The Empress Awakens

Aurora felt like she was floating in a sea of darkness. She tried to collect her thoughts, but every time she caught hold of a memory it would dissolve and float away in the watery void around her. It was as if her mind was trying to protect her from some horrible reality, but she could not remember what.

Occasionally Aurora would hear voices from the darkness that she could not make sense of. The sounds were both familiar and foreign. Once she even heard a lovely story about a princess which made her cry, but she could not say why. Aurora lay adrift. An eternity passed. All was darkness.

Then the darkness lightened and faces around her began to take shape. Aurora knew their names: Devrim, Brinn, Nanny, Zan, Mairwen…They all caused the lady to smile. With them she was safe, wanted and home. But another face formed and the dark-haired woman cried out. The blue eyes staring at her were both forbidding and pleading. As she recalled all that had happened, his name e