"Mother, is it possible for me to go and journey passed the Underworld?" a young and petite girl asked.

"Hmm.. Ivy, how many years have we been on this discussion? There is no way you are going outside of your home. It is simply too dangerous. Besides, there is no place for you out in that horrific world. Not only that, but you already have a purpose and place here," her mother argued as she stood from her throne.

"But-"

"No buts. This will be the end of this discussion. Forever. I will not hear anymore of your nonsense about the outside world. If I do, there will be consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes mother," Ivy bowed and dared not lift her head until she was sure her mother left the room.

Ivy sighed in defeat as she slowly made her way to her room. "At least I tried," she thought. "I still don't get it though. I'm already 18 and have suitors waiting for my hand! I can fight to defend myself from any enemies as well. And even if I can't, there's always Minho to protect me. He is my bodyguard and butler for a reason." Her steps became faster as she came close to her room. With a force of anger, she swung the door close and jumped onto her bed. With all her might, she screamed her frustration out into her fluffy pillow.

After letting all of her anger out, she to her side and stared out the window. It was dark with no sign of light. A chilling breeze swiftly made it's way into her room through the cracks from the window frame. The smell of death lingered on the land, but she was so used to it, it did not bother her. Despite not seeing anything outside and the possible dangers, a sense of adventure grew within her and it only grew exponentially.

"Maybe," she thought." Maybe I can just run away. It's not like I really have anyone here. All of the creatures are scared to play or even chat with me because I'm the daughter of Queen Primrose, the ruler of the Underworld. And the suitors are not even that good looking nor do they spike my interest. I should leave as soon as possible before anyone finds out!"

She grabbed a pouch and stuffed coins, jewelry, and any medicine she could find. She grabbed a small backpack and stuffed an extra thin dress for extra clothes and put her pouch in there as well. She looked at her bow and arrow laying in the corner and grabbed it. It will surely come in handy since the world outside is dangerous. She put on a small and tan cloak. With her long hair in a bundle, she put the hoodie over her head to hide her face and her hair. Deciding to exit through the back door, she quietly made her way there. It wasn't a bad idea either. The kitchen was in that direction. She could quickly pack some food in her backpack before she went on her journey.

Once she made her way to the kitchen, she looked for the back door. With no trouble, her eyes landed on her escape. Making sure there was no one in the kitchen, she crept through the room to pack some foods that won't spoil so quickly. In the middle of her packing, she heard footsteps coming to the kitchen. Quickly, she went inside the broom storage closet. Through the cracks, she saw who interrupted her.

Minho walked in the kitchen. Queen Primrose was close behind him. He the stove to warm up some soup. He took out a tray and put three dinner rolls on a plate. He placed a small amount of butter on a different plate. He went over to the drawers and took out a spoon and along the way, got two napkins. He set them on the tray before proceeding to grab a cup. He poured some lemon water into the cup before setting it on the tray. Once the soup was warm, he poured some into a bowl and set it on the tray as well.

"Minho, if you don't mind. Would you put this on with her meal as well?" Queen Primrose asked before placing it nicely on the tray. "We had a fight not too long ago and I would like to apologize. I just.. Never mind that. Well, I should let you go on now. We can't let the soup go to her cold, can we?"

Minho bowed before heading out of the kitchen. Queen Primrose sighed deeply. "What am I going to do with you Ivy?" she whispered as she also left the kitchen.

Quietly, Ivy got out of the closet and went to the back door. She felt sorry for her mother and for Minho, but she really had to go. She could not live another day stuck in this castle. She opened the door and ran off, never looking back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ivy had been running for what felt like forever. She had been so deep into the world that she could not see anything. It was pitch black and it scared her. Never was she alone in the dark for this long. She felt blind as she aimlessly wandered through the land. Taking small steps, she continued onward. The silence in the air danced its way into her mind, slowly making her go crazy. Panic filled her just as soon as she started to feel regret. "I never should've left the castle. If I had known that it was going to be this dark and quiet, I would've never left. I don't know if I can continue forward. But I don't know the way back either. I'm lost," her thoughts ran to keep her occupied from being scared. Once she had taken enough of the silence, she ran again. She wanted to get out of this place as soon as possible.

Swoosh.

Ivy fell on her face. She quickly got up and darted her eyes around in the dark. It came to no valid as it was too dark to see anything. She tripped on something but surely there was a sound that came before something tripped her. Silence filled the air once again. Her pulse drummed in her ears as fear crept its way through her body. She could not move.

Rustle. Rustle.

She turned her body to where the sound was coming from.

Crack. Crack. Swish.

Something hard hit her leg and she fell on her . She sat up and quickly pulled out an arrow and pulled the string back. The silence came back. She felt an adrenaline rush washing over her body. She did not want to die now. She had already come too far to go back.

Crack. Crack.

Hoot!

Ivy let of the arrow and small flames came about from the arrow. The light allowed her to see what monster she was up against. An ugly and horrendous creature it was. It's eyes falling off of its face, the skin all sagging and part of it is burned off. The crooked and slender stance it had was abnormal. It's fingers were long and pointy. The arrow went straight into where it's chest would be. Once it's eyes saw the light from the flame, a crooked smile found its way onto the creature's dried lips. Before the flame went out, Ivy saw the creature swing its arm up as if it was going to slice her in half.

Without thinking, she stood up and ran the in the opposite direction. "What was that? I've never seen anything like that before! Where did it come from? I need to get away from here," she thought.

Rustle. Rustle.

She could hear it coming closer to her.

Rustle. Rustle. Rustle.

She stopped her tracks and shot an arrow. Once again, the arrow lit up with flames. To her surprise, she didn't see the creature anymore. It was as if the creature was never there. Not wanting to see where it went, she quickly ran to get out of the place. She was starting to get exhausted. This type of activity is not what she was used to. After all, it is her first time running away from home. Her legs were tired as she just wanted to rest for a bit. However, she pushed herself to find somewhere safe from the darkness. Staying still will simply do no good. With a newly found determination, she pressed on forward.

After a while, she saw a small ray of light.

"Finally! I can get out of this horror!" She dashed to the light. With each step, the light grew stronger and bigger.

However, to her dismay, what appeared before her eyes was a graveyard with hundreds and hundreds of tombstones.

"It-it shouldn't be too bad. It has to be a lot better than what ever happened in the darkness. It can't possibly get any worse, can it?" she thought as she hoped nothing bad would happen.

Thump. Thump.

Ivy darted her head to where to sound was coming from. Right before her eyes was a rotten, dried up hand trying to dig it's way back up to the surface. "Oh no. Oh no. No. No. No. No." She started running through the graveyard. Bad move. A hand grabbed onto her ankle and she fell down. A cold shiver ran through her body as she felt the cold and disgusting fingers on her skin. The grip around her ankle tighten and she could feel her ankle about to break. She screamed in pain before stabbing the wrist with one end of her bow. On reflex, the fingers loosened and she kicked the hand away. She got up and started to run again. If she felt any pain before, it was gone as her sole purpose right now is to get away from the hands.

"The hands will drag you down in hell," she could hear her mother's voice telling her. "No one will ever hear you scream in agony as they rip you apart until you're nothing more than a pile of limbs."

She remembered her mother telling her about these hands. They don't have any bodies. They're just hands that will rise from the dead once they hear footsteps from above. They're jealous of creatures who still have their bodies and because of their ugly trait, they will tear any creature they can grab. Ivy pulled out another arrow and shot it at a hand that was about to come up to the surface. She tried her best to make the path in front of her as clear as possible. However, it wasn't until long when her body could not ignore her bruised ankle anymore. Another hand grabbed the same ankle but this time, it showed no mercy as it crushed her ankle. Ivy fell to the ground and screamed in agony. Her bow was a few feet away from her, making it impossible to stab the hand like how she did with the first hand. It wasn't until long when she felt the other hands start grabbing her arms and body. She was being pushed against the ground so she couldn't move even if she tried.

"Someone, please help me. I don't want to die. Not now, not ever. I still want to do so much. Mom, I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please help me. Minho, help me," she prayed as tears welled up in her eyes. Seeing that she couldn't do anything, she let herself go to the pain. She never knew how tired her body was from the running and the fear. She was getting ready to accept her death seeing that there was no one out there to save her.

However, right before she passed out, the pain in her ankle went away. The hands that were holding her so tightly loosened, making her feel like she was flying. "Ahh, so this is how it feels like to pass one to the other world," she smiled in comfort to know that she was going to be okay. A tall and blurry figure appeared before her and lifted her up. "This must be my angel to come and get me. I can now finally rest."

She closed her eyes and left her body drift off with the figure.