The painted girl stood among the moss and fluorescence, beside the small river that flowed through this strange, spongy room in the caverns. She had gotten so little sleep the past few days, after having been saved by Kaj, that she was getting to be exhausted. It was not that she didn't want to sleep- she did, she desperately did, but sleep was hard to come by. In every shadow, there was a monster waiting to jump out at her. At every moment, she was a threat to everyone's safety. Kaj had tried to tell her that there was no chance she would turn back, that drinking from the waters was the end all cure to what a monstrosity she had been, but she was having a hard time believing it. Could it really be so simple?

With a sigh, the girl decided to close her eyes, to try and find some rest if she could. So slowly, her lids went down, her neck sunk slightly, her tail relaxed. And eventually, with a few deep breaths, she found sleep. But sleep did not mean peace, and her rest was not exactly restful. The nightmares started as they so often did, with images of Antheia walking backwards off the cliff, her body body laying on the shore line as water crashed over it, wave after wave. And after that, a new round of nightmares. The fire lizard that had crawled from the depths, Ricochet attacking her, the endless night, the invasion by the unicorns of the north.

But the dreams went beyond their usual course, including images far more sinister. Her brother Fuhrer, burning in eternal flames. Her mother and father standing proudly within their cathedral as the fire began to eat up the mosses all around it. And then the reminder of the monster that she had met down here. Kahlua was floating by herself in a sea of nothingness, destined to be by herself, live by herself forever, and then die by herself. But worst of all was when the nightmare morphed to something new- Kahlua was standing with Resplendence, here within the cavern, when Kahlua began to morph. Her scorpion tail returned, her mouth pincers grew back and her eyes lost their pupil. Her ribs returned to the outside of her body... And then, Kahlua lunged.

Kahlua awoke with a scream that echoed around the cavern, bouncing off too many walls and coming back to her ears. Had sleep really been worth it?


OOC| Open to any