Prologue

As she woke up, it was dark. Total darkness surrounded her and she groaned. It hurt… Everything hurt, pain eating away every part of her body.

The darkness above her moved and she blinked. At last the blackness faded and she gasped. This was not night or its blackness, it was something different… sails? Did someone pull sails above her head? But why on earth should someone do something like that?

The wall behind her moved; a scream escaped her as she flinched.

Fear. What? Who… Who?! There was no fear of death, why is there fear now?

The mass behind her moved away now and a creature rose, which could only be have been escaped out of a nightmare. A head on a long neck watched her from above, teeth bared and too long for its jaws, so the mouth seemed snarling even when closed. Yellow eyes stared down at her, the pupils slit and watching her intensely. What she thought as sails turned out to be wings. Giant black wings, on their edges already torn by all the swings they had taken. Automatically she tremored back. But she would not break, there was nothing that could break her. Not even this nightmare creature.

She swallowed but straightened her back. She wouldn't bow! She wouldn't break! „I am not afraid of you!", she snarled.

Yes… No fear… Forgot? The voice was dark, torn and now she realized it was actually this awful beast, whose voice she was hearing.

„What… How?", she moaned, her hands clawing into her messy hair. „I don't understand."

Forgot?, the voice asked and a screech came out of the beast's mouth. Did forget?

She covered her ears, groaning, as the sound made her their drums ache. „I don't know…", she mumbled. „What happened? How did I… Where am I?" The monster was silent for a while and stared down to her from its dark yellow eyes, as she painfully got up but only to fall down on her knees again. She tried a second time, but now the beast's head moved towards her. She flinched back before she understood and finally she reached for it to steady herself. Fowl breath blew in her face, as she carefully did a few steps.

Show? The dark, twisted voice cut its way into her awareness again. Show what was?

She swallowed the lump in her throat. „I… I forgot something, didn't I?"

Forgot, the winged beast confirmed again and stared down to her with its relentless eyes.

„So… Can you show me? What I forgot?"