Two lanterns suspended from the ceiling cast a mild glow around the walls, but Kage still couldn't see anything.
A deep blackness emanated from every stone as if ready to swallow her up at any moment.
The knowledge that she saw this place almost every night did nothing to calm her as she swung her head around, desperately looking for an escape.
She sat in a hard, wood chair in the center of the room, arms set on the armrests. She tried to sit up, but it was no use. Something held her in place. Her arms felt manacled to the chair, though there was nothing there. Claustrophobia took hold and she desperately pulled at the invisible restraints.
It was then that she saw the blood. Dark, dry, blood that had seeped into the wood, leaving a stain.
She was aware of another sensation. Something...warm, slowly flowing down her cheek.
She reached up, suddenly free of the invisible manacles to touch it. Warm and sticky, she knew what it was but held it up to her eye to see. Fresh blood. Hot pain shot through her from her eye that was no longer there. Then came the blood, gushing out of her empty eye socket. She frantically used both arms to try and wipe it away as it ran down her face, drenching her clothes and the floor in bright, red blood. When she looked up she saw her own horrified expression looking back at her through a mirror.
The floor gave way under her and she fell, limbs failing for a grip on anything.
Air flew by until she caught sight of the bottom, and Kage closed her eyes and braced herself. She slammed into the bottom, groaning as her body ached all over. She began to push herself up with her elbows when she realized the floor wasn't the right texture.
Her eyes shot open, staring right into Jacob's face.
She jumped back, breath ragged as she could do nothing but stare. There he lay, lifeless, infinite blood pouring out of the stab in his chest.
The area began to lighten around her and she saw them all, not just those from the previous quest, but all the others, the ragged corpses of would-be heroes, victims, and villains she'd watched in her short life.
She still felt the warm blood flowing down her face as she crawled backwards, refusing to look at what made up the floor beneath her until-
She hit something.
Kage felt a hand on her shoulder, a soft touch that might have been reassuring if it wasn't so familiar. She spun around, looking up to the source to see the tall figure dressed in black-
"Hello, Kage." A cheerful voice spoke.
Kage screamed.
Kage sat straight up, eye wide as she drew in ragged breaths of night air.
Something banged off to her right side, and she swung around to see a large body rushing over.
She crawled backwards, looking for an escape.
The figure was still approaching, and she could see dark red hair on his head through the blurry form.
He seemed familiar for a second, did she know him from somewhere-
"Kage?" A voice spoke from behind her.
She yelped, spinning around and drawing her dagger from her side when she saw his face. The blurry shape slowly formed into something she recognized, and she met Shole's deep purple eyes.
It all came back to her. Islestar, Iebor, and Artlem, Shole, and Bard.
She dropped her knife, hands shaking as she curled up, sitting with her head buried in her knees.
"What the hell was that?" Artlem said.
"Well it was obviously a nightmare. More like a night terror perhaps?" Shole suggested when Kage didn't respond. She buried her hands in her hair. Reality wasn't enough to keep her out of her own head, it never was.
"Well, I'm going back to sleep, for the couple hours I've got yet. Dammit Kage, I thought you died or something," Artlem said.
She glanced up. She thought she actually heard a note of concern in his voice behind the annoyance.
Bard silently moved off as well, back to his makeshift pillow and gear.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Shole asked.
Kage shook her head. She could never explain this, not to anyone. The truth of her past was something she couldn't tell them, or else...or else what? They might not believe her? No, they actually might believe her, and then it could turn out just like before.
Kage sat shivering as Shole reluctantly moved back to his spot. She stayed there for a while, tapping her fingers against in a gradually slower tempo. She tried to name the smells in the damp night air, and shuffled her feet around the ground, focusing on the texture of the mixture of rocks, grass and dirt. The wind sent a chill through her, and the smell of trees carried on the breeze.
Eventually, still shaking, she got up and collected her dagger, replacing it by her side and returned to her spot in the cave where she curled up in her cloak and blanket, but she wouldn’t be sleeping any time soon.
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