Darkness swept over my whole entire body; and I tried to turn around, but I was paralyzed in the cold, still air. I tried to open my mouth to shout for help, but not even that would move, as I struggled to be free of the darkness.

A voice icily emanated from all directions. "There is no use to struggle…" It sounded as if it was a male speaking. "You will never survive…"

I continued to struggle, ignoring what the voice had said. I wanted to retort something back, but my mouth was still paralyzed. In a sudden jolt, my mouth opened something and I something really random came out, as I was trying to say something—anything I could say I would say. "Flying ducks!"

The voice sounded surprised as it rang through the emptiness. "Flying…ducks?" It said, but I was laughing so hard I could barely hear him, anyway.

"A-apparently," It was tough for me to say just that; I was laughing so hard. I did say apparently, though, for, in front of my eyes, a flying duck flew right into something or other, and out from the darkness appeared a man, with reddish hair, and azure eyes that glared icily at me.

"You…" He muttered under his breath. "I had thought that they had killed you, years ago." I stared at him confused. Killed me, years ago? But earlier I had thought that I was going to die right there.

"I…I am sorry, sir, I think you have the wrong maiden, though," Although he was clearly evil, I used common courtesy—or uncommon courtesy, to get on his good side.

"It is obvious that even if you are the right maiden, you would be of no use to me. I can either dispose of you, or let you off. Which shall it be…?" Speaking coldly, the young man placed two pieces of paper on the cold…nothingness. Opening his mouth to speak, he said, "By the way, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Hezraith." As I looked at his azure eyes, I saw what was beneath that cold stare. He looked lonely.

"What are you doing?" I spoke softly, but my voice still rung throughout the whole area, echoing countless times before finally fading away. It made him look more depressed, to hear the echo of another human,

"Consider it a game, only with the risk of losing your life as you play." Hezraith explained. "All you have to do is choose one of these two cards. One has a very difficult task. The other card has a very simple task, like perhaps saying a word, such as my name." As he explained, pressure gripped my stomach, and I hoped to god that I got the 'easy' card. Realizing that I was in such deep thought during his explanation, that I had missed nearly everything he had said, except his final statement. "You had better been paying attention, too. For if you have, I would've already told you which card is which."

That was not fair! He knew that I wasn't listening, and told me the answer! "O-okay…" I said, shakily, for if I anger him at all, I know he will not give me this chance. In front of me lay two cards. Hesitantly, I reached out for the one on the left of me. If I had only brought a flashlight, perhaps I would've been able to see through it! My stomach was still clenched with uneasiness as I started to read the card aloud. "Hard." The word tugged at me like it was trying to rip out my heart. "You must…" My eyes widened in shock as I read what I was to do. "You must find this extremely rare item." Below the item was a beautiful azure scale. "It is called 'Saphira Libra'." I looked up at Hezraith.

"Ah, yes, that quest. In the 4,000 years I have been alive not one soul was able to complete that quest." A glint was in the red-headed man's eye. "They were either killed, gave up—which in turn lead to death, or perhaps they even spent there whole life looking for it. I honestly believe you may be the one to find it, though." He looked thoughtfully at me, for the first time since I had come. "There is only one in the world, but I won't tell you where it is, of course."

I nodded, and the dark world I was just in started to fade into light, blinding my eyes momentarily at the sudden change in lighting. As my eyes opened, I realized that the whole time I wasn't really there, but instead sort of…dreaming. As a matter of fact, I would've treated it as a dream if there wasn't a card in front of me saying 'hard' and what I was supposed to do. Sighing, I got out of the bed, to realize that I was only 'asleep' for an a couple hours.

"Risa, get up! It's time to eat breakfast!" A voice sounded over other echoes of the rest of my family. My mum, not my brother and sister (Thank god!), but not my dad either…was something wrong? He was the one who usually called me down…

"I'm coming!" Shouting at the top of my lungs, I took my pajamas off and tossed some clothes on, and ran down my stairs to the kitchen at full speed. It was really hard to believe I was the same person as the one in the dream—the one that wasn't Hezraith…I felt so much more mature when I was in that dream. "Sorry I took so long…where's dad?" I asked, and then suddenly realized with a jolt that the paper I was holding was gone. "H-hold on, mom!" I could've sworn I had them! I looked through the whole house, it couldn't have gone far!

"What are you looking for, dear?" My mom inquired, her tone was kind, and I could tell she just wanted to know incase she had happened to found it and put it somewhere, or one of my brother's and sister's mentioned it to her, but I just shook me head.

"Never mind, mom, I will find it later," Eating breakfast, I looked back to everything that had happened in my dream. Everything felt so distant…like it had never happened, but they also felt so…real, like I wasn't asleep. I decided to dismiss the whole happening altogether. I was enjoying myself, and if I can manage to 'pretend' to be looking for it, I will be fine then, won't I?