I was so powerless to halt the oncoming darkness- it moved at a painfully slow pace, almost as if it was made of lead. Rattling my cage bars did nothing. Screaming for help did nothing. Frantically searching for anyone that could help me did lead me to see that the fight had turned into an ambush- Mort and Edmund were surrounded, and outnumbered, by bodies. Some were still; others were extremely animate- and dangerous. The darkness was only a few feet away now, still hell-bent on its path to my soul. The warlock was laughing throughout his incantation. I was crying, I was defeated.

"CERSAE!'' A voice cried. Snapping my head up, I saw Edmund jumping over a corpse, running as fast as he could in my direction. He won't make it, he can't. That darkness will have one of us and I'm going to make sure it's me. He was so fast- damn his long legs! I made my decision. Doing the most courageous and stupidest thing in my young life I cried for him to stop. It surprised him enough to make him hesitate in his running. A brief falter on his behalf changed the course of my entire life. I never blamed him for it. That split second was all I needed. The darkness folded through the cage bars, I could see nothing around it except the Chaos of its centre; The Evil that it beheld.

And it touched my heart.

First there was the pain. It wasn't a physical pain initially, but it manifested into that. My bones stiffened, my nerves were shot through, my blood ceased to flow. Air refused to enter my lungs no matter how much I gasped. My muscles refused to respond- I collapsed and lay there, unable to writhe in my own torment. Unable to scream. Unable to weep. Unable to die. Blackness clouded my vision, non-existent knives clawed at my skin, rot infested my senses and the last thing I heard were voices calling -for me, I think. I could feel each individual organ die- each desperately trying to continue working- to cling onto some last semblance of life that had been snuffed out. And then my heart took its last beat.

My brain died, but not my mind. Not my consciousness. They were very much intact, but only for a short time. I was aware, yet unaware, of everything around me. A dream state of anguish, a nightmare of being out of my own control. I was numb but locked all feeling away. Emotion was suppressed, yet not absent. Every grief and misery, all of the regret and remorse I felt magnified, each distinguishable to the point all of it choked and consumed me. I could not remember happy.

Time was non-existent. The tortuous agony wasn't limited to my body- it was of my very soul. I was being twain in all directions, the darkness threatening to encroach on me, to spill over. I went insane, of that I have no doubt, or drew so close the edge that sanity and insanity were indistinguishable. Maybe I crossed over many times, I don't know. No mortal could- should- withstand it. Death was welcomed whenever I sought it, yet It always evaded me. This frustration fuelled me further. I didn't cry, I couldn't. I had to fight, I had to push it away, I will not let it…take…me…

And then it stopped. The agony, the crushing, the torture- lifted.

Just. Like. That.

I blinked. My vision swam as it reconnected with my consciousness. I felt- no, I sensed that I was dizzy. My faculties came to, I could barely believe this. Sour tasted on my tongue, foul filled my nostrils. Weight coursed throughout my being, noise echoed in my head. My revelation was cut short as the images I was seeing began to make sense.

There was a body on the ground in front of me. A man.

Blood dripped from my swo- my sword? It was in my hand. I looked to my other- it held its companion, also stained with red. I dropped them, stumbling backwards, my feet heavy. Plate- plate? -boots met my gaze- what was going on?! Was I even … me? I twisted my neck to view the rest of my 'body', if it was indeed mine. I was armour-clad in dark iron. No, no! This is not me! I have to get out of this- I clawed at my- this armour, in a vague attempt to tear it from my body. Failing at this, my-no, this body's- seemingly trained hands found leather straps and shakingly undid them. I threw each piece to the ground in disgust until nothing was left apart from my padding. My nightmare had not ended it had seemed. I panicked. Not knowing what else to do- I ran.

And ran. The body felt so foreign to me, so new. Stumbling like a child I travelled across- well, I don't know where. I ignored my environment. Not knowing where I was going. I didn't register calls or cries, I tore through rotted plant life, unaware of the blood dripping off of my body. Tripping over a dead branch left me face to face with a ghost- no, not a ghost. It was mirroring my movement. A reflection. Where I unconsciously expected dark, long hair, limp, lifeless …grey hung in its wake. Healthy cheeks and a small mouth were now gaunt, sick and deathly, lips trembling. Brown eyes, wide and observant were no more- bright blue and frightened bore back into my own. I was no longer a girl, freshly turned eighteen springs. I was a nightmare.

This is not ME!

I eventually found peace from this un-reality when darkness found me. Laying in a pile of leaves, dead leaves, my eyesight, newly gained, started to blur. The physical act of living, if that was what I was indeed doing, felt laboured and I began to feel death at my door, finally answering my call. I closed my eyes. Some organised noise…voices muffled their way into my subconscious.

I welcomed oblivion once more.


A/N - Disclaimer: I do not own World of Warcraft or anything related to it. Any Original Characters in here are my own with two exceptions of which I have permission of the players to use.

Also- If you have concerns regarding Triggers, please contact me via PM and I will get back to you as soon as possible on which chapters/scenes to avoid- I will provide no other warning apart from this one like some authors, but I don't want my readers to be uncomfortable.

Finally, I will be using British English, as you can see. Some words will be spelt differently and hold alternative meanings to their American English equivalents.