It was dark. Everything was dark. No light could seep in, and, even if it did, it would've made no difference. The darkness was too thick.

Every movement she made felt like she was moving through tar. Cold tar that melted around you with every step and stung your lungs with each breath. As if the darkness in her mind was formed of shadows who wanted to kill her and leave her here.

She herself felt like two different people. As soon as she had fallen into the black, it felt like a piece of her had disappeared into the bulging mass of darkness. Like she wasn't exactly herself. The worst part was that she didn't know what she had lost.

Other than the stinging darkness, though, wherever she was was fairly peaceful. Nothing could touch her here. She was safe from everything. There were no prophecies, no elves, no demigods, no one who could take her away from the safety of the dark.

If I'm going to die anywhere, I'd rather it be here. She thought as she carefully made her way through the tar-like black. I don't need to worry about anything here.

Still, even with the peace, she wanted out. The darkness almost scared her, with the darkness occasionally suffocating her and with sounds like other things had been trapped here. Things that were almost dead, but were still clinging onto life. Things that wanted to be released from the black to a new life, but weren't granted that, either. Every time another person fell into the dark, they all tried to escape. But she knew that wouldn't happen anymore. She'd killed the creator of this abyss. The only one who knew how to access it. There was no way to leave.

As she carefully pushed through the shadows, she found herself like these trapped people, animals, whatever was here. She found herself internally begging for the sweet release of death. She found herself hoping for a way back to her old life. It was like she couldn't decide where she'd rather be - in the Underworld, in the Lost Cities, or stuck in the peaceful darkness.

She continued to wander aimlessly through the dark. She had no destination, no person to look for, nothing. She just wandered. It made her unusually loud thoughts quieter. It was like the darkness amplified your thoughts by lowering the sound of your voice.

Suddenly, she came to what felt like a wall. She paused, confused. She'd never found a wall hiding in the black before. Maybe, if I break it, I could leave... But she couldn't decide if she wanted to leave. Sure, the black was suffocating, but it was more peaceful than her old life of the Underworld could ever be. And, if she were to leave, where would she go? But either of those places would be less frightening than here... And there probably aren't almost-dead-but-not-quite things in either of those places...

Gently, she placed her hand against the wall. It seemed invisible, as it was as dark as the rest of the room, but if she could find a way to break it... I don't even need to leave. She thought, I could just break it for the other things hiding here.

Swinging her hand back, she pounded her fist against the wall. At first, nothing happened, but after a few tries of slamming her hand against the wall, she felt the darkness beneath her feet shake slightly. I'm getting somewhere...

_________________________________

Val pushed the door to the healing center open as fast as she could. She paid little attention to Elwin or the pictures on the wall, but when her eyes fell in the girl lying on one of the cots, she forced herself to stay calm. Her vision moved for a moment away from the unconscious girl towards the third person in the room.

"...Val?" Tam asked slowly.

"Nice to see you too, Tammy." Val replied, pushing him aside gently, "You know what happened, Elwin?"

Elwin shook his head, "Went into my lab for a few minutes, came back and here she was."

"No note?"

Elwin pulled a small slip of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her, "I couldn't read it either." He said as she frowned.

Val slipped the note into her pocket, "I think I know someone who can. Now, Bullhorn hasn't done anything yet, right?"

"Well, he did start screaming for a bit when we first found her, but by the time I'd contacted Tam he'd stopped."

"Speaking of," Tam interrupted, drawing Val's attention, "How'd you learn someone was here?"

Val shrugged, "I came for a visit. It's not extremely hard to hear big news here." She turned to Elwin, "Shadowflux?"

"Kind of." Elwin replied, "They're similar."

"The difference is that you can sort of control one, and the other is nearly impossible to." Tam grumbled.

"And I'm guessing this is the impossible one?" Val asked, glancing back at the girl on the cot when Tam nodded. "So she made it," she whispered to herself.

"Made it where?" Elwin asked.

"Somewhere nobody in the right mind would want to go.