It was so cold, and so very dark. I had no idea where I was, much less what was going on. There were random murmurings all around. They were just low enough that I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but loud enough that I could just distinguish them. Whether or not they were figments of my imagination was still up for consideration at the moment, though.

I tried to stand up, but it seemed there was an immense weight covering me. I couldn’t move. I was stuck lying face down on the damp, hard ground under something that I couldn’t feel, but was very much there. As I began to struggle I could hear one of the voices start to laugh. Then another joined it, and another, until it seemed all of them were surrounding me, laughing at my futile attempts to break free from whatever they had me ensnared in. Slowly their voices started to rise in volume, the laughter continuing.

Out of the corner of my eye figures started forming, they surrounded me, filling my vision. It seemed that the louder they got, the better I could see them. ...But it wasn’t that the room got lighter, it was just that they got clearer. Each was clothed in a large black robe. They were all standing in a large circle with me at the center, and in each of their hands was a book..

Abruptly the laughter stopped and the figures instantly vanished, leaving me alone in complete silence. I couldn’t hear nor see anything. Straining my eyes, I tried to see through the thick blanket of darkness covering me, but it was hopeless. There was nothing I could do. Whatever these things were, they had complete control over me.

...Then the humming started. Like with the laughter, it began quietly, but grew so defening I wanted to clap my hands over my ears, but I lay helpless unable to move. Once again my focus shifted and I could see them, much clearer this time. Towards the front of me there was one sitting in a large and elaborately decorated chair reminiscent Gothic architecture, with tiny vine-like pieces of metal covering it in intricate designs that looked almost Celtic.

The figure in the chair studied me for a while, before it began to slowly, and dramatically raise it’s arm, stretching it’s long spindly fingers out from under the sleeve of it’s robe. Then it abrupty made a quick and smooth sweep of it’s hand and the seemingly imaginary weight that was upon me vanished.

For a moment I was unsure of what to do. Should I stand up, and try and talk with them; figure out what was going on? Or should I just lie there like I was playing dead?

Making a decision, I carefully began to stand up. None of them moved an inch, and their humming didn’t falter. As I brought myself to me feet, I slowly turned around, hugging myself because of the cold, viewing all of them. Slowly my eyes took in the scene before me , my brain fighting to quickly catch up with my darting eyes. I mentally counted thirty-six, including the one in the chair, each identical, standing side by side. From their lips eminated a loud humming that never ceased... the drone seemed to fill the room, bouncing off unseen walls and filling my ears with its insistant buzz. No one ever seemed to stop to take a breath of air. They were unfaltering... and apparently without lungs.

“Where am I?” I asked catiously, as I turned back to the one in the chair.

It did nothing but cock it’s head to the side, almost as if in wonder. Did it even speak English? I wondered, hoping it could explain things to me.

“Do you understand me?” I asked, daring to speak again.

It leaned back, and seemed to chuckle. I took that as a yes...

“Where am I?” I repeated.

It then sat up straight and beckoned me forward. Warily I took a few steps towards it, then stopped. It just stared at me, conveying by it’s silence that it wanted me closer. A lot closer than I wanted to be. But curiosity moved my legs closer, shuffling forward until I was standing directly in front of the robed figure. It was at eye level with me, inches from my face.

I could clearly see into the blackness that filled it’s hood. Out of the hood a low whisper escaped, encircling my head until the words became clear. “Somewhere you surely don’t want to be,” it said in a smooth, cold voice that instilled more fear in me than anything I had witnessed yet.

Suddenly it reached forward and grabbed my shoulders... But I couldn’t feel it. I knew it was there because it’s hands kept me in place, but I couldn’t feel it on my skin. It was like it was there, but it wasn’t at the same time, just like the barrier that had held me imprisioned only moments ago.

Then, all of a sudden everything around me started to fade away. I couldn’t even see myself anymore. Looking down, my body was gone. I couldn’t feel anything at all, anymore. But after a second something began to appear in front of me. It was big, red, and round, and there was a bright light in the center of it, almost like a large red candle. And inside it were two floating black orbs. They rotated in a circle around the bright light, one clock-wise, and the other counter clock-wise. Steadily they began to rotate fater and faster until they were just a blurry black ring around the light.

The light then began to get brighter and brighter, until I couldn’t stand it anymore, but I couldn’t close my eyes. My eye lids seemed to be missing along with the rest of my body.

Everything began to white out, until I could see nothing but this emmense light all around, and the black ring in front of me. It wasn’t blinding anymore, it seemed incredibly... pure, almost. As soon as that thought ran through my mind, though, the black ring began to grow, enveloping all of the light, until I was suddenly in complete darkness once again.

Next I started to hear the laughing once more from directly in front of me. I was back in front of the figure in the chair again, with it’s arms on my shoulders still. But now it seemed to be leaning closer still, as if intending to place it’s lips on mine.

Immediately I jumped back, but as soon as I did so, it instantly appeared in front of me in my new location, standing so close I could smell it’s stale breath. But before I could step back for a second time, it reached forward, stuck it’s hand into my chest, clasped my heart, and started to squeeze it. It felt like my chest was shrinking and compressing; like I was about to pop. I struggled to get away, but that only made the increasing pain worse.

“Stop... Please...” I whispered, feeling my legs give out beneath me.

And it did so, causing me to fall into a heap on the floor, grasping my aching chest.

“Gods... What the...” I muttered, taking in shallow, shuddering breaths, because it hurt to breath.

“Well then, Edin, you seem to have learned your lesson, haven’t you? Don’t ever walk away from me unless I give you permission.”