Fifty Six

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. It was said to be a place of magic, where lords and ladies ruled the world. People would often make a pilgrimage to the Valley, for great blessings could be found for you and your children. They said it was a place of wonder.

No longer.

At ten years old, Felice was overcome with curiosity upon hearing about the Valley, located only a mile from her small village. How could she have never heard of it?

"What's in the Valley?" she asked her mother. A stern woman with long dark hair that matched Felice's and the dark tan skin of their people.

"The Valley is filled with dragons. Creatures of stone and metal, sent from Aiden to punish the arrogance of our ancestors. Do not go into the Valley, or you will die."

During one of her weekly lessons, she also asked her teacher, "What's in the Valley?"

Her teacher, a woman in her forties with graying hair and a scar across her cheek, replied, "Foolish child. The Valley is full of evil dragons crafted from the darkness itself. They consume the souls of any who venture among them. Do not go into the Valley, or you will die."

She sought the wisest man she knew. He was ancient. That is why he was wise, for how could a man be so old and not know more than everyone else? "What's in the Valley?"

He shakily pointed his cane at Felice, "Cursed! Cursed the Valley is! I once knew of two men, brothers, who dared to wander among those dragons. They never returned." He was almost screaming. "No one believed me, said the lads never existed. Ha. They died a true death they did. Not only their bodies but the memory of them, as if they never were. Erased. Aiden's left face watches that place, I tell you. Do not go into the Valley, or you will die."

It had been six weeks since Felice last asked that question, and of one thing she was now sure, adults were dumb.

This will be her fourth time exploring the Valley, and she was pretty sure she was not dead.

The Valley was amazing, not cursed at all. Massive trees filled it, far taller than the rest of the forest. The sun cast long shadows from its permanent place just above the mountains. A perpetual knee-high mist covered the ground like a blanket. Beneath it, Felice felt soft grass under her feet. Above the fog floated thousands of fireflies. Walking among them, she felt like she was swimming through a sea of stars.

And scattered throughout were the dragons.

People called them all dragons, but in truth, few were actually shaped liked dragons. The statues, thousands of them, were primarily humanoid. Their construction was rough, their proportions not quite right. They were smooth to the touch, made so by the passing of time rather than a worker's tools. Vines grew up many of them, and most were cracked. But only the dragon-shaped statues were broken.

Felice liked to imagine what the stone figures were doing. Sometimes she thought of them at a ball. Men and women gracefully floating among the tiny lights. The men bowing to the ladies as they nervously requested the privilege of a dance.

Other times she visualized them in a grand battle. Brave soldiers valiantly fighting off an invasion of dragons. A battle they won, of course. The image was reinforced by the statues' postures, even though none bore weapons. They seemed to be spaced in groups focused on a point. Many of their arms were lifted as if they were all striking the same unseen foe.

In her more serious moments, Felice wondered at the amount of work needed to construct so many statues. She supposed that explained the poor proportions. The makers were focused on making them all and weren't worried about details.

By why? What purpose did they serve? Why were they made with those postures? Were they depictions of some ancient battle? Or were they made to scare off an enemy, making them think there were more soldiers than there actually were? Or was it some other purpose she couldn't imagine?

These questions drove her as she set off on her quest. For a quest, it was. Today she sought the center of the Valley. What secrets might she tease out along the way? Surely such a place would hide a grand one. Something special. Something magical.

Felice was smart, she knew. Of all the children in her lessons, she was the only one interested in what the teacher said. She absorbed it all, including how to read a map and measure distances. Her people knew how large the Valley was, so they could properly plan to go around. It was a rough five-mile circle. That meant the center was about two and a half miles in. If she kept the sun to her left and walked at a brisk pace, it shouldn't take longer than a couple hours to reach the center. She hoped.

She was prepared for her inevitable punishment when she returned. As her father often said, "Every decision has a cost, Felice. You must judge if what you're purchasing with yours is worth that cost." Her quest would be expensive, she knew. But she was also very sure it would be worth it.

She hummed as she walked. Her step had a bounce, and the mist spun around her adding a slight chill to the air. She felt thrilled and exhilarated. It was all she could do to not break into a run.

As she ventured deeper into the Valley, farther than she had ever gone before, she came across new structures. Not statues. These were parts of buildings. A lone wall, a stone foundation, an arched doorway. Like the statues, these were made of stone but were in far worse condition and spaced further apart. Was that because there weren't that many buildings? Or was this once a great city, and most buildings had worn away?

Felice supposed it made sense that there was once a city. This was supposed to have been a wondrous place where people from around the world would come. There would need to be buildings to keep them all in.

Even deeper into that Valley, another oddity surprised her. Standing unusually far from the others was a broken statue, a human one. Its top half lay on the ground. Its head and one arm were a scattered mess of shards. The most unusual thing about it was that it was hollow. The stone was about an inch thick and looked as though it had encased a person, a person who had broken free.

Where the outside of the statue was vague and devoid of detail, the inside was precise and intricate. She could make out impressions of torn clothing. A shard on the ground had the distinct indentation of a nose. Even skin pores were visible along the surface of the stone.

This was nothing like the dragon statues. Those had pockets of empty space in the damaged areas and seemed mixed with various types of rock, not hollow.

Felice shuttered as a chill ran up her spine. The thought of being trapped in stone like that terrified her. And it made her look at the many statues around her differently. Were they also hollow? Did they contain people? People that were somehow still alive, trapped and unable to move, forever in darkness? Or were they dead, their bodies long since decayed to nothing more than bones?

Felice shuttered again and hastened away from the hollow statue. An itch remained on her back like she was being watched. The figures lost their nobility and followed her with their faceless gazes. The people trapped inside screaming to be let out but unable to be heard.

The feel of the forest took on a new cast. The shadows and fog no longer seemed to hold tantalizing secrets but instead hidden eyes. Felice noticed with a shock that the fireflies were gone. She didn't know when they had fled or why. The creaking of the trees grew louder. And the steps of an animal behind her sounded like a person running.

She spun but saw only the mist swirling around the trees and motionless stone figures.

She had another realization. Where was the wildlife? She had been walking for a while, and those steps were the first sign of life she had noticed. This was a lush forest. There should be birds singing, deer grazing, and squirrels scattering about.

But there was nothing. Nothing except those steps.

She took a deep breath. This was nothing. She was just letting her imagination get the best of her. That happened sometimes. She would often lie in her bed, unable to sleep, wondering what might be hiding in her dark room. That's all this was. Just her imaginings.

The steps repeated. Behind her again. She still couldn't catch a glimpse of what was causing them.

Steeling herself, she increased her pace. It was nothing she was sure of it.

She was almost feeling normal again when she heard another sound from ahead. It was a repeating, rhythmic sound, violent like the thud of a punch, but in rapid succession. She crept forward, doing her best to remain silent, and eased her way around a tree.

Another statue had broken. Most of the torso and one arm were still attached to the legs.

It was not empty.

A dark figure struggled within the stone. Its arms, legs, and most of its abdomen were lodged in the statue. It was pulling and pushing in an attempt to get free. The veracity of the creature was disturbing. It bent and twisted in unnatural positions that should have caused bones to snap. But the thing just kept working without any indication of injury.

It was entirely black, even its loose tattered clothes. It had an oil-like quality to it like it was covered in liquid. Tiny lights pockmarked its surface like a sparse field of stars, stars that did not move. They remained in place despite the creature's actions as if its skin was a mirror or a window to another world. It was hard to keep track of its arm and clothes as they blended in with the rest of it so well.

It froze suddenly and looked at her.

Felice fell back, tripping over a root. The creature didn't seem to have eyes. Its head had the shape of a man's with the indents where the eyes should be. But its sockets seemed empty. It screamed.

It was a loud, angry, and distinctly human scream. If Felice wasn't looking at the thing, she would have sworn it was a man making the sound. The cry did not stop. There was no pause for breath. It just kept screaming, its body still and gaze locked on Felice.

She turned to run but stumbled when she saw a dark form before her. Another creature with the same black skin and pattern of unmoving lights. It stood on its own, completely free of any stone.

This one appeared female. It started screaming and ran straight for Felice.

She fled. The scream of the female followed her, getting louder. She didn't make it far before a large rock outcropping blocked her way. She tripped as she tried to turn and slid to a stop against the rocks. She sat up, dazed, tears streaming down her face. A growing certainty that she was about to die consumed her mind.

The creature was almost on her. Its hands were curled in claws, and it continued to screech as it leaped for Felice. The rocks shifted from under her just before the creature landed. She held up her arms and screamed. The thud of impact was the last thing she heard before the world went black.