-Chapter 3-

"Don't worry, you're going to be just fine."

Those last words echoed through Chloe's ears as a darkness overtook her. Suddenly she was standing alone in a field of dark... black mist. She took a step backwards as a cool burst of wind blew past her face. "H-hello?" She called out, her voice eerily echoing through the seemingly endless field of mist. She stood there for what seemed a few minutes, awaiting some sort of reply... but none came.

After some time had passed, Chloe now convinced that no reply was going to come, a voice spoke up behind her. "And again, you find yourself in darkness," It said in a dry, emotionless tone. It was the voice of a female, but one that Chloe didn't recognize. She spun around to face the origin of this voice, and was greeted only by the blackness that surrounded her.

"Again?" She asked, stepping forward slowly.

"Have you not found yourself here before?"It answered, in a whisper of a voice as a light gust of wind blew past Chloe's face, yet again.

Chloe took another questioning step forward. "Before? Do you mean..." Chloe paused and glanced above her, "...death?" She spoke, though in more of a statement than a question. Chloe dimly remembered, now. This place, it did seem eerily familliar to her, yet so distant in her memory. "Am I... dead?" She asked.

"No. Fear not, Uniter. All of your reamining lives are intact."

"Intact. That's good. Wait, if I haven't lost another life, then... why am I back here?"

Another gust of wind passed Chloe as the reply came, this one icy cold. "Because this is where you belong."

Chloe trembled slightly as those words registered in her mind. Who was this mysterious voice, and was it trying to piss her off? "Look, creepy voice person, I'd rather like to not be here... so, you think we could arrange that?"

"Soon, enough." As the echo of these last words faded out, the black mist began to clear before Chloe, revealing a tall, blue, glowing oak tree. Before the questionable tree stood a silhouette, dark and questionable in itself.

"Wh-?" Was all that Chloe managed to get out as her body began to slowly move closer. It took her a few seconds to reallize that she was neither moving of her own will, or walking. "Wait, wait, wait! No! No!" She yelled, though it didn't change the fact that she was still inching closer to the motionless silhouette.

Alek walked into the apartment, his steps slow and heavy. Chloe's still body had been laid on the couch, her shirt torn open, and her bloody wound revelaed to all who surrounded her.

"Tell me she's going to be okay," Jasmine asked, her voice trembling with both worry and guilt. Valentina rested a stiff hand on her daughter's shoulder in an awkward attempt to comfort her.

"She'll be fine," Valentina reassured.

Jasmine took a deep breath and spun around to face her mother. "I need to find out who did this."

Valentina was genuinly shocked at her daughter's sudden recovery, but quickly realized she was simply out for revenge. "O-of course... we will, I assure you."

"No, not we. Me. I-I need to make this right. I can't just sit here and watch her suffer, I need to-"

"Okay."

"You don't understand, I...What?"

"I said it's fine."

Jasmine smiled excitedly and made for the door.

"But-" her mother interupted, "I need you to take Alek with you."

Jasmine sighed and grabbed Alek by the hand as she flew out of the appartment.

Jasmine stared down at the fast-drying puddle of blood on the ground. She couldn't get Chloe's painfilled eyes out of her mind, and every thing in her body told her, no, demanded her to get revenge.

"Anything?" Alek asked as he approached her from behind, awakening her from her drawn out thoughts.

"Uh...Just the knife they left behind."

"Have you looked at it, yet?"

Jasmine reached into her jacket pocket and slowly pulled out a blood stained knife. "I haven't really been able to bring myself to..." She held the knife out in front of her and scanned it over. The handle was black, with a dark grey blade that had some sort of inscription etched across it, but the combination of blood and rust made nearly impossible to make out. "From the designs on the handle, it looks kind of like a knife our ancestors used in ancient sacrifices... but it's too new. It doesn't look like it's been around for more than a few years."

Alek took the knife into his hands and sighed. "But what Mai order would be manufacturing blades for sacrifice, and what the hell do they plan to kill?"

"It may not be a blade for sacrifice, and even if it is, we can't be sure that whoever was wielding it was, in fact Mai."
"You're right."

Chloe was standing before some dark figure, wisps of black smoke dancing around it, reaching for her, but fading out before they managed to touch her. Something was holding her in place, she couldn't move, and a choking feeling had risen in the back of her throat. "Wh-who?" She managed to say.

"You." The figure began to morph, the black shadowy substance began to dance about itself, until before Chloe stood... Chloe.

Note from the author: Well, I'm glad that you guys are liking the story, so far. Again, if you have any ideas for the story, please do tell me. I literally creating the story as I go, so all help with that would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading, please review, and I'll be updating soon. :)
PS: I do believe this is my longest chapter, yet. So, wooh!