She was running through a forest. She was running from what she just did. Blood streaked her hands, her face, her clothes. She kept running deeper and deeper into the forest. Twigs from the trees tore her clothes and her skin. Leaves were stuck in her hair. But she kept running… the image of her dead mother in her mind. It was haunting her. She was trying to escape.
She kept running. She kept going deeper and deeper into the dark, dense and foreboding woods. Everywhere she heard screams from animals, things, her mind. She couldn't escape. Something was trailing her. She didn't know what it could be. The memory? Her dead mother? Her mind? Something was following her and she couldn't escape. Her past? What was it?
Footsteps sounded all around her. Tears streaked her face as she kept running. The footsteps were getting closer. And closer. They were right behind her. She had to run faster, longer, farther. She wasn't getting away. She had to keep going.
A branch lashed out and cut her face, adding to the blood already dried to it. She kept running. The footsteps were right behind her. They were about to overcome her. She had to keep going. She couldn't let them capture her.
Suddenly she fell forward onto the ground. How she got there she didn't know. She lay on the ground too tired to get up and keep going. She lay there; wanting to die… wishing to die. She turned to see her chaser and saw nothing. She stifled a scream as a hand was put over her mouth and she was dragged up off the cold, hard ground by a pair of strong arms. She was pulled deeper into the lightless forest.
She arrived at a clearing. The clearing was engulfed in light by a large bonfire. A circle of people in dark robes stood in a circle along the outer edge of the glade. She looked around wildly, trying to pick out a face that she might recognize. But she couldn't, she couldn't see any faces. The heads of the people were masked. Not even the glare of the fire could shed on ounce of elucidation to her.
She was brought into the center of the open space by the fire. She heard small gasps and saw the ring of people step back as they took in the sight of her. They saw the blood all over her, the slashes on her clothes from the trees, the scratches on her face and arms from her fight with the forest. But all of that didn't matter. They still recognized her. They still saw who she was.
She was running again. She was trying to evade them. She had done something. She had had control over the wind, over the fire, over all the elements. How she had done it she didn't know, but that didn't matter right now. All that mattered was that she escaped with her life. She saw light and headed toward it. She kept running; the cramps in her legs, her side and her feet gave her no notice. The trees were getting sparse and more light was entering the forest. Go to the light, she kept telling herself.
She made it to the light but they kept coming after her. She saw a large cabin and behind it: a very large castle. She ran to the castle. On her left side an enormous lake flickered beneath the moon. On her right side, golden hoops shimmered in the distant twilight. In front of her two torches were pinpricks in the distance. The two pinpricks being her finish line. Behind her the footsteps kept coming. But as she neared the two beads of light, the marching started to slow and finally ceased. She kept running. She ran up the cold steps, up to the vast oak doors.
She pulled open the doors, struggling with their weight and her fatigue. As the doors shut behind her she collapsed onto the cold floor of the castle. Her world went black before she hit the ground. Her arm stretched out above her head and in the dim light of the castle a glittering tattoo, half finished, stood out from the blood and the dirt. An outline of a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth had only been partly colored in. It was a sign so recognizable in the world she had just unknowingly and unwillingly entered.