A Bad Dream, a Good Beginning

We awoke in a strange place.

With a mild groan, I strained to sit up as my eyes quickly adjusted to the uncomfortable darkness. An eerie, lavender light illuminated the parlor-like room, and I brushed the dust off my dress as I pushed myself into a standing position. Faint piano music wafted through the air, along with the musky scent of an attic. Other than that, the room was unnaturally silent.

As my eyes surveyed the room, I flinched when I glimpsed the back of an old woman, statuesque in her stillness, standing at a piano in the corner. She looked dead, arms by her sides, and a tattered, worn nightgown covered her tattered, worn body. A shiver coursed through my back as I realized that she was not playing the piano, yet the music continued.

A thud on the floor sounded, and my head snapped to attention as Illisar approached her, heavy boots clunking across the wooden floor. I wanted to tell him to stop, but my words caught in my throat, and panic was the only sensation I could’ve vocalized. I looked to the others to silently beg them to stop him, but Eon and Gyre seemed just as shocked as I was, and Novakri was more entertained by staring out the window, a black void staring back at her.

A jarring note from the piano ripped my gaze to it, and before I could process that Illisar had tapped an age-yellowed key, the dead woman suddenly reached up and gripped his wrist. He reflexively pulled away, but her hand broke off her arm and shattered into dust. A scream racked my mind. She lifted her head to look up at him, a monster clawing its way forward from within.

Then I really awoke with a gasp.