He opened his eyes, slowly.
He knew he had to run. He wasn't sure why he knew that, or even where he was, but he somehow knew he needed to get moving.
He sat up and looked around. He was in a pile of dirt, in some kind of strange dark forest. He stud up and looked himself over, trying to remember something, he was slender and covered in markings. He wore no clothing, but somehow he felt little shame about that, even thought he knew he should feel ashamed.
The trees were far enough apart to walk comfortably, plenty of grass in between them, but the trees were old, tall and not maintained. It was an untouched forest. Why would he be in a forest? How did he get here? He tried to think back but he couldn't remember anything. He couldn't remember who he was, let alone, why he was there. But he knew he had to get moving.
"Maybe moving will restore my memory?" He said in a raspy voice to no one. Clearly he hadn't spoken in a while. He felt so thirsty. As he walked in the woods, not knowing where he was going, or in which direction he was walking he eventually came to a small clearing where he saw a small group of people.
The group had maybe 20 people standing in a circle around 2 very tall figures. The people all looked different in their own way, all different sizes, genders, colours and age. Although he could somehow remember that these were differences in people, he couldn't remember why or if that was important. Regardless, no one seemed to know what was happening either.
He looked around to find any sign of sun, or moon, or even star to get a sense of direction. But he found nothing but the tree tops and the tall figures.
Perhaps they would help them? Maybe these creatures knew something he didn't. The tall figures made a low humming noise that was very inviting. But he was still unsure about them so he kept his distance. As he stood near and listened, the humming changed to a message in his mind. He still heard only humming but somehow he knew the tall figures were chanting for everyone to come to them.
"You will be loved,
Fire will cleanse you,
You must be pure to feel his presents."
This felt suspicious to him. Two people in the group stepped forward and one of the tall figures morphed in shape. He became a large binding of circles, like five crowns of gold circling within themselves. Each crown was encrusted with gemstones of all different colours and it shone so bright it was hard to look at. More people came closer to the figure now. It hummed some more explaining that it was an angel and was sent down to make us pure enough to go to heaven. He walked closer and memories started to come back to him.
He remembered being a young boy, causing trouble. He didn't remember the specific memories, only the heavy emotions that came with the memories.
"Matt...Matty! MATT! MATHEW! .... Mathew!" a course of angry voices called through his skull. He remembered his name.
He felt only the pain that came from growing up, learning, and life. He remembered all the bad things he'd ever said. All the horrible things he had experienced. He dropped to his knees at the edge of the forest. His pain was too great, he started to cry, he felt so confused and scared. Life was suffering.
Why would they return these memories to him? Why show him his name, but not show him his loved one's? Did he even have any loved one's? He remembered very little from his life, but surely it wasn't all pain and despair. Was this angel real? Was any of this real? Was he really dead?
Then before any of his questions could be answered the angel shot a beam of light at one of the people in the small crowd and they burst into flames.
"Fuck this shit!" He quickly sprang up and turned in the opposit direction. Whether that was an angel or not, he was not going to go with it.
As he ran through the forest he remembered more things about his life, all the times he'd been scared, It was as if every emotion he felt he unlocked all the memories associated with that emotion. He remembered every time he was hurt, physically and mentally. Something told him that he had died a lonely old man. Now he was a young version of himself and running naked through the woods. Was this what happened to everyone when they died?
