Time

Prologue 1

Willow walked down the road of overturned dirt, mud, and stone that provided a passage through the endless series of trees that made a forest. She felt a thumping in her chest from the nervousness for what was to come this night. She could hear the rustling of leaves in the cool wind, brushing against bushes. The scurrying of tiny critters could be detected, little animals searching endlessly for food. The trees parted and revealed a clearing with a little stone table in the middle, surrounded by four chairs. One was golden and glowed dimly, one was made of bone and emanated darkness, one was made of plain wood and reeds, and one was seemingly made of rain and smoke. Willow sat down on the plain, wooden chair and waited.

The moon rose from the horizon and placed itself to the middle of the sky. It shone its light upon the ground, making the surroundings a little less dark. All of a sudden, the moon stopped traveling signaling the time that Willow had come for. Unexpectedly, bursts of wind came from all directions, bringing up the loose leaves from the clearing. They fluttered about, creating a scene that Willow knew was for dramatic effect. An ethereal being made of lightning and vapor, shaped in the image of a man, started forming as the wind stopped. The man came to the table and sat in the chair of rain, staring into the sky. As if on cue, and perhaps it was, a bright light  struck from the sky into the golden chair. It disappeared, and then reappeared in the figure of a tall woman with long hair. Then, all was silence.

Willow began to feel uncomfortable as the woman glanced at her with a look of cold distaste. This was ended, though, when terrifying shrieks, moans, and whispers came from the forest. The noises increased in volume every second until it stopped, almost as suddenly as it started. An eerie, cold, blue light could be seen from deep within the woods. Willow could hear great hooves, clopping slowly through the trees that formed the wall around the clearing. As the clopping drew nearer, it strangely grew quieter until it was barely significant to Willow's ears. Briefly, she felt a feeling of horror and fear when the horse and its rider stepped into the clearing. The horse was bigger than the sounds its hooves made had hinted. It was a nightmare; twice the size of a normal horse, black as liquid shadow and ink, and with blazing red eyes that had no pupils. Its rider, who was just as big as the horse, stepped from the horse, shrinking as he stepped upon the ground. He reached into his pocket and lifted up a sparkling, white diamond, beckoning to the nightmare. The nightmare jumped into the diamond, turning it black as night and charcoal. The rider turned around and Willow now looked at his clothing. He was dressed in a black cloak, and, to the horror of Willow, had no skin, just bone.

"Let's get the game started, shall we?" the skull-rider asked.