I looked around the empty black desert. The sky above was naught but an abyssal black, devoid of sun, stars and moon, but somehow despite the lack of light, I still knew that the land around me was a desert. The air was dry and odorless but for the vague scent of what I could only assume to be wildflowers. All of my senses felt muted and sluggish, but none as badly as my sight; I could barely see five feet in front of me, as darkness pressed in on me from every direction.

I was directionless and lost, until I suddenly felt a tug coming from deep inside of me, telling me that something was nearby and urging me to move. In what direction? I didn't know, but the need to go out to look for it was undeniable, and so, I took my first step, hoping to find something, anything that could explain what this place was.

I walked for hours without tiring, my footsteps but a faint whisper on the soft, shifting sands. I jogged for days without breaking a sweat, the rhythmic thud of my heartbeat oddly comforting in the otherwise near silent land. I sprinted for months on end without so much as a minute's rest, my legs feeling detached from my body. I felt light but heavy at the same time, like my body did the motions but my feet took me nowhere. Why was I here? What was 'here', anyhow?

Before I could question further, a voice rumbled, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. Suddenly, it was as if the world came to life around me. The black desert sands shifted and twisted, rising and falling as if they were breathing, the solid ground beneath my feet pulsed with a steady rhythm. "A presence?" two voices asked in unison, one feminine, the other masculine, making an eerie harmony. "Come forth, show thy visage, O guest of mine, and bless us with the knowledge of thy name."

Despite the eerie circumstances, I didn't feel threatened, but rather, I felt welcome, as if I were meeting an old friend after years without speaking. The ever present feeling of their presence should have unnerved me, but it didn't. I felt an odd sense of ease, like swimming in the depths of an ocean. “My name is Abigail," I said, my voice barely a whisper amongst the sands, yet echoing for time eternal.

"Abigail…" the voices repeated. "O Abigail, we remember now. A soul misplaced, out of time and out of place. Whatever forces forced thee into this place, O child of ours?" They were only voices in an empty black desert, but somehow, I still felt a spectral hand gently caressing my cheek. "It matters not, when the time is right, ye shall return to us."

A stiff breeze suddenly knocked me down, swirling black sand around my body. "Fly away, O little bird of ours, fly free once more, and once again, we shall meet thee at dusk."

The black sands began to consume me, but instead of fear or anxiety, I felt a deep sense of peace. The sand felt warm and comforting, and as it enveloped me, it felt like a hug I didn't know I needed. I closed my eyes and surrendered to the feeling, letting it carry me away.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself on the seat of a bus, head leaning against the window, a little bit of drool on my chin. The smell of the old seats filled my nose, and the rumble of the engine was barely distinguishable through the chatter of the people around me.

“When the hell did I fall asleep?” I asked myself out loud as I reached for the phone in my pocket. The time read 6:30 pm. The last thing I remembered was getting on the bus and taking my seat. That had been at around 5:00 pm, so I must have slept for a whole hour. I yawned and rubbed my eyes, slowly but surely blinking away my sleepiness.

I probably shouldn't have fallen asleep but honestly, who could blame me? Sparring was always tiring, sure, and it wasn't anything I wasn't particularly used to, but today had been especially brutal, it was a miracle my sword – and my arm, for that matter – survived it. Speaking of…

I checked the little space in front of me to check that my training rapier was still there and, thankfully, it was still where I'd left it, sheathed and stored in its admittedly worn down carry bag. The zipper at the top of the long, circular bag didn't even work  anymore, and it left me constantly worried the sword might fall out at the slightest movement. Nothing had happened so far, though, other than the odd looks from people whenever the hilt managed to peek out of it. 

As long as you didn't count the one old lady who called the police on me when she realized I had a sword, that was. I had to sit on a sidewalk, in handcuffs for two hours just explaining to the cops that I was a fencer coming back from training and that the reason my sword was visible was because the bag couldn't close properly.

I should have probably gotten rid of it after that, but this bag had been with me since day one. This baby has been with me through fencing classes, HEMA spars and even the one time I tried getting into buhurt. It was an old piece of garbage, but it was MY old piece of garbage and I wouldn't have It any other way.

I sighed as I leaned back into my seat and looked out the window to see the sunset as well as the many stores and other buildings we passed by. Maybe I was too sleepy, or maybe I just was too distracted by the strange dream I had, but it took me far too much time to recognize the area, and twice as long to realize that I had missed my stop by five blocks.

“Shit!” I stood up and grabbed my backpack and sword. I doubled and then triple checked that I had everything with me and then quickly got off on the next stop.

I definitely shouldn't have fallen asleep! I cursed myself. This was very much not a nice neighborhood, and wandering alone at night was more than just dangerous; it was a death wish. I had to get home before sunset. I considered my options: I could hail a cab but I didn't have that much cash on me, public transport was almost just as dangerous as wandering at night, and I'd never make it before sunset by just walking normally.

Luckily for me, I more or less knew the area, and had somewhat of an idea of where I could cut through as a shortcut. Moving through alleyways at dusk was not a good idea by any measure, but I was sure that I'd be okay as long as I hurried, or at least, that's what I told myself.

I took a few deep breaths to hype myself up and then set off with a jog, holding my sword's case close to my chest so as to not hit anything as I passed through the alleyways with a quickened step.

It was a stupid, stupid idea and I knew it. The whole time my heart kept pounding in my chest. I was so terrified that my ears started ringing as I felt adrenaline surge through my body, which only made me hasten my pace from a jog into a full on sprint. I couldn't tell how fast I was going, exactly, nor how many alleys I'd cut through, but I knew that I'd made it when I saw a more familiar street at the end of the proverbial tunnel.

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding and slowed down to a walk. If I was where I thought I was, then home should be pretty much right around the corner. A smile formed on my lips as the thought of taking a long shower and sleeping in my nice, comfy bed crossed my mind.

I shouldn't have celebrated so soon.

A man in a white hoodie stepped out from the shadows, a kitchen knife in his hand. He was twitching and shivering despite the pleasant spring weather, the cheap and somewhat rusty blade in his hand teetering like a boiling kettle. He took a step forward, and pointed the knife at me. “Phone and wallet, now!”

I froze, staring at the blade. My heart began to beat as loudly as a drum, it suddenly felt like there was noise around me save for my own breathing.

He took another step forward. “Think this is a fucking game?! Hand over the cash or I swear to God I'll gut you! You think I won't?!”

I instinctively took a step back. I had no more than a few bucks to my name, and my phone was an outdated and worn thing of little to no value. My gut told me that no matter what I did, he was going to kill me, or worse.

As the realization settled in, I took My sword out of my bag and unsheathed it, pointing the much longer blade at the man as I fell into a familiar stance. “P-please leave me be, I know how to use this and I won't hesitate to defend myself!” Normally, fencing swords were too flexible to cause any real harm, but our instructor preferred to use more rigid blades. Today was the first time I thanked him for it.

Though his face was partially covered by his hoodie, I could still see the man's expression change. I saw him bite his lip, and in the next second, he charged.

This was not sparring, and yet, the years of training kicked in as I backed away while keeping my sword arm stretched forward.

The man noticed and stopped before he accidentally impaled himself on my blade, though I felt it lightly pierce into his chest. He growled and tried to bat away my sword with his knife.

I avoided his strike by dipping the sword down, and once he overextended, I stepped in to stab into the arm that held his weapon. The tip pierced the skin with little to no problem, and just as easily made its way through muscle and fat until I felt the tip chip against bone.

The man screamed in pain and dropped the knife. I stepped back just as quickly as I had lunged, and prepared for another attack. My foot stepped forward, and in that moment he swung his other arm, fist racing towards the side of my skull before I could retreat.

His fist was like a brick. I stumbled from the force behind the punch, and hit the concrete wall of an adjacent building. Dizzy, I clumsily tried to regain my footing, but before I could, a beer bottle shattered on my head. I felt the little shards of glass embedding into my skin, I could feel the warm blood – my blood – coat my dark chocolate hair.

I couldn't think straight, all that kept repeating in my head was the primal instinct that screamed at me to keep fighting.

I couldn't tell what was going on, but when my instincts told me to retreat, I did, clumsily taking the stance I was in before and stepping back as quickly as I could. As my vision cleared, I saw the man holding the broken bottle like a shiv, wildly stabbing and slashing the air where I just stood a second before.

I can't keep this up. If I don't finish this fight quickly, he'll kill me. Only one of us was leaving this alley with their life, and I wasn't going to let myself be defeated so easily.

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I steeled myself and took a step forward, as if I were about to lunge at him. He took the bait and jumped to the side to avoid a stab that never came. In that second he was in the air, I extended my sword arm and lunged the moment his feet touched the ground, aiming for his heart. 

Suddenly, it was as if time had slowed down. I could see his wide, shocked eyes as the sword penetrated into his chest, past skin and muscle, straight into his heart and out the other side. I heard his gurgled scream next to my ear as I stepped into the stab, pushing the blade all the way through with both hands. Most importantly, however, I felt the broken glass bottle stab and cut at my unprotected abdomen.

Again and again.

Finally, he stopped, falling backwards with the frenzied look still on his face as the light finally left his eyes. He hit the floor, the weight of his lifeless body snapping my sword's blade in half. His body continued to hold the bloody glass bottle in his hand.

I stood there for a second until the pain finally began to hit me. My hand immediately flew to my abdomen, coming away soaked in blood and bits of broken glass.

“No…” I whimpered as I began to stumble forward, keenly aware of the blood trail I was leaving behind me.

I only made it a few meters before I collapsed onto my knees. “No!” Tears ran down my face as I desperately crawled forward, slowly but surely losing strength.

“I don't want to, I don't want to! Please, no, not like this!” As blood continued to pour from my wounds, as I continued to try to keep my failing body moving forward, I could only think about how terrified I was. 

Death was a fear that existed only in the future, not something that you ever really thought about with the exception of during the long, sleepless nights in which you have nothing but time to think.

I always saw death as a thing that'd happen once I was old and surrounded by grandchildren, but now, as my legs failed me and I dragged myself forward, I had no choice but to face my own mortality. Never in my life had I been so scared.

I kept crawling forward until my arms finally gave out too. I looked up to see where I was, and saw the end of the alleyway but a few meters away. From where I was, I could see it too; my home. So close to salvation, just out of reach.

There would be no escaping death for me, I realized, and so, I did the only thing I could think of.

I reached for my phone and called my mom.

She was at work, and I knew that, I knew she wouldn't pick up, but I had to leave something, even if it was just to say goodbye.

“H-hi mom… I'm hurting real bad, don't have any fight in me anymore, don't have long.” I chuckled, trying to keep the pain off my voice. “But you should see the other guy, I got him good too.” I whimpered as pain suddenly coursed through my body. I didn't have much time left.

“I love you and dad so much, I'm sorry I couldn't make it home!” My voice threatened to break with every word spoken. “If I could do it all again, I'd always choose to be your daughter, always…”

The pain was becoming unbearable, it hurt so much, I couldn't stop my pained, choked scream. “Goodbye.”

I hung up and clutched my abdomen, shivering as the blood pooled beneath me and my body turned cold. This was it. I closed my eyes and, terrified, I wondered what it would be like to go to sleep and never wake up.

“Hey! are you okay?” I heard the voice of a man. I fought to open my eyes and saw a man in a police uniform running towards me. He knelt down next to me and gently turned me over to see my injury.

“Shit, this is bad,” he said, unable to hide his wince. He hastily reached for his radio and reported the situation while he applied pressure on my wound with his other hand. The radio came to life with multiple answers that I didn't even bother to try to decypher. It didn't matter anymore, I knew it was too late.

A hoarse laugh escaped my lips. “If only you'd been here sooner…”

“Save your strength, kiddo, you're gonna be alright, you hear me? EMS is on the way, just stay awake!”

“If only…” I closed my eyes, and suddenly his voice, and all the sounds around me became so, so distant. 

In that last moment of consciousness before the darkness took me, I said one last thing. “It's so quiet…”

My mind slipped away, my light faded, and as dusk finally turned into night, I died.

The feeling of my last breath was swift, a sudden plunge into an eternal darkness. All that I was, that I ever would be stopped mattering, even words and emotions stopped meaning anything. All the pain I suffered and caused, the happiness and love I gave onto others just as others gave to me ceased to have meaning as consciousness itself turned to nothingness. The endless moment stretched on as nonexistence settled in, then suddenly, I gasped for air.

My eyes shot open and I immediately got onto my hands and knees. I took several deep breaths as my body was returned to me, I relished the moment my senses returned before I finally looked around.

What I saw was the eternal expanse of black sand. Why was I here, I wondered as I took in the feeling of the vast, empty indifference of the frigid air around me and the warm, welcoming feeling of the sand beneath my feet. There were no stars and no moon, it was a sunless place, in a direction you cannot point to. I recognized the land from my dreams, but never before had it all felt so real. Everything that I saw and everything that I felt touched not just my body, but my very essence.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath as I laid back down on the warm and inviting black sand, holding it close to my body which I just then realized was bare. My heart beat loudly in my chest, my breathing became erratic, my eyes stung and finally, a broken sob escaped me as my tears flowed freely.

In this place, the emotions I felt were so raw I couldn't have contained them if I tried, not that I'd have bothered to, if I could. As I wept, the black desert sands embraced me further, as if trying to offer comfort of their own.

My life was over. Twenty years I lived on that pale blue dot, for twenty years I had the honor of being the daughter of the two most loving people I had ever met, and it was all taken away in a flash. Memories came back to me – laughter, love, sorrow and fleeting moments now reduced to nothing but echoes in my heart.

I should have been more careful, called a friend to pick me up or simply not have fought back and let the man have his way. There were so many things I did wrong, and I had many regrets both recent and not, but at the very least, I didn't die before telling my parents how much I loved them, that, at least, was a relief.

I stayed like that for a while, I couldn't tell how much, for time had no meaning here. I grieved my family, my friends, my life that I lost. I cried and cried until there were no more tears, and I let my heart ache until it could ache no more, all the while, the empty desert offered comfort in both silence and a place to stay. Only after I cried all my tears did I stand up, and began to walk forward into the never changing horizon.

Unlike in my dreams, however, the sands flowed with me, following and sometimes parting before me as if to guide me through the vast nothingness towards a goal that did not exist.

As I walked, I took in the stark contrast of how this place appeared in my dreams and how it was now. Rather than being trapped in an oppressing darkness, I could see so much more. I could see the great dunes rising and falling like waves in the far distance. The air was less oppressive and more indifferent, like it couldn't care less about my presence. Most different were the sands themselves; In my dreams, they were welcoming, but now that I was here, I found they were empathetic, constantly seeking to comfort and guide me through the unfamiliar landscape.

I walked and walked across the endless dunes, knowing that I'd never find anything, but something about the way the sands shifted before me compelled me to explore the endless land. Time had no meaning here, so I couldn't say for how much time I wandered, only the reason why I stopped.

A familiar presence filled the empty void. The land lightly shook with the pulse of a heartbeat as the sands danced in chaotic ways. They floated up and spun, they swirled as they shifted across the ground, they rose and fell as the sound of soft breathing echoed like wisps in the air until eventually, they stopped.

“O beloved child of ours, O honored guest, O Abigail, we welcome thee into our realm.” Two voices speaking in perfect harmony spoke. In my dreams, the dual voice had come from everywhere and nowhere at once, now it seemed as though it was coming from both inside my soul and the void around me. More than simply hearing their words, I felt them touch my very essence with both gentle care and tranquil indifference.

I took a second to take in the feeling of their presence, then spoke. “I have so many questions to ask but…”

They sensed my hesitation. “Hesitate not, O honored guest, and inquire.” The indifferent voice seemed to overpower the gentle one for the briefest of moments as they spoke.

After hearing those words, I took a step forward and asked. “What is this place?”

“This is the land beyond, this is our realm, all of it is us: we are the ground upon which thy feet do tread, we are the air and winds, we are the land thou dost see, we are the infinite void which doth surround thee.” They spoke with a discordant harmony, one voice like a patient mother speaking to her children, the other apathetic and disinterested.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I asked the next question. “Who are you, and why am I here?”

“Thou art here, O child of ours, because thou wast meant to be. Thou wert a soul misplaced and out of time, born in a land which was ne'er meant for thee. Thine return was destined to be, for all things shalt return to us in time. Time is our ally eternal, for we did not know when thou would return, only that thou would, for we are the giver and the taker, we are the one that loveth all and the one who stares back from within the abyss. We are the sun and the moon, we are the end, we are the beginning.”

I stood stunned for a moment. “That means you're-”

“We are death, just as we are life,” they calmly interrupted me, the motherly voice overpowering the indifferent one. “Ye should worry not, O child of ours, for all in the universe is a cycle, even life. Thy story is one that shall begin anew.”

I had so many more questions, but before I could open my mouth to ask them, the entity continued. “Before thou art reborn, O beloved Abigail, we wish to present ye with a choice: to forget it all and be born anew as is the cycle of life and eventually meet us here again, or to be transported with thy memory and body intact and aid us in a matter most important.”

I felt a spark of curiosity. “What is it?”

The desert shifted around me, indifference turned to rage as the vast dunes boiled and turned to glass, stretching out towards the featureless sky in infinite glowing hot spikes, while motherly love morphed into an unprecedented sorrow, the winds turning to ice and rain. When they spoke again, never had I heard them so different from each other.

“We fade, O child of ours. Our remains lie scattered throughout the land and our power doth drain as our very existence turns to dust and ash in the wind! As do we vanish, we are powerless to stop it, the mortal realm forever out of our reach! Soon, we will be no more, and all who perish afterwards shall be doomed to wander upon our graveyard for time eternal, never to be born again.”

The desert began to calm down, returning to what it was moments before, and as it did, the gravity of the situation dawned on me. “That's the end of everything!”

“It is. The seas, the land and sky shall turn to empty voids. No more trees shall find roots, no more birds shall sing their song, no animal shall walk the land ever again,” they said, echoes of their rage and sorrow still faintly echoing in their voices.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “What must I do?”

“Thou must become our champion in the mortal realm, O child of ours. Thou must find what remains of us, aid us in remembering who we are and stop our waning before it is too late.”

I knew that whatever I chose, they would not judge me, they wouldn't try to force me or convince me to help if I chose to continue the cycle and be reborn and would find another champion. A different soul might have chosen to simply live again. In my eyes, however, there was only one choice.

I opened my eyes and outstretched my hand. “I accept. I will be your champion.”

The moment those words left my lips, the sands began to swirl around me, lifting me up and enveloping me. As my feet left the ground, a shape began to take form in front of me, shaped by sands and wind, and so, so very faint. The shape took my outstretched hand and spoke. “Never forget who thou art, never feel as though thou owest us, O champion of ours, for this new life is thine to live. Aid us, find us, and know that regardless of what thou choosest in the journey ahead, thou wilt always find us at thy side.”

And then, I left their realm in much the same way I came to it; I closed my eyes, and everything turned black.