The Awoken (an ACOTAR story)

I: Malukah

I remember I was born of dirt and ground beneath me. Starting as a beautiful pink ancient flower, and growing into something more. Growing into someone who could think, and someone who could do anything I could put my mind to.

And then it all went black. I hadn't remembered how I came to be in the ground again, under mud and rock. But I clawed my way out with slender fingers up to the surface. Like a new flower that bloomed again from the earth. It felt like it took months for me to reach the surface, and when I did I gasped like water had filled my lungs.

I had no idea where I was when I reached the surface. The ground was aggravated with magic and the wards around me were broken. The trees and grass were black like they had been burned, but shimmered as if the thing that burned them was magic itself.

I looked down at my hands and clothes and dirt and filth overcame me. My reddish blonde hair stuck to my face with dirt and roots sticking from it. My clothes were made from the finest petals, but they seemed shredded and hard, like bones that had been underground for too long and got covered in rock. I was covered with so much soot that it looked like I had emerged from volcanic ash. I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen, and realized that I felt like I hadn't ate in centuries. My mouth was parched as a dry desert. I needed to find somewhere to take lodge, even if it was abandoned.

I moved my feet, one step after another. It was hard, but I managed. I hoped I wouldn't come across anyone who would do me harm, but that was unlikely as I was as vulnerable as a leaf which had broken from a branch.

I smelled the crisp, warm air and took in my surroundings. The ground and forest were dilapidated, but I could still hear birds in the distance. So those birds is what I followed. Where there were birds and life, surely there could be a place where I could wash up.

Everything was foreign to me. The trees were different than what I had last remembered. They use to be ancient, tall trees who nobody would dare chop down. There use to be birds as big as houses, and lizards as big too that would shake the ground with every step. The trees were now underwhelming, and there were no signs of the creatures I once knew.

I turned as I heard a crack on a branch behind me, and I quickly scurried behind one of the small trees I had seen. I peered from behind the tree to see a dark creature, as black as night. It looked like a reptile, like the creatures of old, but it was as tall as a man. It sniffed the air as if sensing me, but its claws lay at its sides as if it wasn't looking for a fight.

I gently crept from behind the tree. Maybe this creature could help me.

"Hello-" I started in an ancient tongue, but the creature turned and bared its sharp fangs at me.

"Calm yourself, I mean you no harm." It tilted its head a bit, as if understanding me, but it still had its claws bared as if readying for an attack. I grew closer to the creature, and closer, before coming a few feet ahead of it. The creature smelled of ancient earth, but something was wrong. This creature smelled of magic, of curses. It wasn't meant to look as it did.

"Come, let's get you back to your old self." I beckoned the creature closer to me, and it purred. It smelled of death and rot, but I could sense that it disliked being so, down to the core of its being.

I reached my hand out to touch the creature, but I widened my eyes as I heard a whirring through the air. I quickly pushed the creature forward and it hissed, but an arrow lay, buried in the ground where it once stood.

I readied myself. Whoever launched that arrow may not have been a friend. I had to act quickly if I wanted to save this poor creature from misery. I quickly hurried to the creatures side and placed my hand on its chest.