“So what’s the plan?” I ask after a long stretch of silence. The fire crackles beside me, sparks flying in the air.
Empty gazes meet mine.
“I guess we should focus on trying to figure out where we are,” Xavier finally replies, his voice low and gruff. “Maybe we should just travel until we see people who can tell us.”
“This place seems rather rural, out in the middle of nowhere,” I comment, “we could be days away from any sort of civilization.”
“Wait a second,” Yi says, and we look at him. “I think the far more pressing matter at this moment is what to do about you.”
“What? Are you insane?” I narrow my eyes.
It is strange that they are looking at me like this. It is almost as if they are expecting me to explode at any minute, or vanish into thin air. I’m not a ghost!
“You just killed those Shifters, Mona. I don’t know if you are yourself anymore. It seems like your entire personality has changed.”
“Of course I am myself,” I scoff. The fire warms my skin as I rock back and forth, hugging my knees. They don’t seem to believe me.
“Where did you take us, Mona?” Xavier asks me gently, his hand moving to rest on mine. Strangely familiar warmth spreads throughout my body. It takes a minute for me to realize what he said.
“Take us? You mean I took you somewhere?” I snap my hand away, although a guilty, lingering blush remains. Danae makes eye contact with me and grins knowingly. I feel the sudden need to slap her.
“You must have. The last memory I had before all this was when we were in that strange chamber at headquarters. Do you remember that?”
These people are going crazy.
“That’s not what happened. Griffin was taking me to a new part of the castle when you guys showed up and…” I put my head in my hands. “I don’t know.”
“You are missing some very important pieces of the puzzle, Mona,” Xavier smiles, an action that brings red to my face. He thinks I am a fool. These people are making up events that never happened in order to embarrass and confuse me.
I glare at him, and his bright smile fades.
“Maybe it is not just us stranded in this place,” Danae comments, “maybe some of the others are here too.”
“You can’t worry about the others unless you find them on the way,” I reply almost forcefully, “as of now the focus should be on getting food for survival. All I have seen so far is strange, shriveled-up berries and miles of tall trees. Everything here seems dead.”
“I disagree,” Xavier narrows his eyes at me, “I feel like worrying about the others is absolutely essential.”
“I’m not saying worrying about them is not important, but that survival is more important,” I snap, standing up. The cool, harsh wind beats at my skin.
“Mona…” Xavier looks at me with a gaze that makes me want to punch him in the face. “Please be reasonable.”
“Xavier, you can’t search for anyone if you die of starvation. And as of now, you have no idea who you are looking for.”
“Wait, what do you mean by you? Shouldn’t you be saying we?”
“Oh, sorry. My bad.” I try to act like it is no big deal, but now I can see that this is going to be difficult. If the careful substitution of you for we was recognized, they will definitely have an easier time keeping me here, just like a prisoner, even though I don’t want to get involved in their drama. These people are maniacs and it would be su!cide to keep up with guys if they are only interested in saving their friends instead of saving themselves.
Without another word, I stalk off, heading into the deep forest. I can still hear voices behind me, and when I cross a few trees I pause.
“She is almost exactly like she was before I saved her in the forest,” Xavier’s voice echoes, “even though she remembers most of the events that happened afterwards.”
“I wouldn’t lose hope with her just yet,” Yi responds, then a heavy silence fills the air. I listen for another second, but nothing happens. I heard enough anyways, I guess.
Racing farther into the forest, I find a large tree not far from the clearing. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a small, dark shadow leaning against the tree.
A Shifter.
I try to figure out what the creature is doing and why it is here. The cold embraces me, and the dark feelings that usually come after such an encounter are very minimized. For some reason, I am not afraid.
I don’t see the red eyes, so the Shifter must be resting in some way. It seems strange to me, that Shifters need to sleep like every other creature.
Without the red eyes, it looks almost peaceful.
I sit down where I am, peering at the monster. It is white, but you can easily see the ground through its body. Almost subconsciously a small dagger, seemingly made from the same material as the lance, appears in my hand. I stare at it for a minute, amazed at how easily I am able to conjure weapons when I was unable to before arriving in this strange new world.
I edge closer, careful to minimize any sounds. This is my chance. It can’t get any easier than this.
However, I hesitate before striking the Shifter. Something about this is not right.
How come so many Shifters have appeared out in the open, without seeking to possess any inanimate objects? How come everything in this area is dead, dark and devoid of any type of civilization?
I gasp as the eyes of the Shifter suddenly appear in its body, my father flashing before my eyes. Except this time, these eyes are filled with a different sort of emotion, beyond anger, pain, and hopelessness.
Pure terror radiates from the creature beside me.
Startled by confusion, I launch forward with the dagger stretched outwards. Immediately my face hits the ground with a resounding thud. My consciousness seems to fade in and out as I try to get myself off the ground, my brain pushing for survival while my brain is begging for time to recover. I forcefully push myself up, and then to my feet after a few seconds of near-paralyzation. Immediately I search for a red glow, a red anything that would indicate whereabouts of the Shifter.
Shock crosses my mind as I see nothing besides the same bleak, dreary landscape.
The Shifter… ran away.
Truly frozen this time around, I fall against the tree. The dark stench of sulfur wafts towards my nose, suspending all thought and movement. This can’t be happening. Shifters don’t run away.
“Mona!” A voice calls out, and suddenly a body is by my side. “Did you see a Shifter? I smell one.”
“Not now, Xavier,” I say weakly, sliding to the rough, dirty ground. “You shouldn’t even be talking to me.”
I only turn to look at him after he stubbornly sits beside me. His green eyes stare into mine, and I shiver. I am a horrible human being.
“You can’t possibly mean that,” Xavier’s face stretches into a slow smile, almost laughing at my words. “Mona, I know you have been through a lot, and I’m-”
“No, Xavier,” I snap, then frustratedly put my head in my hands. The wind bites at our bodies. “You don’t understand.”
Tears start to well up in my eyes. Out of the corner of my eye, Xavier’s hand reaches towards my shoulder.
“I sent us all to h*ell.”
The hand stops, then retreats from my vision.
* * *
I made sure to sleep near the trees, as far away from the others as possible without being deemed suspicious. Xavier was the first to fall, then Danae’s eyes quickly closed, then Yi started snoring like a freight train. Ah, how I love loud snoring.
I wait a few minutes, lying flat on my back and staring straight into the sky. Not a star is up there, only true black, the same black that covers this entire landscape. I have not seen true, natural light from the sky since we came here.
There is always a mist, a deep fog spreading across the sky and forest. It doesn’t seem like this place ever receives rain or any sort of irregular weather. If it is the same place as my dream, it is always going to look like this. Which would be explainable, if this place is in fact the land of the dead.
I never imagined h*ell to be quite like this. I have always thought of a world of fire and endless smoke and screams of terror, and this world seems anti-climatic in comparison. Instead of h0rror, there is only… nothing. Only the Shifters.
I still feel bad for bringing the others to this place. But something has to be done. I can’t stay with a group bent upon certain death.
Slowing edging to my feet as Yi snores once more, I creep towards the cluster of trees by the clearing. If even a single branch snaps, it’s over.
I take one step, and then another. My heart starts to constrict in a weird way as I start to vanish into the mass of the deep, dark forest. I try to quell my pounding heart, for it beats so loudly that it nearly makes the ground shake. I don’t understand why I am so nervous.
I am only doing what is necessary to save myself. It is better when I am alone.
Trying to steer my thoughts away from the group I just left, I focus on the path ahead. Filled with sharp rocks and sticks, there is a huge chance of me falling, even though I haven’t been very clumsy at all over the past day. Narrowly avoiding a tree branch as my speed increases, my legs start to pick up in speed. I must get further and further away, so far that they can’t possibly catch up to me.
Ever since I have gotten here, nothing has felt right. It is like a single chord played wrong in a beautiful melody. Even as I run, it seems like instead of getting farther away from the terrible feelings, I am running straight towards them. Yet my legs continue to beat on the same path, as if nothing now can turn them away.
I probably wouldn’t feel so nervous if my heart wasn’t still beating loud enough to wake the dead.
My stomach growls and small beads of sweat appear on my forehead. I am growing more and more exhausted, my throat parched and my vision shaky. Who knows how long I have been running, how long I have even been here. In this place, time runs together, twisting and weaving, frolicking around its inhabitants.
This must be a dream. It has to be.
That is the reason why none of this makes sense. Why I keep having memories that I don’t understand. Why everything is so out of the ordinary.
I’m having another dream of the dark world, but this time, I am the star. The only question is; how do I wake myself up?
The running never ends, but my consciousness starts to stumble a little bit. My eyelids slip down, then struggle to its former position. My stomach screams in agony, and only luck prevents its cries from echoing throughout the forest. I must find a way out of this dream before I die.
Only trees surround me, almost the exact same trees surrounding me when I left. Everything here looks the same, which makes me question whether I have been running in circles or not.
I can’t be. I’ve been traveling in a straight line.
But this place continues to play with my brain, and out of the corner of my eye I spot a small irregularity, something that doesn’t fit with everything I have seen so far. It is a well of some sort, old and misshapen, but to me the symbol of deliverance. Wells… hold water.
I instinctively change my direction for the first time, swerving to avoid tree after tree. I continue to get closer and closer, but it almost seems to be traveling farther and farther away. Maybe I am just getting fooled by this dream world. I blink my eyes in confusion.
When I look again, it is still there.
My pace slows, and for the first time the well looks like I am actually getting closer to it. Excited, I furiously zoom towards it, towards the hope of life-giving water.
Please, let there be water.
My eyes slip once more, then a heavy force pounds the breath out of me as I slam into it, obviously not looking where I am going. “Ugh!” I gasp for breath, my arms touching the object to try and keep myself steady. “I guess I really am exhausted for banging into a tree,” I mutter, trying to concentrate on getting rid of the shaking that is reverberating around my body.
“Last time I checked, I wasn’t a tree,” a slightly familiar voice travels to my ear, and instantly I start to scream, kicking the talking tree and trying to pull my hands away. However, we seem to be locked in some sort of strange embrace, and both the tree and I lose our balance as we too bang into something hard, then topple almost in midair.
Wait. We are in midair.
My senses go out of control as the world constantly shifts in my eyes, a blur of insanity that I can’t possibly understand. It lasts for a second or two, then I just tightly close my eyes and hope this will be over soon. I hope this madness will stop.
And then there is a thud, then the overwhelming, incredible pain begins. My arm hits the ground—I think—and I feel the bone crack. My legs already seem broken. I don’t think I have ever taken such a tumble, especially by banging into a talking tree.
My eyes slide open, slowly and hesitantly, to survey my surroundings. The first thing I notice is the moisture surrounding my arms and legs. The second thing I notice is circular walls stretching upwards as far as the eye can see.
The third thing I notice is a red-haired being lying opposite me, his knee and neck bent at awkward angles. His eyes are closed, and he seems to be faintly breathing.
“Griffin?” The name easily floats from my lips, startling even me.
There is no response.
What… just happened?
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