Chapter 1.2

Once they reached critical mass, the cracks stopped expanding. Nothing happened for several heartbeats afterward. She relaxed and let out a sigh of relief, but before her exhalation had even completed, the first shard popped off from the wall.

That shard floated toward her gently, slowly revolving. When its edge faced her, it sparkled with a faint green shimmer as if it was comprised of precious emerald dust. It drifted to a stop in front of her, hovering in place as it continued to rotate. Eventually, the back of it came into view, then she was suddenly somewhere else.

She was a teenager in a mental hospital. Her roommate was telling her about something that had happened last night. Apparently, she had seen Dracula standing at the end of Aroma's bed staring at her.... The roommate described how she had screamed, and the nurses came running.... Aroma was asking the night staff about her roommate's claims. They confirmed she had indeed screamed, and even thought she and Aroma were trying to kill each other based on the sound. However, when they arrived Aroma was still fast asleep.... She couldn't believe what she was hearing. If Dracula was at her bedside last night, why couldn't she wake up and see him too? Vampires were literally her world.

Soon, her mind cleared and she was back in the light-grey space surrounded by a giant snake cocoon. The shard in front of her broke apart and crumbled to dust, revealing the hole in space that it had previously occupied. A second shard popped off from the wall a few seconds later and floated slowly toward her, rotating a little faster than the first - just enough so that its rear came into view a mere moment after the shard had slowed to a stop in front of her. Then she found herself in another place and time.