Chapter One
The Rude Awakening
"Wh-Where am I…?" she muttered to herself, as she gazed around the forest, unsure of where exactly she was, or how in earth she got to this strange, and remote location.
Serene stood there, her body cold and frigid, from the night air, her perceptive eyes, the sense now dull, by the night, the moon which glowed upon the sky, was now gone, and darkness seemed to be cast throughout the land, her heart and mind racing with thought. How did she end up in this place anyway, she took a step, the darkness creeping behind her, though it wasn't what she couldn't see, that freaked her out the most, it was what she could see, the area around her was so vivid, her senses, which were once so dull, were now viciously at its peak of keenness.
Her vision was now extremely vivid, she could see everything around her, and even sense movements before it happened, she could notice, just when a dark emerald jleaf saturated with water, would soon fall delicately to the ground, with almost no actual sound, but a small rustle.
She gave another look, and realized she was standing deep in the woods, beyond deep, probably the deepest, she'd ever been, it seemed so far off from civilization, from her home, their wasn't even a street light, she could see off in the distance, there was just more woods. She took a glance up at the sky, and looked up, soon realizing it was night, the dark sky, haunting above her, the illuminating moon, preciously up in the sky, seeming to guide her way out of the forest, though there was no exact clear path. Wherever she turned, there were deep patches of undergrowth, where ever you turned, there was some type of shrub, plant, tree, or some piece of foliage, blocking her path, and making it extremely difficult to find her way out of here. She soon looked up, and the moon disappeared, but her vision, was still as illuminating, as if the sun were still out. All the sudden, the stars started illuminating the sky, as though it were diamonds, she tried to find the northern star, maybe that would help her find her way home, though she wasn't very good at astronomy, or connect the dots for that matter, she gave a sigh.
She took in a deep breath, the icy cold air filled her lungs, and seemed to be a sharpening pain, causing her to wince in pain, the air was so sharp and cold, that it was actually causing her to shiver. Now the area around her, seemed to become icy cold, it was now freezing, she tried to rub her hands together to increase friction, and try to keep her warm, though it did not seem to have much effect.
She looked down to a small puddle, obviously it had just rained here, though it felt as though it was in the temperature for the water to freeze, though it didn't it stayed the same, cold and wet. She stared down, her reflection seeming to haunt her, she looked away in dismay and shock, though she had to look back, just to make sure what she saw was the truth, and not some prank, though was this whole world, an illusion, a prank, brought to her, by her friends.
She looked down at the reflective puddle, making sure the truth, was correct and factual, her hair was still the same, brown, and straight, though a bit frizzled, and messy, due to the fact, that she had been in the woods, and it was humid somewhat. She was still wearing her usual outfit, a plain white t-shirt, and blue jeans, very common, and normal she thought, and it complimented her lifestyle quite well. Her skin, was still tan, she could tell, even in this dense, and dark lighting, that her skin still looked as healthy and radiant, as it always did. What scared her the most, were her eyes, which were now a piercing yellow, not a deep green. They were usually a deep sea green, with what she called, a sophisticated look, like they usually were, no a piercing yellow, which seemed not to be her eyes at all, they had a much more serious and olden look to them, as though they had seen more in their lifetime, than most others, could even imagine. She stared around her neck, and there was the usual blue necklace, which hung around her neck.
Her ears were as sharp as her eyes as well. She could even pick up the tiniest movement beyond the distant woods, her sense of touch, seemed to burn at all the new sensations, she was feeling, a swift movement, and she would pick it up, a slight breeze, would drive her senses crazy, as though wondering what would happen next.
Though what frightened her, was that she had only gained this strange ability, in only a matter of seconds, but once more, something was crawling toward her, at an unbelievably fast rate, that her eyes, though strengthened and keen, could barely track, its swift movements, as it prowled beyond the darkness, of the thick foliage, leaving her tense and nervous.
She could slowly hear her heart rate, pick up, as the creature neared, and to her horror, her heart rate, the mere sound of it, started getting slower and slower, and then it started to increase rapidly as the creature made a swift movement, to the side of the bushes.
Obviously, trying to wait for the moment to strike her down, and feed on her flesh, which was making her tense and it took all of her will power, not to scream, for what could she do, she was caught unarmed.
it seemed in this remote, dark forest, that no one was going to save her, that she was trapped, and going to die, alone, and no one would probably ever find her, but of course who cared about her, she had so many friends, though sometimes, she wondered if they really her friends, what was friendship anyway?
Suddenly the creature, moved in closer to her, it looked as though some kind of insect mixed in with a dog, its fangs, was hanging out of its mouth, stained a deep golden yellow. Its insect body, the color was a deep brown, six arms hanging out from the side, and two monstrous legs, which looked to belong to some kind of deformed dog, which had mutated with an insect, a very disgusting image, which would probably haunt Serene's memories, if she lived that long. The size of the monstrous being, was around eight feet, a foot and four inches towering over her, which made her cringe a bit in fear, though she didn't scream, in fear of alerting more of its kind. The insect's breathe, seemed to be really in nauseating, she took in a slow breathe in, and suddenly fell to her knees, gasping for air, as the clean air rushed out of her lungs, and the poison enter her lungs, causing her to gag, and it took all her willpower to fight back, from vomiting.
She stood their shaking; cold icy visible breath escaped from her lips, seeming to taunt her, at how freezing the climate was, seeming to make her wish, that she was home, in the warm afternoon sun, though she was not, she was trapped in this thick forest, that seemed to be tropical, but the temperatures, were sub-zero.
Her vision soon blurred, and without thought, the monster soon stood readying its claws, about to strike her down, giving a large hiss, from its massive mouth, its fangs dripping with poisonous venom, which seemed to ridicule her. "What's going on…" she whispered, to herself, as her body was growing numb, this time, she couldn't fight back the urge no longer, her stomach was weakening, just being in the presence of the monster, was enough to make her ill. She suddenly heaved her left over lunch, on a nearby tree, while leaning against it, the smell rising to her nose, causing her to gag again, the smell tainted of not only vomit, but blood as well.
Out of pure curiosity, she looked down, and sure enough, in the remains of her lunch, covered in stomach acid, in a reddish tint, was a bit of blood, the sight was almost enough to make her vomit again, though this time, she managed to keep her cool, and composure.
She looked back at the large monster, but just as it struck, a flash of white, suddenly appeared from behind her, curving ever so slightly, the white light, was in the shape of a crescent moon, the sudden impact of the light into the monster. She watched in pure amazement, and awe, as the monster, seemed to dissipate and scatter, as though the whole skeleton, and insect, had been made of some blackish sand material, it soon scattered as the wind picked up, a puddle of blood left in its nonappearance.
She turned her head, to see, in the direction of where the white light came from, if this new creature, was going to attack her now, she gazed over, and looked over at the figure, which was sort of blurry, she blinked to try and readjust her vision. However, in a split a second, the figure moved almost rapidly, she could not even track it, at how fast it was moving.
"Be careful." Said the figure solemnly, it seemed to be a male's voice, he did not really add anything else to his speech, the figure still seemed to be blurry, though she could make out a few features, first there was his outfit, which was a black cloak, seemed to hide his facial features. The next, was a small thin black blade, which loosely hung in its sheath on the back of his cloak. His build, did not seem to be that strong, he actually looked somewhat scrawny, what little features, that she could see, that did not hide behind his cloak. When she looked as he pulled his sleeves up, he looked ripped, even more ripped than her boy friend, she stared at him amazed, and she soon realized, he was about three inches taller than she was, though he still held a mysterious presence, she wanted to see his face.
"Who are you?" asked Serene, shocked, as she was so grateful, someone else was here, though she was also panicked, that the person, could turn out to be the person, who got her in this mess in the first place. Her heart was pounding, she did not want to fight anymore, she was cold, and now starving, all she wanted to do was go home, and take a long nap. She suddenly fell to her knees, unable to stand, what was this; there was this massive pressure on her, something incredibly strong.
She looked up, and a new sense seemed to open up, something so rare and delicate, though she seemed to of always had this sense, a sense of danger approaching, though this was different, she could actually feel this actual demonic aura. She could now even feel this strange figure's presence, though it felt cloudy, as though he was keeping it down for some reason, why would he hold back, if there were so many monsters here. Suddenly everything darkened, and everything disappeared, she was able to stand, she felt something happening in her eyes, her eyes were increasing vision, she felt something opening up, a new ability, several ribbons started falling all around her, some as black as night, some as gray as a silver blade, some as crimson as blood, some as white as snow. All the sudden, the black ribbons began to fall, causing her to fall to her knees, this force, this pressure, was massive, she could not move, she could not breathe, whatever it was it seemed to have a large power, beyond hers.
She soon awakened on the ground, she felt something dripping from her side, it was a red liquid, her flesh cut open, by some kind of beast, claw marks, engraved in her skin, making her break out into tears, as a burning sensation, filled her side.
"GET UP!" boomed a voice, it was the guy, he was holding back, some gigantic insect type creature again, which was obviously taking a lot of energy out of him, he was having a hard time, deflecting all of its rapid claw strikes which seemed to be mainly toward him, barely guarding each hit. He soon thrust his blade toward its chest, only to have it swiped away, he watched as his blade skidded in the mud, and landed near a tree, she wanted to go retrieve it and help him out. However, the poison had now completely spread throughout her body, she was now coughing up blood, and her legs felt as though they had turned into lead, her face was broke out in a sweat, and she felt desperate for some water. What, once felt like an icy climate, felt like a desert, as a fire seemed to burn inside of her, burning away her flesh, and making her gasp for breath.
The figure looked over at her, he was now dodging the attacks, trying to fend off the monster, with only his bare fists, what kind of idiot was this, why was he fighting, did he really have a purpose. "Run!" she yelled toward him, hoping he would listen, she stared over at him; sweat still was pouring from her face. She watched as he made a small movement, for something that was tied to his cloak, it was a small canister of something, he soon kicked the monster away, and wasting no time, as it started flying off toward a tree, where it dissolved into a blackish sand, and then the blackish sand, was carried by the wind. He soon pulled out a canister, and stumbled toward Serene, not really seeming to care about his injuries, he forced Serene up, grabbing her by the arm, and forcing the canister to her lips, and tilting her head back making her drink it.
Serene stared up shocked, and scared, wondering if she was drinking poison, though she had no choice, the taste of the liquid, seemed to taste like most favorite thing in the world to her, a batch of fresh made brownies, she felt her wounds, and gash, seeming to heal almost instantaneously. The moment the drink was over, she felt a massive headache throughout her body, and she soon fainted again.
"Wake up!" yelled a familiar voice, something began to shake her at a rapid pace, without warning, she jumped up, and punched whatever was shaking her, with a rapid thrust of her hand. She rubbed her eyes, groggily, and waited for her vision to clear, only to find her best friend, lying on the ground, rubbing his cheek, muttering something about her, being excessively strong, and mean in the mornings.
"Don't scare me like that!" snapped Serene, as she looked down at Ryan, who was glaring up at her, in a sympathetic kind of way, as though trying to figure out, what exactly he had done, to make her so angry at him, he gave a sigh, and stood up.
She looked around her room, her room was very average, though it had her own personal touch to it, the room was painted a light violet color, to her window sill, was a small bed, the kinds that were mainly for show, on the small bed, stuff animals were lined, to the right of the room, was a small macintosh computer, which she didn't really use, due to the fact, that she needed Ryan's help to use the blasted thing, he made it look so easy. Though he seemed to have a lot of intelligence, so it wasn't very hard to believe that he could operate something like that. To the left of her room, was a large sliding white door, that opened up to a large walk-in closet, which held a lot of "junk" to Ryan's description, though it was all clothes, and shoes that she'd bought. The room,was furnished with a white carpet, that seemed to match the color design of the room, next was her bed, which was just a normal bed, covered in white bed sheets, to the right of the bed, was a night stand, which held a white lamp, and several drawers, filled with a lot of personal things, that Ryan had snuck into once and a while and scanned through and read, without her permission. The main lighting of the room, was a chandelier, which was placed high atop her room, which gave light to everything, the light bulbs, seemed to be very reflective, as though it were actual pure ice.
Serene looked down at Ryan, some memories suddenly flooded back to her, about their so far existent lives together, how they'd met, and how they'd talked to each other, and so forth. He still looked the same as always, scrawny, and not really looking that smart, despite that, he was probably the smartest kid in the whole state, and has gotten some honors for being the smartest kid in the United States.
Ryan, had messy brown hair, which seemed to never be combed in an appropriate fashion, though he really didn't seem to care, much about his hair, he said "It would never ever be able to get combed, to an actual decent fashion." The next thing, was he did not really look all that strong, and this was an actual fact, he wasn't that fast, or very athletic, though he didn't stay cooped up in the house either, when they were little, they used to explore the woods, and stuff. Though as they got older, they did not do any of that stuff, anymore, though they had actually drifted apart, probably when they both entered the sixth grade. If you think it was classes, that split them apart, you would be wrong, they were both in honor classes, and both had high averages, except Ryan, would sometimes have a ninety-two, due to he lost a lot of his work, and sometimes, would mess up on quizzes just for the fun of it. Ryan did not dress in usual attire, he usually dressed up, in a shirt and tie, and always had to look professional, you had to look sharp, if you were going to be the richest person in the world right?
"Are you going to change, we're going to be late to school, if you just stand there, unless you want me to call Drew, and tell him, about the monsters hidden in the woods." He said, laughing, in amusement, and soon, he found himself being pushed out of the room and with a slight kick, he was than shoved out into the hallway, to wait for her to get her shower, and get dressed.
Ryan looked down at his black digital watch, which hung tightly to his wrist, and looked down, and waited patiently, about two hours had passed, and it was around six-thirty five, they had to be at school at Eight-o-clock, it was a thirty-minute walk from their house to the school, so they would be all right. Ryan thought back on their child hood together, let's see they both had only one parent, he had his dad, and she had her dad, as well. Though Serene didn't know much about her mother, other than she left her a necklace, her father had told her, she died giving birth to her, which was kind of sad, since she didn't even know her mom.
He knew about her mom, in fact, something he knew something horrible that had happened to her, she had died, though he knew he could not. In fact, he was to go to her grave, in just a couple of days; he would visit his deceased mother, and go see her. The memory lurked in his mind, everything seemed to play out so perfect, though he tried to repress it as best he could, though some things popped into his head. Though words everything, vivid pictures popped into his head. He closed his eyes, and tried to push the thoughts away, though they kept coming back stronger and vivid than ever. He felt sick, just the thoughts being their, just the fact that it happened, over powered him. Without warning, he began to cry silently, though the tears were silently astray.
You're fault...
The storm, that's what happened.
It was horrible, that June third...
You killed her...
It was just a hallucination, how could a hallucination do so much damage...
The memory started coming back to his mind, but the moment the flash back started, he pushed it away, just as quickly as he came, and he changed the subject, trying to think of something, else, though it was very hard to, he was in such a negative mood. He gave a slight cough, and than sighed, in frustration, he wiped the tears away, that were stinging down his face, he knew he shouldn't cry, but he couldn't help it, he was a murderer, he killed her, he didn't care if it was by accident. He still killed everything this family was held up by, it was his own fault...
Ryan was very "special", he had some eye problems, for one he had dyslexia, and his other problem was he would hallucinate sometimes, he would see things that weren't even there, he would see transparent figures walking around, and walking as though they were searching for something, almost as if they were ghosts. If this were the case, if the ghosts were still on this planet Earth, and then maybe he could someday find his mother, though it would all just be a waste of energy, and hope.
Suddenly the door opened, and a newly looking, and smiling, Serene walked out from the door, smiling gracefully, and seeming to be radiant. She was dressed in an elegant dress, seeming to hold a certain pride to herself, today was a formal dance, and they had to dress formal, Ryan seemed to of already met the qualifications, if not of taken them a bit too "formal". "I bet Drew, will love my new look, don't you?" asked Serene, as she looked over at Ryan's opinion, though he didn't seem to be paying attention, he was too busy, still thinking over his search plan, through his mind for his mother.
Ryan looked up, and suddenly he felt his cheeks redden, and his face turning a deep scarlet, he was at a loss for words, he quickly turned away, and hid his smile, and the color in his cheeks. "Y-Y-You look nice, Serene" mumbled Ryan, as he turned to look in another direction, not meeting her gaze.
"What's that supposed to mean?!" exclaimed Serene, as she looked over at him confused, her face reddened, and she seemed to have an almost scowl across her face, as though she would explode at any second.
"Nothing, you look nice, Drew will like it, alright" snapped Ryan, as he looked down at the floor, and wondered how they kept their house so clean, and why it was so big, if it only was accompanied by two people.
Serene stared over at Ryan, her face suddenly blushing, she didn't say anything, she was actual at a loss for words, Ryan, I wonder how clueless you are… she thought, wondering if her best friend, may have some special feelings toward her, but she wasn't going to say anything, instead, she smiled brightly over toward him. "Well let's hurry, you've wasted enough time as it is." She told him, as she gave him a quick smile, as they rushed down stairs and headed toward the doorway, and outside, as they walked the path toward school.
Ryan looked up, at the sky, a cloudy figure, stood in the distance, ontop of a sky scraper moving constantly, something even more blurrier in the distance, though he couldn't tell. He looked over at Serene, who gave a slight nervous look, as though she could sense something wrong at this very moment, though she didn't know exactly what.
"What's the matter?" asked Ryan, casually, as he gave a slight glance, trying to look as concerned as possible, though his mind kept racing off toward the cloudy figures, he had to focus, and not lose concentration no matter what.
"Oh what, nothing..." she muttered, as she casually, sped up briskly, and made a quick discreet glance behind her, unsure what was going on. "Do you ever have those dejavu feelings?" she asked, as she looked over at Ryan.
"No, not really." said Ryan, oblivious that she was kind of upset and frightened. "Does it really matter, anyway?" asked Ryan, as he looked over at Serene, who was now looking a lot scared.
Suddenly they came to a street, they just had to cross, and than they would take a left, and be at school. Ryan took a step out in the road, and suddenly felt something pull him back, he looked over at Serene, who looked as though she was about to be on the verge of crying.
"What's the matter?" asked Ryan, irritably, he hated to see her cry, for some reason he couldn't stand it. What was that thing his mother told her..." A man may have strength, in his brute force, but a woman's tears is more powerful than that... or something like that." he couldn't remember, and frankly he didn't care.
Serene looked up "Nothing, well its just I've been having these really bad dreams lately, and well, most of them end up coming true, though its all scattered bits and pieces, sometimes I'm in a forest, sometimes I'm here, watching you, though I'm not sure... in one of my dreams, you got hit by a car."
"Well I'm fine, now you shouldn't have such weird dreams, just calm down, Serene, I'm your best friend, and I'm not stupid I won't leave you, I promise, I got to make sure Drew keeps you safe, and is a right choice, before I leave you." said Ryan, with a bit of laughter, as they went on to school.
Serene gave a fake laugh, but smiled, though the nervousness crept, back into her, as they entered the school, something just kept prickling at her, it had something to do with her dream last night. "Hey, Ryan, have you heard about the explosions, and stuff on television?"
"Explosions no, you're being morbid again though" said Ryan, as he looked over at Serene, who was staring off in the distance. He gave a sigh, and gave her a slight tap on the shoulder, why he opened his locker, and looked over at her.
"oh, well the explosions, have been all over the news, no body can figure out what's causing them, their have even been some cases, where they've released toxic gasses, where people start hallucinating, that their being attacked by monstrous forces, its all really sad, the worst part is, it's happening in our town the most, in fact its mainly been our town, we get one everyday... I'm kind of nervous... I mean school has been threatened to be canceled, but what good with that do?' asked Serene, as she started rambling on, about stuff.
Ryan was halfway not paying attention, and was more interested in where his left over gum was from yesterday, that he left in his locker. He looked over at her, and gave a grin, "Did you say something?" he asked playfully, and gave a smirk.