With a scream of magical energy, the clasp shatters and the lid of the box flies open. You are lifted off your feet and whipped through the air by a crackling whirlwind before being sucked into the box. The box is a gate, and the 'walls' of a tunnel flash by. Momentarily, you see a face, and a voice whispers:
Overcome by vertigo, you black out.
You swim through inky blackness for some time, chased by nightmares you never fully remember. Finally the crushing weight of utter darkness relents, and the voices recede. Consciousness beckons, and you run to it to escape the shadows all around you. Suddenly, there is pressure on your cheek, chest, arms, and legs, as a cold stone floor solidifies under you. Your eyes are closed. The throbbing noise fades, but echoes in your head, obscuring but not hiding whispering voices. In the coming days, you hear those voices frequently, breathing from the shifting shadows, and your skin crawls. Later, you hear stories about people with similar events, and hushed voices speak of the Night Parade.
Now you know they are watching you, from only as far away as nightfall. And sometimes even closer....
