Descent

Chapter Six

The light slowly faded... I felt grass beneath me and an expansion of land I had only read about in fairytales. Trees were surrounding the path to my left and beyond there I could see blossoming trees of white flowers above a wide stream. I tried to move, but something held me in place. Though I tried to see what it was, there was nothing around me.
Slowly coming closer, I saw a group of people on horses strolling down the path. The one in front was on a tall white horse that stood taller than the rest. The horse had a crest of golden color on his chest that seemed to resemble armor. Riding this was a tall man with a large red beard and a large build with the same crest on his shoulder. He looked around as if the trees surrounding him were all guilty of something, as if the stream had hurt him, but carried on. Behind him were two others. One, a beautiful woman. She wore a crown atop her head and had a dark green dress, elegant and lacking design. The one she was laughing with was atop a white horse. She must have been her daughter, for she was a younger version of the woman. She wore what seemed to be a loose fitting golden dress and wore a headdress that was befitting of a princess.
I soon realized they must be royalty. Where from, I couldn't tell. Though, they didn't seem to see me. Their laughter continued on as they passed by where I forcibly was sat.
"Mother, look!" I was startled. It seemed like she was pointing at me and I did my best to fix my nightwear. The girl carefully leaped off her horse and ran right through me. I turned around to see her attention was drawn by a small, black kitten
"You shouldn't just leave the group like that, Julia." I jumped as I realized the guard had come up behind me. "Something could have happened to you."
"But, Fredrick, look!" The girl held up the small animal for the man to see, as if the darkness of the creature hadn't differentiated it from the brightness around it. The man looked back at the queen, who was now standing behind the guard smiling at her daughter. He looked back and gave a small chuckle.
"Alright." He held out his hand and the kitten started to crawl up his arm onto his shoulder. "Hey now," the man went to grab the kitten from off his shoulder until he heard the girl and the queen started to chuckle.
"I think he likes you." The queen watched as the kitten climbed up his shoulder and started to nestle itself between his shoulder and armor. "Well, now you have to keep it, don't you think?"
The guard went to protest, but saw the child smiling. He sighed and let the kitten stay. His fondness for animals had sometimes kept him from his job, but if he was being forced to have it, then so be it.
The group started to walk back to the horses and, faintly at the edge of the stream, there was a bottle stuck from flowing on by a fallen tree branch. It looked as if it had something in it.
Suddenly, The envelope started to get warmer. I looked down and saw the outline of a key. I reached in to grab the key. When out of the envelope, the glowing seized. A small engraving was along both sides of it. "The light will lead you, or the darkness will find you."
Suddenly the key started to burn me. I dropped it onto the ground in front of me and saw the grass around it started to smoke and turn orange as it became a flame that engulfs me in what seemed like seconds. I felt nothing, but almost immediately the fire turned into the same bright light that had brought me here and I was back to the bright white light. I felt something beneath me still, but this time, it was my floor. My chair was tipped over and the night was eerily silent. I had no idea what to think about what had just occurred, but I followed my instincts.
I grabbed my overcoat from the corner of my room, stuffed the keys into the chest pocket and walked out into the brisk night air.