• Staring before her, Erika found herself once more within a realm that was her own and yet not. She had not control over the environment here, but yet it was all within her own dreams. All she could do was follow the path before her to find what was at the end. But like the many nights before, She did not know what was waiting for her.

    Looking behind her, Erika found herself face to face with a dark being. The wispy creature stood thirty feet from her. It just stood there looking at her as if in debate of whether she was a threat or not.

    In the split seconds before the being moved, Erika took in her surroundings. The air was heavy with a metallic and burning scents. The sky was alight with a bright red hue, but also was darkened by several long black clouds. To either side of Erika stood uneven hedges that looked as if they have been unkept for many generations. Wrapped about those messy hedges were long thick vines that were covered in thousands of tiny razor sharp thorns. As if trying to conceal those sharp barbs, the vines held delicate burgundy flowers with black centers. Beneath both Erika's and the creature's feet laid a broken path of white marble. Between the cracks of the broken path grew untamed plants that wanted to reclaim the land the stones sat on. On either side of the stone path stood broken and fallen Greek columns, they bordered the edge of the path, giving this forgotten garden an ancient feel.

    Glancing back at the being a darkness Erika then realized the creature was not waiting any longer. Before Erika knew it, the wispy creature was multiply and growing in size as it moved towards her. It was a terrifying sight for the young woman as she watched the mass of pitch black particles crept towards her. Erika wasn't even sure what was happening, all she could think of was to keep her distance from being that wanted to engulf her. First it was a small step backwards, but that quickly became four or five awkward steps. Then that turned into her whipping about and breaking into flat out run. Erika did not know why she was running, something within her just told her to do so; telling her not to let the darkness consume her.

    As she fled the massive pitch black wall, Erika could hear her footsteps. The sound of her bare feet baring down upon the uneven walkway. With each step she could feel the pain surging through her legs as if this was all real. But soon the sound of her of breathing drowned out her footsteps. Quick deep pants echoed as she ran along the path. The only thing that could overtake the sound of her rapid breathing was Erika's own heartbeat. The distinctive dual beating filled her ears as she tried to escape the shadows behind her.

    Within this dream Erika sprinting through this maze of a garden, hoping to escape the approaching darkness. All she could do was follow the set path that her gut told her to follow, for like nights before then dream would end if she veered off course. This night she was not going to go against her gut, Erika was finally going to see what lay at the end of this forgotten maze.

    Running as fast as she possibly could, Erika felt as if her body was on fire and her chest was about to explode at any moment. But she knew she could not stop nor slow down, not if she wanted to find out what was waiting for her. No, she had to continue this painful pace to get further away from the wispy black arms that were now reaching out to get her. Gasping and wheezing, Erika forced herself to keep up that pace as she clutched a hand to her chest. So much pain, it hurt so much to breathe.

    The further away from the black wall she got, the more Erika hear it roaring and screaming at her. Even though it did not make noise that could be called words Erika just knew that the pitch black wall was yelling at her. The bone chilling sounds it was making could only be of the result from her escaping its grasp.

    When Erika manage to draw ahead of the black creature by fifty feet, the wispy being release a thunderous noise that shook both the ground and everything the stood upon it. As the broken marble path trembled, Erika could see the flowers quivering and shifting colors as they folded back up into buds. Glancing over her shoulder, Erika then noticed a head taking shape within the massive black wall. Blazing white flames expelled forth from the being's eyes and mouth as it chased after her. Watching it, Erika could now make out the body crawling on all fours behind. Had a humanoid like head and body, but it crawled on all fours like a crab. It's face and body looked gaunt and distorted. Sprouting out it's massive face and body were many tiny wispy arms, still reaching out to grab a hold of Erika.

    Panicking, Erika ripped her eyes off the monster behind her and returned them to the path before her. She could see the wave of motion as flower closed up, and she could see the ones still to be affected by the change. Trying her best not to loose focus in her goal, Erika forced her mind not to think of what was going on behind her. But it grew harder to do as the sound of several small jets roared behind her. It was only a matter of seconds before the source of the loud noise caught up to her. Five human sized hands flew pass Erika and began trying to grab at her. Frantically Erika tried to evade the assault from the black wispy hands. Several times they came close to claim her and each time Erika could feel the heart stop chill from the dark fingers.