Remembrance

Chapter 17: Shadowing

Chapter Seventeen: Shadowing

"Wake up." A voice echoed around me as I opened my eyes. I rose a brow as I looked around, seeing nothing but darkness.

"Wake up." The voice echoed out again.

"I am awake..." I muttered, trying to find my lantern. I frowned, not seeing the nightstand.

There were no windows, everything a warm stone around me. I was sleeping on a cot, the blanket that I had over me fell to the floor at the foot. I looked around again for a door, trying to see if I could get out.

My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, my hands starting to become visible. I frowned, the color of my skin darker than it normally was, almost having a reddish tint to it like a sunburn.

I could hear footsteps along one of the walls. I bit my lip as I walked towards that wall, running my hands against the stone. There had to be something there. If I got in, there had to be a way out.

I huffed, getting annoyed. My fingers ran over something almost like wood but there wasn't a doorknob attached to it. The material was much warmer than the stone was. I bit my lip as I pulled my hand away.

"Maybe a button? One of those weird doors?" I said to myself, trying to find the stone next to the wood-like object.

My hand slipped inward as a stone or brick fell into the wall, the door falling into a hole in the floor. Dim light flooded the room as I gasped in surprise, looking downward. Nothing replaced it and as far as I could see...

Lava. A river of lava flowed underneath where I was. I bit my lip as I looked back up, looking out to outside the room. It was everywhere. Lava flowed outside of the red tinted stone, black salt like substances sat in piles in corners, and sentinels stood on either side of the hallway. I bit my lip, jumping over the hole and out into the hall.

"HEY!" A voice shouted before footsteps started to rush around.

I looked over and saw people coming at me, swords dark as obsidian pointed towards me and bows tipped with a blood red glow docked in bows. I bit my lip before taking off in the opposite direction, turning a corner before I heard the arrows leave the bows.

I kept running. The halls looked almost endless until another hall branched from it. Each time I turned I could hear them following close behind. I grunted, trying to run faster.

"Come on, Alaina!" I said, jumping into another bend and gasping, the floor falling as I put my weight onto it. It stopped falling after a few moments, my body tumbling down and landing in a pile of red fungus.

"Where did she go!?" A man's voice shouted, the footsteps halting.

I held my breath, not moving from the fungus cloud. It burned my skin as footsteps started to recede away. As soon as I heard nothing other than the bubbling of the lava, I pulled myself up, getting out of the red fungus and onto the dark red bricks. I felt even more disgusting at the sediment that was all over my skin and clothes. I started brushing it off before I realized what I was wearing. My clothes were all shades of red, a blood red armor set on my chest, my pants and sleeves a coal black with red swirls over it. My boots were a blood red as the laces came up in crosses. I bit my lip as I realized what it looked like.

"Oh no..." I whispered before the footsteps started to come back. I scrambled to my feet and ran towards the next hallway I could get to. I panted as the hallway started to stretch.