As soon as Priscilla fully surrendered to sleep, the nightmare wrapped itself around her almost instantly.

There was no light for as far as the eye could see, an endless expanse of an empty void that filled her with the type of existential dread one got when they considered the vast and emptiness of space. She was just a small speck of fragile dust compared to the rest of the universe, so easily forgotten when she died and time continued to march on to its discordant beat.

She would leave no impact on the history of this world. No one would even remember her name as she slowly decomposed and rotted in the ground.

A steady, constant sound of water droplets falling into a pool of water reverberated through the space, ringing out loudly in the oppressing silence. Priscilla tried to turn to look for the source of the sound and found that she was waist deep in freezing water herself. It sapped the warmth from her soul and left her shivering with teeth clattering against each other loud enough it echoed in this empty place.

She struggled to keep her footing as the currents suddenly surged forward, threatening to plunge her into the inky black water.

“Shit,” Priscilla muttered as she tried to keep her feet flat against the ground, spreading her arms to keep her balance better.

But then something wrapped around her ankle and yanked, plunging Priscilla into the water that was cold as ice. She just barely managed to take a deep breath in and close her eyes before her head went beneath water.

She fell faster and faster, sinking deeper and deeper into the darkness than she thought was possible as intense pressure pressed down on all sides, squeezing her body painfully. Her hands found no purchase on anything, water rushing past her open fingers even though she had just been standing on something. She was all alone in a hopeless situation and no one would ever find her in this black abyss because no one would even care enough to look. No one loved her after all.

Priscilla felt something trying to push against her lips to pry them open and she blindly flailed her arms in hopes to get it to stop.

But struggling against it was useless, wasn’t it? She didn’t have to fight so hard when nothing she did would matter, when she was just wasting her energy on hope.

It would be best if she just surrendered to the inevitability of fate.

Something is wrong with my thoughts, Priscilla suddenly realized and a cold pang of fear resonated in her soul.

There was nothing wrong, but even if there was…

Could she do anything to stop it?

I do what I want, bitch, Priscilla thought as she swung her arm in one last final effort as her chest tightened, begging for some air.

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Her right hand wrapped against something long and winding and she twisted her fingers into it before she yanked violently.

It shouldn’t be possible for her to –

Priscilla got her other hand in place and punched as hard as could as she yanked whatever she held into the path.

No, how could she –

Get out of my fucking mind, Priscilla thought viciously, opening her eyes to squint through the dark water.

In her hand was long, silver hair belonging to a figure whose face was completely smooth and black, without a single distinguishable feature to be discerned. Its body was twice the size as hers and it looked only vaguely like a human that someone had stretched out like taffy. This thing was the only thing she could see through the inky blackness around them. The figure’s fingers were outstretched towards her face, each having an extra joint that made the appendages bend and contort in ways that sent revulsion up her spine. She realized this was the sick fucker who had been trying to get into her mouth the whole time.

She shouldn’t be –

Priscilla let go of the hair and reared back her right hand, slamming it straight into the damned motherfucker’s face and it shattered beneath her fist. There was a moment where they were both suspended in space before the cracks continued throughout its entire body almost violently, sharp splinters of silver material breaking off more and more as the cracks spread.

Then the splinters shot out in every direction, the biggest of which going straight through Priscilla’s heart.

Priscilla sat straight up, hand clutching her heart as she gasped for air. She breathed in shallowly and rapidly for a few seconds before she realized that she was awake and that she hadn’t actually been stabbed.

And the second thing she realized was that her head blissfully didn’t hurt anymore.

It was still dark outside, the two moons high in the sky and shining down gentle moonlight into the room. The room was chilly, but the blanket laid over her lap helped to combat the worst of it, the material thick yet soft. She heard the soft sounds of Sulaiman’s breathing coming from the bed.

“What the fuck was that?” Priscilla whispered, running her fingers through her hair to stop her hands from shaking. She pulled the nightgown aside to look at her chest but found the skin to be as smooth as always, even when she gently poked at it.

She sat there, staring at herself until she was able to calm down her racing heart and she finally felt Asha’s concern and curiosity pushing against her, cutting through the roar of her own emotions.

“It’s just a bad dream,” Priscilla whispered even if she didn’t believe it fully herself as she rubbed her thumb against the side of Asha to comfort it.

And then Priscilla paused, remembering that it was her right hand that was able to hurt the creature in the dream. The very same hand she had fallen asleep with Asha on.

Asha kept claiming it was a mighty legend killer, though it couldn’t expand on just what that meant besides supposedly legendary capabilities.

“Do you–”

Priscilla cut herself off when she heard Sulaiman shift in his bed.

Asha was more curious now but Priscilla just shook her head. There would be another time to ask Asha questions and she wasn’t even sure she could articulate what happened in the dream nor what she wanted to ask Asha. The dream shook Priscilla in ways that she wasn’t ready to consider and dealing with those pesky emotions like panic that all signs pointed to a being trying to take over her mind while she slept – that could be a problem for Future Priscilla.

Right now, there was only one thought on her mind.

“I’m going back to bed,” Priscilla whispered and did just that.