids. But sputtered weakly and were snuffed out by the consuming wind.

Then the sandstorm... Calmed is not the right word. For half a second, it stilled and flowed. Carrying her one direction, left and down, instead of throwing her about. When she stopped, she landed on-surprise-more sand.

She hissed and coughed harshly. Blood dripped down from scrapes along her arms and leg. Pressure strained at the walls of her skull. Her brain felt like it had been pureed. She winced and breathed deep and did her best to ignore the pain for now.

And then Isra noticed the beach.

She dreamed a lot about the beach, but only the one. Where the mysterious sorceress and her gaggle of teenage girls harvested potion ingredients in the reef. Those had been weird, distorted fragments of memories. They had never been this clear. This real.

It looked totally different too. While the sorceress' beach had been bordered by lush jungle, this beach was near an arid landscape. Green shrubbery and pale trees dotted the tan earth. Even the ocean was different. A typical dark blue, while the former had been wine dark.

Plus there was the huge ancient Greek ship docked by the shore.

Isra shook the sand from her hair as she automatically started walking toward the ship. Before remembering who exactly rudely forced her into this...dream? Vision?