A/N:I split the second chapter into halves, and edited it. PLEASE REVIEW!

I woke up, and the dream disappeared. But the words didn't fade. It kept echoing distantly in my mind, like I was standing at the mouth of a cave, and the words were coming from the inside. I sat up, leaning onto the fine-grained mahogany bed frame. I still didn't know where I was, so I jumped out of bed onto the fire-warmed wood flooring. I was still wearing the clothes I was before, so I had to brush off some remaining sand off.

There was a mirror in front of me, tall and elegant, its gold feet on the floor in front of me, and the top barely brushing the ceiling. My curly brown hair was tangled and matted, bags underneath my violet eyes. Violet….I shook my head and looked into the mirror again. There was no mistaking it. My eyes were always a dark blue, which was weird, since none of my parents had blue eyes, but they were now a deep, striking purple, pretty in a way, but intimidating too. I had never seen anything like it.

Cautiously, I took a step forward, and opened the door.

Thump. The door hit an object on the other side, actually a man. He winced, and turned around. He was holding a spear, wearing a helmet. It took a couple seconds to realize that he was a guard. As soon as his emerald green eyes met mine, he took a step back.

"Violet," he murmured.

He seemed to take a moment to collect himself, and held out his arm. "Come with me, Ms. Asriel. "

As he led me through the gilded hallways, he muttered nonstop, and whenever I spoke, he seemed to be almost afraid of me. Unanswered questions hung in the air, filling every last corner of my thoughts. At last, after winding through many hallways, we stopped at a tall glass door that was trimmed with gold. He slowly rapped on it, and it seemed like forever before the doors finally opened. As I took a step into the room, I knew something was going to happen.

As I walked into the room, I was temporarily blinded. Sunlight filtered through painted glass windows, reflecting off of thousands of tiny gemstones embedded in the glittering gold wall. In the middle of the room were two thrones, side by side. High, arched backs and two finely crafted armrests curled at the end. The backs were engraved with large phoenixes, its wings spread out wide, rubies in its eyes. The left throne was taken by a woman. She was dressed in a beautiful golden dress, a silvery tiara placed upon her auburn hair, which was in a perfect French twist. Gold flecks in her warm green eyes matched the shimmers of her dress. On the right throne was a man, a silky mass of marbled black and gray curls posed perfectly underneath his crown of gold. He had a serious, grave face, yet his eyes twinkled softly with good-nature and playfulness. I didn't know what to do, so I swept into a deep curtsy, almost falling over. The guard bowed deeply and walked briskly to the man. He whispered something into his ear, and a surprised, almost troubled look swept across his face. The guard finished talking, and swiftly walked out of the room, leaving me alone with the man and woman. The man peered at me, his hand running across his bearded chin.

"What is your name?"

"Arielle Asriel."

The woman beside him gasped, and looked at him, eyes sending a message an urgent message to him.

"Asriel..."he mumbled under his breath. He lifted his head and looked at me straight in the eye."Do you know where you are?"

My mouth opened. "No."

He nodded his head. "And do you know who you are?"

I looked into his questioning emerald green eyes. I knew who I was, didn't I? I was a fourteen year old girl, living on Rhubarb Street in London, Britain. I was the top student in the class, was on the varsity volleyball team, and daughter of Rose and Andrew Asriel. I was about to say all that and demand him to let me wake up and get ready for school tomorrow. But a small voice at the back of my head was persistently saying that this wasn't a dream. And did I really know who I was? Did I really fit in with everyone else? Was I truly who I thought I was? I had always felt special in a way that was different than everyone else, in a way that I could never explain.

My voice was rough, barely above a whisper. "No."

.

His eyes were boring holes into my flesh. "You are in palace of Lavintia. Our subjects are currently in mortal peril from the darkness. There was a prophecy over five hundred years ago, created by a dragon, saying that a person with violet eyes would save us from it. We believe that person is you. You are the new protector of the Stone, and you are the only one meant to save us."

I froze, shocked into silence. "W-What?" I managed to choke out.

He didn't reply, but sat there, watching me.

After a shocked silence, the woman stood up, and beckoned an old lady into the room. She whispered into her wrinkled, leathery ear, and the elderly woman nodded. "Come with me, Madame Asriel.

We left the room, my thoughts swimming like a whole sea of fish, colliding and blurring until they all became one thought. How is this possible?

Fortunately, the old woman didn't ignore me like the guard did. She had a kind, wrinkled face, like someone drew a big smiley face on a piece of paper then crumpled and smoothed out again. "Are you okay, dear?"

I was silent. One part of me wanted to burst out into hysterical laughter, another wanted to curl up and sleep until the end of the world.

She looked at me with understanding eyes, and all of my heart spilled out, coming in such a tidal wave, jumbling together, my tongue tripping over my words.

"Where am I?... What do they want…How did I get here? How is this possible?" All the disbelief and fear spilled out. And when mixed together tasted salty, and it streamed down my cheeks. She took my face in her hands. "I don't know. I just know that you're here for a reason."

With that, we continued down the hallway, silence ringing in my ears. We stopped at a door, and she pulled out an old brass key. Her worn hands twisted it, and a click rang through the hallway, seeming impossibly loud after the quiet. She gripped the golden door knob and muttered something. I heard a gentle swish, and the door opened. The woman beckoned me in, and my feet took a step in. It was beautiful. It was more beautiful than the throne room I was just in. It was me. It was my dream bedroom I had always wanted; only…it was all purple. Violet curtains draped over the windows, bits of silver threads glimmering. The bedspread was pale lavender, soft and welcoming. A white dresser sat in the corner, glowing softly from the color of the purple flames in the fireplace. The walls were pale silver, shining, as if it had been bathed in moonlight.

"This is where you will be staying for now. This room will give you whatever you need or want. Ask for a drink."

I blushed, and sheepishly faced the wall. "I need a drink."

A gentle pop, and on the painted nightstand beside was a frosty glass of some kind of pale green liquid. "Take a sip."