Locked Within

Chapter 1: "The Crimson Gardens"

A problem that is too massive to comprehend is what befalls the mind of this man who just woke up in a dark forest..

"Wh... Where am I?" he asks out in the nothingness crookedly as his voice was sickly and his energy is drained to its core.. He looks around but he cannot determine where he was for the look of the trees were unnatural, they were high and their trunks looks thin but upon closer inspection they were thick and the surface of those tree trunks seems to have its own river of blood that flows In it without a uniform rhythm, by the limits of  his human eyes it was hard to tell if there was any rhythm at all. It is like a stream but its unstable watery movements seem to contradict each other thus forming a raging liquid like surface of the tree trunks.

The man quickly shook his head in an attempt to clear his mental fog but to no success, he notices his clothes and he recognizes it (despite not knowing) that it was his usual attire: A leather jacket with fur on the collar, a white shirt, dark blue jeans paired with some biker boots.

He quickly checks all his pockets but they were empty, he rolls up his sleeves to see his wrists for any watch to at least tell the time but he could see none. 

With uncertainty filling his mind and heart he tries to get himself together...

 He observes his surroundings for a second time just to make little sense out of it but what he saw made no sense to him: All of the trees were the same titanic height and their branches were thin looking and their leaves were not green but rather it was crimson and each leaf (if it was ever a leaf) seems to be beating as if its an organ that pumps.. Blood. 

He looks up but because of the height of the trees he could not see any traces of clouds nor skies, let alone the beating organs that stood as leaves from the wicked branches of the trees.

"If it is day, dawn, noon or night I could not tell.." he whispers to himself and decides to walk on 

The grounds were strangely comfortable to walk to as if its soil was made of layers upon layers of soft pillows on top of one another but the thing is despite its softness, the soil never seems to sink and swallow his feet as he walked. 

"This is unsettling and weird" he whispers to himself and for a moment he almost called out 'Hello' but he quickly stopped himself because whatever lies deep in the woods he knows nothing about and he honestly does not dare to know about.

He looked straight ahead and he saw a massive fountain made from marble but what seems odd about it is that the marble seems to have a decayed look and instead of water the fountain has dark ashes flowing in it as if they are sands destined to flow forever in a large bowl made out of marble..

He walks closer and inspects closely and notices that there are small glittery lights that flicker within the dark ashes in the fountain as if he was looking at the cosmos but strangely he dare not touch the ashes nor the marble fountain..

"What the heck is that?" the man knitted his brows then he decides to look elsewhere and behold... A pathway of gray cobblestones awaited him just a few feet from the soft soil he is standing at near the fountain

He decides to walk to it and after a few minutes he discovers that it leads to a massive place riddled with circles within circles of red plants as if it is placed there for a demonic ritual or a shadowy ceremony of some sort and he felt fear crumbling the remnants of his courage but he braved the blizzard grip of dread and he walked on.

"Based on what I see, the plants are not earthly, the trees are not normal, the soil ground is not normal as well and the weird fountain is not usual and nothing like that existed I believe.." the man thinks hard "If I know what 'earthly' is but cannot trace back in my memory where on earth  I belong then.. How did I know it?" then creeping up in his thoughts he came to see a vision:

Him driving his motorcycle in an empty highway in an orange sunset which is a burning sight for the eyes more heat filled than the ground it touches.. "Detective, take a break and get away from it all" a voice of a middle aged woman said to him.. He could hear the voice but it seems to be like a memory within a vision or a memory within a memory.. "You have done your part, you always did but now its damaging you.." the echoes came afterward...

Then suddenly the visions stopped and the man was back to where he was standing: the crimson gardens where the red plants were in a formation of circles within circles and he cannot count how many circles there are... He looks up to the skies and he saw that it was sickening  blue as if it was an ocean big enough to swallow millions of damned souls or perhaps it can swallow countless whole universes....

He looked back at the forest from where he came from and it was still there.. The damned trees were still titans from afar but now the man could not see the tree trunks because what replaced it was total darkness.

"Am I in Hell?" he asks himself but he could not remember if he died or what and only a fragment of his memory came to be the only link he has to his past that may or may not guide him in this place.. Whatever this place is..

He closed his eyes and breathe deeply.. He could smell nothing.. He exhaled and he gripped his hands he could feel his nails dig deep to his palms.. He could feel his feet within his boots.. He could feel everything.. But there was no touch of wind in this place.. 

His ears hear the drum beats of his heart.. 

"Alright.. Am I in Hell? If so what circle am I in? God help me.." 

the man then asks himself "How the heck did I know about Hell and its circles?"

"I'm losing my Mind"

END OF CHAPTER 1