A Dark Descent

The Solitude

Alex looked up at the light. It was coming from something at the top of the waterfall. He grabbed the axe that was lying right next to him and climbed up the side of the waterfall. The light was coming from a tiny statue of a fish. He picked up the fish and the light left in a blue light with wisps flowing. Alex looked over the waterfall and saw that he was alone.

"Wait!" He said. "Where is everybody?" He looked back at the light as it ran away into the forest. "Hey! Wait!"

He climbed down the waterfall and ran after the light into the forest. He kept yelling at the light to come back but it just went farther and farther until they were both at the town. The light stopped in the middle of the road when Alex tripped on a rock and fell over. He looked up, and the light expanded and faded away. It revealed a faded woman. She was a black lizard with a triangular black cap with horns, the same top of the head from the beast. She had translucent black silk draping from the hat with roses on the top of her hat. She was wearing a beetle symbol on the middle of the top of her white dress. She had beautiful green eyes and white evening gloves.

"Thank you, young one." The woman said.

Her voice was sweet, and young.

"Ummm, you're welcome." Alex said as he got up and wiped off the dirt on his clothes. "But, who are you?"

"Oh. yes, I guess I should introduce myself." She said. "I'm Elizabeth."

Alex looked disappointed. "Well, I meant, what are you?"

"I'm me."

"Yeah, well. What happened to my friends!?"

"Oh." She said, she looked worried. "They died."

Alex gasped, his eyes dilated and he was struck still and couldn't move. "What-what-Nooo!" He fell on his knees and began to cry.

"But they're not dead permanently." She assured him. "You can save them."

"Wha-" He sniffled and tried to breathe normally. "What do you mean?"

"You can fix everything."

Alex had begun to calm himself. "How?"

"You can find the rest of us."

"What do you mean."

"The rest of my family. They are hidden in this world."

"Uh, well, how will I find them."

"The same way you found me, young one."

"Uh, well what should I do."

"The same thing you did to me." She faded away into the sky. "I wish you good luck." As she flew into the sky, and the hands captured her.

"Oh no." Alex picked up the axe beside him, and the blue stone left in front of him. "No wait, this can't be real."

He welled up and ran back into his home. He looked to the side and his mother was gone, but the note was still on the chair. He walked over and picked up the note and opened it.

Tick Tock, read the top of the page, and at the bottom it read The race has begun. He crumpled up the note and threw it behind the couch.

"No!" He said.

He raced up the stairs and threw himself into his bed and stuffed himself inside of the blanket.

He awoke from his sleep and looked out of a small crack in his blanket. He saw blue light seeping through the window. He got out of his bed, and he felt relieved as the moon was still blue. He got out of bed and went downstairs. He felt overwhelming joy when he saw everyone and his mom sleeping in the room. He wanted to just go up and hug them all so tight but feared that he might wake them up. So he walked outside, but it was different. The house was a floating island with a long bridge that connected to a small little cabin on the other side. He looked around and then took one slow step onto the bridge. Nothing happened. He continued down the bridge until he stopped in front of the door to the cabin. He knocked, no one answered, so he walked in.

The cabin was empty with one bright orange light floating in the air. It was an orange stone.

"Hello." Alex said to the stone, but nothing responded. "Are you one of her family."

Alex's hand opened and the blue stone floated to the orange stone, he hadn't even realized that he was holding it. When the two stones met, the light poured through the whole room and everything was white, everything was still, everything was calm.

Alex woke up. He looked out of the window, it was daylight. He went back down stairs, and his hopes were soon crushed then when he saw no one was there. He went outside, and everything was still, but the same place he was familiar with. He walked across the road and knocked on his neighbors, no one answered. He walked towards the market and looked around, no one was there. He looked down, feeling hopeless, when he saw that his fist was still closed. He opened his fist and there was the blue stone, still in hand.

"What?" Alex whispered. "Why do I-" He gasped. "It's a sign."

He thought back about the dream. And then he knew.

He ran to the treehouse as quickly as possible. Everything was still the same. He ran up to the treehouse and climbed up and threw the door open. But he was sadly disappointed. Nothing was there, it was still the same treehouse.

He held the stone up to his face. "I don't understand." He said. "Why would I dream about that, if it wasn't here?" He looked around, there was still nothing out of the ordinary. He began to cry and held onto the stone tight. "WHERE ARE THEY!" He yelled and threw the stone out of the door and began to cry, sad and weak on the floor.

He lied there, hugging the stuffed cat. He got up, there were less tears then and he felt better than before. He looked out of the window, and saw moonlight. He was surprised at how late it was and walked toward the window and looked out into the moon. He opened the door but instead of being met with the ladder, he saw a long bridge to a cabin in the starry night. The moon moved to the middle of the bridge as Alex took his first step on the bridge. He walked over to the other cabin and opened it, it was empty and there was the light in the middle. He gasped and looked back, the same treehouse in sight. He opened his hand and nothing was there. He took a deep breath and walked towards the light as it engulfed him inside.

He woke up really tired. He looked around, and it was night. He looked out the window and saw the moon and trees below. He walked down the path home sadly. He looked around as he thought he saw anyone, but they were quickly gone. He looked at barren houses, remembering how vibrant and life like they were. He opened the door and sat down on the couch. He grabbed his moms favorite pillow and cried for an hour. He then got up and grabbed the note from the back of the couch and uncrumpled it.

There was nothing on it on either side of the note. He grabbed his quill from upstairs and wrote on the note. Please, tell me what I need to do, he wrote and he put the note on the sit and hugged the pillow tightly and went to bed.

He woke up. No one was on the couch with him. There was daylight, and the note was in the same spot as before. He opened it and it read, In the woods. Alex thought for a few seconds what this could mean, but quickly disregarded the note. He walked outside and looked up in the sky. The hands were still there, and so were his friends smiling down at him. He walked up the path to the treehouse. He stood in front of the house and just stared at the doorway.

He looked back ahead at the ladder, and then went past the treehouse.

He walked for a while, thinking about where his mom and friends were, what he was going to do, and where he was gonna do it. He continued walking until a shadow casted in front of him and he stopped. He looked in front him and saw a cabin in the woods. He gasped and ran up and slammed into the door. He grabbed the doorknob and shook it frantically but it wouldn't budge. He pounded on the door and tried to force it open but nothing happened. He ran to the side of the cabin but there were no doors or windows. He walked up to the side of the cabin and put his long ear up against the wall. He heard nothing.

He kneeled down in front of the wall and tried to calm down and think. Then he knew. He ran back through the forest on the same trail he went down and was back at the treehouse. He looked up as it was getting darker. He ran down the path and back to his house. He opened the door and grabbed his axe from the floor. As he got up he saw the blue stone and decided to take it with him and he put it in his bag tied around his waist. He walked back outside and it was suddenly darker.

He retied the knot holding the blanket on his shoulders and he headed out down the path.