:1:

As the sound of shouting drifted to her ears, her groggy mind was brought out of what had been a restless sleep. She felt even more exhausted, than when she had went to bed, and she knew she should be concerned, but her mind was refusing to fully wake. All she could manage, was to lay there listening. Something was off, she knew that much, even before the strange hardness of where she rested, registered to her. It wasn't till she heard a dull pounding, which seemed to be drawing closer, that she reached over to shake her fiancé. He should be laying next to her, but for some reason, her hands could not find him. What she did find, was of a cold, smoothly worn texture, and a frigid breeze hit her legs. She shivered reaching for sheets, but to her dismay, they were no longer there. Had they been kicked off in the middle of the night, and what was up with her bed? It felt more like stone, than mattress.

It wasn't till the sound of clashing metal, being struck repeatedly, reached her ears, that she was finally startled up to look around. At first, all she could see was the darkness about her, but soon, a silvery light shown down upon her surroundings. What it revealed was not her bedroom at all. A black clouded sky, revealing a half moon, was looking back at her from where she sat, and the breeze she had thought was being created by her stand up fan, was actually the wind. Her bed had been replaced with a flat rock in the middle of a sea of sand, and to top her confusion off, Jimmy, her fiancé, was nowhere to be seen.

"Ok this just has to be a dream. Jimmy? Jimmy where are you?" She whispered slightly panicked, pinching herself, but it had no effect in bringing this strange delusion to an end.

As the shouting and metal clanging grew louder, she lifted her head in the direction of a large sand dune. To her, it sounded as if a full on battle was being waged, just on the other side. The pound of horse hooves could now be distinguished from the dull thudding, and a thought had just occurred to her. What if her fiancé was just over that ridge? Was he in the middle of that commotion? She just had to risk a look. It would do her no good to just sit there.

"Ok Melissa... just one look over that hill. No one will even know you were there." She spoke softly, in attempt to motivate herself to stupidly move in the noise's direction.

After slipping on the shifting sands a couple of times, she eventually managed to near the edge of the dune. Lowering herself to a crouch, she peaked over the edge trying not to be seen by whomever was down there.

From what she could see, two armies, that looked as if they had come right out of a fantasy movie, were facing off. The army closest to her was dressed in a heavy armor and chain mail. They looked to be composed mostly of men. The other army was drastically different. All of them were women dressed in what looked to be a light Arabian garb, and their blood red hair flowed behind them, as they slashed ferociously at their armored foes.

Watching the scene before her, she thought the lack of armor on the female warriors would have left them at a disadvantage, but the more she studied the event below, the more she could see that the armor was actually weighing the men down. They were sinking into the sand, making it harder for them to move, while the women were so fast and agile. For every blow the men would strike, the women were able to counter with three.

To the back of the battle, a fairly large troop surrounded a man, who must have been their leader. He sat on top of a white mare, covered in a golden armor, and she wondered who he was. Was he the good guy in all this? Why were they fighting?

She shook her head. This shouldn't matter to her. Her only concern should be Jimmy. Moving her attention back to the battle itself, she skimmed the crowd for her fiancé, and was relieved not to see him mixed in there anywhere. But if he wasn't there, where exactly was he?

Without warning, a blast of flame and ice struck the group of armored men, shocking her out of her thoughts. She watched them fly in all directions, as if in slow motion, and a gleeful cackling came from above. Looking up just in time, to her astonishment, she spied two little old women flying away on brooms. They seemed thoroughly happy with the destruction they had just caused, and by some miracle, avoided being hit by the volley of arrows being sent their way. Her gaze could do nothing but follow the impossible flying brooms, and she noticed that the clouds had moved in once more. Lightning flashed from them, allowing her to see the brooms coming to a stop, finally, after crossing a good distance.

Even at that distance, she could see "Him" when the lightning would flash. A man on a dark armored horse, his cape whipping around him in the wind. Flanked by more of the female warriors on horseback, the dark figure of the man pointed towards the other forces. It was all the signal his troops needed. They raced their horses forward, striking at any enemies that crossed their path, in their rush towards the opposing leader.

Her eyes watched the riders intently, and in all the chaos, she failed to notice two shadows move silently over her. It only took one raspy shriek from above changed that. Melissa's gaze swung up in terror, as the two witch like women hovered above her. They shouted at her, but she didn't recognize the language at all.

"I'm sorry, but I can't understand a word your saying. You wouldn't happen to speak English would you?" Melissa tried, backing slowly away, unsure if they would understand.

The two old crones just stared at her for a moment, before starting to talk amongst themselves. They sounded as if they were bickering about something. Melissa couldn't understand them, but at least they weren't trying to kill her. At least that is what she thought, till one shouted at the closest group of horseback women. By the time she realized what was going on, it was a little too late to run. She almost felt silly about doing so, but as she watched the horse galloping towards her, she panicked and made a mad dash away.

Even as she ran, she knew she wouldn't actually be able to out run a horse. She truly expected to feel the sharp sting of a blade at any moment, but was surprised by a sharp tug at the back of her night shirt. The rider was definitely stronger than she looked, and lifted her up into the air effortlessly, slinging her over the horse uncomfortably. Melissa struggled to roll off and get away, but that only earned a rough knee to the side, and a fist of her hair being yanked. The woman growled at her movements, and was probably cursing her, as they crested over another dune, leaving the fight behind.

"Where are you taking me?" she asked, after bouncing painfully against the horse's side, for what seemed an eternity. "Could you at least tell me where I am? What are you going to do with m-?"

The woman only cut Melissa off in her strange language, and though she couldn't understand what was being spoken, something about the woman's tone made Melissa go silent. This was fine, for her attention was soon drawn to a monstrosity sticking out of the desert. A huge stone woman, with her palms stretched out, sat before them, carved straight from the rock face of a lone building. Melissa stared in awe of its beauty till, without warning, her captor threw her from the horse, causing her to land face first in the sand.

"Ow! Was that really necessary?" She objected, spitting out a mouthful of sand, but the rider ignored her, and dismounted beside her with a thud.

Jerking her roughly to her feet, the woman began to drag her across the courtyard, and up the stairs into the entrance. Melissa already knew struggling would do her no good, so for now, she would bide her time and wait for an opportunity present itself. Till then, they traveled swiftly through the maze-like hallways, and Melissa found herself feeling lost already. The halls, being so dark, and without much in the way of identifying markers, didn't help, but on occasion she would see a crate or two. If she was able to make an escape later, she would keep a mental note of these areas, and hope that it would be enough to help keep her from getting turned around.

Eventually, they stopped within a rather dismal hall. The stone walls were cracked, and few of the doors lined upon it, hung off their hinges in odd angles. Was this their prison? Was she to rot here? She was starting to feel that panicked feeling again, and now the woman was digging her fingers into her shoulders, pushing her through a gnarled, and rough wooden door. Melissa cringed at the rough treatment, and turned to protest, but the door had already slammed shut, and the sound of a lock clicking could be heard. Now she was all alone.