The earth cracks with a thunderous sound that sickens me. I just know it's the sound of broken bones, only multiplied by a thousandfold. The decayed hand of The Beast shoots up the wound on the ground, and grasps around until it finds leverage. A skinny arm pulls the tattered and ragged body up from the depths where it should stay, and two burning eyes focus on mine.

"Look how much you've grown!" The Beast howls, her voice making the ground shake. She lifts her other hand and it snaps up close to my face, pinching my cheek. Her skin is rough and her claws dangerous.

"You just have your mother's eyes, don't you? How long has it been? 10? 13 years?"

I shake my head. "Since when?" I manage to ask, trembling.

"Since you were born, silly. I held you just like this." The Beast mimes shaking something in her hand, as if she was holding an invisible pair of dice.

"I'm... I'm 34." I correct her. Her gasp pushes me back with a gust of air, and I land on my own ass.

"I can't believe it's been so long! How come?"

I look up at her. My vision is clouded with tears of fear.

"That's not possible! You died before the Age of Crystal!" I cry out. My knuckles are white on top of my fists.

"The what?" The Beast rises her head over the treeline and gasps again. The few animals that hadn't run away just yet flee for their lives. The forest is silent, her movements echoing through the unnatural stillness. "Where's the Keep? Aio, what's going on here?"

I recognize that name. Aio the Terrible. A figure of legend, the one that tried to revive The Beast and was thwarted by the Empire and the Council. That bloody war was almost as destructive as The Beast's original rampage.

She looks back at me. The grass on the ground flares up and burns away under her gaze. "Oh, I'm dreadfully sorry. You are not Aio, are you? I seem to be confused." She stomps her elbow on the ground, leaving a crater. Her horned, burning face lowers to look at me closer. "You do have my blood in your veins. You are family."

Her toothy mouth splits in a mockery of a smile.

"What do you think? Shall we try again, uh?" She asks. I simply pass out from the fear.