They walked for several minutes in silence as she took in the bizarre scene around her. The road they were on was one of hundreds, spanning an endless landscape of grass, shrubs and clusters of squat trees. As they walked the stone path became more densely packed with the strange people. Slowly the throng thinned as many broke away and followed smaller paths that branched off from the main thoroughfare.

  “Hey, Nardi? Where exactly are we headed?” she finally decided to break the silence as it was clear her companion had no intention of doing so himself.

  “I am taking you to your path, as dictated by Ignis,” he spoke with confidence as if that one sentence explained everything.

  “Ok, and what is this path exactly? I’ve heard it mentioned a few times now but no one has actually explained it to me,” Nardi gave her a quizzical look for a moment before he replied.

  “It is your path of life. Every soul that enters the realms of rebirth must follow it, and take part in its trials to be born into the world once again,” his tone was casual, as if they were talking about the weather, but those words stopped her in her tracks.

  “Nardi,” the towering man stopped as well and turned to face her.

  “Yes child?” his face was marked clearly with confusion.

  “You said this is the realm of rebirth?” she spoke carefully hoping in vain that she had misunderstood.

  “It is one of them, there are many. This one in particular is ruled by our father Ignis.” he spoke a little slower than before, like a teacher trying to explain multiplication to a small child.

  “And this path, it ends in being reborn?” she prayed for a different answer then she knew was coming.

  “That is correct child, the paths ultimate goal is to take you to the next life as dictated by Ignis,” he nodded and smiled at her warmly. As if praising her for answering a question right. If he pulled out a pack of gold stars she might actually try to deck the mountain of a man. She took a slow inhale of breath.

  “Nardi. Am I dead?” her voice was level but she could feel herself trembling. The thought had cropped up once or twice since she had been here, but it had quickly been shoved to the back of her mind each time it surfaced. This place hadn’t matched any ideas of heaven or hell that she’d grown up learning about. But what Nardi said about a path and trials to be reborn, that did sound like some of the stories she heard about other religions ideas on death.

  He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by a scream. Nardi’s head snapped in the direction of the sound, people scattered as panicked voices rang out. In an instant ornate golden armor covered Nardi’s entire body as he hoisted his bardiche. He raised his palm to her and spoke a few quick words in a language she didn't recognize. A golden circle filled with intricate symbols glowed on the ground under her feet, before erupting in massive translucent golden blades that surrounded her in a pyramid shape. A golden chain snaked upward wrapping its self around the entire structure, locking the blades in place.

  “Stay here!” he commanded in a voice unlike anything she had heard from the man before. Flaming wings sprouted from his back and he rocketed forward into the throng of frantic people. What was going on? She pushed against one of the bladed walls, despite being transparent they were tough as iron and refused to budge. Outside her cage people ran in panic and confusion. What were they running from? If it was dangerous why had Nardi stuck her here instead of letting her run to safety like the rest?

  She craned her head attempting to see what they were running from. But even as the crowd around her golden prison thinned she couldn't see through the masses further out. The collection of people where she assumed Nardi had ran to was closely packed together, and it was impossible to make out what was happening from this distance.

  Her attention was drawn from the crowd to something slithering along the ground. It was wispy and black, like a snake made of shadow and smoke. It circled her a few times before rising up like a cobra, the mass of shadows where the head should have been, formed a bony fist. It reared back and slammed into the shield. There was a loud cracking sound and the entire structure shook violently at the impact, making her jump. It reared back and struck again, making the chains rattle.

  The assault continued, she watched helplessly as the golden surface of the blades rippled and the chains slowly warped. A frantic look at her surroundings showed Nardi was nowhere to be seen, and if the deafening sounds of that thing breaking open the shield didn't draw him nothing would. She did her best to put as much space between herself and the shadowy creature, butting up against the far wall of the pyramid-like structure. It was only a matter of time till it broke though, leaving her defenseless.

  Stolen story; please report.

  She had to run, who knew what that thing would do to her. But run where? Red grassland was all she saw in any direction. No buildings to hide in, no rocky structures, not even a tree she could climb. So what? I just let this thing kill me? Her mind raced, then she spotted the massive tree. It was a fair ways away but it meant people, a place to hide. Maybe the voice in the clouds, they could help, right? It wasn't much of a plan but it was all she had. Legs tensed, she waited for her moment.

  The shadowy fist struck the barrier. Bam! Bam! It reared back and crashed into the golden blades one final time. A sound like breaking glass rang out as the entire structure, chain and all, shattered into fractals of golden light. She didn't waste any time and took off running toward the tree. Willing her legs to go as fast as they could. After sprinting a good twenty feet she risked a glance back. What greeted her was the creature in hot pursuit, it moved with an unnatural speed and was quickly gaining on her. She willed her feet to move quicker, her legs to pump harder. But the shadow overtook her.

  It slithered around her ankle and without any time to react her legs were pulled out from under her, sending her sprawling onto her back. Her head made contact with a rock, stars filled her vision as she felt her body dragged along the ground. Trees, grass and shrubs melted into a blur of red and orange as she picked up speed. Without time to think she reacted on instinct, clawing at the ground and lashing wildly in an attempt to escape the shadowy hands grasp. She dug her fingers into the surprisingly soft earth, the dirt and rocks she threw immediately dissipated into red vapor. Clumps of grass broke free from the ground, evaporating into red mist as she grabbed at them. Desperate for any sort of purchase to try and slow her captor, her wild clawing at the ground found nothing. Then, just as quickly as the mad dash had started, it stopped.

  She was dropped to the ground, the momentum from the creatures flight carried her several feet before rolling to a halt. Her heart hammered against her ribs and after a few deep breaths she managed to sit upright, head spinning slightly. Trembling she looked around. There were no throngs of fiery travelers, no Nardi chasing after her either.

  Now on her feet she looked closer at the expanse of grass land and realized she couldn't see the cobbled pathway anywhere. She looked for the Acacia tree and for a terrifying moment couldn't find it. Finally, after several minutes scanning the horizon, she found it off in the distance. It was now nearly a quarter of the size from before. That had to be wrong. The chase with the black hand had only lasted a few minutes. She couldn't possibly have gone that far. Right?

  A cold fear settled in the pit of her stomach. At this distance she had to be days away from the path. Would Nardi even be able to find her this far out? Would he even come looking for her? He had to, it was his job, apparently. He clearly meant for her to stay where she was, why lock her up if he had no intention of coming back for her? It was also pretty obvious he believe there was no way she was going to get out of his little knife prison, so he would haft to assume something happened to her. But then the question was how he would even find her.

  Her first instinct was to stay put, but that was quickly tossed. This was some weird otherworldly dimension, not a grocery store. Who knew how things worked here. That weird shadowy hand somehow managed to drag her several hundred thousand miles in minutes. Did she even leave some kind of trail to follow? She should head back to the tree, it was the only landmark and it meant getting back to the path and Nardi. But what about that weird shadow? Why had it just dropped her here and where had it gone?

  While nervously checking her surroundings something flickered at the edge of her vision. Something dark. She focused on it. A dark figure, cloaked in a heavy robe that covered their face, stood roughly fifty feet away. The two of them stared at each other for several minutes, before the cloaked figure raised its arm, a dark skeletal looking hand emerging from the folds of its robe. The hand gestured, beckoning her over to them.

  “Not a fucking chance,” she muttered under her breath. If there was one thing she learned from horror movies it was that following the creepy robed person was a sure fire way to get yourself killed. The thin hand clenched and a hiss echoed from the hooded figure, sounding agitated. They made a jerking motion and she felt herself dragged toward them. She dug her heels into the ground desperate to fight against the pull, but her efforts didn't even slow it down.

  Her body was propelled forward, ten feet. Twenty. Forty. She was just five feet away from the strange black robed figure, when she heard it cackling. It was an awful clawing sound, like nails on a chalkboard. The figure reached out to grab her, but was stopped as the blade of a bardiche sliced through the air between them, imbedding itself in the ground.

  “Halt foul creature! You are not permitted to be here!” the thundering voice of Nardi echoed from above as she saw the man, still clad in his golden armor, descend on his flaming wings. He extended his hand and the weapon pulled itself from the dirt, returning to its master. The robed figure recoiled slightly, an angry screech emanated from its hood. Nardi hoisted his weapon, readying to attack.

  “The will of the Countess shall be obeyed!” the voice that came from the black hood was thin and raspy, like the final words of someone on their deathbed. Quicker than she could have imagined the figure was able to move, it grabbed her by the arm and tossed her several feet to the left of where they stood. Despite its weathered appearance, the thing was strong, she flew through the air before landing on the ground with a dull thud.

  “No!” Nardi yelled as he let loose a strike with his blade, slicing the creature in two at the waist. It hissed and writhed as its body crumbled to dust along with its cloak. Confused, and head still throbbing slightly, she was relieved the danger was finally gone. Making her way to her feet she took a few steps toward the armor clad man.

  “Nardi! I’m so glad you found me! What even was that thing?” she was about to let loose a string of questions when he raised his hand at her indicating she should stop. Confused, she froze mid step, looking around for another cloaked figure or shadow snake she missed. But there was no one else.

  “You can not come closer. You must now follow the path.” his voice was tight as he spoke.

  “What?” she attempted to take another step forward, there was no reason they had to shout at each other from several feet away.

  “Stop!” the harsh tone in the formerly kind man's voice forced her to remain where she was. She was close enough to see his face now and his expression was unsettling. His eyes burned with fury and his jaw was clenched, it looked like he was desperately attempting to keep his anger in check. But why? Had she done something wrong? How? All she did was get chased around by some weird shadow guy.

  “Nardi, what’s going on?” she was upset and a little hurt. So far Nardi had been the only person in this place who seemed to care about what happened to her. Why was he suddenly acting this way? His response was to gesture to the ground at her feet. Looking down she realized she was not standing in the grassy field but on a small path. It wasn’t cobbled like the large road the two of them had walked together, but looking at it she did remember some similar trails that branched off the main road. She looked up at him again, still as confused as before.

  “You are on a path. You must now follow it to its end.” he gestured behind her, implying the direction she would need to go. Nardi then turned his back on her, fiery wings extending out to either side. But before he took off she heard him speak, this time his voice was small, almost sad. “Good luck child. I am sorry.” before she could respond his powerful wings launched him skyward and he quickly flew out of sight.