North, East, West & South

Chapter Three: The Princess Of Flames

"Where am I?" She asked confused and lost. She couldn't see anything, it was all pitch black. "What is this place? Lily? Lily?" She called out to her sister but there was no reply. She was Neha, a princess made of fire; every inch of her being was nothing but carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. She flings a fireball forward and it vanishes at a far point. She saw nothing, the darkness was too thick. "This must be the doing of Lily and that wizard." She muttered to herself in rage. She quickly started running forward without knowing what lies ahead and kept running, she could hear voices in the background but had no idea who or what they were so she continued to run. She suddenly steps on a puddle of water and the drops fell on her skin. "Arrrh!" She screamed in pain. The flames on her feet had gone out and it hurts. She had one known weakness which was water, it extinguishes her flames and she's nothing but flames of fire. She fell to the ground and her eyes darts around but she still wasn't able to see. She's now afraid to keep running. She fears she might fall into a pool of water and that would really hurt her. She slowly got up confused about how she was going to get through this.

Rachel sees herself in a pitch dark place standing on a pathway made of bricks. She couldn't see anything else. She looks around wondering if she should follow the path or run into the darkness. "Let's see where the path goes first." She murmured. She kept walking slowly and let her eyes run around the place trying to see something other than the path that seemed to go far into nothingness. She was weak and tired and hungry as well. The dessert had dried her up and she couldn't walk properly, she slipped and a pen in her pocket fell off and she didn't see it again. She puts her hand into the darkness and saw that it was hollow. She was standing on floating bricks and it seems to be floating too high since she never heard the pen hit the ground. BOOM! She heard the noise from behind her. The bricks slowly began to fall. She took to her heels and gathered all the energy she could and ran as fast as she could.

"If you want to make it without a scratch, listen closely to the cracks." A voice whispered to Neha.

"Listen to my voice alone and you'll pass this test." Another voice whispered to her.

"Run while you still can or die with us." Another whispered. Various voices started whispering solutions and guidance to her, each contradicting the other. She didn't know which was right and she twirled around in fear trying to see where the voices were coming from. SLASH! Something cut her from behind and she fell.

"RUN!" A voice yelled out. She quickly got up still and ran like her life depends on it which it does. She keeps running and suddenly it starts raining, what could be worse than this. She increase her speed since the rain was coming from behind her and was making its way up to her at a rather fast pace. She leaps into the air, turns and blasts a huge fire storm into the darkness and saw something slithering towards her. It was like a snake but squirts water at pin point accuracy and it hit her twice in the arm. She knew her feet can't get her through this and so she flew as fast as she could, panting. It seems the snake creature was faster and could see her through the darkness. She wonders if Lily sent the serpent after her. She keeps trying to dodge the water but it hits her each time and it hurts.

Rachel was running as fast as she could and each time she looks forward it seems the pathway still continued. Suddenly different hands from the darkness try grabbing and pulling her off the path. "Let go!" She screamed as five held her tight in place and the bricks behind her kept dropping. She keeps struggling to free herself but nothing seems to be working. She yelled and the goo pulled out and sliced off the hands and she keeps running. The monsters in the dark hopped onto the bricks and ran after her. They pull a few of the bricks out and throw it at her but she does her best to dodge it though a few hit her on her left shoulder, back and right leg. She stumbles and falls. The monsters were gaining on her and the bricks were falling into oblivion but she sees a door up ahead and it doesn't seem locked. It was slightly open and so she forced herself up again with sweat dripping from every pore on her skin she runs to the door. She could feel herself losing her breath. She couldn't continue but she must. She keeps running but the monsters got to her and she had to fight them off.