The void

Walking down cautiously, Alexia's grip on the stairs' railing tightened. It wasn't a good feeling being surrounded by living darkness especially now that she couldn't see anything.

Squinting her eyes, she tried to make out anything in the darkness but she couldn't. It was similar to what happened at the edge of the tunnel. Only that this time, her eyes were unable to pierce through the unrelenting darkness.

And any time she tried to summon her flames, the tyrannical darkness would gang up to extinguish it. She kept trying before giving up on the thirteenth try.

" This place is truly bizzare."

A frown settled on her face when she recalled the sensation she went through her when she ventured into the mass of swirling darkness. It was as if time froze, then her body stiffened accordingly unable to move, then it abruptly sped up causing her to transverse a flight of stairs in less than a minute.

Currently it seemed as if an hour had passed but she had entered this place just some minutes ago. So right now she was on the last step, maybe, holding tightly onto the railings just considering her options.

" Who's acting like a coward now?"

She laughed bitterly but no sound of it could be heard, that was another strange thing about this place, the absence of sounds. It wasn't like her to hesitate like this, she had always preferred action because that was the only thing that allowed you to move forward in the world, in her world at least.

But right now a seed of unwelcomed fear had sprouted in her heart.

' Will uncle Kace remember me?'

' Will anyone care to look for me and if they do, how will they find me?'

'If I'm gone who will take care of my mother?'

' Will I forever disappoint my father?'

Questions she had always pushed down and avoided answering kept ringing in her head. She was sure it wasn't herself talking, something was causing her to think that way.

Or maybe her body instinctively sensed danger, it wanted to escape and protect itself, giving her reasons to flee. But it had forgotten one important thing;

" That, I, Alexia Dawn, princess of Aethera never back down especially when it's necessary to stand my ground."

While declaring that, she ignored the weight of her fears and stepped forward. Expecting to feel the ground under her foot, she was startled when a feeling of weightlessness overtook her.

" I guess throwing away worries does make you feel lighter. In more ways than one."

She smiled to herself, while trying to make sense of her situation. She was currently floating, suspended in the air and it seemed as if time just went backwards?

Her expression showed confusion, she wasn't sure how to explain it but it felt like time just went in reverse because she was now at the top of the staircase enveloped in darkness though she was still floating.

From this height, she searched for the little flame but all she saw was neverending darkness, as usual.

" How do demons even live like this?"

What was so nice about living in a void of nothingness ? Being surrounded by light and fire was so much better.

" As long as you can endure the heat that is. But at least you can see."

Performing butterfly strokes through the air, she propelled herself forward. It was challenging for her at first because dragons weren't great swimmers but her mother had taught her the basics of swimming so she soon got used to it.

She kept moving forward for like thirty minutes? Or was it an hour? Well she didn't know but she knew that it went on for quite a while excluding the times when time accelerated or reversed.

Switching to a back stroke, she began to enjoy herself a bit while getting used to her new reality of silence. It wasn't like she had much of a choice anyways. But she should have considered the fact that nothing good really lasts forever because at the next moment she was plummetting down.

" Does the world have an obsession of making me fall for it?"

She was answered with a face to face meeting with the ground, even though it somehow felt like she was still floating. Knowing that thinking about this too much was a waste of time and would probably drive her crazy, she just crawled forward.

Yes, she crawled. Her stomach was already churning with all this sudden movements. Anymore and she have to puke out her guts in an ancient domain which seemed both disrespectful and was a bad addition to her epic tale.

' Who knew that dragon's could experience motion sickness.' she exclaimed while rolling her eyes.

The only consistent thing about this place, was the ancient pressure that could be felt everywhere and she suspected it had a lot to do with the chaos in this place.

Increasing her speed, she finally heard a faint sound but no matter hard she listened, she couldn't make out the source. So what was the responsible thing to do?

' I have to follow that thing.'

Moving with all the strength left in her body, Alexia crawled towards the sound. And when she was no longer nauseous, she got on her feet to continue dashing ahead.

As she rushed forward, the sound grew louder akin to the noise made by chains clashing.

" Not suspicious at all."

Besides the sound, ahead of her she could make out a hint of red in the ever black expanse of the background. Picking up her pace, she ignored the heavy pressure that weighed her down, gritting her teeth through it still moving forward.

Until she stumbled, rolling forward only to come to a stop face planted on the floor. She decided to stay like that for sometime feeling faint heat beside her. The last thing she needed right now was to be ridiculed by a ball of fire.

' I really have no face left. Do I?'

Steeling herself, she heaved and rose up , intentionally not looking to her left and only facing forward through she still couldn't see anything.

Closing her eyes, she lifted her arms trying to feel forward for the chains that were producing the clashing sound. She was sure the sound was coming from in front of her though she wasn't certain about the exact location..yet.

The red light that had been at her peripheral vision was now in front of her, gesturing for her to follow it. Although nothing good had ever come from following this little guy, her legs still traced it's path.

The flame was the only visible thing in this place so following behind it wasn't a tall task. Still feeling around, she encountered something hard and cold and the sound of clanking chains rang out again.

Intrigued, she placed both hands on the object tracing it's shape, it felt like a lock but without a keyhole and it seemed to be glowing softly now.

Her brows furrowed slightly before she lifted a brow. The lock had been gently and silently absorbing her essence causing it to glow lightly. She hadn't even noticed when it started.

Unlike the way the onyx door had drained her essence, this lock felt like a calm stream trickling down without any agony.

Waiting, she anticipated what was about to happen. Was she about to unlock a forgotten secret or maybe open up a treasure troove ?

She didn't really have to wait for long because soon after a click echoed through the void. It was baffling how this thing was the only one with the ability to produce any noise here.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of glass shattering and the onyx shards that rained from the sky. Dazed and confused, her mind still registered the sound of a high pitched shriek.

" Crap."