Castle in the Mist

Upon waking up, she found herself enshrouded in complete darkness.

This wasn't normal. This was nowhere near normal. This wasn't her bedroom, she wasn't in her bed, and she wasn't even close to it. At first, she thought was was dreaming; perhaps this was still a dream?

She realized quickly that it wasn't.

And it was then that she started to panic. So much, in fact, that she managed to accidentally find her way out of her current entrapment; not without a bit of pain, of course.

Polka sat up, rubbing her head (which was now throbbing), and squinting her eyes as they adjusted to what little light there was. As they slowly began to focus, they widened; this was definitely not her home, as she had suspected from the start.

It was then, as she began to push her trembling body to a standing position, that she began to wonder if perhaps the happy ending she had thought she was living before was the dream she had thought this place was beforehand. Perhaps the happy ending hadn't happened at all. Perhaps this place was the desolate, barren wasteland that had been her own world. Perhaps she had to make her sacrifice after all ...

She shook her head. No, the place she had seen before ... she remembered it vividly. It looked much, much different than this place. This only left her more confused, however. If it wasn't that, then ...

"Hello?" She called out, taking a few cautious steps forward.

"Where am I ..?" She called out again, this time in a much softer tone of voice.

Suddenly, she felt more alone than she ever had before.