Isabella was bored.<br/><br/>As a young woman in 18th century France, her life was nothing more then one endless party...or so her parents would have her believe. She had never believed in much of anything except herself and life within the mindless court bored her to no end. It was fanciful and pretty, but a soulless existence. Sighing softly, she leaned against the window in her personal chamber and watched the action take place far below. Another party....one of a never-ending line. She had pleaded ill and pretended to take to bed but none of it was true. Well, perhaps not anything of it. One thing was most certainly true....she was sick and tired of pretending to be something she wasn't.<br/><br/>It was only in books where she could truly live. Through her imagination, she could be whatever she desired. While the stories gave her a place to start, her mind filled in the blanks. Isabella had been a pirate, a warrior....even a queen. But even with the thoughts of adventure and life, she always came crashing back to reality....a harsh one at that. She had been promised to another by her father and was being forced to live a life that she didn't feel she belonged in. Perhaps another would have been gushing with excitement...but she wasn't a simple girl that wanted to live a simple life.<br/><br/>Leaving the window, she slipped across the cold marble floor and moved to her bed. Isabella's true escape from life lay within her dream. Dreams that could take her anywhere....and perhaps that particular night, she would find a place she truly belonged. Sliding her feet under the smooth silk of the bedding, she doused her bedside candle and went in search of her own personal utopia.<br/><br/>Oddly enough, her dreams that night had taken a different form. Lightening bolts and rain...driving wind that could knock one clean off their feet. She tossed and turned, long deep crimson tresses soaked with sweat as her dreams turned to nightmare. A nightmare with no faces but unyielding pain and torment. Try as she might, the lithe young woman could not break herself from the hellish visions.<br/><br/>When her eyes opened, she could have sworn she had simply left the window open. The smell of fresh air was all around, light wind tickling her nose. Stretching just a little bit, she slowly opened her eyes and blinked. The walls of her room were gone....as was any sign of structure whatsoever. Sitting up quickly, she noted her current state of dress was what she had worn to bed the night before. Was she still within her dream? It was hard to tell but she chose to believe so....a product of her wild imagination.<br/><br/>Everything felt real....very real.....but how absurd a notion is was that it could be anything but a vision. A lovely vision....but simply something to pass her hours with the sandman.