The dark woods surrounded us. Darkness was really the most prevalent of any sort of sensory input. It must have been cloudy that night. Occasionally, the moon would appear and light our path for a few moments. That was when we could all move freely. Other than that, the leaders of our group would have to feel ahead with long sticks to make sure we were going the right way. Those of us who weren't in the lead held onto those that were. Our job was to listen with everything we had. The woods were full of all sorts of terrible monsters, which would attack us without mercy during the night.

I would have cursed, were I aloud to make any noise. The things I did for a job.

I myself was a mage. I know that that sort of word tends to conjure up all sorts of images of old men dressed in long, flowing robes and brandishing staffs. That was how it was before the war began, or so I had heard. Many years ago, a new religion came up from the south. They brought with them new ideals. Now the locals, who had looked to us for guidance for centuries, were persecuting us and anyone else who could use any sort of magic. But that's another story.

I, myself, am a fifteen-year-old girl who simply doesn't want to get married. I knew I was going to be ostracized anyway, so why not go all the way and learn some magic to defend myself? I'm not too brave or strong, so I needed some sort of weapon.

It had all started the previous night. The group I was with had found somewhere we could set up base and had been living there for some time. We were in the middle of getting to bed when there was a knock on the door.

We opened it and there was a very, very pale man standing in our doorway. He looked human, but we knew he wasn't. You had to use magic to get to our home. We were on the summit of a mountain surrounded by an impossible to climb gorge.

We were going to question him, but he fainted. He fell into our house.

My old master, Gregory, knelt down beside him and began to search him. To our surprise, we found a huge gold medallion around his neck.

"Awesome!" My friend, Katherine, said, "Take it! We can throw him off the cliff, and be eating well for weeks!"

"No," Gregory replied, "Look." He flipped the medallion over and there was a huge ruby on the other side.

"Vampire," I said.

"Yes. But don't worry; he won't hurt us. They don't like mage blood. We'll see why he came when he wakes up."

Right before sunrise, the vampire opened his eyes.

"Who are you and what do you want?" a man in our group asked.

"My name is Robert." He said, "I'm here to beg you for assistance."

"What kind of assistance?" Gregory asked.

"An escort. The religion is making my coven move. However, we all got separated in the forest over there." He pointed out the window. Indeed, just beyond the gorge there was a forest with a thick, menacing cloud hovering over it. "I got on my hands and knees and was able to trace the path back here. I went back to town and they told me to come here. I can pay you."

"Alright," Gregory said, "Where's your final destination?"

"It's inside the forest, actually. There's another coven that lives deep inside the forest. The hope was that they would take us in as well."

"But there's something I don't understand." I said, "You're a vampire. You're strong. Why do you need us?"

Robert sighed. "I-I'm not a fighter. I made cloth."

"I see." Gregory said. "You said you're paying. How much?"

Robert pulled a bag from his belt. He untied it and poured the contents on the floor. More gold than I thought could physically fit in the bag poured out.

"Is this enough?" He asked.

We just stared at the coins. There were so many!

"Aye." Gregory said, "That'll do."

"Is tomorrow night a good time to leave? It's getting close to dawn, and well, you understand."

And that brings us to-

After what felt like an eternity, Gregory came up behind me.

"We should be there soon." He whispered

I nodded, although I knew he wouldn't see it.

"I feel lucky. We're almost there, and we haven't even run into any monsters!"

"Ssh!" I said, "Never say that! Ever!"

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes next to us. We heard something big and heavy come crashing out in front of us. Its eyes glowed yellow in the moonlight.

Timothy, our resident fire mage, conjured balls of flame out of thin air.

I gasped. In front of us was a horrible beast. It was half man and half wolf. Blood dripped from his snout. He stood about ten feet high. It was truly frightening.

I tried to use magic, but I couldn't remember how. Everyone else started using their own spells, but they were slowed. Thankfully, the werewolf was slowed, too. My head started spinning. I fell backward. My limbs were too heavy for me to move them.

I was forced to watch the slowed fight, unable to move. My group's spells had no effect on the beast. I suddenly noticed something. Around the werewolf's legs was a shackle. There was a chain attached to it. I followed the chain with my eyes and it led back into the woods. Finally, I saw who was controlling it, another mage.

I tried to cry out to my group, but my throat was able to produce no noise.

However, the enemy mage seemed to notice me. She pulled on the chain and pointed me out to her beast. He dropped onto all fours and bounded towards me.

Desperately, I put all of my energy into my hands. If only there was a way for me to escape!

I felt the ground beneath me turn soft. I looked to my left. It was darkness. I was sinking into darkness.

Was I a dark mage? I could not even remember what I did.

However, I did know that I was more likely to survive the dark mass than the wolf's jaws. I did nothing to fight against it as it began to suck me deeper and deeper in.

I was almost completely inside the darkness by the time the wolf closed in. I saw it's open jaws coming towards my face.

Did the wolf get me? Did the darkness totally consume me? Am I dead? Am I just in a different dimension? I don't know. All I know is that I am no longer in my home world, and I doubt that I will ever be able to go back.

---

A/N: This is based on a dream I had a few days ago. As this was a three part dream, there will be two more bits.

This was written originally for a contest on Deviant art, but I actually kind of like it, so I figured I might as well put it here.