the Darkness
Chapter 1
He was walking along a very narrow bridge with no rails, nothing to hold on to. And all around him was . . . nothing, nothing but darkness. No sky above him, no ground beneath him. It seemed that the bridge was suspended in the abyss. Suddenly, a strange spider-like shape came out from somewhere above him. It seemed somehow darker than the darkness itself, and, for some unexplained reason, Diego felt scared � more scared than he ever had been in his entire life. The dark shape approached him, and Diego retreated in fear. And suddenly the bridge was no longer there beneath his feet � he fell into the abyss. The scream died away in his throat as he fell farther and farther into nothingness with no hope of getting back up even onto that shaky bridge.
Then a hand came out of nowhere, catching his helplessly stretched out arm, and he was pulled out of the darkness onto a steady steel platform. The last thing Diego saw before he woke up was a woman-like creature that pulled him out. She looked almost human, yet there was something different about her � maybe it was the comb-like growth on the back of her head, maybe something else � Diego was not sure. He just knew that she didn�t look like anything that he had ever seen before.
He opened his eyes and sat up on the bed. The image of that woman-like creature was fresh in his mind as was that of the ghastly black apparition he saw in the darkness.
�What a dream,� he shuddered. Yet, it was so real . . .. Diego got off the bed, put on his robe, and walked over to the window.
He looked pensively at the bright morning sky, looked back at his own room filled with sunlight, and nodded to himself, �No, it was just a dream. A bad dream, that is all.�
Yet, despite this attempt to convince himself that it was merely a nightmarish fantasy of his tired brain, Diego had a nagging feeling of uneasiness � like something horrible and inevitable was bound to happen. And that feeling remained with him throughout the whole day.
***
Don Alejandro noticed the troubled look on his son�s face and inquired what was going on.
�Nothing, father,� Diego answered absently. �I just had a bad dream.� He smiled tensely. �I think I will go for a ride . . . to dispel my thoughts.�
Don Alejandro watched as his son disappeared in the doorway and shook his head, hoping that maybe Diego will let him in on what has been bothering him some time later.
* * *
Young de la Vega walked into the secret room and stared hesitantly at his black disguise before putting it on. �Would this really help?� he thought, tying his mask on. Would this dark suit of his and his dark stallion really help to chase away the darkness from his dream, to clear his mind?
He must have asked the question out loud, for someone behind him answered, �It might.� Zorro turned and shrunk back as if he were scalded. A strange figure stood only a few feet away from him, half-hidden in the shadows.
�Who are you? How did you get here?� Zorro�s hand tightened around the handle of his sword.
�Do not be afraid,� said the figure, stepping into the candlelight.
The outlaw gasped at the sight of the woman with comb-like growth on the back of her head. �I s-saw you,� he stammered. �I saw you in my dream.�
She nodded. �My name is Delenn. I am an ambassador for Minbar on Babylon 5. I have come to take you with me.�
�What?� he exclaimed, an expression of utter bewilderment on his face.
She shook her head. �It is very hard to explain to someone from your time and place. Come with me, I�ll show you.� He did not move, and she repeated persistently, �Come. I will not harm you. Take my hand.� He looked doubtfully at her, and she added, �Trust me.�
Zorro overcame his hesitation and took her outstretched hand. The same instant the walls of the cave disappeared, and both of them were plunged into a suffocating darkness. It was much worse than in his dream. He could not breathe, he felt nauseous. But the hand of the one who called herself Delenn held him tight and pulled him upward and upward out of the spinning darkness onto a steady steel platform.