Prologue

"Is this a nightmare?Will it end if I open my eyes?",

Riana slowly opened her eyes. But all she could see was the endless darkness.

"Hurts! It hurts a lot! It feels like all the bones in my body are crushing. My chest feels so heavy!

Where am I? What sort of place is this? "

Riana struggled to move, but her whole body felt like it weighed tonnes.

She couldn't even move her eyelid without the excruciating pain.

"Save me", she wanted to cry out. But her throat was so sore and parched that all she managed to produce was a hoarse ànd coarse "Ah".

She waited for someone, anyone to save her. But no one came to help her.

All she had was the dark void and the excruciating pain as her company.

Survival seemed bleak.Resigning to her fate , Riana wished her life to atleast end in a quick, painless way.

"Seems like I'm gonna die this way. Am I leaving this world with any regrets? "Riana tried very hard to recall her life but for some reason, no matter how many times she tried, she couldn't remember any thing.

"All is well that ends well. I don't remember how I lived, but this feels good too.Maybe Lord Yama might sympathise with me and reincarnate me in a better body in my next life?" she chuckled to herself.

Minutes stretched into hours and hours stretched into what seemed days. Though her body seemed wasted, her brain was in a high alert state. She could hear the wind blowing gently, sand rising and falling. But there wasn't even a sound of a living being. Not even a bug or worm.

This seems to be a desert? More like a waste land?

she came to a conclusion.

After what seemed an eternity, she heard voices.

"There seems to be a survivor!" somebody exclaimed.

Then came a series of radio static noises.

" Black Lotus reporting! Captain ,can you hear me?" another voice could be heard urgently shouting into what seemed to be a walkie talkie.

A warm hand slowly grazed her face, " Child, you did very good. Now sleep".

And then Riana fell into a deep slumber.