[center][h2][color=a187be]Isabel Velton[/color][/h2][/center] [color=0054a6]"Izzy, Izzy look at me, what's going on?"[/color] Isabel felt Louise shaking her, she heard the worry in her friend's voice. But it was so blurry, it was so distant. And then Isabel felt blackness. She saw and heard nothing. She came into nothing. [color=ec008c][i]Such a powerful body... Such talents... Yet such a weak flame...[/i][/color] ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Isabel looked around wildly. She was standing now, but surrounded in blackness. She stood upon nothing, yet felt a great weight upon her, pushing her down. [color=a187be]"Who... Who is this?"[/color] she cried into the void - answered only by her own echo. She started walking around, her arms extended, feeling around for a wall, a door, anything palpable. Then she started running - the fear was setting in. She was scared of the dark. Scared of the unknown. Scared of being all alone. It was her worst nightmare, coming to haunt her, but she felt totally awake. She kept running, waving her arms back and forth, panting as the emotion set in. [color=ec008c][i]Come forth, child...[/i][/color] Isabel tripped over her feet, fell head first into nothingness. But she didn't land; she kept falling downward. Then, suddenly, she was upright. But this time, in a room. It was dark, but she could make out the light gray walls, distant, and littered with indistinct shadows. She looked around for a light source - she needed more light, and she needed it [b]now[/b]. [color=ec008c][i]I can't co-host with a small flame. You will learn; you will overcome. Then... I will[/i] devour [i]you.[/i][/color] The voice got clearer this time. It had pitch, it had tonality. It was a woman's voice, seductive, almost trance-like. Isabel looked around the room wildly, searching for the source. She heard whispers. Evil, vile, twisted, shrill whispers. To her left, no, her right - they came at her from every direction, yet from nowhere, all at once. [color=a187be][i]Please, make it stop...[/i][/color] she spoke, but it came from everywhere, her voice not from her lips, but from the air around her. [color=ec008c][i]You're already learning... Gooood.[/i][/color] There was almost a pleasure in the woman's voice. Isabel felt weak, her knees started to shake from the fear and... [color=a187be][i]Lust...?[/i][/color] So many questions appeared in her mind, blasting through the air with anger and frustration, and then, after a pounding in her eardrums that seemed to last for an eternity, there it was. She questioned it again, but there was no anger. No frustration. No, she felt something new. Something... Insatiable. [color=ec008c][i]Yesssss, child... I already feel your flame grow...[/i][/color] _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Isabel blinked. She stopped shaking, and her arms loosened. All of the tenseness in her body eased, and she felt numb all over. The tears that fed the streams on her face had dried. There was a visible change as the color came back to Isabel's eyes, further evidence that she was, indeed, awake. It took her a moment to realize where she was. She had a brief glance around, recognizing her safety from the situation that still exploded with chaos below. In front of her was Alexander, surprisingly attractive with how tattered and rough he appeared. They were both covered in a thin layer of red dust, and Isabel felt incredibly warm. [color=39b54a]"Izzy, are you with me?"[/color] Alexander's voice was quick and exhausted, with just a hint of real worry hidden in between. It took her a moment before what he said even registered in Isabel's mind, but she had no real answer for him. [color=a187be]"Tell me this is a dream."[/color] The simplicity in her words, the way she formed them, how they escaped her lips - it almost made Isabel smile. The words themselves cracked as they left her mouth, almost a bit of pain in how they climbed up her throat. But she felt more clear-headed now than she had this entire evening. It was almost as if she never panicked at all. No, she felt almost at ease with her surroundings. The red sky pierced with lightning and a booming rushed throughout the cavern they were all in, the screams of demented creatures ringing throughout the air. Isabel looked down at the madness, witnessing great destruction everywhere. Jake continued brawling the foul creatures as they swarmed him like vermin, somehow able to take on multiple at once. She glanced a bit further, seeing what looked to be Milo far in the distance, a large hole in a wall above him. Did he make that hole? Isabel continued to witness an incalculable amount of destruction from beneath them, seeing Louise... What happened with her? The demons would approach her and then, in almost an instant, they vanished? It was too far to really tell what was happening. A great rumbling, like a shout, was heard as well. Isabel traced it to a great mass of demon's and... Good God, was that Sebastian!? Suddenly there was a rush from below her stomach. It flew all across her body, filling her with dread. Her bright green eyes started to fill with tears again. She remembered all the madness in her mind. She looked back at Alexander, trying to keep the fear at bay. [color=a187be]"She keeps telling me all these cruel things... I can't keep listening to her... Please tell me this isn't real, Alex!"[/color] Isabel couldn't keep the tears back any longer, and they started streaming down her face again. [color=a187be]"She keeps telling me I'm perfect... I'm such a little flame... She keeps using me..."[/color] Isabel said it all through sobs, her whole body shaking again. [color=a187be]"Please don't let me fall asleep, Alex... I don't want to go back there!"[/color] But there it was, back again. This time louder than ever. [color=ec008c][i]You're so precious. I'll leave you be... But soon... You'll face me again. Alone.[/i][/color]