She was lying on the muddy ground, feeling her head throb. Slowly, she moved her body in an attempt to get up. Her hand was still wet from her tears mixed with the blood from the tickets, and she could not stop staring at it. Instantly, she brushed her hand on her cloak to clean it.

Then, she looked at her surroundings. She seemed to be in the middle of a forest again, but not like the forests she had seen before up until that point. This one looked magical. It still provoked in her a dark and gloomy feeling like Nature could suffocate her at any moment, but somehow it also felt like the greens were so bright, and the flowers so colourful that nothing could ever happen to her.

In front of her was an old wooden arrow sign that read and it pointed to a small stream illuminated by what seemed like a trail of lamps that were not connected to anything but still managed to shine in a yellow light, giving colour to the night. They were table lamps of different colours and sizes, ones anyone could easily find in their grandmother’s house. Saskia fell in love specifically with two: one purple and the other blue.

The stand of the purple lamp was metallic and arched, supporting a large spheroid-shaped glossy amethyst lampshade. Its glow was not yellow, but lilac, and she found it mesmerising. As for the blue lamp, its base was also metallic but had a much darker tone and the lampshade was rounded, and made of glass with scalloped edges. In the blink of an eye, those two lamps lost their light simultaneously and she let out a grasp for air.

She stepped into the stream, covering her feet in cold water and wetting a bit of the cloak’s hem. Saskia followed the trail of lamps over the extension of the stream until she reached its source: a beautiful river rounded by self-absorbed bent-over trees on both sides that looked like they were watching themselves on the crystalline waters.

In the connection between the stream and the river, she saw a wooden boat secured to a thick stake with a rope. Saskia took the rope off of it and quickly sat on it. At first, controlling the boat was hard, but then she just allowed herself to relax, and enjoy the sublime view. However, the lamps were getting far behind her and now she only had herself as company on a dark and terrifying river, not a single light to bring her comfort.

The crystalline waters were now murky in an almost black shade, making it impossible to see its depth. After the light left them, the trees looked like mysterious shadows that wanted to crush Saskia’s bones or let her drown. What was once soothing, now made Saskia tremble in fear of being alone, and she could not do anything except keep adventuring herself on the river, hoping for the best and trying hard not to cry.

After rowing that damned boat for what felt like hours in complete darkness, not even graced with the blood Moon’s presence, listening only to the sound of the water being cut by the oars and her own heavy breathing, she finally saw some light on the horizon. It was faint, but it was the light she desperately wished for.

Hastily, she rowed in its direction. As she got closer to it, she could not help but frown. A princess canopy bed with white and blue silky curtains was in the middle of the water, illuminated by long algae emerging from the bottom of the lake and entangling themselves in front of Sophie’s eyes. The closer she got, the faster the algae entangled themselves to form a passage in the shape of a heart, giving her access to the bed.

She knotted the boat’s rope to one of the bed’s legs and quickly fell on it. She was so comfortable, and her body so tired, screaming for rest that she did not notice she was not alone. Suddenly, she felt a hand on top of her own and slowly turned her head to it, afraid of what she would see.

In front of her, lying seductively in bed was a man. His hair was straight, long, and as black as night itself, contrasting with his skin the colour of snow. Only a piece of his hair was completely white. The man’s eyes were violent shades of purple crushing against each other in glimpses of light, like what could only be described as a galaxy. Half his face was covered in white scales, and, once he saw her staring, he smiled, showing his sharp teeth. He had black clothes she had only seen in movies and played with a paper between his fingers.

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She knew him. She had seen him before in a recurring dream since she was a child. He would be considerate of her, and compassionate. That nameless man had always been her comfort when things at home or University went out of control. Saskia desired to meet him one day, and now she could.

“What’s your name? I always wanted to ask!” she was excited.

He smirked and licked his lips, revealing an enormous red serpent tongue that caught her off-guard. He did possess scales over his face but she was not prepared for the tongue. Instead of answering, he extended her the paper he was playing with.

For a few seconds, she looked confused, then she read it, and her face became pale. As a predator after its prey, the handsome man grabs Saskia’s wrists and keeps her in place under him. His eyes show no sign of care, only pure rage and hunger. Tears fell down her eyes as she understood her position; she was vulnerable and exposed to an unknown man who could do whatever he wanted to her.

“Please don’t do this to me,” Saskia begged.

He holds her wrists on top of her head with one hand and takes a purple dagger from behind his back. The poor girl pierces her hands with her nails until blood comes out of them as he trails her body with the dagger carefully starting from her cheek and going in the direction of her neck, with no intention to hurt her at that moment.

Then, the handsome individual licks his lips and throws the dagger into the water with a grin. Gently and with no signs of urgency, he lets go of her wrists but stays on top of her, making her breathe faster. Even with the tiny freedom she was given, Saskia was unable to move.

Suddenly, his hand goes to her neck, piercing its skin with his long black nails. Saskia trembled under him, desperately trying to take his hand off of her, but he was much stronger, and she felt powerless. A man she cared so much about was hurting her for no reason; a man she trusted with her deepest secrets. Sure, it was in a dream but she knew he was somewhere, waiting for her. He was her Prince Charming.

When she was almost losing all the air she had left; and was still agonizing under him, she saw an arm with a blue dagger stabbing the man’s head from the side. He fell on top of her and she quickly got away from his dead body, looking for the comfort of her saviour. Without thinking, she tossed herself over the woman’s arms, who gladly held her. She was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen: her skin was as dark as ebony, her eyes were shadowy and blue, shining like sapphires, and her waist-length hair was the colour of the full Moon she knew; completely white. However, a piece of her hair was black, and it kept on reminding her of the man from before.

The woman kissed her forehead and Saskia watched closely as the skin of her face started to shed, exposing her flesh. Saskia was horrified as the same process happened to the rest of the woman’s body until it was just raw flesh, leaving only her hair and eyes as a distinguishing feature. However, it was not for long: her blue eyes fell at Saskia’s feet and there was only a black void in the place they used to be. The woman, whose corpse looked like it was decomposing in front of Saskia, fell to the side.

Saskia could not take it anymore: she screamed, she cried her eyes out, and she hugged herself tight until a piece of paper came flying, falling on her hands. The paper was blank at first, but then words started to form in cursive: . She looked around and noticed lotus flowers shining on the water, forming a trail somewhere.

She got inside the boat again and went to the lotus flowers. They were beautiful and each had a different colour in sequence: purple, blue and blood red. Those three colours kept repeating themselves until she noticed red floating lanterns holding a message that read .

Followed by the sound of a vuvuzela, inside the boat appeared a medium-sized yellow waist bag and hanging elongated glass flasks with liquids inside. All flasks were labelled: there was which liquid was clear like normal water, which was sparkling pink, was light green, was black, was brown, and was also clear. She opened the bag and found a beautiful dagger on the inside. It had a golden detailed hilt with drawings. The blade was not steel, but something else that seemed like white resin with flower petals on the inside, but it was much stronger than that. The tip of the blade was also golden and engraved like the hilt. For a moment, she feared having it on her hands from what she had experienced with a dagger moments ago, but she tried to ignore those thoughts.

She guided the boat to a blue pentagram, inside the circle of shining lotus flowers. Then, she heard the sound of a bell ringing. Automatically, she remembered the paper the man gave her before everything went dark: