My Empire

Chapter 9: Sweet Dreams? Hah!

                          ~~~Queen Duchess Stein of Steamhelm~~~

Everything was blurry, shapes moving and rippling as I looked around me, confused. Where was I?

There was a hall. The walls stretched black, infinite, like I would fall if I pressed into it.

At the far end, a few feet or a thousand miles away, a door. It gleamed in my vision, sharp where everything else was unfocused. I took a step, and it was right there, within reach.

The doorknob was wrong, and right, and a perfect fit for my hand. I twisted it, opening the door, and fell as it dissolved in my hands.

I fell, shadows above and below and all around me as I drifted down, sensation curling across my cheek that felt like wind, but wasn't exactly right. What was happening? I didn't want to fall.

With that thought, the ground materialized under me, and I stood, unaffected by the fall. The darkness stretched out again, an endless void.

It felt familiar, I've been here before. Taking a few easy steps forward, walking through the expanse, brushing aside the shadows easily. They were harmless.

It veered, either the void or me, off into a corner. I followed it, my heart tugging me towards a person, a memory.

He was here.

He was here. He was right there, I could find him, I could save him, I just had to-

I could see him, just a little away, smiling at me. Soft eyes, encouraging, a few strands of hair falling into his eyes, hands reaching up to brush them away with a laugh, comforting and kind and perfect, confident and easygoing. No pain, no betrayal, he was alive, and okay, and I could bring him back with me, everything would be okay, I just had to get to him, get to my brother.

I began to run, but no matter how fast I ran, he never got closer, fading into the distance, never getting farther but never closer. His edges blurred, flickering. He couldn't go, I wouldn't let him. Pushing a new burst of energy, determination. I wouldn't lose him.

Then he was, coming closer. I could save him! Just a little more, I reached my hand out to grab his, and–

He vanished.

I stumbled to a stop, falling to my knees from the sudden ending of my momentum. The ground was rough and scraped my skin, tingles of pain shooting up my legs.

Everything sharpened. I looked up, wiping at my face to remove nonexistent tears.

It was a room, with no doors or windows anywhere. The walls looked like some sort of stone, charred beyond recognition and stained by- was that blood? Some of it was still fresh, crimson blood sliding down the walls and pooling on the floor in metallic puddles.

I took a nice, big step away from it, grimacing. Ew.

Something swirled in the corner of my eye. I spun around, a clump of unnatural shadows now visible in the far corner of the room. I backed up, warily watching it. These shadows weren't like the other ones- other ones?- it was very much dangerous.

It coalesced into a shape, humanoid but darker, more jagged. Glowing red eyes glared at me, shadowy features twisting into a sadistic smirk, darker, bloodstained horns curling out of the dark approximation of hair. The demon.

I backed up further, glaring right back at him. Then he- did something.

The shadows curling around him stretched, crawling up the walls and floor, sharp and jagged and I knew, somewhere deep in my mind, that they could cut, and it would be fatal.