Last Updated: 13th March 2013

So here we are again. Third time round. Let's hope third time's the charm. I apologize once again everyone. But a writer's gotta do what a writer's gotta do. Let me know what you think.

For all those newcomers, this story has been rewritten before, and this is the third time I'm going through everything and editing some stuff I feel didn't sit right the first time. If this makes no sense to you, ignore all the ANs at the end about the edits. Those are just things I have changed for the ease of my old reader's understanding.

Every chapter that has an 'R' in front of it means it has been revised.

Hello all,

I would firstly like to emphasize that this is a rewrite of my previous fic, Vertigo but it will be slightly altered in terms of storyline, characters and writing style. I did this because I felt unsatisfied with the way that story was going and the way I have written it, therefore before I could go too far with it, I decided to change it up. After much contemplation I eventually admitted that the best way to do that was to start over. I could not possibly just edit the chapters and confused my readers, not to mention myself.

And hence, here we are.

If you have read Vertigo before I hope you will enjoy this one even more. I apologize for dragging you around here and there, but I really do think (and hope) that the improvements will prove satisfactory enough for the change.

For new readers, welcome, and I hope you will enjoy this story.

Do know that criticisms and compliments are both equally welcomed and I hope you will have as much fun through this journey as I know I would.

Just before we start, a casual shout out to Liege Lord, Helljumper 1337, Chris7221, Death-Dimension, S058, triforce avenger, Dauntless Dragon and TheRev28 for having a large impact on my writing. Also, to all those that has ever reviewed, subscribed and read my story. Many, many thanks and love from the bottom of my heart. Your words are the reason to why I still am writing.

Also, everything that is owned by Bioware, is owned by Bioware.

Onwards!

Chapter 1

(revised)

And here it begins...

She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings in wonder: large clouds of black smoke dragged across the ominous orange-red sky, broken only by streaks of white lightning. For a moment she wondered if the sky was bleeding, drizzling crimson droplets that tickled her skin. Curious, she caught a stray drop with the tip of her tongue and realized no, not blood, just rain.

She slowly shifted her gaze to her left, taking in with growing awe at the almost decimated land around her. She imagined how this place could have once been beautiful: lush green grass spreading across to the horizon and beyond, with gorgeous, sweet flowers decorating its borders... Now barely discernible from the burnt bits of black that scattered at the wind's command. For as far as the eye could see there was nothing but haze and soot. In the distance, what she was sure used to be a wise oak tree had crashed to the ground, trunk blackened and torn apart; even the air was pungent and polluted with thick suffocating smoke.

Perhaps it was time to move? She thought to herself as the rain began to pelt so hard it stung her pale skin. Already she could hear the thunder coming from a distance. Maybe the furious sky was coming back to take revenge on those that destroyed this breathtaking place, but if it was so, she did not want to be there to witness it.

Clenching her right fist experimentally, she could tell something felt extremely… off. She frowned slightly at the familiar sensation. She knew she had experienced this before, but she just couldn't seem to reach deep enough within herself to place exactly where and when. Just then, a large resounding boom went off, and her thoughts dashed away as quickly as they came. The earth vibrated gently with the aftershock and with added motivation, she began to move.

All of a sudden, a burning, searing pain of a thousand knives cut through her right side and-

Sky woke up, gasping for much needed air. Hastily, she lifted her shirt and stared at the pale, creamy, but otherwise perfectly normal skin that had brought her to agony moments before. Which shaky fingers, she touched her waist...

It was a dream, only a dream.

Dragging her hand through her long black hair, she found that it was damp from sweat; a strange phenomenon for it was freezing outside. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she reached for her glasses and put them on, before turning to the clock that read '4:48am' and knew that she would no longer be able to get anymore sleep. Sighing, she threw off her covers and gingerly place her feet on the floor, before taking slow, unsteady steps to the bathroom.

Being a slight insomniac, disturbing dreams were plenty and came often… But this dream felt different, strangely real... Never could she remember every detail of a dream with such startling clarity. As she allowed the steaming hot water to cascade down her hair, she mulled over the thought of what brought such images into her mind, what could they possibly mean?

The comforts from the warmth of the water slowly relaxed her mind to a blank. She went through the rituals of shampooing and conditioning her hair, then scrubbing her body without a thought, finding solace in the regular routine. The dream had put her in a disconcerting place and she didn't quite like the feeling.

Turning the water off she wrapped her hair in a towel and put her contacts on before walking naked to her computer.

Starting up her Mac, she went through the usual sites: Facebook, Tumblr, Reddit, etc, but there was nothing that interested her there. Her brain was in too much of a frazzled state. Shutting her laptop she grabbed her phone instead and found that she had one unread message.

'Hey Skylar baby, I'm just about to head to bed so I thought I would text to say that I hope you're having sweet dreams and that I love you and miss you dearly. Goodnight darling. I'll see you tomorrow. Xx'

Warmth spread through her as she schemed through the text. She spent a moment contemplating if she should reply but eventually decided not to. 'I'll just call him in the morning.' She took another casual glance at the clock.

'5:12am' it read. Great, what could she possibly do at this time? She took her time getting dressed; she had no particular agenda for today, so maybe she should get started on her homework? But the thought of homework was enough to make her sick. Standing on her tippy toes she stretched to reach for her sweater, before a slicing pain causes her to gasp and fall backwards, smacking against the wall.

What the hell?

Pain engulfed her and she resisted the urge to scream. Frantically she touched her side only to find that her shirt was soaked through. Bringing her hand to her face, she stared in growing horror at the foreign red liquid that coated her fingers.

In a blink of an eye, she was elsewhere. No, not elsewhere, but back here. Ignoring the tears that stung her eyes she looked around in fear and confusion. Where the hell is this place? Was she still dreaming?

This time the sensations felt all too real. The air was so thick that it burnt to breathe, and her side was on fire, like someone dug into her torso with a hook and ripped out a chunk of her meat. She couldn't still be dreaming, could she? Wounds weren't supposed to hurt in dreams were they? Not one to faint in distress, the teenage girl sucked in a deep breath and stamped down the growing fear with an iron first.

Where the hell was she?

Her surroundings were exactly as they were in her dream – the orange-red sky, the black soot, the destroyed land, and the ruined oak tree. It was as though she had never left, never woke up. It was still pouring cats and dogs and thunder could be heard in the distance.

Honestly, what the fuck is going on here?

Gathering herself together, Sky took another deep breath to force herself to calm down. There was always a logical explanation to everything and panicking would help no one.

First things first, ensure her own survival.

She tried to remove her shirt, but every movement brought a fresh wave of agony to her side. No longer able to hold back the tears, she allowed them to drip down her face. Taking a deep breath she held on the bottom of her stubborn shirt tight, and in one fluid movement, ripped it off her head.

Off like a bandage, she had thought.

What a stupid idea.

The raw agony in her side caused her to double over and smash face first into the ground. The pain was too real and so fucking much that it didn't matter she was quite literally, eating dirt. A sob ripped from her throat as fresh, uncontrollable tears rolled down her face.

She laid there, body motionless aside from the heaving of her sobs. How did this happen? Why is this happening? Her body trembled from the combination of fear, confusion, and the biting cold wind. Slowly, but surely the innate instinct for survival came back to her. She knew that if she didn't move soon, she would suffocate, freeze, or bleed to death; and none of the options sounded more appealing than her current state.

Groaning, she focused on commanding her body to move. The pain had stemmed down to an agonizing throb and was not as difficult to handle as before. She slowly sat up, each movement difficult but eventually enough to wrap her shirt around her in an attempt to stench the flow of blood. She could not bear to look at the wound, knowing that the sight of it would probably make her lose the thin threads that were holding her together.

Ignoring her own moans and sobs, she forced her body to comply with her demands. Survival first, questions later. Breath heaving, she got onto her bare feet and slowly stumbled towards the direction where most of the smoke was coming from. Her burning, chocking lungs screamed at her to move the other way, but logic told her that there had to be a cause for the fire, and hopefully there would be other survivors that could help.

It quickly transpired to be a slow and extremely tedious journey. Her wound caused her to stumble more times than she dared count and each step intensified the pain fiercely. Already her sleeping shirt was soaked through and blood dripped down her bare legs. She duly noted that she was clad in nothing but her bra and Victoria's Secret panties that were now were coated with blood, grime and dirt. But with all that was going on around her, modesty was the last thought in her mind.

After a while her feet no longer bore any sensations but she was silently thankful for it. The cold numbed her fingers, face and ears through and through, and her head throbbed from the severe lack of blood. Judging by the lovely trail of red she left behind, her poor unprotected body was taking quite a bit of abuse.

Sky failed to notice that she had entered a village until she nearly stumbled into a wall. Startled, she looked around. To all sides of her were burning houses that had one by one crashed to the ground. Regretfully, the strong, deathly, pungent smell became too hard to ignore as she came to her senses. The putrid air reeked of decay and burning flesh. She struggled to control the urge to empty out her already tender stomach but lost it as soon as she noticed the source of the foul stench.

In a square surrounded by burning buildings was a pile of what looked like human bodies that had been shoved atop one another. Her weakened knees gave way as what was left from yesterday's supper splattered on the pavement beside her. Heaving and chocking, the dark-haired girl soon found herself lying on the ground, with quite literally zero energy left to spend.

She had brought herself here, so what now?

To her further horror the sound of ripping flesh quickly became quite noticeable. Forcing her bloodshot eyes open, her gaze shifted from the burning pile of bodies to the large dog-resembling animals beside it. She counted four of them: four huge alien-looking creatures with large soulless eyes tearing off parts of the bodies to consume at their leisure. She froze, eyes following the way their massive teeth dug so easily into the human body, ripping out large chunks of meat at a time and swallowing limbs whole. And then one of them turned its large head to stare straight into her eyes.

Her heart quite literally stopped.

As the creatures bounded towards her, clearly excited by the prospect of fresh meat, she briefly wondered if this was still a dream. If she died here, would she wake up in her bed? Only to find that it was morning?

Every fibre of her being screamed at her to run, to get up on her feet and run away. It didn't matter where, anywhere but here.

But her body would no longer move. Everything hurt, and even attempting to lift a finger caused her muscles to shake in agony. No, this was it. All she could do was stare into the eyes of her impending doom, a strange sense of calm overcoming her. She prayed that this would be easy, that they would tear into her throat, or heart and be done with it. She didn't want to be played with for her mind had taken all the pain it possibly could.

Please, let enough be enough.

Slowly, black began to creep into her vision and she closed her eyes in relief, welcoming the darkness that beckoned her. At least if she was unconscious, she wouldn't feel the pain of those sharp, cruel teeth.

There was a shout, what sounded like gunfire, roars and then-

Nothing.

So what do you think? Old readers, is it better? Worse? Do you think it was worth the switch? Would you still keep reading?

Newer ones, does this satisfy you enough to want to continue reading?

Again, I want to emphasize my extreme gratitude to those who will be staying. And again, reviews in terms of both criticism and compliments are both very welcomed.

I hope you stay tuned!

Love,

Fee

xx

Edit: March 13 - not much change in this chapter. Skylar is now our OCs official name.