The last thing Valoria remembers was her thorny claws reaching for that detestable Crowsong, and then her world turned to black. A sense of dread fills Valoria, leaving her with the gnawing suspicion that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

  "Curse that little bitch," she grumbles to herself, her voice like the creaking of dead branches. "How was I supposed to know she could revive herself!? It's fine, it's fine... That enchantment of hers must have a limit. I’ll just kill her in the waking world, and then flee until it runs out. It pains me to leave the Grand Tree behind, but until I can be certain she’s dead I’ll just have to stay awa-"

  "My oh my, you just love to hear yourself talk, don't you?"

  Valoria spins around, her eyes narrowing as they catch sight of a figure in the darkness.

  "You!" Valoria shouts, her elongated limbs twitching with anticipation. "I don't know how you got here, but I'm glad to see you. This mark's giving me some trouble."

  Valoria reaches out to the woman only to find her hand being swatted away a moment later.

  "It's a shame you got your arms back," the woman drawls, and then lets out a painfully long sigh. "I much preferred you without them. You make for a better plant I think."

  Valoria lets out a growl, and takes an aggressive step closer. "Hey, what the fucks that supposed to mean?" she demands, her ashen hair bristling with anger.

  The woman simply chuckles though. "I am not here to help you. It's quite the contrary, actually."

  "But we're sisters!" Valoria rasps as she steps closer, desperate to understand. She stretches her hand out, trying to reach the woman once more.

  "Sisters? You and I?" The woman scoffs, her eyes gleaming like embers in the darkness. "I think I, of all people, would remember being related to something as ugly as you." She swats Valoria’s hand away harder t his time.

  Valoria lurches forward again, far more forceful in her approach now. "Listen, I know you're new here so maybe you don't understand how things work yet, but that girls’ marked for death! Not just once, but twice, and to top it all off, she’s a Crowsong! Do you understand what I’m saying here? Lord Death abandoned us for them, and he says it's okay to kill this one! How often do we get action like this?"

  Before Valoria can reach the woman, she feels an immense pressure clamp down on her wrist, and then she’s pulled in close. The woman hisses at her, "Once was a mistake, twice was quite enough, but thrice? Just who do you think you’re trying to touch with this dirty little roots of yours?"

  Confusion contorts Valoria’s features as she winces in pain. Why did it hurt so bad? It felt like her wrist would snap at any moment. She squints into the darkness.

  "Aetheria?..." Valoria asks as a face comes into view. The resemblance is uncanny, except her hair is a dark shade red and her eyes seem to be burning. A flame alight in each one.

  "Who the fu-" Valoria tries to snarl, but before she can finish, an iron grip finds itself around her throat.

  Valoria dangles in the air, feet kicking at open air. Never before had she been overpowered like this, so quickly, so easily.

  Valoria claws at the woman's hand in an attempt to free herself, but her nails simply break against the stranger's flesh.

  "Don't speak so loudly," The woman whispers, her hand squeezing down on Valoria’s windpipe. "We don't want to wake her up now, do we?"

  Valoria’s gaze flickers to the Grand Tree. She’s only a few feet away from it, and propped up against it. A sleeping child.

  Clara Crowsong.

  If Valoria could just touch that tree then she could undo this spell and be free of this dream… Valoria struggles to free herself, unleashing every spell she has at once. She feels her vines and tendrils wrap around the woman's form. They twist, and contort, and dig. Valoria can't help but laugh as her attacks land. Although Valoria’s joy is short lived as she finds herself thrown onto the ground. The wind is knocked right from her lungs as she tries to draw breath. It doesn't come to her. She tries to pick herself up, but a foot plants itself firmly against her chest. A thick, heavy, metallic boot.

  "Who…" Valoria manages to choke out once more, but she falls silent quickly. The foot on her chest is so heavy that she can envision it going clean through her chest, and killing her instantly. Would she awaken from the dream if that happened?

  "You know, for a while there, Clara actually thought you were going to crush her to death underfoot. What a miserable way to go, I thought to myself! When that fear ran through that child's mind, I wished to see it for myself."

  "I get it, you’re that girl's Divine Aspect, aren’t you? But why do you look like my sister?... No, this is a nightmare! She’s playing mind games... " Valoria copes, scraping her broken claws across the boot on her chest in an attempt to pry it away.

  She doesn’t so much as leave a scratch.

  "Don’t make me laugh! A Divine Aspect? A nightmare? That's what you think of me? Coma Clara didn’t know what kind of dream to prepare for you, so she asked me for help! The fun hasn’t even begun yet. I am going to bring your greatest fears to the surface. Doesn't that just sound swell?" The woman's voice is a cruel, mocking lilt.

  "Come on! Don’t you think you’re being a little too cruel? The mark she has to kill won’t stay dead, and she got her magic tree taken away! Isn’t that just too unlucky? I think she deserves a break." A new voice enters the fray, but Valoria is unable to find its source.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  "I think this plant is getting exactly what she deserves. What's the other one always saying? This is just a bit of karma coming back to bite her in the ass, right? Oh, What's this memory? I think this will do nicely…"

  And with that, the foot crushes Valoria’s sternum, killing her instantly. Everything goes dark and the Twisted Guardian falls far, far deeper into the dream.

  As Valoria comes to, she gasps, clutching at her chest that is now whole. She finds herself in a pile of leaves and surrounded by high walls made of…logs? Just what kind of dream had she ended up in?

  "Hello one and all, and welcome to the Nightmare Labyrinth!" Clara's voice rings out from above like an announcer. "Our guest today is Valoria, the Twisted Guardian of the Withered Dreads!"

  Valoria clenches her jaw, unsettled by the girl's words. When had she learned her full title? It must have been that woman from the dream prior, but who was she? There was another there too… Valoria had too many questions, and not enough information.

  "Now, dear contestant, you may be curious as to why this dream is called Nightmare Labyrinth. Thanks to insider information, we have discovered that you don't do a single thing in your free time other than hang out in this stupid forest! It took a while to prepare, but together we were able to terraform the entire place! And who are we, you might ask?"

  Valoria's hands begin to shake the longer she listens, her fear giving way to anger.

  "I've brought back one hundred spirits of those that you've led to their demise. Some were marked just like myself, others were just for your own enjoyment. Together, we've decided on your punishment."

  Valoria couldn’t even remember killing a hundred things. Had she really slain that many already?

  "Of course, I understand the limitations of 'Dream of the Whispering Forest', it's a very interesting Divine Aspect, isn't it? But it does require rules."

  "How…" Valoria mutters under her breath, her heart pounding in her chest. "This little bitch already found out how it works?..." She clenches her fists tight, the thorns growing from her knuckles begin to dig into her bark.

  "It's okay," Clara's voice assures her mockingly, "You thought I’d tell you the rules of this dream? Unlucky! Just kidding, I’ll tell you all about the rules. So, we all decided that a nice game of tag would be a fun way to get back at you for all the hurt you’ve caused in the real world! Your goal is to reach the Grand Tree, while avoiding being tagged!"

  There was that fucking word again. Luck. The voice from earlier had spoken on it. Was it possible it had an effect on the Crowsong girls mind?... Valoria thinks to herself, her mind racing through the implications. To top it all off…

  Her ultimate spell was being used against her, and it was going to be used for a child's game? This was a disappointment, but lucky for her.

  "For each soul that tags you, you'll lose one percent of your soul in the waking world!" Clara announces gleefully. "Due to the size of the labyrinth, we've elected to give you a five-minute head star-"

  Her words are cut short by the sound of heavy footsteps pounding towards Valoria. The earth itself seems to tremble beneath her.

  "Oh, what's this?" Clara asks, feigning surprise. "It seems as if one of the chasers just cannot wait any longer! Please give a warm welcome to the largest Crowsong in recent history..."

  The nearest wall of the maze splinters apart as a giant of a man emerges, teeth clenched and steam billowing from his nostrils. "The Mountain of Strength…!"

  He barely resembles a human, his skin stretches tight over bulging muscles that seem to grow upon layers of muscle. Towering over Valoria at nine foot tall, he laughs, and his dark eyes lock onto her body. "The Mighty Behemoth...!"

  Valoria already knew who he was.

  "Duriel…" Valoria mutters under her breath.

  "Duriel, the Indomitable!" Clara cries throughout the labyrinth.

  "Tiny...plant..." Duriel manages to grumble out.

  Valoria growls in response, her anger overriding her fear for now. "Oh, you stupid brute...I killed you once, wasn't that enough for you?"

  Duriel charges at Valoria like a bull, but she deftly evades him.

  "I guess I'll need to rely on ranged attacks then," she shouts, her mind calculating the best way to dispatch the monstrous foe. "Do you have any idea just how many dreams I had to drag you through just to learn how to deal with you? The first member of the Abyssal Requiem that I put down... I can do it again!"

  Duriel lunges towards Valoria with his massive form, his every movement like an avalanche of rage. The Twisted Guardian weaves around him, dodging each crushing blow, she dances, like leaves in the wind. Though she appears fragile compared to her monstrous opponent, her agility is able to keep her just out of reach.

  "You’re going to die the same way you did last time at this rate," Valoria taunts, her voice dripping with disdain. She sends a barrage of seeds flying towards Duriel, the projectiles slice through the air like a thousand tiny knives. The colossal Crowsong roars as they tear into his flesh, but his wounds seem only to enrage him further.

  "Stupid...plant!" he bellows, only fueling his efforts to crush Valoria beneath his fists.

  But the Twisted Guardian is relentless, her vines snake around Duriel's limbs, constricting and binding him until his movements grow sluggish. With a final, desperate strike across his neck, she brings him to his knees.

  "Stay dead this time," Valoria sneers, watching Duriel collapse, breathless and defeated.

  A sense of triumph fills her chest, even as Clara's unnerving voice echoes out overhead.

  "Chasers, it has been five minutes, you may now commence with the game! Take your revenge however you deem fit! Go, go, go!"

  Valoria shudders at the deranged tone in Clara's voice, wondering what lengths the necromancer had gone to orchestrate such a nightmare. It was only then, that she felt the first pair of clammy hands grab hold of her leg.

  The imps come without warning, their faces wearing cruel grins as they swarm over Valoria’s frame. Her eyes widen in shock, and she unleashes a flurry of seeds that reduces the nearest creatures to a bloody mist. But they are relentless, crawling out of Duriel's fallen body and rushing towards her.

  "Get off of me, you filthy things!" Valoria snarls, her hearts pounding violently as she tries to fend them off. A vine coils around her arm, poised to strike down another imp when a crushing pain seizes her chest, forcing her to her knees. A part of her soul was leaving her.

  A tiny red imp darts in, slashing Valoria's cheek with its grimy hand as it cackles maniacally to itself.

  "Damn you!" Valoria hisses, flicking a seed at the creature and watching as it explodes into a cloud of gore.

  "Good job, Duriel and the imps! They've managed to make Valoria, the Twisted Bitch lose a tenth of her soul already! I hope everyone else can do as well as they have!"

  "The Twisted Bitch!!?!" Valoria shouts out in frustration, her voice hoarse and strained. Her foot comes down with a vicious stomp on Duriel's skull, and it explodes beneath her heel like a ripe fruit, leaving only ectoplasm and fragments of bone in its wake.

  "You weren't like this in life... You never stooped to cheap tricks like this, no matter how much we fought. That's what you-" Valoria's words are cut short by a sudden shudder that races through her body, her frame quivers uncontrollably as another fragment of her soul is ripped away from her. With a choked grunt, she clutches at her chest. It felt like a pair of icy claws were tearing away at her very essence.

  "Even touching a corpse will trigger it?..." Valoria whispers, her breath coming in ragged gasps as the pain finally begins to subside. The realization sends a cold shiver down her spine.

  But she couldn't allow herself to be paralyzed by fear. Not while the mark still lived. Gritting her teeth, Valoria presses deeper into the labyrinth, determined to survive. Even if it meant facing down the very demons she had helped to create.