Land of the First – Servant of Darkness
As she walked through the darkened halls and shadowed corridors, she listened as carefully as she could, listening for a sound, any sound that might lead her to the others, but the silence was complete. Or so it seemed, for after a little while she became aware of something else, something at the edge of hearing, faint and elusive. It would be like the smallest of echoes, as though something, somewhere, infinitely far away, beat at the air. At first she was uncertain that she had heard anything at all, dismissing it as a trick of the mind, but the impression came to her again, and again and again.
She began to look for it, but whatever it was, it also kept out of her way. She opened doors and turned corners, but she surprised no ghosts at play. Instead, each hall, each room she visited, was empty, as though whatever had occupied it had only just left.
Sometimes the feeling came to her that something waited for her just around the next corner, just beyond the next door. At such moments she kept herself as still and as quiet as possible, stealing up to the edge, before darting around to look, but she never caught it. It had already moved on, waiting around the next corner, perhaps, or through the next door. It became a most maddening play. But there was something there, she was certain of it, just beyond her limits, waiting beyond everything, waiting for her to hear it...
