My dream is near…

…we have no choice...

…Crash!

These were the first sounds I had heard, in a very long time.

I had been sleeping again, surrounded by the familiar darkness that was part of my world. All around me, nothing. No sky, no waves, no breeze. The familiar sent of trees and coco beans I craved for, out of my reach. I didn't even know what I looked like. I had no arms, no legs, no form. How long had I been in there? Days? Weeks? Months? Time didn't feel the same…or did it? It was terrifying.

But not so terrifying as what the other half of my world was. Every so often I'd see a glimpse of the real world. And what I saw frightened me. From what I could gather I was in a cave, with only a ghastly candle light illuminating the room. And all around me, were the remains of some creature's many feasts. Bones. Torn flesh. A bottomless pool of blood.

Needless to say, I chose the endless nothing over the scene of death and carnage.

But those words. I knew those were meant for me. Something from my past. Something important. They had called me out, desperately trying to get me to remember something. But every time I thought I knew what it was, it slipped away.

I was scared. I was afraid every time I woke up, that I would find out what the monster was that feasted beneath me. And that I would join the gruesome sight. Never knowing what those voices meant. Who it was calling out for me. That I'd end up a forgotten corpse, and that whoever she was that had called out my name, would have died because I was unable to reach her in time.

Then, I saw something new for the first time. Out of the darkness, there was a light coming towards me. It was multicolored; greens, blues, and reds. Only when it was close to me could I make out what it was. It looked like some sort of mask, hovering in the nothingness with me. I tried to reach out for it with arms I knew I must have had. But of course, I could not touch it. Then the mouth opened, billowing smoke that whispered like snakes.

The smoke began to surround me, and for the first time I could see what I looked like. Well, not exactly what I looked like, more of the silhouette of my form, a black shape begging to take shape. Then the whispering snakes turned into small voices.

As the smoke surrounded me I saw something fade in behind the mask. It was an old pyramid temple located in a forest. Statues of creatures I had never seen before surrounded its base. They appeared to be man like, but their heads hovered. And each one was different, some having fins, others lightning strikes forming the top half of their heads. It looked like the bricks were covered in plant life. Vines growing every direction, obscuring the carved images decorating the structure.

On the top there were flashes of light, and every time a flash went off rubble fell from an explosion. I could see through the mist of flashing explosions that there were two figures standing on top. They looked like they were using the flashing lights to attack each other, dead locked in a fearsome battle.

Just as I thought I could make them out, the scene evaporated into more smoke. Then the eyes of the mask opened and glowed. The small voices grew louder. As they did I could hear something off in the distance. Something large, dragging across the ground. Something growing closer. Something with evil intent.

I turned and saw another scene folded out. It was a large laboratory. It gave me chills, making me feel like I had been there recently. A man rose up out of the smoke made from one of the machines. His back was to me so I could not see his face. He said something, but in my darkness it was muffled. Before him were brought three small animals. Two little mouse looking creatures, both with orange fur, and a small tiger cub.

The man muffled something else and the animals were injected with needles. As they writhed and thrashed from the immense pain the poisonous substance they injected them with, they were placed into separate cylinder chambers. As the glass doors closed around them, several mechanical arms grabbed them up. I couldn't what those machines did to them as the doors shut. Then like the scene before, it evaporated into the smoke, just as the man turned to where I could have seen his face.

The voices grew louder, to where I could finally start to understand them. But so did the monster dragging itself into the void. Hundreds of small voices were screaming out to me as I twisted and turned to try and see whatever was coming for me.

'Crash! Crash!' they said in jumbled unison, 'Remember, remember the winds of fire. Remember the temple of bark. Find the mystic. Find your family. Save Her!'

Then, something came right up and bit me, and the void that was my existence disappeared, launching me into the world of dead corpses.