Only a few feet ahead could be seen at all. Before the blackness, the walls closest were spattered in blood and heavily coated in dirt. This place had been a morbid labyrinth thus far, and up to this point, it all looked the same. Stopping just before a stone archway, it was noted that the structure was shaped into hundreds of skulls, as it had to be as tall as the greatest statue of Sanctuary. It was massive and equally as terrifying. Nonetheless, the journey went on. The next room was a sight that would make anyone's heart run cold. This chamber was much larger than any of the others, and at its center, there was a pool of thick blood. Along its entire, shapely border was a set of steps in three, as though the essence was fated to be stepped into.
It could only be imagined how deep the basin truly was, but there was an odd urge to find out. Blood - the sight of it nor the touch of it - had never been a bother to Thage before.
One, leather-clad foot ventured down the first step, then the other. Before resistance could set in, the blood was up to the neck, and as if on its own accord, over the head it went.
For a moment, it unexpectedly felt ice-cold. Then, the sticky wetness seemed to dissipate. Eyes opened, and it wasn't to see red, but instead, an entirely different room. There was no blood here, not even a trace of it on the body, peculiarly enough. Straight ahead down the long corridor of tall, stony columns, a light could be seen at the end coming forward...
"What a bizarre dream," Kayara chimed, half in a daze as she listened to Thage's recollection. "You must have eaten just before bedtime!" Always so light-hearted and full of humor, Kayara was. Though, she seemed to believe that food provided thought, even in slumber.
Sitting across from her sister in the old town's pub, Thage sipped from her wooden mug. She never drank anything aside from water, and tonight was no different. The men here in New Tristram could help themselves to all the gin in the world, but for all of her 25 years, Thage remained pure from such poisons. It distracted the mind from what was important. "It shouldn't mean anything, should it?"
Kayara seemed to be fighting the urge to laugh, though merely smiled. "Of course not. I'm sure it's simply your imagination running away with you."
Behind her, Thage could hear Orion, the blacksmith, raising a fuss about his lamb not being fully cooked. At first, it had been easy to ignore, but the raise in volume and intensity in his voice was collecting the attention of everyone in the pub - which was still a reasonably small number.
"I think I should return to Lisabeth," Kayara insisted. "She's been without a watchful eye all evening. If she bursts while I'm gone, I'm in deep trouble!" She paid their share, tossing a few coins on the old table before rising from her chair.
"Make sure you get some rest," Thage insisted. "The New Tristram Cathedral is reopening tomorrow, and it's going to be a big celebration."
"I can't make any promises, but either way, you know I'll be there." Soon, Kayara was leaving her sister to her own thoughts. Thage smiled slightly to herself. Her sister, like her, was a witch, though she had taken the healing route, unlike the rest of the family. Kayara had been spending the past few days with a warrior's wife, who had been pregnant for eight months. Her child was due anytime now, and as was found understandable, Kayara believed she needed to be carefully watched, at least until the baby was born.
"What a big heart your sister has," she heard a masculine voice speak up from behind her. Turning her head slightly, she spotted Romin, one of the caretakers of the inn upstairs. Thage always knew him to adore her sister, though he had never knowingly acted upon it. In fact, he never truly confessed it out loud, but Thage had her way of knowing these things. She never said she had a sixth sense. Women just had a knack for these things.
"She only does what needs to be done," she replied, rising from the chair and finishing the rest of her water. "As would the rest of us."
"Of course," Romin agreed with a nod, and just as spontaneously as he had made his presence known, he walked away.
Thage knew Romin to practice in such preached words. The both of them, as well as a few others in the village, did what they could to protect their people from the restless undead in the northern ruins. Once a week, they strayed from their homes long enough to investigate, to layer the grounds and ensure their families would not be threatened by a tedious wave of dead men.
Such havoc hadn't occurred for many years, since when the spirits had become enraged by the star that fell several years ago.
The trek back to her cabin was a quiet set of ten minutes. The humble home sat just on the outskirts of the village, which was currently doused in heavy rainfall. At least the rain had ceased beating down long enough for her to arrive home. With Kayara still watching over her feeble, pregnant client, the house was as silent as the rest of the night around it. Nothing but the wind outside could be heard, lightly wafting through the trees' leaves. Thage curled up in a chair near the fireplace, starting up a small ember to keep herself warm. While winter had not yet come, the chill lingered in the evening enough to make the house uncomfortably cool. With little light provided to the room, Thage lit a single candle, enough to keep any ill-intended spirits away.
"Et nox protege me, Domine, quoniam ad te fidei est."
After she felt confident that her prayer for protection on this night was heard and heeded, she carried the candlestick with her, resting its bronze sheath on a small, wooden table by her beside. She blew it out, watching briefly as a tiny string of smoke wafted towards the window. As she climbed beneath the ivory sheets, Thage couldn't help but wonder if tonight, her dreams would be a repeat of what she had described to her sibling.
Stone walls surrounded her on two sides, and each turn only made her feel as though she was getting farther and farther from progress. Where her destination was, she couldn't exactly be sure. No doubt, it was necessary to get out, but not even a draft of air gave hint as to what direction to take. It was still, and it was cold. Suddenly, a sound was heard from behind. It was not quite a howl, as it sounded a bit closer to a screech, but nonetheless, how haunting it was simply could not be described. Feeling as though she was unable to move, Thage watched as a cool, blue glow spread across the walls, coming from behind her. As the pale hue stretched across the stone, there was something else there on the slabs that she had not seen before. They appeared to be markings, much like those she had seen on runes that her father once studied.
Never having understood this ancient language of sorcery, the symbols left her all the more confused. Before she could begin to try and decipher it, she was interrupted by a slamming sound against wood. It stirred her from slumber.
Thage sat up abruptly in her bed, and despite the chill in the air, she awoke in a sweat. It took her a moment or two to realize that the sound that disturbed her did not come from her dream, but surely must have come from the next room. Quickly, she rose from the bed, her face paling. Besides, with as early as it was in the morning, with no sun yet to rise, she doubted it was her sister's return that woke her up. As quietly as she could manage, Thage glided towards the door to the next room, using strictly the memory of her home's layout to guide herself there. An otherworldly chill in the air caused the hair on her arms to raise. Soon, she located the source of the startling noise: the window had been slammed open by the heavy wind, and even now, it waved at her, its splintered wood hooked on the curtain in front of it. She hurried to it to keep the cool air from invading any further, careful not to shred the fabric as she pulled it away from the window.
After a thorough search through the house, just to make sure, Thage returned to her bed a little later. Her eerie dream left her shaken up for no apparent reason, and she tried to tell herself she was merely being paranoid. Still, she needed to get some more rest. Tomorrow was going to be a big day.