Awaken

     The girl opened her eyes and sat up straight with heavy breath. Her memory was foggy. She touched her neck which had stitches going all the way around to connect her head to the rest of her body. Then, she suddenly knew three things she had not known two seconds before. Her name was Tania, she was nineteen, and she had died. She looked around at the unfamiliar environment she found herself in. It seemed to be a maze of trees illuminated solely by moonlight. From deep in the trees Tania could hear something moving, then she heard a howl, then a roar, and then she ran. Her dark cloak flapped and her longe blonde hair blew in the wind as her bare feet ran across the earth. She met many dead ends, but her garments were light so she could run without anything weighing her down. When Tania reached the center of the winding maze she found something terrifying. There before her was the largest grey wolf that she had ever seen. The wolf bared its teeth and prepared to lunge at it’s terrified teenage prey. Tania did a 360, but every exit was guarded by various Bears, Leopards, and other ferocious beasts. The wolf stepped closer and closer to her. Then Tania shut her eyes and screamed, “Help!”, though she knew no one would hear.         After a moment of pure terror, she opened her eyes and saw that the wolf had bowed its head to her. In fact, all of the animals were bowing. Tania was looking around in confusion and astonishment at all the creatures bowing when a single flower grew before her and stretched to meet her. From the flower came a puf of fragrance that upon smelling, Tania suddenly remembered everything. She remembered her home in a kingdom which no longer exists. She remembered the love of her life. She remembered how he died. As the memory sank in, she remembered his final words. “I love you, Wolfie,” is what he said before he died. He called her Wolfie, though she never fully understood why. She remembered everything up until the moment of her death. Tania was more confused than ever till the wolf walked up to her and looked at her in the eyes. Through the majestic beast’s eyes, Tania could see the truth, the reason she was brought back. 

    Her true love was alive. 

    The young man opened his eyes and sat up straight with heavy breath. His memory was in bits and pieces. He put his hand to his forehead where he discovered a scar. Then, he suddenly knew three things he had not known a moment before. His name was Kai Louson, he was twenty three years old, and he was murdered. He looked around at an environment that looked all too familiar but at the same time looked strange. It was New York in black and white and he could hear voices everywhere. Whispers that were almost physical. They were almost pushing him. These whispers pushed him through the streets. There were almost walls of whispers. He ran through this maze of whispers like a mouse looking for cheese but instead of food, it was simply survival that he was chasing. The whispers kept getting louder. He kept running faster. When Kai finally reached the center of Manhattan, the whispers became piercing screams. Then out into the abyss he screamed, “SILENCE!”    And the whispers and screams stopped. Then they told him something and all his memories came flooding back. How he was betrayed by his best friend. How he was shot in the head. Then they revealed to him the reason he was brought back.

    His killer was still alive. 

    She woke up with heavy breath and sat straight up. She could remember nothing. The little girl ran through the rain in the stony maze she had found herself in. She was scared and all she wanted was her mommy and poppa. She ran with her little dress getting cut and she tripped again and again. On about the fifth time that she had fallen, she noticed carvings on the wall. It said, “Your name is Faith, you are eight years old, and you have died.” Upon reading this, Faith bursted into tears and ran in fear through the maze. “Mommy!”, she kept crying, hoping her mother would wake her from some horrible nightmare, but alas, she never came. Faith, after many hours of running, finally came to the center of the maze. When she entered the center, a gate rose from the ground, trapping her inside. Up against the back wall of the middle of the maze was a throne. Faith started to approach the throne when a figure appeared from behind it. This figure was unlike anything Faith had ever seen in real life. If she had ever seen anything like it, it was in a nightmare. 

“Hello, little girl.” Said the monster, “how do you do?”

The figure stretched out his hand and semi-bowed to Faith. Faith, then asked the creature what this place was, to which he replied:

“Now, now, if I told you, that would take all the fun out of it now wouldn’t it? Hehehe.” The monstrous man then smiled and said, “What I can tell you, is that if you sit in this chair, all will be revealed, and I will be your new best friend.”

Faith, still scared and confused, thought. Then, she did as the scary creature said and sat in the chair. As soon as she did, lightning flashed, thunder boomed, the creature cackled, and the memories all came back to her. She remembered everything now. And she knew that much time had passed since she died. 

“But why am I alive?”, she asked, “How am I alive?”

“I don’t know the answer to how,” said the monster with the blades on his body, “but I do know why.” 

The monster then took his ring off of his pinky and placed it upon little Faith’s finger and said, 

“Your big brother is alive, and we want to have some fun with him.”

Embla woke up remembering nothing, then she ran through the icey maze which was just like running with her sister back home. She then remembered everything once she reached the center. And she knew that her sister was alive. And that she needed her and her axe.

Bessy woke up in a maze having no idea what the darn tooting happened to her. All she knew was that she had died and she needed to keep moving. It took her w hile but when she finally reached the end, she remembered everything and she knew why she was back. Her father was alive and she was going to kill him. 

Fawn and Flint woke up in a labyrinth. Fawn and Flint remembered their age, the fact that they were twins, and that they had died. Fawn was pushed by an unseeable force through challenges of speed and swiftness. Flint was forced to compete in trials of combat and fire. By the end of it all, Fawn had a scar on her cheek and Flint had burns all up his arm. When they reunited, all of their memories came flooding back. As well as the reason they were alive. A friend needed their help to stop the end of the world. 

Many other people awoke and ran through mazes, however, I am currently on the run and therefore do not have much time to inform you about these elementals, so I have only mentioned a handful. But I do have time for one more…

He woke up with heavy breath. Shatter had all of his memories and he was in the same place that he had fallen asleep. Though he now knew something that he had not known when he went to sleep the night before. And in a soft, and confused voice…

“They, have returned. Nothing will be the same.”