Dawn arrived without warning and I awoke to find myself chained to one of the desert monoliths far from civilization. The shadow creatures were nowhere to be found. What comfort was the sun’s return!

And yet I faced on the horizon the skyline of my home city, colorless as though the very buildings had become giant corpses, the once-friendly skyscrapers I knew twisted like the shreddings of tin cans. The broken shards jutted upward at hideous angles so many miles away; now enormous smoldering ruins. I knew that even if I could escape from here, I could never go back.

A primal shriek escaped my lips like none I’d ever heard. A bittersweet cry of mourning, tainted golden with the hope of survival.

“Excellent, my child,” hissed the beautiful voice. Fey, whispering in my ear. Where was she? How could she be out in daylight?

“WHO ARE YOU ?” I wailed. My sanity was left at home last night, and it too had been razed. “Release me! Save me! Kill me!!” Screaming through my tears, I didn’t care to hear her response.