The Dark Path (Part 1/2)

The Dark Lands

[Archer’s POV]

I woke up with a splitting headache. My head…it hurts like crap. Upon looking around, I realised my headache was the least of my worries.

“Where am I?” I said to myself.

I found myself on a beach. Well, I thought it was something like a beach. Instead of sand, there were small pebbles. Well, that’s different from what I’m used to. I turned my attention to the waves and noticed two very odd things.

The waves were moving. Okay, that’s normal. What was weird was that there was no sound. No longitudinal waves.  Nothing. I crawled over to the waves and held my ears close to the waves. Still nothing. Have I gone deaf? Wait, didn’t I say something to myself? I’ll try again, just to be sure.

“Blurpleberry” I said to myself. My hearing is still fine. So, why can’t I hear the waves?

The second weird thing was that there was no wind. I wet my index finger and held it up. Nope, nothing. How are there waves if there is no wind?  What’s going on? What is this strange place? Ugh, so many questions.

I stood up and noticed the sky. At first, I thought it was night time with the sky being dark and all. However, when I focused my attention on the sky, I noticed that there was not a single star in the sky. It was as if they all went out at the same time. Feeling a bit worried, I got up and walked along the beach. In the distance, I saw what looked like a building of some sort on top of a hill surrounded by a dense forest. Not a small hut but a mansion. ‘Who would live here?’ I thought to myself. I immediately headed to the mansion in hopes of finding someone and knowing more about my situation.

It was dark. Not a single light was illuminated while I was heading to my destination and yet, I could see through the darkness as clear as during daytime. As I pressed on, I thought about Alexis. Why did we have to fight? It’s all Miles’ fault. That idiot. I must remember to bash his face in when I see him.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow dart through the thick foliage just to the left of me. “Hey, you! Stop!” I shouted as I ran over to the spot where I was the shadow. When I got there, nobody could be found. A rustling of leaves could be from behind me. I spun around and looked for the mysterious shadow. All of a sudden, I heard more rustling coming from left. Then, there was movement on my right. This was followed by the sound of something heavy dropping.

I gulped. There wasn’t one person watching me. There were several!

“I know you’re here. Stop hiding!”

No reply. Yet, their movements could still be heard. I gulped. I had to outrun these guys. Not only was I outnumbered, I had no idea what these people or things were capable of. I had to make a break for it.

I ran to the mansion like all hell was out to get me. My lungs were starting to give out but my determination kept me going.

Suddenly, I tripped over something. I was moving too fast to see what it was. I bruised my face and arms but there was nothing that was too serious. I tried getting up to my feet but only managed to get onto one knee when I got hit really hard on the back of my head. And I was back into unconsciousness.

I woke up to the feeling of something moving on my face. I slowly opened my eyes. It was smooth. It was warm. It was…a snake!

“Holy crap!” I said as I jumped. I was on a bed and the snake was thrown off the bed when I jumped. The snake slithered away without looking back. I looked around the room I was in. It was quite fancy looking. I think I must be in the mansion that I saw earlier.

At first, I felt glad that I can start looking for someone who can help me but then I realised that whoever owned this place could also be the one who knocked me out. I had to stay on my guard.