Emalia hadn't kept track of the time. She had no idea how long she'd been sitting in the cottage, but the only sound she had heard was her own sobbing. "Emalia," the controlled voice called.
Immediately, Emalia snapped her head up to see the tall man, his white robes and black mantle seemingly marking him as one with no affiliations what-so-ever - a blight of colorless darkness in a world that seemed completely comprised of every color the world could haveoffered. "Who are you..."
"This precaution was deemed necessary to keep you, and the Realms, safe while we research a cure for your ailment."
"I'm NOT SICK!" Emalia screamed. She stumbled to her feet, looking around the man. Noticing suddenly, Colin was missing. "Where is Colin?"
"He has gone to gather more materials for us to help you. If you are not ill, time will show it, and you have only lost time in the outside world. If you are mistaken, how many lives would be lost?"
Emalia thought on this for only a second before spitting out her retort: "I'm not wrong. I KNOW it. Let me out of here." She pushed past the man, the very act of brushing against him sending her into chills. "I want out, NOW. NOW!"
The man before her looked only very remotely irritated, as he waved his hand almost casually to make the entire cottage vanish. "You are free to roam about this region, Emalia."
It was indescribable, the terror that hit Emalia as she looked around herself. The full colors that swirled each time the wind blew, the sky - now an unnatural shade of pink, the acres of red moss that grew beneath her feet, and forests of trees that somehow - weren't quite right.
"This... is not natural. Oh heavens... this is not natural," she whispered to herself.
"We are in the dream of The Apprentice. You are safe here," Halethiel spoke.
"What mean you?"
"This is the world as it was meant to be, before Ao interfered. It is only you and I here. Others cannot be infected by your illness here, until we find a cure. I truly hope that we are wrong and you are not ill, as you say."
Emalia did not believe this in the least. Calm began to come from her, but unlike the times prior, when she had been walking upon the face of the real world, this calm was short lived. It wore her down considerably, and made her incredibly weary. There was no way for her to understand that she was drawing upon herself alone now... no lifeforce reached this place save the amount she was made with. She was too afraid to move, and to drained to think. Halethiel had walked off to the distant cabin, leaving her alone. Even if she had wanted to, the walk to the cabin was out of the question. She curled into a ball upon the ground, time passing achingly slow all around her, and finally, dropped off into a dreamless sleep.
