• I jumped out of the hollow I had made in the time warp from the castle and found myself in pitch black darkness. Behind me I could hear the shrieks of the Lord’s despair as I escaped his grasp. Luckily for me, I had escaped from the cage and grabbed my stone before he could say, ‘you sneaky cow’. I don’t think lighting a candle will help me much in this place. It seems familiar, almost like the place where I saw the element girls, but it neither feels cold or hot. I don’t know what time I’m in or anything. They did warn me that this kind of magic was dangerous, but how was I supposed to save him without using it? To me it was a last resort; I could not live with myself if anything had happened to my best friend. I shook my long blonde hair from my eyes and tried to breathe calmly and remember what to do next. I was still wearing the yellow dress from the day before, but it was frayed and dirty. I hoped the Princess wouldn’t mind if it got ruined. It was such a pretty dress at the time…
    “Walk towards the light,” a deep voice suddenly said, “Walk towards the light…”
    The darkness, which was as black as night, burst into an opening of blinding white light, taking the form of a doorway in front of my very eyes, forcing me to gasp in alarm.
    “Walk towards the light…” it said again, almost urgently.
    The light seemed so pure and innocent to me, but there seemed to be a sense of mystery drifting from the darkness that consumed me. I wondered what this meant. Is it a sign? Should I go through? I have no idea where I am, or when I am for that matter, I was irrevocably lost. The darkness began closing in on me, and I began feeling claustrophobic. Against my better will I decided to step through this gate of light.
    “I wonder if this is what death is like…” I said to myself aloud. “It’s sort of like when people see a tunnel of light, maybe, like them, I’m not supposed to die yet…”
    It seemed that I was in the same never-ending space as before, but the darkness was gone and only white light surrounded me. And instead of no sense of feeling, I felt great warmth and euphoria, as though the place was breathing with life.
    “Who was talking to me before?” I said to myself looking around for anybody. There was none. “Was it my imagination?”
    Her words echoed in the place that reflected from anywhere and yet nowhere at once. Then, something seemed to change. It was as though the atmosphere was being sucked into a single point in front of her. She held her hair in place as she saw a person materialize before her eyes. It was her best friend. He was staring placently at her, with no emotion and never moving from his spot. She watched with surprise, believing she had found him at last, but when she went over to touch him, she felt only air.
    The ghostly apparition pointed his hand to her left, and began to walk past her. She followed, having no idea where they were going. The figure stopped and a voice echoed,
    “I miss you, hurry I need you…”
    “I’m coming,” she replied, and ran on, disappearing through the light, as the figure vanished behind her.

    The passageway through the light led me into a strange medieval room, full of dirty shoddy books and cobwebbed walls.
    The walls were made of stone, but were crumbling and on the verge of collapsing. They would likely hold for another couple of years, maybe more.
    I recognize this place… she thought, I’m in the Castle of Morscalfe, but in the future.
    I hope the castle would stay standing forever, but it seemed that the magic that was holding it together was failing; the Castle was losing its life, and all of its beauty with it.
    I coughed, the dust choking the little air I have left to breathe in the extremely musty storage room. Panting, I open the nearest window.
    A scene of sinister magnificence lay in front of me. Everywhere she looked was like a haunted graveyard. The eerie darkness and the blood-red mist hung in the air that felt as cold and as bare as stone.
    The trees were bare and skeletal, empty of leaves and dead of age, and on the hill over the horizon, the tombstone of an angel, praying to the skies in the hopes of peace reigning over this world.
    “What a dismal sight,” I said aloud, turning as my sparkling blue eyes could not bear to see the dreaded world outside the window.
    Before me stood a beautifully carved wardrobe, draped with carvings of pixies and flowers and princesses.
    I open the door and examined my reflection. I had been travelling for some time and the once extravagant golden dress that I wore was covered with dirt and frays.
    I gazed in awe at the wondrous dresses and gowns made fit for a queen.
    Nevertheless, one especially caught my eye; the colour of azure lazuli, glimmering with small gems of turquoise and ribbons of pale blue, soft to the touch with silk and velvet lining.
    I hoped nobody would mind if I kept it, after all the Castle of Morscalfe had been deserted for decades.
    I gazed at the mirror for a long time, thinking how much the dress complimented my eyes, when I realized how dirty my face was.
    A stone dais caught my eye. It was filled with clear, cool, crisp water and engraved with strange runes of a language I didn’t know.
    “Must be magical words,” I said aloud, as I bathed my face, each splash of water even more refreshing than the last.
    I suddenly felt re-energized, happy and confident that I was going to find her long lost friend. “Maybe the water is supposed to make you feel good,” I said.
    Suddenly, a loud, piercing scream echoed through the room.
    “s**t,” she mumbled.
    I gathered myself, and left the room, closing the door behind, with the hopes of my journey ending, and my destiny closing its pages at last.