ELYSIA THE MYTH

PROLOGUE

          My lungs are desperately gasping for air as I am running as fast as I can for as long as my body allows.

          WHAT WAS THAT?

          My brain keeps on screaming the same question over and over and, although I might not want to accept it, I know the answer. My primal human instincts urged me to run as soon as they perceived that what I have seen, was a life-threatening situation. This was probably around half-hour ago, but honestly, I lost track of how long I am running for.

          Blood is furiously pumping in my veins. My heart and lungs are pounding and I feel like they might explode at any given time. Even though I am physically exhausted, my brain is alert trying to make sense of what's happening and how did I get here, considering this place is nowhere familiar to me. Thus, the last thing I remember was being safely asleep at home.

          I am running frenetically in the middle of god knows where. No help in sight, nothing to defend me, and overall just being the unprepared-for-reality-twenty-year-old I have always been, or whatever reality entails now since I am internally battling with two different concepts here. "Reality", is a more complex term to define from now on, since the thin line that separated whatever it meant before, and what it represents at this given moment, is quite blurry, to say the least. 

         I can help to question this reality: is it a part of something authentic as life as we know it but anonymous to most? What if it's something we are not able to mentally conceive, only because we haven't yet been introduced to it? Deep down, I know all this is outer-worldly and fairytalesque but it feels very, very real. Everything about wherever I am feels as real as it could be, just like the burn on my leg muscles and the physical exhaustion from the effort, both legitimate and terrifying.

          That thing is familiar, where have I seen it? I can't go on much longer. Where am I?

          Deep dialogues with myself again, why do I always do this shit in inappropriate situations?  

           I suddenly reach a halt. There it is, the physical breaking point that I feared. My body relentlessly sunk to the ground for a few seconds and then, an unexpected epiphany: "Why am I running? No one's after me". Amid all the adrenaline, my brain finally decided to calm down and make sense of my surroundings.

          Nothing's after me.

          Feeling safer, I took some deep, very needed breaths while supporting myself on my legs before standing again. I took another moment to better examine my surroundings to see if I recognized anything instead of just running savagely.

         Focus. Where are you, Kira?

            I begin to slowly cool off, and sense how increasingly lower the air temperature is getting. The forest is dark and the night air is cold, heavy, and humid. Breathing is somewhat a difficult task here, particularly after my unwilling cardio session. After having a look at my cramping legs, I noticed how my skin is dirty, sweaty, and injured. My knees are bruised and discolored from all the times I fell. The scratching wounds on my arms are extensive. Its surface was thoroughly covered in small, thin scratches with a few deeper cuts from the thorny foliage that I had to carelessly remove out of my way.

          Tall trees almost fully cover the moonlight and my vision is scarce. Darkness reigns here. I also notice the overwhelming, unnatural silence. I am in the woods, it would be logical to hear animal sounds, a breeze, something. Anything. Nothing feels normal about this place and it is giving me chills. Under my slippers, the floor is covered with leaves, but the trees are in no way undressed. The ground is also soaking wet, almost as if it had been heavily raining for entire days on end but tonight, not a single droplet. Suddenly, I feel a presence. 

          Someone is heavily breathing behind me. I could sense the humid, hot, rotten breath against my frozen neck. All my skin quivered, and my arm and neck hair stood up.

          It's not just someone, it's something. I didn't need to look to figure out that it's the same thing I have been running from. 

          Nothing was here just a second ago and, with the overwhelming silence, I should have heard at least the slightest sound for something so massive in size.

          I'm scared to move but, at the same time, the creature isn't attacking. 

          Why? 

          My survival instincts ordered my head to turn back carefully, but I can barely move it in fear. Tired, I finally decide to take a deep breath and close my eyes. I reminded myself of my last memory of safety, in an attempt to soothe my mind: my bed's comfort. What if the afterlife is real? I clearly can't trust the universe or anything I thought I knew at this point so, it's no longer a mind-boggling question.

           I am in control of myself now. 

           With my eyes closed, I slowly turned my body around to face the mystic beast.

          This isn't my reality.

          I am ready to accept my fate. I opened my eyes to stare at the beast and, as soon as I did, everything disappeared into a raven-black abyss.