"I have to find a way out of this. But how?" Amanda thought.
The real Amanda had been sent to a strange world that looked like something straight out of a fairytale. Actually, it looked more like something out of every fairytale. At least it looked like a fairytale world through the window in her cell. Amanda had not only been sent to a strange world, she had been sent to a mirror prison!
Amanda was trapped. She'd had a nightmare. She had dreamed of walking up to the mirror and hearing a beautiful voice calling her, and it seemed safe. She felt something pulling her close until she stood right in front of it, and reaching out her hand she reached into the mirror and then everything went black. When she woke up, she was in this strange place with nothing but the journal with the big red flower on top. When she woke up she screamed and yelled for hours, hoping as much as any living thing could that someone would hear. But no one came, and Amanda realized that she truly was stuck there.
Finally, she grew restless and decided to open the book and read it as a way to pass the time until someone came. The minute she touched the cover of the book opened and, though Amanda was curious about how the book opened by itself, she decided it was the least of her worries and started reading. The story went like this:
Dear diary,
My name is Laverna. I am but an ordinary young girl except for one thing. I have powers, strange powers, dark powers. I am afraid of them for they are stronger than me and can make me do horrible things. Things that I didn't even know I was capable of. Things that I would never do if I was given the choice. I have been told that one day these powers will be my downfall. The only thing that can contain or control them is the red flower that I will place on this book. Whoever finds this journal I wish you luck and I hope that you find this before I am too far gone.
Sincerely Laverna
"If I can ever get out of here it's probably too late to stop Laverna, but maybe I can still imprison her... Hopefully."
✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦
Spiderwebs were torn and flying in the soft evening breeze, a sign that someone had been there before. Caroline had landed in a strange place. It wasn't a dungeon, but more of an attic with no doors, windows or any kind of an entrance, not even a crack in the wall. Which did raise a question.
"If there aren't any entrances then where is that breeze coming from?" Caroline wondered, "I guess I should probably look around for something that can get me out of here."
As Caroline searched she realized that this attic was a lot like the one back at Emma's house, but this one was filled with even stranger things like a cracked skull that appeared to be neither man nor monster but something else entirely, or a strange gemstone that looked like it had the power to destroy a world, a galaxy, or even a universe. She put the jewel back in the box. Eventually, she found a wall covered in what looked like it could have been blood. The wall also had something carved into it. It looked like it was supposed to be a message, but it was in some language that appeared to be from a kingdom that was either long extinct or yet to be. This was the message.
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"What is that?" Caroline wondered.
"The ancient script," said a voice, "It was the language of a kingdom that vanished long ago. This is one of the only fragments of their civilization that wasn't destroyed by the evil queen Laverna. I alone remember when she was still just a harmless little girl, but that didn't last. She was overtaken by her own dark powers. Nobody knows how it happened, but it did."
Caroline turned around to find an old man. This man was hunched over and his beard touched the ground. He was the kind of man who makes you feel like he could have been alive when this kingdom was destroyed and when it began.
"Who are you?" asked Caroline.
"I was the guardian of the kingdom, but I was exiled to this dungeon long ago."
"This is a dungeon?"
"Yes."
"It doesn't look like a dungeon. It looks like an attic."
"It looks like that but it's not."
"Why?"
"It's magic."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Magic can be deceiving."
"Where is that breeze coming from?"
"One of the box's holds an old cracked skull. We are feeling part of it's evil. Never touch it. it's the only thing as powerful as the red flower itself."
"What happens if I touch it?"
"It will consume any magical being that touches it."
"I'm a human."
"Then you would die a horrible fiery death if you're lucky."
"That's stupid."
"Sometimes something else happens. Sometimes when a human touches it, they are sucked into The Realm of Nightmares, or if it's someone magical then only their spirit will leave while the body stays and turns evil. Either way, the fiery death is preferable."
"What's The Realm of Nightmares?"
"It's a world of nightmares and danger. It brings death and destruction to any non-magical being who enters it. It contains the shadow of the universe. That realm contains its powers and its sources."
"Wow. Have you ever been there?"
"Nobody who has truly been through it has lived to tell the tale. Except for six girls. They were the only people to return from The Realm of Nightmares alive, and they were also the only people to successfully capture and imprison Laverna."
"How did Laverna turn evil?"
"Her father was an evil wizard, and her mom was a good witch. Laverna wanted to be good like her mother, but her father's dark power was stronger than her."
"So what happened?"
"Laverna used to come up here when she was young. One day when she was 16 she found that skull, the skull that for a time, had belonged to death himself, and the minute she touched it the skull knew that her powers were strong but she was weak. It knew that it could take her easily. So it did, and her spirit was pulled into the land of shadows while the body was sent to wreak havoc on the rest of the universe."
"Why didn't it send her to The Realm of Nightmares?"
"Because The Realm of Nightmares is where her powers came from. If it had sent her spirit there her powers would have followed."
"How do I get out of here?"
"You can't."
"Why not."
"You would need the red flower."
"Where is it."
"In a prison that is far away from here."
"How far?"
"In a world that no human can ever have enough power to reach without very powerful help."
"Okay, so you're telling me that if Laverna hadn't come up here and found that skull none of this would be happening!"
"Yes."
"I'm going to touch the skull."
"It's your funeral."
✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦
"What is this place?" Abbey whispered, "It looks like some kind of cave, but there's no way it can be that simple. Can it?"
Abbey was right. She had been thrown into a cave. It was a beautiful cave, but as you may have learned by now, in this story danger follows beauty. This cave was a simply a smaller version of the cavern the girls entered before, except this one didn't have the door.
"How do I get out of here?"
"You can't."
"Who said that?"
"I did."
"Who's there!"
"Turn around you silly girl."
It made Abbey mad to be called silly but she obeyed anyway. When she turned around she saw the cat.
"You can talk?"
"Why is it that they always ask that question no matter how obvious it is?"
"You callin' me stupid?!"
"No. I'm saying that you much like several other people asked an incredibly obvious question."
"Why are you here? I thought you were her henchman or something."
"I am a familiar. To Laverna, my entire job is to get unsuspecting children to come to her prison and release her and to get their souls so she can use them as henchmen, but the only entrance I can get to by myself is the one you came through."
"So you'd been waiting down there for years on the off chance that some unlucky victims would walk into your trap!"
"Yes."
"That's stupid."
"I know."
"Then why do you do it."
"I have to."
"Why?"
"I'm a familiar. I am bound by my master never to leave until she doesn't want me anymore. I have to do everything she says or I will cease to exist."
"Why are you here?"
"I'm on my way back to the portal."
"Why?"
"Because Laverna needs more bodies to possess."
"Did she tell you that?"
"No. I just want to try to get out of this early."
"If you don't have to does that mean you can help me."
"Yes, and I would like to."
"Okay, then you'll help me get out of here."
"No."
"What?! Why not!?"
"If I were to help you out of here the portal would kill you, and even if by some miracle you weren't killed by the portal you would be killed by the world it opens into."
"I'm going anyway."
"Fine."