Because I Love You✔️

Dream

Dream

Flashes.

The dark sky above was lit up with blinding streaks of lightning that rapidly tore through the air.

A figure cloaked in black sprinted through the forest below, darting to and fro between the massive trees, heedless of the rain.

Another brilliant flash overhead momentarily illuminated the running figure, revealing the face of a frightened young girl with extremely pale features. The sound of her terrified breathing was barely heard over the rumbling clash of the heavens above.

Then everything darkened and the heavy rain once again obscured the flickering world around her.

She was sprinting at top speed, arms and legs pumping, dark cloak billowing behind her, muscles burning with exertion.

Far in the distance was the sound of the roaring ocean.

The sound of her last hope.

Salvation and safety.

But almost as if some higher power were trying to strike her down, a bolt of blinding electricity lanced one of the thick, towering trees of the forest not too far ahead of her with a deafening crack.

The girl shrieked in terror, shielding her eyes from the flash, but then... to her horror... the suddenly-flaming monarch began to fall.

Slipping and sliding in her haste to avoid getting flattened, she dove forward and landed heavily on the muddy ground, hood flying off. As the thunderous crash of the massive tree echoed behind her, two blood-soaked daggers went flying from her outstretched fingers.

Her confined white hair stuck wetly to her face when she glanced over her shoulder at the fallen tree. Then, her pale pink eyes widened and she hastily scrabbled upright, snatching the bloody weapons as she took off towards the treeline.

With a huff, she sprinted out into the open, running towards a set of faraway cliffs overlooking the frothing ocean... but the moment she was exposed, a gale of angry shouts rose up behind her.

Muffled twangs filled the air, making her duck low.

She kept one fearful eye to the flashing sky, ducking and dodging the barrages of arrows that came raining down around her.

She had to make it to the cliff.

She had to.

If she didn't, everything would end.

And she couldn't let that happen, not when she was so close.

Not after everything that had already happened.

Not after how far they'd come.

High above, something caught her attention, and her face went whiter than her hair.

"STOP! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" she wailed, screaming at the sky. "YOU PROMISED!"

She didn't realize that she was approaching the cliff too quickly.

She didn't even see the edge until she was about to go over it. Gasping and haphazardly skipping across the wet stone in an attempt to slow her run, the girl let out a startled shriek, digging her heels into the ground.

She came skidding to a halt with her toes poking over the empty chasm, frantically wind-milling her arms.

Her eyes widened as she fought to keep her balance, struggling to avoid falling into the thundering, white-capped water resting hundreds of feet below.

After nearly ten breathless seconds of flailing, she finally managed to throw herself backwards and clutched her chest, sopping wet from the rain and breathing hard. Remembering where she was, she crawled forward, hastily patting the ground near the cliff face.

Her whole body froze.

"No..." she whispered, eyes going blank with horror. "No! Where is it?! It should be right here! Where in the name of Asgrog is the rope?!"

"I found her!" a male voice bellowed. "She's cornered!"

The girl whirled around, spotting the dark silhouettes of her pursuers charging out of the trees.

She scrambled to her feet and backed away, but when her heel brushed against the edge of the cliff and sent some rocks falling out into the open air, she was reminded that she was trapped.

Her heart skipped a beat and she vaguely wondered if this was where she would die.

"Not here," she whispered. "Not where he can see it... please..."

She thought her self-spoken prayer was one that would have been blatantly ignored.

After all, the gods had given her no reason to believe in them.

But then, as if by some sick twist of fate, a bolt of lightning lanced the cliff directly in front of her.

Blinded and deafened by the concussion that exploded in her ears, she screeched at the top of her lungs, covering her face with both hands as the ground shook.

Totally deaf save for the thin ringing permeating her head, she stumbled backwards in agony.

And promptly went right off the cliff.

Her footing vanished, the world began to blur, tilting upright as gravity reversed itself. She flailed for the stormy sky with black spots weaving before her eyes, hands flying out to where she had just been standing only a second before.

The image of her daggers falling onto the muddy cliff above was the last thing she saw before she slammed into the turbulent water.

Panic took over.

Terrified to the point of incoherency, she stupidly tried to take a breath of air, which only caused water to flood her nostrils and choke her.

More black spots began to impede her vision, and a soundless scream, accompanied by a column of bubbles, escaped from her mouth as she flailed around.

She glanced toward the surface and struggled to swim to it, but she only seemed to be making herself sink farther down.

Her lungs burned and her eyes stung as she wondered if she was going to die. The choking liquid pressed in on her from all sides, making her movements sluggish as she struggled to swim up to the surface. She was desperate for air... but she was too weak to find the surface, and her struggles slowly began to grow weaker.

Finally, she stopped struggling altogether.

Limply, she began to sink, arms stretched out toward the rippling surface, silver hair swirling around her pale face and flashing like a mirror as it drifted in front of her eyes. She watched as the faint flashing above her grew dimmer, fading by the second.

Just as she was about to succumb to the pressure of the darkness enfolding her, she saw a disturbance in the surface.

She vaguely spotted a silhouette reaching out to her.

The distant, hulking shadow had large, brilliantly glowing eyes that only seemed to grow bigger and brighter until they were practically right in front of her own.

She vaguely sensed hands touching her.

Then, everything went black.