A blue light flashes, cutting through the pitch black view of the room I was standing in, but it disappeared just as suddenly as it showed up in the first place, leaving me alone in that pitch black room again. The walls, if there even were any, were lost in that darkness; I could neither see nor feel them, no matter how hard I squinted or how far I reached out my hands. The only thing I could feel was a damp feeling in my feet. It felt as if I were standing in water, but the ground wasn't wet.

I shivered.

The room was growing increasingly cold by the second. It was slightly warm at first, but I could sense the temperature constantly dropping, and the wetness in my feet began to make them go numb. This numbness slowly spread throughout my body. I couldn't move; I was frozen in place. But I was unsure at that point if I was frozen because of the cold, or if it was something else entirely.

"Power comes from the inside, not the outside."

I hear a voice cut through the darkness. I can't see where the voice is coming from, and I can't respond to it either. I try, of course, but my voice won't come out no matter what I do. Instead, the voice continues.

"Your heart. Your soul. These are the true instruments of strength, that play each person's unique melody."

Power? Heart and soul? Instruments of strength? I don't understand what the voice is trying to say. What is this voice's message? Furthermore, what was this about a person's unique melody? I wish I could tell what it was trying to relay to me, but it was so cold now I was spending all of my energy just trying to stay conscious.

"This is true for all humans, including you. You are trapped in this darkness, frozen in place, and unable to act. You think you are in a hopeless situation, but as long as humans breathe, they are never hopeless."

I am trapped in this darkness. I am frozen. There is nothing I can do. I agree with that, even if I don't know how I got here in the first place. I don't even know what this place is, but I do know that this hope the voice is talking about, well I don't think I have it. Humans are never hopeless as long as they can breathe? I don't agree with that. What I believe is, sometimes, even if those times are the rarest of situations, there is just nothing you can do to change it. Humans can't have that power, they aren't gods. They can try to change things as much as they want, but sometimes there is just no way.

"I can tell you doubt my words, but in doing that you are only doubting your own thoughts."

I did the only thing I could do anymore. I lifted my head to look straight, at where I thought the voice was coming from. I couldn't ask a question, but if the voice knew I was having doubts, maybe it could hear my question in my mind. "What do you mean?"

"Curious are you? Power comes from the inside, not the outside. Your heart. Your soul. These are the true instruments of strength that play each person's unique melody. This is true for all humans, including you. You are trapped in this darkness, frozen in place, and unable to act. You think you are in a hopeless situation, but as long as humans breathe, they are never hopeless."

"You just said the same thing again. You didn't answer my question. What do you mean?"

"Your heart. Your soul. These are the true instruments of strength. Play your melody. Escape this darkness. Bring light into the world. Chase away the pain and free yourself from what holds you back. The ice that surrounds your heart. The ice that surrounds your soul."

"How? I… I want to. I really do, but I don't know how. I don't like it here. I don't like being frozen. Tell me how I can escape. Please!"

"You doubt yourself. You think you can't get out of trouble you run into on your own. Even worse, you think you'll have to face those troubles alone. You don't think you have the ability to seize your future, and until you do, you will be bound here forever."

"So what do I do? Ask for help? Ask who? No one is here but you and me, and all your cryptic answers aren't helping any. I…"

"You what?"

"I…"

"You what? Tell me! Tell me what it is!"

I look straight ahead trying to find the source of the voice in the darkness, but it's no use. I still don't see a thing, so with what little strength I can muster, I do what I feel must be done.

"I need someone to help me!"

I yell into the darkness, the voice I couldn't seem to find and the words I couldn't seem to say come out so easily, and when they do, I see that blue flash of light once again, but this time, I am no longer cold, and the room is no longer pitch black, now it is a peaceful blue, just like the light that previously flashed.

I thought to myself, "Is that the power that the voice was talking about, and speaking of the voice, where is the person that was talking to me."

I scanned the room in front of me, then I scanned the room behind me. I was the only person in the room.

"Where are you?" I called out into the room around me.

"I am everywhere you are and nowhere you are not."

"What? Stop being so cryptic. Where are you at? I don't see you."

"That is because it is not time for us to meet face to face yet, but that time will come soon. I can feel it, and I'm sure you can feel it too. In fact, I am positive you can for we are connected to each other after all."

"Connected? You just keep making me more and more confused. Who are you? What are you?"

"I am thou… and thou art I. I reside in thy heart and resonate with thy soul. Know my name as I know yours, Matoi Nakoto. I am Venus."

"Venus?" was all I could say before everything faded once again, and I opened my eyes slowly to a familiar sight. I was lying in my bed back home. It was all a dream, a vivid dream that felt so real, but it was all a dream. It was still dark, so I knew it was early in the morning, but so much happened in that dream I expected it to be later than it was. I rolled over to face my alarm clock and see what time it was. 12:01 am.

Definitely not time to get up yet.

I rolled back over and went back to sleep, but I didn't have another weird dream. Then again, I didn't notice my cell phone laying on the table with my alarm clock either. My cell phone with a lit up screen and a notification of a message I had received. I checked it when I woke up later that morning like I always do before I go to school, but the phone said the message was from a cell phone with no number, and all the message said was "It begins."

I shrugged it off as a prank and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Toast and eggs in the morning is always refreshing, no matter who you are or if you like toast and eggs. I sat on my couch playing a recent JRPG about recruiting demons to fight other demons until my best friend Shisuke Yamanato showed up on his bike, and by showed up I mean crashed his bike on the stairs for the third time this week. Before I went outside to meet him I smiled and imagined how awesome it was going to be this year in high school. I'm so glad we got into the same one. It made sense though, my family was close to the family of the principal and Shisuke is one of the smartest people I ever met. Well, at least when it comes to book smarts. He did just crash in the exact same spot again. Whatever, I'm looking forwards to the future. Even though that was just a dream I had, I took what Venus said to me to heart. If I'm ever in any kind of trouble, Shisuke has my back, and the school year just started, so we had a lot of chances to meet people and make new friends.