The darkess as all around her, smothering her. Sally had lost track of time… as far as she knew, she'd always been here. It was cold, and pitch black, but what unsettled her most was the silence. There was no sound; she couldn't even hear herself breathing.
"Where am I?" she mouthed, since she couldn't hear herself speaking. The blood in her veins went icy when she recieved an unexpected reply.
"You are in Nightmare," a deep and disembodied voice resounded. "The resting place of broken dreams, endless sorrow, and lost souls."
Sally tensed as she felt a cold presence surround her. Walls closed in around her, tightening and squeezing the air from her lungs. She could feel herself being yanked up, higher and higher, until she broke the plane of darkness that had obscured her vision. When she saw her surroundings clealry for the first time, Sally immediately wished she hadn't.
The world was covered in shades of black and grey. The surface she had risen from was permeated by a tangible darkness that flowed like water. Above, storm clouds broiled like boiling water, and a never ending series of lightning flashes riddled the horizon. The walls that she'd felt closing in around her was more than that; it was an enormous hand with no arm, or any other attachment Sally could see.
Her travel upward stopped abruptly just before the thunderheads in the sky. As if on cue, shots of linked chains descended from the clouds and wrapped themselves around Sally's arms and legs. Too late, Sally struggled, only to find the chains taut and securely fastened to each other. The Hand continued to rise into the clouds, where Sally lost track of it.
"Are you afraid?" the disembodied voice spoke again.
Sally was terrified. She was confused, disoriented, and impossible things were happening all around her. The chains that held her in place streached her chest to the point where she couldn't take normal breaths. Not to mention that she hated heights.
Unable to force her mouth to form words, Sally merely nodded in response to the Voice's question. A deep and malicious laugh reverberated from inside the storm clouds. The lightning infested clouds began to roll back and away, slowly at first, then rapidly. As they receded, Sally could see that more hands like the one that had picked her up were gripping the edges of the clouds, as if they were solid, and pulling them back.
"Good. You have every right to be," the Voice continued. Behind the clouds was an immense figure, garbed in a dark cloak. Sally could feel her terror increse tenfold as the being moved in closer to her, descending from the clouds.
"Please…" Sally managed to speak through her frozen shut jaw. "I want to go home… please, just let me go…"
"I can't do that, child," the Voice grew louder as the figure drew closer. "You have something in your possesion that belongs to me."
"I don't have anything!" Sally cried. Tears began to roll down her face as her fear intensified. "I don't belong here, I just want to go home!"
"But you are home, Sally," the voice changed tone and pitch, and Sally's face contorted in horror as she recognized the voice of her own mother. The large being bent forward, bringing it's larger-than-life metalic mask face to face with Sally's own. "Didn't anyone tell you, honey? This isn't just any old nightmare… it's yours!"
Four of the six hands that belonged to the malevolent being gripped the four chains extending from Sally's limbs, while a fifth dove straight for her chest. She screamed in pain as she felt the fingers make contact, burrowing into her. It didn't feel like the Hand was clawing at her body; it was burrowing much deeper than that. Sally looked down in disbelief as a pulsing yellow light began emanating from her chest.
The pain ony heightened as the yellow light began to take form outside of her body. Sally felt as though she'd just lost something extremely important. The pain she was feeling wasn't physical, despite the fact that a gigantic hand was half buried in her chest cavity. It felt like her reason for living was gone. She hadn't felt this sort of pain since…
"Nostalgic, isn't it?" the voice had gone back to it's normal disembodied tone. It's Hand drew back from Sally's chest, holding a translucent, glowing sphere. "The first time you felt like this, you wanted to roll over and die, didn't you? I always wondered why you didn't."
Emotionally and physically exhausted beyond belief, Sally was unable to anwer the jest, or even halfway comprehend it. Sally felt as though an sack of wieghts had been placed on her. Thinking, struggling, breathing… everything seemed to take an incredible amount of effort, and she had to force herself to keep from falling unconcious.
"This was your last Ideya," the voice continued, either unaware or unconcerned with Sally's current non-coherent state. "Do you know what happens to people who lose all their Ideya? They become shades, shells of their former selves. Useless."
Useless. The word was familiar to Sally, and it nudged her mind, even in it's exhauseted state. Her mouth began to form words of it's own accord, her voice too low to heard.
"I have no use for something that's useless," the giant turned it's back on Sally, it's hands closing the clouds like a veil behind him. "Reala!"
A speck appeared in the corner of Sally's vision, and flew toward her at an impressive speed. It pulled to a stop next to her, and Sally shifted her head to get a better view. A human-like, grey skinned jester stood on the air beside her, and kneeled in front of the closing clouds.
"As you wish, Lord Wizeman," Reala's voice was low and slick, like she would imagine a snake's voice to sound. Without waiting for any further response, Reala straightened and floated in front of Sally, eyes sharp and observant. With a quick wave of his hand, the shackles holding her in place unclasped and retreated into the clouds. The darkly dressed Jester scooped her up in his arms and flew off towards the horizon.