Prologue

Gwen's POV:

'Fear'.

That was the only emotion I felt as I was dragged through the dimly lit hallways of what I could only assume to be some sort of palace or temple. The floors were made out of pure white marble with a large strip of red velvet carpet running through the middle, like a river of blood. The sounds of my footsteps were drowned out by the petrified screams emanating from just under the hallways high arched windows.

Bright lights of yellow and orange crept up the nearby trees encasing them in their fiery doom. The flames casted malevolent shadows across the stone walls and ceiling, like demons frolicking around the bodies of innocents.

The grip on my arm tightened as the person dragging me proceeded to walk forward at a quick pace, not once looking back. The glow from the distant fires illuminated the figure in front of me, only enough to get a quick glimpse of their distressed appearance. It was a woman in her early thirties, clad in a long silk green gown. Her hair was drawn up in a small elegant bun with a cascade of dark chocolate ringlets falling down her back, just about reaching her elbows. She looked like a goddess. Her countenance was frigid and the aura around her was discomposed and edgy, as if she knew what unpleasantries were about to unfold.

The long winding corridors seemed to go on for eternity, like some unescapable labyrinth set to torment the maze runner and drive them to insanity. A thousand thoughts burst through my mind like a dam that had finally given up its use to the raging waters crashing into it. As more thoughts entered my mind, I felt my stomach churn with a sickly sensation. Dread began to fill my being causing small jolts of pain to erupt in my temples, like my mind knew something I did not.

Suddenly, the woman stopped at the end of the hallway, despair creeping into her face, as her eyes hastily searched the deserted hallways from whence we came. Her jitteriness caused even more anxiety to flare up inside me, generating a series of unwanted thoughts to appear in my now throbbing head.

Without hesitation, she turned back around to meet my frightened gaze, her grip now completely loose on my arm. Woefully, she bent down to my small frame and gently grasped my trembling hands in her own. Her deep green eyes glimmered in the firelight, reminding me of blades of glossy grass reflecting the sun beams on a warm spring afternoon. I could see the trepidation glinting in her emerald orbs. Carefully she pulled me into her chest and began to softly rub my back, consoling me and giving me a sense of security for a short period of time before she hesitantly pulled back and resumed to look into my eyes, a forlorn contortion crossing her pale face.

"Run."

The words were a mere whisper escaping her small pale lips. Her eyes held urgency in them, telling me that I must do as she tells me, no questions asked. But before I could turn to sprint in the other direction, a loud ear-piercing screech erupted from darkness at the other end of the hallway. My blood froze in my veins and my heart rate accelerated to the point where I felt it could suddenly rip out from my chest.

'What was happening?' I thought to myself as I huddled back into the woman behind me, hoping that perhaps she could shield me from the oncoming horror about to strike. All of a sudden, the woman firmly grasped my shoulders and drew me behind her tall agile frame. Quickly, I turned my gaze up to her, expecting to see her expression reflect one of fear and anxiety but instead saw a look of pure determination. I immediately began to feel an odd sensation begin to pool in the pit of my stomach, the feeling made me uneasy. Staring straight ahead she spoke louder than before, her voice laced with confidence, as if she knew that what to come was inevitable.

"Please, Gwenevieve, you must go. They're coming and we are no longer safe. You must find your mentor, she'll know what to do."

She pleaded to me, not once taking her eyes off of the dark abyss, that was the other end of the mile long hallway.

With a brief 'okay' I turned and fled, leaving the woman behind with the darkness.

As I continued to run down the now seemingly abandoned hallways, my legs felt like they were being held down by some unforeseen effort, but still I pushed on. The fires outside illuminated the wide corridor enough for me to make out large wide sand-stone pillars towering over the large ivy covered windows, that were lining the walls on either side of the hallway. The Ceiling appeared to be hidden under an enigmatic blanket of darkness, as if there wasn't a ceiling  there at all, but instead a huge black void of never ending calignosity.

Not looking where I was stepping, my foot abruptly caught on something large lying in the centre of the walkway. My body tumbled and smashed face first into the hard carpeted surface beneath me, shock coursing through my already freaked out body.

"What the heck-"

I began as I slowly slid my body forward in an attempt to sit up on my knees. My arms ached immensely from the impact of the fall and I softly winced as I carefully put pressure on them, sitting up slightly. For a second I just sat there trying to catch my breath and calm my racing heart. I knew I should be escaping, but my body felt in no place ready to continue on this trek through the maze like halls.

Moments later, I decided that I must resume my escape and find 'my mentor', whoever she was, just like the forest eyed woman whom I left behind told me to. However, just as I was about to stand I caught sight of something out of the corner of my eye. Hesitantly, I turned back to face what had caught my attention and I was immediately met with a blood curdling macabre scene.

Lying in a pool of their own blood was a man who looked to be no older than twenty. His body was gruesomely mangled and twisted into an unnatural shape, like a doll that had been bashed around and snapped in two. Dark blue eyes stared back at me, one protruding slightly from its socket, as blood dripped down from an unseen slit underneath it. The poor mans face was contorted into a horrified expression, signalling he did not die from a mere gun shot wound or blade.

Holding back the urge to vomit, I sped away from the unsightly scene before me, tears welling up in my eyes as I went.

I wanted to get out.

No, I needed to get out.

The thought of me being in the place of that man sent me into hysterics. I could no longer hold back the loud sobs threatening to escape from my fear stricken body. As I trudged further on into the halls my vision became hazy and the painful throbbing in my head increased tenfold. suddenly, I was over come with the sound of numerous ghostly voices whispering directly in my ears. The voices were snake like and indistinguishable, causing my brain to feel like it was going to explode. Falling to my knees, I felt myself succumbing to the darkness around me. The strange voices growing distant the more I fell into the darkness. All until I heard an eerie voice call out to me, a voice that sounded foreign and yet so familiar at the same time.

"Soon, we shall be united once again"