Adriana Masters, chapter one.
"Death is not your destiny today, little Adriana." I heard inside the white. Was I dying? I had no idea. Everything went all warm and fuzzy. I fell asleep, like someone had just drugged me.
It seemed like hours before I had woken up. "Wake up Adriana!" I heard a little voice say. "Come on, wake up!" I opened my eyes to see a little blond girl.
"Phoenix?" I asked, "Is that you?" My voice was high-pitched and girlish, too.
"O' course it's me, silly! Now come on, before Mum and Da get up!"
I realized now. I was a child again! But it wasn't the depths of the circle of Hell I grew up in. It was a lovely little cottage. My child eyes only saw the pretty aspects of the home. I stood to bandy, wobbly legs, like I had growing up. I smiled. "Morning, Phoenix."
"Let's go, come on! We have lots of fun things to play today!" I stepped outside. It was a grassy, green meadow. Phoenix ran ahead of me. "Come and get me, slowpoke! Ha ha ha!" Suddenly a gaping hole that had a red aura around it opened up. Phoenix didn't notice it. She was running backwards, not watching.
"Phoenix! Watch out! You're going to fall in!" I screamed.
"You're going to have to do better to catch me!" she said. She fell in. "Adriana! Help!" her screams faded away. Everything came back. My life flashed before my eyes. Everything I'd done. Everyone I'd loved. Dante. Now I knew. I had to go in after her. I dived head first, howling. Goodbye, Dante, my love.
And then the fight came. They killed him. The men and the giant stone spike. The floating mass of obsidian stone had an evil aura about it. The shard was a tricky little bastard. It knocked me out while I was fighting off the men. They were some kinda strong. All I saw before the white was Dante, dropped limp beside me, eyes wide and lifeless. I would find the bastard behind it and kill him myself.
The black of the hole seemed to be swallowing me whole, like I was just some snack. What was odd about this hole is that there was no wind blowing my hair as I fell. I noticed that I was growing into my older self once again.
Once the black arose, didn't crash and land, but just emerged through an archway that was in the really old Gothic style. Stuff you'd see in old Hell castles. "Welcome, Adriana. I am Theresa. I know you must be in some great grief now. I assure you in time, you will avenge your lover's death. The man who killed him; his name was Lucien. And I know where he his, what he is up to. And why." a blind woman in some awfully ratty clothing said.
A person ran through the archway; the same one I entered through. "I'm here! What did I miss?" A young woman said.
"You didn't miss a thing., dear girl. It's time you met our first ally. Blade, this is Adriana." I nodded to the woman clad in blue and black. She wandered over to my back, where I had my sword, rifle, and pistol.
She picked off the pistol first. "What technology! No gunpowder bowl, no clockwork outside of the barrel, not even two barrels! How does it work? Oh! Look at that!" She took my rifle, and compared it to hers, which was way primitive, but pretty in its own coppery tone.
She had a look at my sword. "How do you carry it? It's huge! It's bigger than the fabled Greatswords of the Old Kingdom!" she marveled. "Is that a black fox's head?"
"What the hell is she talking about? Where in the blazes am I?" I yelled. "And give me my weapons!"
"Sorry to offend you, miss Adriana. I am Blade. And let me formally introduce you to Albion. A few things before we dash, you'll need different clothes. Those are too… odd for Albion standards. Good thing I picked up an extra set at the tailor's."
The top and skirt were the gaudiest things I'd ever seen in my life. This was going to be interesting.