@Spicyspice The dream had lasted for thousands of years.
Ilona stood on the outer wall of the palace, knuckles white as she gripped the rampart and leaned out over the edge, a scream caught in her throat.
Her city was burning, burning, burning, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Cries for help and shrieks of agony echoed in her ears, and she could do
nothing! These were her people, they looked to her for guidance, for security, and she had failed them.
Then, with a great, rumbling boom, the walls collapsed beneath her and everything went black. An inhuman cry was torn from her as she fell into nothingness.
But it didn't last. A light slowly sparked into existence, a soft glow just above her, a single silver star, and she reached for it desperately, feeling its heat brush her fingers, but she could never...quite...touch...
Then the darkness set in, until it all started over again.
Deep in the ruins of Fell, she slept, hidden away in a decaying tower in the western wing of what had once been a grand, glittering palace. Though enchantment had saved the princess from the ravages of time, it had done nothing for the walls around her, several holes having opened in the stones. Her magnificent fourposter bed had nearly rotted away, sheer curtains long since replaced with thick layers of cobwebs.
But Ilona lay peacefully amidst the dust and decay, a silvery sort of glow just barely covering her body, preserving her from the ruin around her. Her hair was fanned artfully around her body, hands clasped over her stomach. Two silver cuffs and a collection of bangles graced her arms and wrists, a simple silver necklace hanging just past her breasts, and a thin, elegant circlet bearing the crest of her kingdom rested on her head.
Aside from the jewelry, there was no indication that the sleeping young woman was of noble birth, dressed as she was in a simple white nightdress in thin slippers that- without the benefit of enchantment- would never have protected her against the biting winds that howled through the chamber.
She slept, and she waited.