• A lonely, broken soul walked the desolate plane of an empty forest. Blood trailed beneath her feet as the root and stones of the forest floor lacerated her skin. She flung her head back and howled at the moon, the darkness of the night filling her eyes like wine filling a glass. Something burned deep within her chest and she scratched at it until her flesh was bloody and torn.
    The girl had no recollection if where she was or where she was going but she could feel a pull on her neck, a strange force guiding her along like a dog on a leash. Her body was exhausted but she mindlessly continued towards her unknown destination.
    The air around her was thick with the smell of rotting flesh; animal parts and entrails hung from the branches of the dead trees around her, blood dripping into her long dark hair; dirty and wild with twigs and leaves.
    She took long quick strides like an absconding wolf which led her to the edge of a pond. But this pond was no quotidian pond, it was a dark whole where no creature of God dare quench its thirst. The force brought her to her knees, and there in the still black water she caught the image of a girl she had never seen before; eyes sunk, pale skin, malnourished and sickly looking, a long filthy and tattered nightgown.
    "Who is this...this corpse staring back at me?" She asked aloud, her voice weak and raspy. She dipped her hand in the ice cold water, disrupting the self image her mind could not validate. "You do not recognize your own face?" replied a deep and vicious voice from inside her, inside her own head.
    "Can you see?" the voice asked. The more it spoke, the more the burning in her chest grew. She remained silent as she scratched her chest harder. "Can you see?!?!?" the voice blared. The girl scream as the voice rang in her ears. She held her head in her hands, rocking back and forth as blood poured from her orifices.
    "See What!?!?!?" the girl cried, "Its just a pond, please, leave me alone..." her cries of pain pierced through the cold air like a spear through a heart. "Look closer..." the voice hissed. The water of the pond began to ripple and her reflection changed into the image of a burning world of chaos and destruction, dead and mutilated bodies lined the streets as blood over flowed the sewers. "Recite a requiem girl for this is OUR future!!" cackled the voice.
    The girl shook her head, crying hysterically. "No!" she cried, "I won't let you control me!!" but she knew very well there wasn't a thing she could do, her will was slowly but surely fading. she wiped the blood from her eyes, nose and mouth, staining the sleeves of her nightgown a lovely velvet red. The voice laughed maniacally, and as it continued to laugh, harder and harder, her head began to feel like it was going to burst. "Get out of my head!" the girl screamed, pulling at her hair as more blood poured from her.
    All hope was lost for her. She could feel something crawling inside of her, inside of her soul. The burning in her chest was almost unbearable now and she clenched at her chest, blood oozing through her fingers. "Obey! Obey me!" the voice yelled, repeating itself over and over. Her vision becoming blurred, she felt her will diminish. She no longer cared about the pain, or the cold of the night, she just wanted to sleep. "How strange..." she laughed to herself as she slowly closed her eyes, the voice in her head fading away...

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

    Suddenly Belial shot straight up in her bed. She rubbed her eyes for a long moment, the remnants of her nightmare still lingering. Her mind felt hazy and she couldn't really remember where she was, but she knew it was morning, the sun was shining through the curtains of a near by window.
    "Are you alright?" a soothing voice spoke up next to her. She turned quickly, startled a bit. "Joseph..." she smiled brightly as everything came back to her. She was in bed, at home, with her husband, it was a Saturday, they were suppose to go out for breakfast...
    He opened his arms and she fit perfectly into them, cuddling up closely as he stroked her hair. "Did you have another nightmare?" he asked kissing her on the forehead. She nodded, nuzzling his chest. He smirked a little and kissed her more. His chest was warm, his beating heart and deep voice boomed in her ear. She felt safe with him, like the dream had never happened...but she knew better than to fool herself for in the back of her head, from the depths of her mind she could hear a most insidious laugh...