Within the Guise of Night

Trembling, her voice rang out into the void only to be swallowed whole by the absence of everything. Why was it here she had landed? It seemed as if it was yet another punishment from her past creeping up and paying it forward.

The vast space between her and whatever was out there seemed infinite. There was no seeing or feeling, her ears couldn't sense anything beyond her own muffled movements, yet she pressed on. Step after step, something suddenly shifted. The ground seemed as if it were shaking, the core of it violently breaking. Within but a few moments, the soles of her shoes were in tatters.

Broken bits of glass and memories at her feet. Sharp rocks jutted from new places at her sides, cutting the surface of her skin, just enough to bleed and sting. Barbed vines wrapped the surface of each new space she reached for, her palms streamed with warmth and red.

The pain was a constant reminder that she was indeed here, in this place. Unknown and dangerous, but present none the less. It was a good feeling, it was a feeling after all. How could she deny its existence? It's presence a gift, a brutal and beautiful blessing of perseverance.