The blinding white light of the containment cell in the Alliance infirmary searing through her eyelids as she closed her eyes. Chiri received no reprieve from their harsh interrogative glare even once she had drifted back into the land of her subconscious mind. Their brilliance presenting no end or beginning to the uncomfortable emptiness inside of her, Chiri was left with little choice but to embrace the endless void that remained within. Nothing distinguishable in any direction, she released an exasperated exhalation as began to walk forward with neither purpose nor destination. No distinctive horizon with which to separate the walls or ceiling from the floor. The sound of her bare feet echoing hauntingly as she shuffled along what she could only assume was the ground. Barely progressing a couple of steps, Chiri heard an unwelcome voice reveal itself from behind her, “I knew you were hollow inside.” Her jaw clenching immediately at the recognizable lilt of his snide remark. Chiri s

The buildings with their wretchedly abyssal gray façades staring forebodingly down on her. Dark streaks running from the hollow chasms of their orifices as though they had been stained by unrelenting tears of their sorrows, Chiri walked through the grim alley undaunted by their morbid appearance. Far from the busy main streets of Vemery, these were the people and residences shunned by the well-to-do public of the capital. Inhabited by the destitute or those who were supplied with too meager a wage to survive in a city which only catered to the nobles and rich of the country. The people who had fallen on hard times or had the misfortune to be born into adverse poverty were exiled to the unseen crevices of the city that few of its more entitled citizens even were aware of.The grime on the stones beneath her feet and the dank puddles of stagnant water creating an offensive odor, Chiri’s stomach churned slightly as she paused between the buildings to observe her surroundings. The narrow

Darkness descending long ago, the night was possessed by the sort of ominous stillness that was considered uncharacteristic for the conclusion of the cold spring they had encountered. Deprived of light by the appearance of a new moon within its sky, there was not a breath of air entering through the draft in the window that could shake the curtains nor the flame of a candle to distinguish even a vague shadow upon the floor. However, Cazer was awoken from his deep slumber on this night by the sound of the sheets rustling anxiously next to him. The woman’s back turned towards him, there was the subtle clink of a limiter around her ankle as she slid her legs closer to the edge of the bed. Recognizing her intentions to depart from the bed, Cazer reached over to his disquieted wife. Finding that his hand glided smoothly over her naked body as it had been stripped bare of most objects that might impede its progress during their love making, Cazer came to seize her by the waist. His arm snak

“Shit!” Chiri croaked, her throat hoarse after having awoken to find herself amongst the familiar oppressive darkness that was the Abyss. The atmosphere thick with the malice of the shadows that had been cast there for eternity, she coughed from the extreme discomfort of breathing it in. Grasping her chest as she gradually adjusting her breathing to accommodate the thick soup that was considered air, Chiri fought hard to choke back a wrenching sensation in her throat. The silence being that of extreme desolation, it swallowed the words that Chiri hissed into it in her vengeful mood, “That man has a hex coming his way.” Her satisfaction at having received the best sleep she had experienced in weeks, outweighed by the irritation of being in one of the last places on hell or earth Chiri wished to discover herself in, she slid her hands from her chest onto the place she had been deposited onto. Unsure of how far it extended, Chiri surveyed the darkness carefully whilst dragging her torso

The light of a deep orange and crimson sunset streaming through the large glass windows of the Crouse estate, they painted the pale paneled walls of the manor with broad strokes of their intense hues. The rays of the steadily descending sun, falling over the ornately drawn leaves and flowers drawn found there, the golden foliage shone more pronouncedly as they proceed in their climb towards the ceiling. Each illustration’s elegant assent winding around the odd frame of the portraits dotted amongst them, they rose up far above the head of the person who discovered themselves once again traversing the unchanging halls on the manor.His heels heard clicking through the corridors in a slow and uneasy procession at the conclusion of what had seemed an endless day. Horus Crouse took each step as though he were walking on the shattered illusions of his childhood. Summoned back to the somber corridors of the estate by his father, it had merely been for the purposes of stressing the importance