The Voice in Nowhere

Anythe passes out on the floor of her room, her hands sprawled and hair spread around her head.

Darkness stretches endlessly around her as soon as she opens her eyes, huge and cruel, like a thick mist she cannot escape. She stands barefoot on a barren wasteland, the ground beneath her cracked and dry, no sign of life anywhere, radiating a faint heat that prickles her skin in a creepy way. There's nothing in sight, not a single tree, rock, or structure. 

Only emptiness and thick, wet darkness.

A cold shiver runs down her spine as she scans around her, her heart pounding in her chest. The sky is black, with strange flashes of purple light that illuminate the wasteland for the briefest of moments before disappearing again. Each flash feels abnormal, wrong, like the world is laughing, mocking her.

"Where am I?" she whispers, her voice trembling. She uses her hands to rub her shoulders, thankful for the long cloth she has on. The breeze is just as harsh as the outlook.

The silence is her only answer.

The vast land filled with nothing stretches on and on for miles, no movements, no sign of life, no breeze. It is all in a standstill, but here she is, stuck and alone in the middle of whatever the place might be.

She hugs herself, the unease in the air growing heavier with every passing second. The air feels suffocating, thick with something she can't name. "Is anyone there?" she calls out shakily, her voice echoing into the void.

For a moment, there is only silence, and she hopes she might wake up from whatever nightmare this is. Even though everything in her subconscious tells her it is everything but an ordinary nightmare. But then, faint at first, a sound reaches her ears.

Laughter.

Sinister, mocking laughter. Like the one she had heard just moments before she passed out.

It's harsh, shrill, and unsettling, echoing around her like a response of mockery to her question. Her breath catches as she spins in place, searching for the source of the sounds, but there's nothing.

"Who's there?" she demands, her voice cracking and scared.

Only more laughter answers her, louder this time, and she takes a step back, her bare feet scraping against the jagged ground, painfully.

"Show yourself if you dare!" She yells, her fear giving way to desperation.

The laughter fades, replaced by a low, menacing voice that seems to come from everywhere at once.

"You cannot run from who you are." It starts, slow and deliberate, each word dripping with malice, no, confidence. "No matter how far you go, no matter how long you run, no matter how much light you surround yourself with, you will always be one of us. You cannot escape the darkness within."

Anythe freezes, her blood turning to ice. The voice sounds ancient, full of power and cruelty, as though it knows things she could never know… and maybe it really does.

"You're wrong," She whispers, trying to be bold even though she is visibly shaking, aiming to clutch at the small cross around her neck, only to find it missing. Her hand touches empty air. "I belong to the light. I've given my life to Him and there is no turning back from that. Even today, it will be made official."

The voice laughs again, deep and mocking. "Is that what you think? How sweet and yet how foolish, just like the vessel who bore you. Look at you, standing here, lost and afraid. Do you think everything will stay as it had been? The light may have taken you in when you were nothing but an innocent baby, but it does not belong to you. You are and always will be a daughter of the dark, no matter how much you pretend otherwise."

Tears prick at Anythe's eyes, but she blinks them away, shaking her head. "No. I'm not like you and I will never be."

"You can deny it all you want," the voice sneers. "But you cannot change what you are. Your blood sings of hunger. You will lose control, child. It is only a matter of time before you do. And when it happens, there will be no redemption waiting for you anywhere."

"Leave me alone!" Anythe screams shrilly, the sound of her own voice shocking her in the stillness.

For a moment, there is silence, and she thinks the voice might be gone. But then it speaks again, softer this time, yet no less intimidating.

"Leave the convent," it warns. "Before you taint its purity. Before you destroy everything you've worked so hard to protect."

The weight of the words presses down on her, and the world around her seems to grow darker, even darker than it already is, the flashes of purple light more frequent and blinding. She falls to her knees, clutching her head as the laughter returns, louder and more relentless.

"No!" she yells into the waste around her, the sound swallowed by the oppressive void.

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the darkness shatters.

Anythe awakes with a jolt, her body trembling as her eyes snap open. She's lying on the cold, hard floor of her room, her skin damp with sweat. The faint smell of wood and a damp floor fills her senses, bringing her back to reality.

Her breath comes out in ragged gasps as she tries to make sense of what just happened, what she had just experienced. Was it a dream? A vision? The voice still echoes faintly in her mind, its cruel laughter a sound she can't shake.

The soft shuffle of footsteps breaks through her thoughts. Some people are coming.

She forces herself up, her muscles weak and trembling. Her nightgown clings to her damp skin as she stumbles to the door, her hands fumbling to straighten herself. The footsteps grow louder, and she freezes, staring at the door as the faint glow of candlelight spills through the crack beneath it.

Who could be walking around in the convent by this ungodly time of the night?