The storm still echoes in my mind...
After waking, I found my curious savior
a refreshed, polite young man
With a heavy hangover

I ate a meager meal with his modest family
And we were off to return me to my carriage
It was a short ride for as long as a dream
I had
And we found my carriage sitting in the sunlight

But things were amiss

The first of these I notice is that my horses are gone
Beginning to panic, the man calms me
We then investigate

We find that the reins have been cut clean
No tear visible
Chills run down my spine
DId it have anything to do with the noises
I had heard?
We then look about the rest of the carriage
to see if anything else is amiss
The latch is stuck at first, but the door opens
All is in order
Except...
I look at my paper on which I had written
To find my words buried under a mess of a thousand
strange symbols

At first we are baffled
Why would someone enter my carriage
in the middle of a storm
to simply scribble symbols?

But a morbid veil falls over my mind
They are the exact same symbols
I had seen on the papers
in the Queen's room

I'm dumbstruck, but attempt to ask
the man if he knows what they mean
He says he does not

Left utterly confused
We leave my horseless carriage
still on the roadside
As he offers to give me travel to my destination
In light of these events

When we arrive into the depths of the city
Gray cobblestone seems all that is visible
even the people
I direct him to the cathedral and
leave him with all my thanks

It's time to receive answers

Walking up the massive steps to the door
I am confronted by a man in black robes
He asks me of my purpose
But I have no time for such inquiries
And I rush past him

Entering into the main entrance, I
brush past the scores of people
waiting for salvation

and I enter a long, narrow hall

the hall becomes darker as I go
but something on the walls
catches my eye

Symbols

the same symbols as before
only neatly spaced and lining both walls
with plated brass mystery

the hall then empties into a hollow room
with a glass ceiling
another storm is building in the sky

On the other side of the room is a door
guarded by two more cloaked figures

I ask them if I may pass
They stand motionless, speechless
I walk up to the door
and they grab me and throw me to the floor

"We've been expecting you" they say
As I'm
Feeling a club fall
on my head and
I'm lifted from my wakened mind

Lowered voices wake me
And I find my hands tied above my head
Tethered to the wall of some new room
There is a circle of hooded ones
Saying something indescribable
And in the middle
is an unconscious Echo
I scream at them to let her go
But they continue their chants
I watch Echo's still body lying on the floor
And I see something emerging from her body

It's a mirage of some sort
or perhaps a ghost
But it begins to take shape as it emerges
and solidifies
into a woman
clothed in animal hides

The chanting silences
The woman stands motionless
almost levitating
And asks for them to bring her the prisoner
I'm untied from the wall
And lead to a throne of bones
I'm too dizzy and dumbstruck to resist
They sit me down
The woman is facing the throne
Ans stares into my eyes from afar
She begins walking to me
Seeming to go slower as she gets closer
Her face goes down to mine
And as I feel her lips
Warm blood rushes through my head
in a wave of heat
And a memory takes over my mind

I'm in the carriage
Writing furiously without looking
I look down
I had been writing symbols
I throw down my pen and grab my knife
I go out into the rain
Cutting the reins of my horses
Freeing one, and getting on the other's back
I ride into the heart of the storm
With a VI cut into my chest