An annoying beep kicked Anastasia out of her nap and the wonderful dream where there was no pleading for funds and where the research was profitable. Cursing at the innocent phone and the injustice it caused didn’t seem to quiet the damn thing. Getting up she saw that it was an incoming call from her girlfriend Nicole, thinning the line between love and hate. 

“Yes?” She answered with as much venom as she could. “Shit, I’ll be in the doghouse for waking you up huh?” Nicole’s voice was apologetic.

“Oh no, you’ll be chained up to a pole in the yard. Give me a second.” Holding her phone to her shoulder she got up and went for the kitchen, turning on the coffee machine. 

“Go on.” She got some milk and waited for the steamer to heat up.

“I think you will forgive me when I tell you why I’m calling though, a little something to do with a certain exclusive event tonight.” She teased as Anas’s eyes went wide. “You didn’t!” In her excitement, she moved the cup holding the milk, which the steam promptly splashed all over her and the wall. 

“Yes! A colleague had two tickets and couldn’t make it so he sold them to me. What are the chances right? I mentioned in passing that you were sulking because the tickets got sold out, and in return that was making me sulky as well. Luck is a powerful friend to have!”

“I’m so happy I spilled hot milk over myself and I don’t even care! I’m gonna love you forever!” Anas’s excited voice was spilling over to the drowsy cat in the corner, who promptly gave her an evil glare, which meant there was hell to be paid. But that came later, and the cat returned to its nap. Hopefully, Ana will buy a new toy to defuse the situation.

“I knew this would score me some extra points, but damn girl. You do realize I will abuse the power you just handed me right?” 

“Well it’s fun to switch it from time to time is it not?” Her voice laced with seductive undertones.

“Oh how I would love to continue this conversation but I have to sort out these new pieces for the opening on Saturday. Also, do you mind meeting me here, I really want to finish this part today?”

“Yeah, no problem, I’ll be there around 8 then.”

“Excellent then, see you in a few hours love!” Ana steeled herself and with a serious voice answered. “Farewell Miss Sanders.” Mimicking Nicole’s previous boss, who always talked like he was in front of a camera. A little joke between the two of them. 

After getting the appropriate response in the form of a few nasty curse words, Nicole hung up while all Ana could do is laugh. With coffee and new excitement, she decided to do some actual cleaning. The good mood was running high today.

Time passed quickly for Ana and her two best friends, Mr. mop and Mrs.'s favorite playlist on shuffle. Being in such a good mood she decided on a weird fashion style for tonight. In all honesty, when you are like Ana and you buy clothes based on their price and not based on how they look, the combinations you get don’t always make sense. 

So this ensemble had the steel-toe work boots she got online for cheap, While not necessary, the toe reinforcement had saved her a lot of pain and limping while traveling on public transportation. Black cargo pants that looked a size too big were also chosen. One might think that she was following a style here, but the sad and simple truth was that they were loose and comfortable while having a lot of pockets. Ana wasn’t big on purses. 

For a shirt, she went with a combination of a tank top and a linen blouse. Both were in the darker shades of grey and blue. Lastly, she put on the lab coat she got as a present from Nicole after finishing her dissertation. It wasn’t a genuine lab coat but a coat that looked like one. Still, it killed the whole style from before. Glasses, phone, wallet, and she was ready. Nicole had the car, so Ana decided to take the bus instead of a cab. She pocketed her headphones, patted Stranger the cat on his head, and left. 

Arriving a little early she decided to surprise Nicole with her outfit, she hated the way Ana dressed up and would always turn green when looking at the clash of style and colors. Working as a manager in an art gallery meant that she had good taste, but she gave up on teaching Ana after the first year of their relationship. 

Sneaking inside she felt like a star in an action movie, even if she just walked through the front door. It took her a few minutes to find Nicole bent over a wooden box. Taking in the sights for a few moments she mumbled ‘That ass is divine.’ It was indeed divine.

After getting a bit closer she did the stereotypical scare with the classic boo. For a woman getting paid for her imagination, she was sorely lacking it in this case. But it had the desired effect of scaring the ghost out of Nicole who dropped an expensive looking golden egg. This was a decision she would come to regret the most. 

“I am so sorry!” Rushing over to Nicole who was clutching her blouse with white knuckles trying to steady her breathing. “I don’t know what’s worse, you almost killing me or having to watch what you’re wearing again.” This brought a chuckle from Ana as she knelt down to pick up the dropped egg-shaped antique. A closer look at it revealed small markings and holes throughout the object as if it was made from a lot of different incomplete layers. 

As soon as her finger touched the artifact several images invaded her mind, a man holding something with an outstretched hand, a scared teddy bear covering in the dark, green fields turned to a blackened wasteland... 

More scenes came and went before her mind could register them, ending on a scene of her being on a chariot that is pulled by strange beasts as the crowd around her cheered. Strange symbols started appearing next and forming into words, and those words in sentences but not in any language she knew or had seen before.

Nicole’s voice brought her back to herself and as she looked at the woman she wanted to marry one day, her vision started shrinking like going through a tunnel. The faint words of her love reached her ears but it was like she was far away yelling at her, asking if she was alright. “Nicole, what’s going o...” That was all she could say before her mind was rushed through the tunnel, leaving her life and love behind. 

After a few moments of panic she realized that she was still moving, looking around there were swirling shapes of mist that combined every color both imagined and not. She was headed somewhere and the fear of the unknown steadily grew in the pit of her stomach. That only got worse when the mist around approached her face, but swatting it out of the air didn’t do anything. After a few breaths and coughs as the particles got in her throat, it was gone and her momentum in the swirling sea of shapes and colors only increased.

In front of her was the end, like a railroad coming to a sudden stop. It wasn’t something she could see or hear, but something she felt and knew to be the irrefutable truth. Be that feeling correct or not, there wasn’t much that Ana could do except steel herself for whatever may come. Her momentum suddenly halted without any inertial backlash, and as a physicist, it only served to confuse her more. Like the gravity itself was increasing she felt pressed against something. 

She moved and struggled on the surface that felt and looked like ice to no avail as the pressure on her kept increasing. After a few moments she tried to get herself up on her feet but a cracking sound froze her motion. Beneath her fingers, she felt the surface cracking, and soon the cracks spread like on a broken mirror. Before Ana could voice her confusion the sound of glass shattering reached her ears as she fell.

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Crossing the now broken threshold was like being dumped into a vat of boiling sludge. This brought unimaginable pain to her, she screamed to the point of threatening to tear her vocal cords and rupture her eardrums. 

Her body felt as it was being electrocuted and set on fire while simultaneously bathing in acid. Her mind wasn’t spared as several icepicks got jammed in there. Between the pulses of the worst of it, she was begging for it to stop. But nothing answered back except more of the same.

Seconds turned into Eternity, losing all sense of self Ana drifted on the road to insanity. It was only due to the intervention of someone else that she regained some semblance of self. Like someone covering her in a warm blanket during a chilly winter night, the pain was forced to the background, still present but small enough to allow her to take a hold of herself. 

She had no idea how long she had endured for, shaking she noticed that her hands and forearms were covered with blood, old and new, with scars from her own nails. She had become more shriveled, her fingers looked more like claws, and the fact that her nails were longer, pointer, and extremely sharp did not help the case. Looking around she was in an empty white room that stretched as far as the eye could see.

The next thing she noticed was that somehow her glasses had stayed on and were undamaged, while her teeth had grown. All her dental work had fallen off, the holes left regrown and made stronger for it. The annoying part was her canines, which had the most noticeable growth of a few millimeters, while not much even a slight change like that was noticed due to the sensitivity of her mouth.

With shaky hands she pulled her phone from the pocket of the lab coat, she was glad that it still worked but there was no reception. Opening the camera her jaw dropped as she couldn’t recognize herself. Looking malnourished her cheeks were sunken and while she was used to having dark circles under her eyes, she was not used to them being purple and so big. Her hair was the worst, half of it was missing, ripped out with blood caked in several places.

Not believing what she was looking at, she removed her glasses to wipe them, as they had some blood splatter on them. Then she noticed that she could see fine without them, more than fine. The level of details she noticed on the glasses themselves was shocking. Putting the glasses back on in disbelief she started laughing maniacally with a dry crackle, tears coming down her face as she couldn’t even sob properly. 

After a few fits she was able to calm down, hugging her knees she wondered where she was, her rational mind finally having a break to do its thing. Her most prominent theory was some heavy psychedelic. The most annoying part was the shaking, no matter how much time passed it didn’t even slow down, that coupled with her sore and dry throat made her angry, no anger would have been a mild reaction. This was rage fueled by despair, rage at something like this happening to her, rage at all the confusing emotions inside her, rage at herself for picking up the damn thing that started this. 

A calming voice brought her from the pit of her despair. “Rest easy young one, the pain will soon disappear.” Quickly turning around she couldn’t see anyone, but the voice was correct the pain was slowly leaving her completely, leaving behind only soreness. “Wh...” She tried but could not form the words, her scratchy throat not even strong enough for a whisper. 

“Hush, do not strain yourself with words. As soon as the pain has left you, you must continue on. A mortal such as yourself cannot stay in these halls.” Instead of trying to speak, she used ASL to ask. “Where am I and who are you?”

“You had entered the sea of chaos without any way of protecting yourself, the only reason that you survived is by receiving help. I am she who can not be escaped, though mortals often call me lady Adrestia in reverence or Nemesis in fear.” The voice chuckled at that. 

“How do I return home then?” Even using sign language was difficult, her shaking hands not cooperating with her. She was surprised that the entity understood her haphazard attempt at using asl. Or was this being reading her mind?

“Unfortunately you cannot return to the world you came from, the barrier you ruptured on your way out has been sealed. And while an exit was fairly easily achieved, going back is impossible at this moment.” 

“Can I have some water?” She was done with the disembodied voice, talking about barriers and worlds, not that she was in disbelief. She was a firm agnostic because every question that science answered, left three more that it couldn’t. She was tired, thirsty, and hungry, and her brief trip to hell still fresh on her mind. 

“Soon, prepare yourself as you must travel the sea again to reach your destination. I will protect your mind but your body will still suffer.” Before she could complain or tell the voice to wait, she started moving again. Expecting the worst this time, she hugged her knees and braced as much as she could. 

Going through the ordeal this time was easier. Like being naked outside on a cold winter night with only a hot cup of tea to warm herself in. She still screamed, or at least tried to, losing consciousness a few times until she felt herself float free of all burdens. Still, pretty out of it, she recalled seeing something green as she was floating away. Trees?

Nightmares assaulted her, or she was back in hell again. She heard a deep voice sing in the background, as she was buried alive. She felt someone gently hold her small head in the palm of their hand as she was drowning. Nothing made any sense anymore. After a few days, the fog over her mind was starting to clear. 

For a moment she thought she might be in a hospital, but that hope had shattered when she remembered the voice telling her that she wouldn’t be going home. Reinforcing that were the animal furs that were stacked on top of her, and the outdoor cabin she found herself in. The whole getting buried alive thing seemed a bit funny now. 

The good thing was that her throat felt a lot better and looking at her hands she saw more life coming to them. There was also cloth wrapped around her arms, where she had previously scratched herself. 

Lifting the mountain of furs proved to be an easy task to her surprise, standing up she realized that despite everything she hadn’t felt better in her life. Like she had replaced her batteries, her body felt renewed and full of vigor, the pain was gone and the soreness but a distant afterthought. 

Stretching her back she gave a whistle of appreciation, then she suddenly realized that someone had brought her here and that judging by the size of the house she was in it was someone big. Getting a better look around, all the furniture, tools, and even the bed was made for someone double her height or more. Before she could ask herself what was going on, the massive doors opened and a polar bear walked inside. 

Not being sure if she should scream and run or thank it for not eating her before she just stood still in fear and shock. And the giant bear was wearing pants? A bear in pants, her mind going back to the hallucination theory again.

“Did I develop Schizophrenia while I slept?” Her voice had surprised as much as the bear had. While resembling how she sounded before it was also different in some way.

Grabbing something from the workbench the height of her shoulder, the bear approached. Ana was resigned to her fate whatever it may be. Running away was impossible, and if the creature wanted to hurt her it had the chance before. In its paw, it held a circular medallion on a small chain, made for her size. 

Not wanting to seem disrespectful she took it. Holding it felt like she was holding an exposed high voltage wire. The power from it washing inside her felt like chewing on mint gum, quite a pleasant feeling.

“Can you understand me?” The bear's voice was rough and deep while at the same time being quite refined. And it was a talking bear, walking on two legs and wearing pants.

She nodded, not wanting to speak with her voice. While she could understand the words the bear had spoken, there was something strange about it. Being multilingual herself she knew the feeling of talking in a language you knew but barely used regularly. 

“Good, the food is ready.” Apparently done with the conversation, it left outside leaving the door open. She followed hesitantly. Outside fresh mountain air hit her, along with the aroma of cooking meat. It was late morning judging by the position of the sun. Trees were all around, this being a cabin in some forest. On the campfire was a small pot resembling a cauldron that was hanging from a chain attached to a tripod. On the side was a grill with meat roasting on it. 

Her mouth-watering from the smell, she followed the bear person and took a seat on one of the fallen logs that were placed around the fire. With some rustling of leaves, she heard footsteps behind her. She was never really a perceptive person, turning around she saw that some distance away someone was walking towards them carrying wood. 

“Do not worry about Merry, he is here to help.” The bear spoke, taking a seat across from her, stirring the pot and flipping the meat. 

Curiosity won over her embarrassment. “May I ask what your name is?” Asking the bear she hoped that she wouldn't say something to anger the creature.

“This one is called Winter’s Dew. But others do call me Borka.” Pouring some hot stew in a bowl he handed it to Ana.

“My name is Anastasia, thanks.” taking the food she started eating, while the flavor was a bit bland from what she was used to, her hunger was large enough to eat just about anything.

“It is known.” Borka simply stated.