Awoken

Bastian:CH2: Imminent Part 1

Her scream echos in every direction as I stumble under the dark night sky. The surrounding forest is blocking out most of the light from the bright full moon, and I'm sweating as if I've been running for hours dodging uprooted roots and outreaching branches, but it's only been minutes.

It's as if I'm moving in circles and making no progress yet the fear and urgency in her voice are growing; the only thing that seems to change while everything else stays exactly the same. I've marked every tree with a deep slash, and am yet to find one that hasn't been vandalised by myself. We're completely alone. The animals have already fled, they're always the first to know when something is wrong in their environment.

Climbing a tree, I keep reaching for the next branch above me, ascending rapidly- faster than an ordinary person until I've reached the top and have a clear view over the forest but all I see is a vast never-ending stretch of more, and more trees.

"Miss, can you hear me?" I yell before it returns to me a few times followed by silence.

Wait.

I can see flickering. There's light in the distance.

Finally.

Using the treetops, I leap from branch to branch, one tree after another. No, I'm not part ape, I just have great spacial awareness, superior strength and impressive balance. This way I have the moon to help guide me closer to the distant light.

Primal and urgent, her scream sounds again. She is literally charging the air around her, I can feel the shift. I'm getting closer. Energy is all around us even when we feel completely alone and right now it's building and multiplying rapidly.

The celestials, our "saviors" decide on how and when we evolve. We're back to swords and bows and arrows; no gunpowder or automatic projectile man-made weapons allowed, but magic, well that's a different and much deadlier story and the woman is a magic bomb about to explode unless I can defuse her.

Speaking of. . . I counted two dozen trees standing between us. I just need a second to catch my breath.

Okay, better now.

"You're going to be fine," I shout. Having finally reached a small break in the trees I can see her, the woman I keep crossing paths with, the woman that has power over me. She's also the flickering unstable light source. I was hoping she was just really upset about a busted fairy light in need of repair. It's not an actual fairy, just an enchanted ball of light that floats in the air.

"Get out of here," she yells.

Yeah, that's not going to happen.

A 60 feet drop awaits me. There's no time to climb down the tree trunk so I jump instead, and the ground groans upon impact, deep imprints of my feet left behind.

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm here to help," I reply. That seems to be our thing, finding each other during our most vulnerable moments.

There's a chance my armor- strategically padded pants, jacket and shielded vest along with my enchanted trinkets, will be enough to save me from death, but the odds are not in my favour which is why failure is not an option.

"I don't need your help," she grunts trying to hide her pain, refusing to look at me but I can hear it in her voice, the heavy and very strained breaths.

"Right, so dying is part of your plan?"

"Why do you think I'm here? 30 kilometers from civilization, no one is meant to be here except me," she answers.

That's depressing.

Her legs give out but I cross the small distance in time and help steady her to the ground, onto her knees.