Darkness the endless expanses of cold comforting darkness.. That was the dream every night the same dream. The expanses of the darkness.. there was nothing.. no light.. no warmth.. just utter black. It was oppressive, quiet, and cold. Every part of her mind seemed to scream out in panic every time the dream found it. She could hear her heart beat.. and her breaths flow from her body.. then she would fall.. She wouldn't feel the odd sensation of her stomach dropping, but she could feel the cold rush against her back and her hair coil about her face as she fell. Then she saw them, dark purple eyes the insane laughter.. and the cold claws. She couldn't move as thousands of them guided her along, they all held her they all whispered their voices lost in the chaos. Their eyes were not human narrowed and monstrous their claws black, so black she wouldn't have known they even existed if it wasn't for the searing pain left at their cold touch. She felt her teeth chattering, as they continued to move her across the seething mass of dark giggling forms.

Then she saw it.. dimly at first.. then it grew steadily brighter. An orange glow on the horizon, her eyes could make out forms in the light though the blackness of the claws obscured them. Then the light grew.. it grew with the heat, to the point of painful choking searing temperatures. Then the forms in the distance were brighter... more defined.. more pronounced. Bodies.. there were bodies on crosses the black stone crosses that extended all the way to the lava far below. The bodies were burning and bleeding writhing in slow torturous agony. The millions of bodies, on the millions of dark crosses that spanned the great burning horizon. Up above her, layer after burning layer extended to the blackened sky high above the huge crevasse. As the writhing shadows about her were brightened by the light of the burning pit their forms twisted in ghoulish skeletal twisted shadows. They had no form only hideous shade, their bodies were of the darkness of the shadows.. their eyes purple flames. They pulled her small body to one of the huge Onyx crosses that was leaned against the black ledge. Pain shot through her as they nailed her feet then her hands, all of the shadowy forms giggling in their odd insane manner.

They touched her, caressed her, worshipped her as they cut and tortured her,then pushed the huge onyx cross up into the pit. It rolled sideways standing on end she thought it was going to continue its arc and fall into the pit of flames far below.. but it didn't instead it jerked into place and stood erect with the millions of other burning forms. When it sat in place pain screamed through her; the flesh at her hands and feet tore with a searing pain as her body rocked back and forth with the left over momentum. Then she heard them.. the scream, the cries and the horrible wailing of those around her. The sound of claws skittering above her made her look up and on the arm of the huge onyx cross stood a gigantic winged shadow it's purple eyes glowed and burned much like indigo tendrils of flame.. and it's huge skeletal shadowed body gracefully lowered itself so it hung upside down in front of her eyes. It's shadowy fangs snout only inches from her nose as it looked at her. She wanted to scream, she tried to scream.. but she couldn't it voice was choked. She tried to scream again but no sound came to her.. so she pushed with all her will to scream hopping someone would save her from the agony of the cross, the flames and the fearful stare of the shadowy beast.

She screamed out into the night air. It was cold and the cold made her remember the dream and she shivered under the small blanket. The small raggedy teddy that was her only companion hugged tightly under her chin as black tears rolled down her pale cheeks. She was 6 or 7 and dressed in nothing but rags as she trembled in the ally way. It was about 2 in the morning and the bright stars over head comforted her in the dark dankness of the place she had chosen to sleep. She pulled her teddy from her chest and held it a little away from her smiling.

“Just a dream Roople.. shhh its ok don’t be sacred! I’ll keep you safe!” She smiled and hugged him close as she closed her eyes and curled in a tighter ball holding the teddy. The teddy bears eyes glowed with the same purple flames that the huge shadowy beast in the dream had and as the girl drifted back to sleep deep tendrils of shadow rolled around her freezing the alley way around her. The ice spread with a sick rolling crackling the lines expanding until the entire alley was covered in a thick film of white ice. The walls contracted sending a deep cracking sound through the stone work of the buildings around her. The little black haired girl covered in the dirty red blanket didn’t seem to notice as the teddy bear’s eyes faded back to black once again, and she drifted off back into sleep.