A shrill beeping woke her and a hand instinctually flew out to slap at her phone alarm. It was Saturday and she was sure she had turned the damn thing off. But as her hand searched for the offending object it found nothing. She swung her arm in a wide arc, figuring she had missed the top of her nightstand again, but her attempts yielded the same result. With an agitated sigh she opened her eyes to . . . black. What greeted her was endless darkness. This was when the panic started to hit her. The apartment was never this dark, there was always some distant glow of street lights, the clock on the stove or the light of the PC tower. Were they in a blackout?

  She tried to make her way out of the bedroom, arms outstretched. After nearly three years in the shoe box of an apartment she could more or less walk around blind, but her hands found none of the familiar land marks. Not the edge of the bed or the nightstand, and as she approached where the door should have been, she found nothing. No cheep plywood door, no door nob, not even the wall. Her chest tightened as her heart hammered in her ears, she took several deep shaky breaths to try and keep the panic at a manageable level. Once her emotions were somewhat in check, she took several long strides forward. At this point she’d have been happy to slam face first into the wall if it meant something solid. But the nothingness persisted.

  “Nick?! Where are you?!” she called out for her partner, her voice strained in distress. But no reply came. There was no sound at all, except for the incessant beeping. She covered her ears, the sound felt like it was pounding inside her head.

  “Just shut up!” she shouted in desperation. And to her surprise the shrill sound died and there was silence. Then someone spoke.

  New soul detected. Beginning Initialization.

  The voice was strange, monotone with an accent she had never heard before, and it sounded like it was right in her ear. She spun around wildly, arms flailing, attempting to find the source of the bizarre voice but just like before there was nothing but empty darkness. A low humming thrummed all around her, she didn't just hear it but felt it, a pressure like a vice that was slowly squeezing tighter and tighter. Just when it felt like her lungs were about to pop, the humming stopped and the pressure vanished. With a wheezing inhale of breath she doubled over, coughing as her lungs urged her to take in more oxygen.

  “What, the fuck?!” she coughed out the words, a mixture of fear and anger in her tone. But there was no response from the strange voice. Instead there was light, bright and blinding, that accosted her from every direction. It was like staring into the sun, pain shot through her skull and spots swam in her vision. Just when she was sure she’d go blind, a voice spoke.

  “I reject the path of Vitalis.” but it wasn't the voice from before. It was hers. As soon as the words left her mouth the light was consumed by the darkness.

  She hardly had a moment to process what just happened before the air turned freezing cold. Strange skeletal hands materialized from the black, seizing her limbs in an iron grip and attempted to drag her downward. Her frantic struggles only made the hands grip tighter, the cold touch burned and her blood felt like it was freezing in her veins. ‘The cold hand of death,’ the old adage ran through her mind as she continued to struggle.

  “I reject the path of Mordu.” instantly the undead hands dissolved and the cold chill seeped from her bones, only the shiver that racked her body remained as she stood.

  “The fuck was that?!” she gasped out. This had to be a dream, it was way too weird and twisted not to be. But the pain, it was so much more vivid than any nightmare she had ever had.

  “Please let this be a dream. I need to wake up.” Pinching her arm, there was a slight pain, then her body felt heavy. It was like a dozen iron barbells had been strapped to her. The weight grew with each passing second and her bones felt like they might shatter from the pressure.

  “I reject the path of Ferros.” the sensation when she spoke was strange, feeling and hearing what was happening, but stuck as a passenger in her own body. The weight relented and her joints ached dully. What the hell was all this? Ferros? Mordu, that had something to do with death didn't it? That was not a comforting thought. There was barely time for her to think at all before everything started to shake. It was a dull rumble at first but quickly grew stronger as she was tossed back and forth like a softball in a dryer. She repeatedly struck the hard ground with a force that made her skull feel like it was about to shatter.

  “I reject the path of Kaminari.” her voice was clear despite the shaking, and once the words left her mouth everything went still. Lying prone for a moment she managed to make it back to her feet. The disorientation and dizziness quickly faded. While regaining her bearings she realized something was off. The darkness around her felt deeper somehow, colder, more endless. A sensation like sinking struck her, as if there was a weight in her chest, and all she could think about was how much she wanted to disappear. To be embraced by nothingness, no pain, no fear. It would be so easy.

  “I acce-” her hands flew to her mouth, cutting off the words. No, she wouldn't do it. Not again. Whatever this place was she had to get out, to get back home. The pull, like quicksand, grew stronger but she resisted. She needed to resist it.

  “I reject this too!” She screamed as loud as she could. For a terrifying moment the darkness pulled on her with more force then ever before. Then the beeping returned, much louder than it had been prior.

  Error. Path deviation detected. Reinitializing.

  The sound grew louder and higher morphing into shrill hum before it suddenly stopped. Silence returned. Then whatever was hijacking her body spoke.

  “I am partial to the path of Shadar.” in an instant the pulling stopped and all pressure disappeared. The moment of relief was quickly overshadowed by anger.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “That's not what I fucking said!” She wanted nothing to do with whatever that was. But the thing making her a passenger in her own body had ignored her and left the door open. She hated this, having no choice or power to change things. Just like her life had always been.

  But was that really the case? Initially whatever was taking control was going to accept that dark pull, but she’d stopped it. In the end it didn't refuse, but it didn't fully accept it either. She had changed the answer, which meant she had some power here.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by something cold at her feet. Despite the apparent gloom around her, she was able to make out the pool of inky black water, roughly at her shins, and that it was rising quickly. Panic surged in her veins but she pushed it down and ran. There had to be some higher ground, an exit, anything at all. But her progress was slow as the water rose to mid thigh, all she found was more empty blackness. The dark water quickly reached her waist, then her chest, it was at that point she felt her feet lift from where she was standing. Her arms and legs kicked wildly in an attempt to keep her head above the water. But her efforts were futile as her head went under. Desperately she kicked and waved her arms in an tried to breach the surface. But there was only the black water as her lungs burned, crying out for air. She was going to die. Then her mouth opened.

  “I reject the path of Hydros.” her voice was clear, not muffled or distorted like it should have been under water. As quickly as it came the water receded, leaving her coughing and gasping.

  “How much longer is this going to last? Is there a point to all of this, or do you just like torturing me?!” Her cries of anger were quickly swallowed by the darkness. The only response was a faint whistling sound, like wind passing through a canyon. It grew louder and she felt a breeze across her skin. In a moment the soft breeze morphed into a roaring gale, violently whipping around. It felt like she was caught in a cyclone as it pulled the oxygen from her lungs and attempted to lift her off the ground. This storm was moments from ripping her limb from limb.

  “I reject the path of Zephyra.” her voice was once again crisp and clear, somehow untouched by the hurricane winds accosting her. They immediately stilled and there was silence once more. This time, before she could launch a string of expletives into the dark a smell filled the air around her. It was dirt, damp like after a summer rain. For a moment it felt peaceful, as she remembered sitting on the back porch during a rainstorm in her childhood home. The memory was broken by the feeling of something course on her skin, she shook her arm and in the dark saw small piles of dirt had formed around her. Something touched her arm again, brushing it off she found it was flecks of soil. Confused she looked up, and while she could only see the same darkness as everywhere else, her gaze was returned by another clod of dirt directly to her face.

  She sputtered and wiped at her eyes. When her vision was clear again she saw the small piles of dirt were nearly up to her knee. Horror filled her as she realized what was happening. As if this place sensed her realization, the dirt that fell from above quickly increased in speed and volume. It was like being trapped in an hourglass that had been turned over. Franticly she clawed at the dirt trying to escape it, but just like with the water, it seamed to be everywhere. She was going to be buried alive.

  “I reject the path of Terrus.” her passenger used her voice and for the first time since this nightmare began she was genuinely grateful for it. The heavy dirt incasing her body eroded into dust and faded into the black nothingness. Shaking, she took several deep breaths in a desperate attempt to gain control over her panic attack.

  “I don't think I can take much more of this,” she muttered weakly to herself, the rage that had been keeping her from spiraling was almost gone. This torture was taking its tole. The fear and not knowing when it would end, or if it would end at all, had nearly eroded all the fight she had left. Then she felt it. Heat. It was a dull warmth at first, comforting, like curling up under and electric blanket. After everything she had been through it was a welcome relief. But the feeling didn't last long as the heat grew, first to an uncomfortably warm room, then working in a hot kitchen, to standing outside on a hundred degree day.

  It grew hotter, she felt it scorching her skin, flesh bubbling and pealing away. She desperately wanted to scream but nothing came out, all she could do was curl up on the floor and pray it would end quickly. As the moments stretched on she thought about her home. Sure it was a shitty apartment that cost too much, and ya, she worked dead end job at a fast food place and she and her husband fought all the time.

  Nick. The thought of him brought tears to her eyes. She thought about cheep pizza date nights on the couch watching some bad comedy they rented. Her burning dinner but Nick throwing extra salt on it and cleaning his plate anyway. Playing with their cat and laughing as it chased the laser around the living room. It wasn't always pretty or neat or easy but it was her life and no one should get to decide what happened to it except for her. Not god or her parents or some asshole who put her in some endless dark torture room. The more she thought about it the angrier she became, she wanted to hit something, claw and bite, draw blood and make whoever the fuck put her here regret ever looking her way.

  Then something changed. The fire was no longer outside her body, it was inside burning her up, but it wasn't as painful. It wasn't destroying her body, it purified it, like when you refined raw metal. All the weakness, the things she didn't like about herself seamed to burn away and all that was left was the rage.

  “I accept the path of Pyrak.” the sound of her voice bought her back to the present, and she found herself standing. In front of her were two orbs, each roughly the size of a grapefruit. The one on her left was dark, its surface warbled slightly and it was rimmed with a dark blue outline that reminded her of the time she saw a lunar eclipse. The one on her right looked like someone had grabbed the sun from space and shrunk it down, the surface roiled with liquid magma and little sunburst erupted from its surface. The shrill beeping returned.

  Initialization error. Divergent paths detected. Please resolve.

  Divergent paths? What did that mean? How was she supposed to resolve it? Staring at the orbs in front of her an idea formed. After each torturous experience she had said something about a path, a weird word or name and rejected it. Except for two. Looking at the wobbling ball of shadow she was certain it represented that black hole that tried to swallow her up. Shadar, was that what it was called?

  She looked to the writhing ball of flame, that had to be the last one, the fire that burned her away. She was pretty sure her passenger called it Pyrak. So the issue was that she had, sort of, chosen two and whatever was controlling this place didn't like that. It wanted her to choose one. As she stepped forward her left arm shot out attempting to grab hold of the black orb. Franticly grabbing at her wrist with her other hand, she took several steps back.

  It was the same feeling of dissociation, of being pushed to the back of her own mind. Whatever kept taking control wanted to choose the darkness. Well fuck that. Tucking her left arm under her right she clenched down as hard as she could and bolted for the fiery orb. As soon as she was within two feet of the sphere her left arm jolted, ripping its self free and shooting toward the shadowy orb once again. She planted her feet, refusing to move, even as her arm aggressively jerked forward. She heard her shoulder pop loudly.

  “Aaah!” she shrieked in pain. This thing inside her was determined to choose that darkness, her arm flailed almost desperate to touch it. But she refused to let it win, this was her body.

  “No one decides my life for me!” she grabbed her possessed arm with her opposite hand, throwing her weight backward, bringing it to her face. She then opened her mouth and bit down on her forearm with as much force as she could manage. Her teeth sunk into her flesh and pain shot up her arm, but she pushed through it. Left arm now restrained she made a mad dash toward the little fireball and plunged her right hand into it.

  For a terrifying moment nothing happened. Then the little fireball erupted, snaking up her arm and enveloping her entire body. Colors flashed before her eyes, like a kaleidoscope was set on fire, it made her dizzy and she felt like she might pass out. Then the familiar beeping sound resonated around her.

  Error resolved. Beginning conversion.

  The flames burrowed into her body, coiling around her bones as they cracked and shifted, and her organs felt like they were being liquefied. Her skin shifted and roiled, taking on the appearance of slow moving magma. Before what happened to her body could even sink in, the darkness was broken by a fiery red light. In front of her appeared an oval shaped hole floating in the air, flames rising from its edges, they slithered out like tendrils and grabbed at her arms and legs dragging her toward it. There wasn't even time to scream before she was plunged through the strange portal.