[Yes, it's a prologue; the one thing that loses readers at first glance, but don't be deceived. Used properly, a prologue can serve to develop a story. It doesn't deserve all the hate.]
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THE DARKNESS DEVOURED the woman's flesh in a whisk of spiraling ash, until there was nothing left but her aging bones. The stench of decay drifted into the suffocating atmosphere, while her remains disintegrated, scattered amid the blood-stained oak boards of the rural cottage.
Standing frozen against the wardrobe's cold, hard surface, Zardayna replayed the traumatizing event. It had murdered her mother; an act beyond her seventh-year grasp. She choked back the rising bile lodged in her throat. Tears streamed down her pallid cheeks, and the taste of salt seeped through her trembling lips. She couldn't breathe, nor could she move, for terror had burrowed itself to her core.
Unforeseen, the entity manifested itself into a human-like figure. A radiating, scarlet luminosity veiled its void sockets, and a crooked grin settled upon the dim light of its translucent form. Its razor-sharp claw tipped at one of the bones as it released a croaky chuckle. "How did you manage to hide so long, mi amor?"
Zardayna's vision had blurred into specks of starlight. She didn't have the energy to comprehend the word's connotation, for the ache in her heart and the sheer anguish that took hold of her soul engulfed her small physique. Letting out an involuntary sob, her knees buckled, prompting her body to fall limp.
Forthwith, the darkness snapped its attention towards the percussive noise with a sharp jerk of its head.
Zardayna's heart slammed against her ribcage. She was almost certain it could see her through the crack of the wardrobe, the moonlight that shone through giving way. She wanted nothing more than to run, but she knew it would not save her. She doubted her speed matched that of the creature's. Even if she did manage to make it past the cottage, Zardayna couldn't navigate. She didn't know these woods like her mother, as her mother rarely let her venture outdoors. If she had known what would come to pass, she would have persuaded her mother into allowing her leave of isolation, so that she may accompany her during the market; If she had known a monster were to take her away from the living world, Zardayna would have sacrificed herself...she could have saved her mother if only she had moved. But fear brought her to a halt.
Zardayna wished for a lot of things; the reversal of her mother's death being of the utmost. But it could not be undone. Death was irreversible. And soon, she would be dead too. Begging for someone to save her would do her no good, for there was no one around for miles. By heaven, only the gods could save her.
Shuffling herself upright, she watched, wide-eyed, as the configuration of swarming ash wafted across the confined room. The color had drained from her once rosy complexion. She didn't want to believe this was her end, an ending akin to her mother's, but she couldn't ignore it. She was going to end up like her, nothing but a pile of bones, the flesh ripped clean off. No one in the five realms could save her.
