Chapter 3

This world- all the darkness- was welcoming to me, the shadows- and there were shadows here- seeming to reach for my hand, to pull me along a path lit with dimly glowing rocks. I followed it, and it led me into yet another tunnel. This time, however, I could see the end of it in front of me. I walked through it, and wound up in a smaller, yet no less impressive, chamber. There were carvings in the walls and ceiling, and the floor of polished marble glistened in the dim light from those same glowing rocks.

I waited in that room, the darkness telling me to stay in the doorway, to seem unassuming and harmless. I waited, until a woman walked into the room. She held herself as a queen, and wore a gown that hugged her form until it reached her waist, when it pooled to the floor and trailed behind her. The woman snapped her fingers, and a throne appeared in the middle of the room, intricately carved and cushioned with the softest velvet.

She walked over and sat down, her dress flaring out around her exposed feet, slippers of dark gold adorning them, and she reached down and arranged her skirts to cover them once again. When she sat up again, she noticed me, and fixed me with a cold stare and said,

"Come, child. Tell me why you are here and what your intentions are."

I walked towards the throne, stopping when the shadows told me to, yet I said nothing. The woman stood, and walked towards me, kneeling and lifting my face towards hers with a finger under my chin.

"I see. You are one of those. No matter, you came into my realm and so you must follow my customs, even if your ability to speak has been lost."

She stepped away, dropping her finger from my face and walking behind the throne. She spun it around, revealing a polished looking glass, though I did not know what that was yet, and beckoned to me with that same finger that touched my face. I walked forwards, and stood in front of the glass. The shadows told me to look into it, so I did, and what I saw there released a gasp from my throat.

A girl of about fifteen stood before me, her skin dark but her eyes bright, hair rippling in a smooth wave down her back, and the shadows of wings peeking over her shoulders. I stared, and reached out a finger to the glass, but it was solid. I drew my hand away and glanced at the woman.

"I will name you, since you cannot speak your name. Kyra will be your name, it means 'dark' which is what you are, what your core speaks with. My name is Jemisha, 'meaning queen of darkness', which is what I am. You must bow to me, as will everyone here that you meet."

She flicked a finger at me, and spun the throne once again, sitting in it and crossing her legs. I did not bow, the shadows whispering not to. Jemisha's brow furrowed, her stare turning colder, and squeezed the arm of the throne. I gasped, the air seeming to push me down with a force hard enough to shatter bones. I held firm, knees wobbling with the effort, even as the floor beneath me groaned and cracks spiderwebbed across it. Jemisha, Queen of Darkness, and her power couldn't force a child. I laughed at the thought, and her power doubled, yet I still stood. How long this went on, I was unsure.

Eventually, her power lifted, and I felt like I was floating from the strength of it lifted off of me. I caught my breath, then looked at her, and she was doubled over, panting, face reddened. She straightened after a few minutes, glaring at me, and snapped her fingers again. I heard a rumbling above me, and the darkness tried to pull me away, but before I could tell what was happening, a bird cage large enough for a person dropped from the ceiling and crashed down on top of me. I opened my mouth in a silent scream, and the cage lifted me above the throne.

I hung, suspended there, for a few seconds, before the queen's cursed fingers snapped once again and I collapsed to the bottom of the cage, unconscious.