Prologue

“Dreams are always special, even if they’re not real.”

The rain beat against the windows and rest of the house. It was a sound that was generally relaxing, but that calm feeling was banished by the flash of light that would occur every few moments. It was the precursor to the loud boom of thunder that would make my body jerk. I had always been afraid of thunder, even since I was a little girl I had been and I doubted it would it change.

Every drop of rain that hit the roof or the window sounded the same. It was a dull thud and then I would watch it slide down the glass. I could almost lose myself listening to it; their synchronous deaths were almost rhythmic. It was like listening to the beat of a soft drummer as he played his percussion lullaby. That was always disrupted by the next thunderclap, though. God, how I hated thunder.

It was the moment following that frightening noise that a thought occurred to me. I could possibly find refuge within the basement; at least I hoped I could. I felt the wall with one hand and made my way to a door that I could only assume led to the basement as it led to a descending case of stairs.

Every step down the stairs was one that forced me to stop in hopes of calming my nerves. They were so fragile from the sound of the thunder and the thought of descending into the darkness of my eccentric uncle’s basement only exacerbated how I felt. Perhaps I was worrying myself too much, but that was one of my flaws. I worried—a lot. Too much.

The first steps onto the floor of the basement were ones of much caution. Perhaps I held some belief that I was going to step into a lake or something similar, but I was afraid. It was silly and I knew it, but I suppose that was just life. I mean, who didn’t have a silly moment or two once in a while?

I sat on the stairs and looked around the dark room; I was unable to make out anything, but it was just another of my quirks. Maybe it was the imagining part of what might be in there? I had never been here, so it sort of kept my mind busy to imagine what my uncle had kept here. The things he might have had.

When I heard another thunderclap, I quickly shut my eyes and covered my ears. And for no more than a second, it was as if I could see something—different. There was something odd about the wall opposite of where I was. It was likely just my imagination, but I wanted to investigate.

It was difficult as I got to my feet. Like standing up after resting a long time and it may have been, but it didn’t feel like a long time. It felt like it had only been a few minutes to me.


The sound of my wet sneakers against the dirt floor made a flopping noise. Flop. Flop. That was the sound of both water in my shoes and of knowing that I hadn’t run into anything. “Just look at the little things, Alice,” I told myself trying to sound like my dad. He wasn’t the brightest of men, but he was happy and I suppose that sort of rubbed off on me. I was generally happy, even if I was a little scared of thunder and the dark still.

I banished the thoughts from my mind as I reached the wall. My hand removed itself from the pocket of my jeans and my long, narrow fingers brushed against the wall. It was brick; a very coarse grain of brick and very cold, but it was simply mundane brick. My eyes had played a trick on me.

That was what I believed until I saw symbols begin to appear. They each had a faint, sky-blue glow. When I felt them trying to feel what they were made of or if they were hot or cold, I just felt my hand dip into water. What was this—this thing? I just smiled to myself at that question when the answer came so clearly; I fell asleep on the steps. This was just the latest of my odd dreams that I happened to have.

My hand moved to the center of the arch and unsurprisingly, it also gave the same sensation of immersing my hand in water. However when I pulled it back, my hand was as dry as it had been before. I had to discover what was inside this “pool”; as a result of my quest for knowledge, I stepped into it and emerged on the other side.

It was unlike the side I had started on in every way. The room was dome-shaped and lining the walls were sconces shaped like open claws and hovering within them were flames of a violet color. The embers that left their home quickly changed to an almost-teal color before they were snuffed out by time.

In the walls of dull-grey stone were carvings that almost seemed to be a scene from something. A man (I think) surrounded by monsters that seemed to be in submission to him. There were creatures of all kinds bowing their head(s). Some seemed to look similar to animals while others were simply anatomical horrors. It looked almost—Lovecraft.

My eyes eventually lowered to the pedestal in the center of the room that seemed to be without flaw. It was as if it were carved from a natural formation in the room. Sitting upon this was a small stand of what appeared to be a glassy, black stone that was shaped in the form of a claw. Within its grip was a single orb of a matching material, but this had a pattern of cracks that glowed with the same light as the symbols.

I observed it for several moments; I was sort of hoping for something to happen, but there wasn’t anything. It was then that my feet took me closer and my fingers wrapped around the orb. As they touched the smooth sphere, a jolt surged through my body and there was not a thing that I could do or say before everything turned to blackness.

I'm interested now. Lol

Look, how many times?...Do not go into the eccentric uncle's creepy basement?...Do you not hear the scary music fercryingoutloud?! ...

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Loved it matey!...

Excellent stuff...

The description of the basement was spot on...As was all the stuff about the thunder leading up to her descent into Lovecraft central...

Hmmm...Sorry, that sounds like a certain kind of shop...But aaamywho...

Brilliant stuff...

More!!... ...

Nice one!!...

*Applauds heartily*...

The main character's called Alice and she steps through a looking-glass-like thing into a Wonderland (of sorts). That's clever.

I like this opening a lot; very atmospheric, very mysterious and we're given a reasonable sense of what Alice may be like as a character. I'm intrigued to see where to this goes.

Nicely done.
I'll be keeping up with this...

Agreed. Only if there is a grinning Khajiit ... (cheshire cat)

Just kidding. Great Write Z!

I agree, the start of this is looking very, very promising! Will definitely be keeping up with this

I'm not sure this will be continued. I apologize, but it is simply--a bit--difficult. My most sincere apologies to everyone.

Fair enough... ...

Shame that...Maybe think on it a bit and revisit it later?...

I tend to plan something to death before I start, that way I can iron out the - what I like to think of as - plot before I get to the point of posting... ...That way you don't leave us dangling...

You tease you!!... ...