"Where.... Where am I?" After squeezing her eyes shut a few times, she gave in to waking up and opened them.

But what she saw was unknown to her. A large bed with silk bedding and curtains on all sides. There were even golden curtains made of silk! Whoever could afford that had to be rich.

"Where's Kiyu?" whispered Laki, not knowing what to do.

Everything here was so different. And she was alone. Although the room was at a comfortable temperature, a cold sweat ran down her forehead.

She waited a few moments, and the moments turned into minutes. But nothing happened. No one was there.

So she gathered her courage and came out from behind the curtains of the bed. She found herself in an enormous room, which was way too big for a single person. There were clothes laid out on a table at the side of the room.

'Are these for me?' Her confusion was beyond words for her.

A noble bed and even nobler clothes. As if she were a princess from a fairy tale. But what was going on here? The last thing Laki could remember was being captured by strange men who had attacked Kiyu.

KIYU! Kiyu was in danger!

The images of her injured sister popped right into her head. How she was lying there, in all that blood. Tears formed and ran down her face.

"Kiyu!" she screamed, running out of the room, still in her sleeping clothes.

To her left and right were long hallways, and she didn't know which way to go. Why was she in a building this big, anyway?

"Oh, so you're awake, miss?" she heard a calm male voice. "Why aren't you wearing the clothes the lord has chosen for you?"

"Who... are you?" asked Laki, confused, looking at the man. He was taller than her and wore a fine suit.

"I am Púrén Hēi. A servant of lord Tānlán."

Even as he spoke, he retrieved the clothes from the dormitory and held them before Laki.

"Now, if you would please change your clothes, miss." he asked her.

"Forget it! I want to see my sister!" shouted Laki, knocking the clothes out of his hand.

"As you say. The master is in the dining room. Down the hall and the second door on the right." replied Púrén Hēi, pointing in the direction Laki had to take.

"Good!" she snubbed and made her way. Her steps were big, because she wanted to get back to Kiyu.

It wasn't long before she reached the door to the dining hall. Furious, Laki slammed it open and looked into the large hall.

"Where is my sister?" she shouted when she spotted Tānlán at the end of a long table. He had his servants set the table with the most varied of dishes.

"You're not wearing the clothes I picked out for you, I see?" but he only replied, putting the cutlery aside.

"You are here in MY realm and you dare to act like this?" he shouted at her, still spitting out remnants of the food he was chewing.

'What a creep!', Laki thought to herself.

"Well," he continued, straightening up. "If you don't want to accept my hospitality, then I guess you can do without all the comforts! Guards!"

Two men came through the door behind him and ran toward Laki.

"I suppose our guest must learn to behave in distinguished company." he spoke, waving his hand in a gesture to lead Laki away. "Take her to the dungeon. And cut off her hair. That way she might learn that her inappropriate behavior has consequences!"

Without giving her another glance, he headed out of the room.

'What a heartless monster!' Laki had difficulty holding back her tears.

However, the two guards who led her to the dungeon didn't seem to care. They escorted her deeper and deeper into the extensive building until they arrived at a dungeon.

They gagged her and chained her to a wall in a dark dungeon cell. One man held a pair of scissors and came closer and closer to her.

"I'm sorry, little one." he whispered, cutting her hair short on his master's orders. The long, red hair, which reached her waist, now went only to her shoulder.

When the guards finished their task, they left the cell and locked the dungeon door behind them. There was no light in the dungeon, and with the closing of the door to the dungeon, the last bit of light disappeared from Laki's eyes.

'Kiyu' she screamed in her thoughts.

Her eyes watered, and she fidgeted, but the chains did not give way. Instead, they only rubbed harder and harder on her wrists the more she moved.

She could not stand by Kiyu. The only person she cared about was bleeding to death somewhere in the park and needed her help right now. But now she needed Kiyu's help to get out again. What a rotten joke of fate.

The silent darkness was frightening. There was not a single sound, apart from the desperate attempts at getting rid of the chains.

Not even how much time passed, Laki could say for sure. Minutes, hours, all that had no meaning here.

'If only I had special powers like Kiyu!' she blamed herself in her thoughts.

Not once in the time since Kiyu had freed her from the fire had she been jealous, or longed for the same powers. She had not needed them. But now it was different.

With these powers, she could have stood by her now. If only she were not so weak. So normal. So useless.

Even though it shouldn't have made a difference, Laki noticed how her eyes were getting heavier and heavier. She gave in to the feeling of powerlessness. She had experienced this feeling before.

Her vision brightened. Straining, she opened her eyes and saw a wild fire before her. In front of her, wooden beams collapsed, and the walls dissolved piece by piece.

She tried to move, but her body felt too heavy. As if she weighed much more than she could lift. Straining, she turned her head back and forth and found herself squeezed under a support beam.

Laki tried to straighten up, somehow moving the support beam, but it wouldn't budge. Her eyes fell to the side, where she spotted a person. The person's long, red hair had caught fire.

"MAMA!" she cried out in agony when she spotted her mother. She was back in her parents' house, which was burning down.

"Why? Why do I have to go through all this again?" It was hard enough to accept her fate once already. To accept that her family, her life, just everything would never be the same.

But to live through all this a second time? That was just too much.

"No!" she screamed, wriggling under the support beam. But no matter how hard she tried, nothing moved her.

Once again there was nothing she could to but watch her mother die while her vision continued to deteriorate.

The smoke filled her lungs and made her cough. This incredible heat that was building up around her was taking her.

'It's hopeless. I'm going to die,' she thought and stopped struggling. The support beam wouldn't budge an inch, anyway.

"Laki!"

Her scream filled the entire house, or rather what the fire had left of the house. Laki knew that voice. It triggered a pleasant warmth in her body, but also a lot of fear.

What was Kiyu doing here? Laki told her to stay away from her, hasn't she? Why did she put herself in this danger?

"What are you doing here? Get out of here!" she screamed.

Her vision blurred more and more, and she got little of what was happening around her. Kiyu's scream pierced through her marrow, and she felt herself being lifted just before she passed out.

When she opened her eyes, everything was dark. Around her everything was cold and dark and hopeless.

'A nightmare?' she asked herself, sniveling.

She was still in the dark dungeon of Tānlán, who had imprisoned her here.

But from her heart a security spread out as she had never felt it before.

Kiki is alive! And she will get me out of here, I am sure of it!' Reliving the events of the past was horrible without question. But it had also given her back her hope.

If anyone could survive all this, it was Kiyu. What were a few wounds from weapons? Kiyu is a Spiritformer, after all. Somehow she would find Laki and free her from the clutches of this vile monster.

She could do nothing but put her trust in Kiki. And until then, she would wait here and survive as best she could. But she would not do this despicable creep a single favor. Whatever he would ask of her, she would refuse.

'Please hurry, Kiki, ' she pleaded in her mind.