Game of Hearts (Original Version)

Chapter 4

After wandering aimlessly around the lake lands, hoping you were bordering on the Land of Dreams, you decided that you were hopelessly lost. You finally stopped and checked things out, then sighed hopelessly. The last time you checked the map, it was about as helpful as if you were to walk up to one of the many lakes surrounding you and ask it which of the dozens of blue blobs it was on your map. Every time you looked at it, it just got you more and more frustrated. The sun had long since gone down, making it even harder to try and tell where you were...at least the breeze and coolness of the night was welcome to you within the confines of the thick armor that was weighing you down. The shirt and pants you were wearing under the armor were still slick from when you fell in the lake, and the cloth was clinging uncomfortably to your skin, making you feel sticky and irritable.

Exasperated, you sat down on a tree stump and pulled your helmet off. At this point, you didn't care about your identity or even if your gender was exposed, it was too much of an annoyance. You took in several deep breaths, happy to be rid of the metal plate that had been sitting over your face for far too long. You began to try and brush out your hair with your fingers, thinking that might help to calm your agitation, but it was so tangled that even that seemed to be stressing you out. After a bit of time, you got it fairly tangle free, and began to weave it into a tight braid. You made sure not to make the mistake of leaving it down in the braid under the helmet again, and twisted the braid into a bun to keep it from coming undone and becoming a matted mess.

While trying to get your head stuffed back into the metal prison, you began to hear rustling behind you. There was a shift in the wind, and the sound of the trees blowing began to overshadow any chance you had at hearing that rustling sound again. You jammed the helmet on and turned around, scanning the darkness for movement. A twig snapped and you shot up, now feeling for the hilt of the dagger at your side. You gripped the blade and tried to force your eyes to see more clearly in the dark shadows of the trees. You heard what could have been a snarl, and decided that you had had enough. You turned on your heel and ran as quickly as you could away from the spot you had been resting. You still had no idea where you were going, of course, but you also didn't want to wait around for whatever was hiding out in the woods watching you.

In this hyper-paranoid state, running widely deeper into the woods you knew nothing about, you began to feel eyes watching you from every angle. Every tree grew ominous, every lake grew darker and seemed like it was a pit waiting to swallow you up. Something caught your foot, and you slammed into the soggy ground. You scrambled to look behind you to make sure that there was nothing there, but still found yourself getting to your feet much quicker than you thought was actually humanly possible.

There was another rustling, and you whipped around to check it out. Seeing nothing, you began to slowly make a circle to get a look at your surroundings. There was something glowing and bright in the distance, like a torch or a fireplace seen through a window. You were busy staring at the light when you definitely heard a low, rumbling, guttural growling. Without a second thought, you charged towards the light, thinking it would at least help you to see around you better. No matter how much you ran, the light didn't seem to be getting any closer, but you were becoming aware of the area changing ever so slightly until it had become something completely different. The ground became sloshy, you could hear the sound of your shoes sinking into the ground and the 'shuck' sound made when you ripped them forward to keep running. The trees became denser, and the sounds of the forest got stranger and stranger. There were bugs buzzing, owls hooting, crows seeming to have a fight for who could be the loudest, and even the faint sound of howling.

You'd never been to the Land of Dreams, so you weren't sure if it was supposed to be like this or not. It was surrounded by lakes, so maybe the swampy marsh lands was to be expected. Hilly terrain covered in veins however, were not. Your feet kept getting stuck under over grown roots, and your run became more of a stumble. You were at least still progressing towards the light until you hit one loose vine on the ground that caught both your feet. Instead of falling directly to the ground, you hit a low hanging branch on a tree that was barely standing. Your weight on the branch was the last straw, and the limb tore loose from the tree and you were falling once again. There was an incline, and you rolled down what felt like a never ending hill until you landed at the base by slamming your head into a rock, with the tree limb draped over you like a weight, keeping you pressed into marshy grounds. The rock hitting the helmet against your head not only knocked you out, but the sound of the metal singing from being bashed against the rock made your ears ring the whole time you were unconscious.