Where the hell did I fall?
This was the first question that came to the young woman's mind when she came to her senses and realized she was wandering aimlessly along a cobblestone road. God only knew how long she'd been there and done that—a few minutes, a few hours, or longer—and God only knew why.
Her eyes ached and her senses were assaulted by an overwhelming sense of disorientation. The ground beneath her was littered with shattered fragments of stone, maybe the remnants of a once-thriving world now cloaked in shadows. Gnarled vines snaked across the cracked earth, their tendrils reaching toward her as if to pull her deeper into the gloom.
A chill hung in the air, and an unsettling silence enveloped her. Her heart pounded as her heart raced as she slowly raised her arms and traced the contours of her face with trembling fingers, desperate to find some familiarity. But all she encountered was the unfamiliar—no memories, no sense of identity, only a gnawing emptiness that consumed her.
Panic began to rise within her, a tightness in her chest that threatened to devour her. Where was she? How had she ended up in this desolate place? She squeezed her eyes shut, willing her fragmented thoughts to coalesce, but the harder she tried, the more the night seemed to press in around her.
Swallowing hard, she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings once more. Towering, twisted trees reached toward a fallen sky, their branches like twisted fingers grasping at the fading light. An unnatural fog crept along the ground, swirling around her ankles, as if the very earth itself was alive and aware of her presence.
She felt the weight of unseen eyes upon her, a prickling sensation on the back of her neck that made her shiver. Instinctively, she knew she needed to move, to escape the oppressive atmosphere that itched to crush her. With hesitant steps, she began to walk, each footfall echoing in the eerie silence.
As she ventured deeper down the ruined road, the landscape grew more twisted and foreboding.
But she had to keep going because she had no choice. The slightest rustle in the undergrowth froze her, and there was no end of them, making her heart beat faster and faster, aching it. She squinted into the dimness, all her muscles tensed, ready to flee, perhaps to an even worse, darker place, just as in nightmares, but this time she doubted that a simple awakening would dispel this moment, for this moment was real.
It was pitch-dark, with only the stars of the Milky Way and the faint lights of the streetlamps lining the sidewalks providing illumination.
The lost young woman looked both ways in the hope of finding a store, a bar, a hotel, anything that would welcome her and where she could find help. But no matter how hard she searched, scanning these obscure veils with eyes that had become prickly with effort, everywhere there were only imposing, sumptuous, residential-style houses, surrounded by walls almost as high as towers, and all of them seemed uninhabited because they gave off neither light nor aura of life. But maybe she was wrong. In any case, it was utterly terrifying.
If there was any danger, she'd have no chance of escape. These roads were not called "the corridors of death" for nothing…
Her breath quickened, and she fought against the rising panic that would soon get the better of her.
Suddenly, for just a brief moment, the memory of her name flitted through her mind, a fleeting wisp of familiarity that slipped away before she could grasp it. She had almost screamed in rage and frustration, but her instinct for self-preservation held her too tightly, and she had to settle for clenching her teeth and kicking the wrecked ground with her aching little feet.
She was alone, adrift in a world that felt dreadfully foreign, and the realization only served to heighten her sense of isolation and vulnerability.
But when she took a good look at these haughty mansions, she still had the strength to wonder with disdain just how indifferent these owners were to the state of their roads. If they could take care of the part in front of their property, the road would have been repaired long ago. They obviously had the means, given the appearance of their homes.
But the roads were apparently not on their list of concerns.
The magical space wrapping her seemed to pulse with a sinister energy, and she caught fleeting glimpses of shadows moving just beyond her vision, her heart racing with the effort to remain calm.
With each step, she became increasingly aware of the vastness of the world around her, filled with twisted landscapes and remnants of magic that seemed to echo her lost memories. The air was thick with anticipation, and she was too afraid to realize that her journey in this unknown appalling area with her identity sealed had only just begun.
I'll hate night from now on, she decided.
She was still seething with impotent fury when she got another shock, and then breathed a deep, but discreet, sigh of relief for her memory was slowly coming back to her. It was only a matter of hours, if not minutes, before everything fell back into place in her mind.
It was at least that.
In the meantime, she had to continue exploring this area that was telling her nothing and which she already hated with every ounce of her being.
The first thing she remembered was her name—Nicole Crane, daughter of James and Veronica Crane, one a biologist and the other a geologist. They loved each other madly and had two daughters whom they adored, Nicole being the youngest. That was something. Nicole, had just graduated with a degree in marketing and applied for a position with a fairly successful company located five minutes from her apartment. She was confident she'd get it. It was her dream job.
But more important—was she in a relationship? She wasn't sure. And, strangely enough, the idea seemed to put her off.
An icy breeze suddenly brushed against her, sending shivers from her head to her toes. She rubbed her arm, cursing horribly and wondering why she was dressed like this, a short lace dress in light beige, worn under a long garnet coat and complemented by suede ankle boots in the same shade.