Darkness was all around me, and I didn’t know where I was. I couldn’t see anything, only a dense blackness that seemed to suffocate me. Then suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my eyes. A bright light penetrated through the dark and it hurt, it stabbed through the night like a sword. I could see.

            I was lying on the ground, on a blanket of green grass. It was soft underneath my skin. I sat up slowly and looked around. I was in some sought of clearing. Trees covered in vines surrounded me. The shrubbery was choked with thorns.

            I stood carefully, surveying my situation. To my right a path opened up, it was like a tunnel, delving through the thorns. I walked this path.

            The thorns scratched me and tore at my clothes. The pink dress that I wore was ripped and small red welts formed on my skin, but I ignored the pain, this path seemed familiar.

            It was a long walk and I tired quickly. I felt that I had no strength, I became hungry and thirsty but I had nothing to fulfil me. All that I could do was walk the path and hope to reach the end.

            Finally the path stopped and the forest of thorns opened out into a courtyard. It was paved with white stone. Pink and red roses climbed the walls and had entwined themselves around the alabaster pillars and drooped down over my head. The smell was intoxicating and it made me feel sleepy. I quickly pushed past the rose-covered courtyard afraid that I would fall under its spell. I stumbled over a body. A BODY!?! A middle-aged man dressed in silver metal. He carried a spear in his hand and a sword at his belt. I thought he was dead, but as I looked closely I discerned the soft movement of his chest. He was sleeping. Strange! There were more bodies, all asleep, in dreams I could not fathom.

            I kept walking, exploring this old place. Where was I?