Follow me

CHAPTER 1
FOLLOW ME

Come here, follow me.
Follow!
I'm not going to hurt you! Why do you flinch when I smile, when I smile with my sharpened teeth, or touch you with my long nails. I only want to tell you a story¦please children, I am your friend. Will you listen to me? Will you follow me here, here into this dark cave. Where are we, you ask in your sweet little voice. Sunmej, the planet Sunmej. I brought you here to show you what happened to a group of people in this parallel place. We have all the night! Don't flinch from my hand, I take yours gently and lead you through the dark passages of stone cut into the rock centuries ago. We enter a chamber now¦shh! Don't let her see you! A shadow-drenched figure is passing her black-gloved hand across a worn inscription carved into stone. Lack of light in here means the ancient inscriptions appear no clearer, and their smudgy vagueness taunts the woman with glee. She curses -- cover your ears!
Who is this woman, you ask? Who is this mysterious woman with the flowing dark hair and the golden band resting around her head, who is this woman holding a long-bladed sword in one hand and a rolled up map in the other? This, friend, is the queen of the Southern Continent.
Her pretty face is partly covered by her hair, making her appear intimidating -- you would not like to meet her on a dark night, alone... She always wears a long black robe-like coat more becoming of a rogue than a monarch. Many men on Sunmej sought her hand in marriage before she became queen -- you can see why, cant you? But Steph Alexandria Defoe is not interested in men, she believes she can rule the Continent perfectly well by herself. Now almost twenty, she has begun two wars and is suspected of murdering three royal people. You will hear the people in the villages referring to her only as 'Demon'.
I think she saw us! For a moment, those blue eyes flicked back¦no, just stay and no harm shall come to you.
You wonder why she is here, I shall reveal all in time.
There is a goblin shivering in the corner. This must be the queen's servant, Gashok. He shivers as he bundles his scrawny green body closer to the flaming torch held in his spindly hands, his icy breath dances before him like snow nymphs.
Step back! I think the queen is going to cast a spell!
You know what magic is don't you?
Well here, it does exist, and if you don't accept that you will not be here for much longer. Look!
The queen is conjuring the crackling energy into her palms, the orb grows and cackles like fire. Lit up by the glow, her face is young and determined. She lifts the orb into the air, and drawn by a strong force it collides with the inscription with a loud explosion which slices deep into our ear drums and bathes the cavern in purple light. The goblin in the corner was apparently not prepared for this -- he yelps and drops the torch, and the cavern is engulfed in blackness.
Hold my hand if you are afraid of the dark.
A few beats, and suddenly an orb of fire is floating inside the queen's palm. The glare she shoots the goblin could kill, and Gashok cowers away muttering his apologies. I can tell they are not friends, but what do you think?
Gashok hates the queen. He hates her because she killed most of his village. He hates her because she treats him like dirt. He hates her because she is a human being. When she returns her attention back to the inscription, which has apparently been made a little more visible by the spell, Gashok sticks his snake-like tongue out at her for as long as he dares. His fingers twitch, yearning to snatch her sword away and snap it in half -- a task which he will never succeed in. The young woman does not note him, she is much more interested in the inscription, an inscription which will lead her to the whereabouts of the map which will lead her to the Hidden Continent, where her final goal rests. What is her final goal? Patience, we have the whole night to find out.
I think now is the time to leave.