Fear Itself

  # # #

  “Hey Kir,” Jill's voice said gently as she felt herself being shaken awake.

  “I'll work on it in a minute, boss,” she half-replied.

  “Kiri, wake up. We're not at work,” she said in a more firm voice.

  The Techie slowly blinked her way back into the waking world to see a circular room lined with doors. Jill had her hand on her shoulder. Deadguy was looking around the room. Valkadaidan sat in the exact middle, still in a meditative state. “Where are we,” she asked, groggy.

  “That's what we're trying to figure out,” she answered.

  Deadguy jiggled one of the doorknobs, but it wouldn't budge. He banged loudly on the door. “Pizza delivery,” he called out. He moved on to the next door and processed to do the same.

  “Knock it off,” Valk growled after Deadguy finished the third or fourth door.

  “Does he just growl at me in his sleep,” DG questioned.

  The Dragon-Blooded's eyes sprang open. He jerked his head to look around. “What is going on?”

  “Welcome to the party, Valkster. I'm trying to find the door with cake and ice cream behind it.”

  “Greetings Heroes,” a voice hissed from somewhere above them. The four stared up into the blackened void that hung above the circular room. “I welcome you to my realm. The world where all your nightmares come true.”

  “You mean...the one with the giant cabbage and the sort of whirring knife thing,” DG asked.

  There was a pause. “No,” the voice replied finally.

  “Why did you bring us here,” Jill called out to the darkness.

  “Choose your door,” the voice commanded. “Choose your demise.”

  “And what if I tell you where you can shove your doors,” Deadguy questioned. The floor started to open up in the middle. The hole expanded, revealing a bottomless void underneath them.

  “Damn it Deadguy,” Jill yelled. “Next time you have something to say, rip your tongue out first!”

  “Hole's getting bigger,” Kiri said in a panic.

  “Looks like we're playing this guy's game,” Jill said as the hole grew. Any moment and it would fill the room. “Everyone, pick a door!” The Heroes all grabbed the nearest doorknob and dove into the awaiting darkness.

  Kiri walked from darkness into more darkness. She couldn't even see her own nose. It was cold. Very cold. A very familiar cold. Her heartbeat quickened. She steadied her breath and started listening to everything around her without even thinking. Memories flashed in her mind. Images of the Moondagger Clan. What she went through. What they made her do. Almost on cue, she heard the faint shuffling of feet. The sounds of someone trying to sneak up on her.

  Deadguy wandered in the darkness until he emerged from an alley. “How did I end up outside,” he asked himself. “Wait, no.” He noticed the blood-red sky. The buildings were burnt out or completely destroyed. Bodies littered the street. Some human, some not. He continued walking, seeing nothing but fire and death. “What...what happened?”

  Jill stumbled in the darkness, holding her arms out. She felt a little embarrassed, but that thought was only masking her true feeling. The feeling of leading her team into certain doom. 'Don't think about that,' she thought. 'They can take care of themselves.' Fumbling forward, she crashed into a small stone pillar.

  Valkadaidan stood motionless in the darkness. There was no sound. No smell. No sense. It was a weird sensation. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He tried to concentrate, but something was stopping him. Eyes closed, eyes open, it was all the same. It was nothingness. No more, no less.