Bad Dreams
She never knew real fear until that day. He charged at her, his bloody, spiked club threatening to knock the life out of her. Running was her only defense; the beast never seemed to show weakness. Life seemed to fade away before her; time slowing down, the screams of the audience dimming down to a mere blur in here ears. The bulky footsteps of Ektyn boomed each second as she sprinted helplessly through the stadium.
Ari glanced up at her father and saddened as she saw the worried expression on Miraak's face. His eyes widened as he pointed to something to her right and mouthed, "Fire!"
She quickly spun around only to see her opponent wielding a torch that he must have snatched from the wall. He chucked it at her, along with his club. Thankfully, it missed her and hit the wooden fence that separated the fighters from the audience. She closed her eyes for about 5 seconds out of fear. As she opened them, everybody was gone. Worst of all, the entire place was on fire.
The fire swarmed around her, engulfing her sword in a fiery inferno. Tears streamed from her face, acting as a second coat to her already sweating face. She tried to yell for help, but nothing came out. The fire closed in around her, torturing her skin with pinpricks of fire. Then, her clothes caught on fire. The ground oddly shifted underneath her, knocking her burnt yet still alive body to the ground. "Help..."
She yanked herself awake, breathing in the fresh Jotunheim air. The problem was, it didn't seem normal; the air around her was warm.
She was laying in her bed, but it appeared to be midnight. Second of all, the air hurt her. Just like her dream, but this time she was in the castle, the building was on fire. She quickly scrambled out of bed, tearing the melted icepack off her forehead. She was still weak from the fight, but she ran for her life. She was wrong. The scariest moment in her life had been now.
The fire crackled upon the almost white, ice walls. What was worse than being trapped in a burning castle? Try being trapped in a burning castle with no idea how to navigate around it. It was her absolute wort nightmare, even worse than fighting Ektyn the Undefeated.
She ran down the smokey corridors, and the air got extremely thick and hard to breath. She wasn't even sure the air was made of oxygen anymore. Soon enough, she couldn't even see where she was going. What the Hel could have started this horrid fire, she asked herself. She also wondered how they could have started the fire. There wasn't much wood in the castle; it was just ice and bronze. It wasn't long before she managed to get caught in the wild inferno. Somewhere in the distance, she thought she could hear the terrified yelps of livestock and trapped midnight maids.
Then, with a startling crack, the ceiling collapsed down behind her, sparks flying through the murky smoke. Its as if they were lights in a distant cave, floating around like fireflies. A column crashed down to the ground, and on top of her leg.
* * *