Nightwalker(s) [Serpent's Embrace]

The world spun, a dizzying vortex of dread and despair. Aschker Emberly, her breath hitching in ragged gasps, found herself adrift in a void as black as a starless night. A voice, ancient and chilling as the grave itself, slithered into her consciousness, weaving a tapestry of foreboding.

"Aschker Emberly," the voice rasped, each syllable a drop of venom in the silent abyss. "The ceaseless dance of time, a cruel jest played upon your mortal coil. Each sunrise, a mocking reminder of the endless cycle, the grim repetition of your fate. You strive, you struggle, yet the tapestry of your existence remains unchanged, a Sisyphean torment played out under the indifferent gaze of the cosmos. The laughter of the gods echoes in the void, a symphony of your unending torment."

Then, a sudden shift; the suffocating darkness yielded to a blinding radiance. The ethereal landscape transformed into a sun-drenched meadow, a jarring contrast to the oppressive void. Laughter, bright as the morning sun, filled the air. Her friends lay sprawled on the emerald grass, their faces upturned to the azure sky, an idyllic scene of carefree contentment. Relief washed over her, a fragile bloom in the desert of her despair.

"Am I hallucinating again...?" she murmured, her hand instinctively reaching for the familiar comfort of her antipsychotic medication. But her fingers encountered only empty air. Her heart plummeted.