Prologue

-This'll do… remember what I've said: I need him alive –The female voice resounded inside the murky room. The weak shimmer coming from the drawing painted on the floor barely allowed the unicorn to glimpse the nod coming from the dark shape in front of her. Her horn shined promptly, creating a tiny, blue sparkle. The volatile body slowly fled down, as it was parachuting, towards the red circle on the floor. The white tiles inside the lines morphed abruptly, acquiring a snowy white color. A couple of blurry figures appeared from the changing surface, their outlines turned sharper as new colors started to emerge from them, it didn't take long for the drawing to perfectly trace its objective. The tightly hugging couple calmly walked down a snowy street, both sharing a thick winter coat. Their equally blonde hair sweetly tangled at each step, their reddish cheeks were tightly glued with each other under a thin layer of ice.

The unicorn touched the pale face of the stocky teenager, adding the last line to the pentagram.

-Forgive me, Nathaniel…- She whispered with a slight tone of sadness.

An explosion of red followed her words.

-See you later! – I exclaim cheerfully, kissing my girlfriend's frozen nose and hurrying to climb the stairs leading to the porch covering the front door of my house.

-G-Goodbye! – She shouted shyly while waving her hand nervously. She was my opposite: my assertiveness contrasted with her shyness.

-Remember to bring my jacket tomorrow! – I shout, blowing her a last kiss before opening the door and entering home.

I shook off some snow from my shoulders, and left the keys inside a small, ceramic bowl. I quickly leaned the light switch near the stairs leading to the upper floor. I shuddered as the lights refused to lighten the room. The lack of electric heating made the overall ambient colder, but also made me realize what the problem was. I turned back and slid open the only drawer from the small desk near the door, taking out a tiny, but heavy flashlight. I had to jerk the switch multiple times for the stubborn apparel to work.

-Sheesh… down we go…- I whisper, trying to comfort myself. My home, at night, emulated perfectly the look of a haunted mansion, if you ignore the fact that my house isn't very big.

I crossed the hall with long strides, refusing to look sideways; the circle of light was focused on the door leading to the basement, so was I.

I slammed the door open with a tackle, the rusted bolts from the knob, simply, stopped working long time ago. I carefully walked down the stairs, nervously brightening every corner from the chaotic room I used as warehouse, and occasionally, workshop. I tore down a sticky web from the fuse box and opened the tiny door. A couple of sparks made me step back swiftly, a cable had been ripped off. The sudden movement made the flashlight slip from my hands, the fragile device crashed hardly with the ground, producing a similar noise of a crystal bottle shattering. I barely had time to realize what happened with my light source before the door from the stairs slammed shut, making me jolt in surprise. I considered running straight to the upper floor, but the cold was unbearable without any kind of artificial heat. I decided to fix the problem. Illuminated only by the sporadic sparkling, I stumbled towards the workbench. I palped the surface, searching for a pair of plastic gloves, but instead, all my attention got drawn towards a red shimmer on my left. Unable to hold my curiosity, I made my way towards the shining.

-What in the world… - I whisper in surprise, gazing at a reddish, baroque drawing, its lines seemed to had been drawn manually, but their straightness was surprisingly good. I kneeled on the ground, my brain started to show me images of random esoteric pentagrams I had glimpsed in my life, which weren't much. Any of them matched the drawing I had below my knees. Curiosity just grew larger, making me place my hand on its center. The drawing blazed with strength as my skin touched the dusty ground, acquiring a bloodied… and menacing look.

I was already moving my hand away, since nothing remarkable happened for the next seconds, but as soon as my fingertips left the ground, a powerful grip grasped my wrist. I widened my eyes, in a mix of pain and surprise. I fought back, pulling outwards with strength, achieving nothing. A huge force wave crossed every muscle in my body, as I found myself being pulled roughly inside the drawing. I screamed, unable to bear the pain on my arm, while hopelessly trying to break free.

My back and head joined the chorus of agonizing screams coming from my arm as my whole body collided with a hard surface, followed by a heavy fall, my right side absorbed the force of the impact. I screamed again and rolled to my left, trying to protect my already damaged limb from any possible impacts. I used the wall behind me to lean my back against it. The ripped cloth near my right shoulder was wet, was I bleeding?

The lights came on.

Indeed, blood poured out from an open wound on my elbow, a sharp, white trunk was popping out from it, I had to rub it with my fingers to realize it was my bone. Tears started to slid down my cheeks as I stared at the excruciating mess of cut flesh. Between heavy breathing, I raised my eyes to see where I was.

The surprise was… surprising… a blue unicorn was standing in front of me, with a proud look on its face, did he… wait… she, do this to me?

The strange creature approached me with a reassuring smile; I tried to back off, only achieving another groan of pain to squeeze out from my throat. I can't say I was scared, rather intimidated by her… nothing else was in the white room with us, so she seemed like the only one to blame for my wounds.

-Calm down, I won't hurt you unless you force me to- She said sweetly, the heavy loss of blood blurred my mind. She nuzzled my cheek while analyzing the wound, I let her be, I was more focused in keeping my eyes open –This may hurt a little… - She whispered, her breath tickled my ear. She carefully placed her hooves on my wounded arm, with a swift twist, the showing bone joined his hidden brother. Unable to withstand the sudden, explosive pain, I passed out.

The nightmares that followed were dyed in blue.