I do not own anything except any OC characters that I choose to add into the story. Thank you.

I.

The air was damp and musty. From the only window that was close to the ceiling, moonlight filtered in, falling upon the form of a woman on the floor. Her hair was a deep brown, almost black, that complimented her pale skin, which reflected the slim rays of moonlight, giving it almost an ethereal appearance. Her clothes were of simple nature, a pair of tight fitted jeans and a t-shirt, which were both wrinkled from her position on the floor.

The woman stirred slowly, a soft groan passing through her dry lips, her eyes fluttering open as she awoke. As the moonlight filtered in through the small window, it lit up her face, which illuminated her crystalline emerald eyes. Her face held a look of confusion, her brow furrowing as she proceeded to sit up, pushing off the floor gently. The woman peered around the dim lit space, attempting to obtain her bearings. The first thing she noticed was that the room itself was hard to gauge how large or small it was because two-thirds of the room were bathed in darkness.

Next, the woman noticed that there was not a door that she could see. Her gaze travelled to the floor as she noticed it had a fine layer of dust, with footprints in multiple patterns across the whole area she could see in front of her. As she let her gaze wander about the room, she noticed the walls were made of some kind of stone, of which she did not know, and she could also smell a humid dampness in the air. She also noticed the small window close to the ceiling of the room, which bathed just a third of the room in moonlight. The small window seemed to be about a foot and a half higher than her head, which at five foot, six inches, the window was too high for her to reach to look out of.

As the woman proceeded to stand up, a clink and scrap of metal echoed in the room. She looked down and noticed that on both of her ankles had 3-inch-wide manacles attached to thick chains that the woman's gaze followed until she found where the ends met at the base of the wall. Per her curiosity, she reached down to tug on each manacle, and then proceeded to tug against the chain that was attached to the wall.

A masculine throaty chuckle floated through from the dark side of the room, and then replied in a velvety smooth voice, "Don't bother, I already tried."

The woman immediately dropped the chains and whirled around towards the direction the voice had come from. "Who's there?" She asked softly, as she peered warily, trying to match the voice to a body.

At the sound of the woman's voice echoing off the walls, a low gasp was heard from the disembodied voice deep in the blackness on the other side of the room. After the gasp, a deep sigh was heard, before the voice spoke again. "Of course, it had to be you, Precious." The voice said, the tone sounding light and amused.

The woman's head spun as memories flooded back from 15 years ago of running through a particular Labyrinth as the familiar voice's words echoed through her mind. It only took her a few moments before she responded, her voice filled with confusion and surprise, "Goblin King?" She replied, her voice only a miniscule higher than a whisper.

"Such a pleasure to hear that dulcet tone of yours again, if only it were under better circumstances." He replied, the amusement clear in his voice.

"I'm not sure I can agree, your majesty." The woman replied, her voice filling those two words with as much annoyance as she could muster. She then proceeded to sit back down onto the floor, crossing her legs Indian style.

The male voice chuckled again, this time with more amusement. "Now Precious, just how did you come to be here, isn't that the burning question?" He asked.

The woman pondered on his question and tried to remember the events that led up to her current predicament as she lazily drew her finger around in the dirt, making a haphazard maze-like pattern. "I just finished a phone call with Irene, she was jabbering on about some luncheon with some other mother's in her book club group and asking when I was coming to take Toby for a weekend…" Her voice trailed off as she struggled to remember more, "I was about to start cooking my supper, I remember the knife in my hand because I about to cut some vegetables…" There wasn't any sound coming from the darkness as she continued. "I started to hear some music…it was faint…but familiar…then…nothing…" She struggled to say as her breath caught in her throat.

"Don't strain yourself, Precious. I fear there is more at work than we are aware of." He replied, trying to convey comfort through his voice.

"How right you are, Oh great keeper of dreams." Said another male voice, this one full of malice and contempt, which dripped from every word.

The woman's head snapped up from her sitting position at the newcomer's voice. In the dim light, she could make out a masculine form of someone covered in floor-length robes of dark colors, a harsh jaw-lined face with sharp features, meticulously brushed and styled hair, and was currently gazing intently at the darkness on the other side of the room.

A shuffling of chains could be heard from the darkness, as though the person was shifting positions. "And do what do I owe the pleasure of a visit from our mysterious jailer?" The Goblin King's voice drifted lazily from the darkness.

The woman watched as the man scowled at the darkness, but then the man's face smoothed out into a sneering smile, showing the whites of his teeth as he replied, "All in good time. Can't be revealing my master's plan outright, now can I?" The man laughed, the sound almost as grating as nails on a chalkboard.

"True, but what does she have to do with all this tomfoolery? Mortals usually do not have much interaction with Fae politics. Why not release her?" The Goblin King replied, his voice sounding almost bored with the conversation.

"Surely you understand what is at stake here, oh king of goblins? Time is running out for you." The man replied, then turned to the woman who was watching him with a stoic expression. "And as for you, Champion, you have your own role to play. Maybe his highness should have explained better the implications of your first time down here, but it matters not." The man smiled with his teeth again, then turned his attention back to the Goblin King. "No one is coming to save you. Enjoy your stay." And with that, the man dissolved in a swirl of dust, leaving no trace that he was ever there in the first place.