《Animus》


 Prologue

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    The loud sound of a baby crying echoed off the hospital room¡¯s walls.


    ¡°Oh, she¡¯s¡­¡± Jenevive Fowl said shortly after giving birth. All the pain she was going through had been quickly overshadowed by embarrassment and disappointment.


    ¡°Ugly.¡± her husband George finished her miserable sentence. He stood beside Jenevive¡¯s hospital bed with his arms crossed. The baby had a long, narrow face, and big blue eyes so pale they looked transparent. She had a large head, much larger than a normal baby¡¯s head.


    The doctors swarmed the baby, trying to figure out why she looked so strange. A few minutes later, a doctor came to the couple and asked what the baby¡¯s name was. George had no hesitation, he just said the first name that came to mind.


    ¡°Mariel,¡± Jenevive nodded in agreement, not even looking up.


    The couple decided they would talk in the waiting room, while the doctors tested Mariel. They headed to the large room, not saying a word. Cushiony baby blue couches were placed along two walls. In the corner of the room, near the door was a childrens¡¯ area. It had a colourful mat with dinosaur toys, barbies, and vehicles spread out. Across from the door was the secretary¡¯s desk. She had blond hair cut to a bit above her shoulders, dark purple glasses that complimented her light green eyes. She wore a blue collared shirt, and from behind the desk you couldn¡¯t see what she was wearing on the bottom.


    George and Jenevive sat down on the farthest couch from people.


    ¡°What do you think about Mariel?¡± George asked. Jenevive was still in shock from giving birth, and wasn¡¯t great with her sentences, but she managed to mumble:


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand how she got to look like that. Whose side did it come from?¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. Were you cheating on me?¡±


    ¡°Of course not!¡± Jenevive looked over at all the other people in the room. There were two girls in the childrens¡¯ corner playing with barbies. They looked no older than three or four.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Sitting on the couch next to them was a teenage boy on his phone, and next to him a father and son that looked maybe seven years old. He was crying and wailing and thrashing his arms. But there were people that really caught Jenevive¡¯s eye. In one corner, next to where the little girls were sitting, a couple rested in two large armchairs. They cradled a small baby in their arms. The baby had a few strings of red hair, big brown eyes, and had a bright pink blanket wrapped around her.


    Jenevive looked back at George. Tears began to roll down her face. Her makeup began to smear, and she looked like a miserable clown. Jenevive leaned on Gearge¡¯s shoulder, and he mumbled that they would have a better child, but he didn¡¯t sound sure.


    Jenevive choked up tears for what seemed like hours, and finally she looked up at her husband and said:


    ¡°I don¡¯t want Mariel.¡± she whispered, and immediately started crying again, feeling guilty of what she said.


    ¡°Neither do I.¡± George said quietly. He said what Jenevive had been wanting to say very badly. ¡°Let¡¯s leave before the doctors come back.¡±


    They stood up from the leather couch and walked to the door. Before leaving, Jennevive quickly asked the couple with the baby what her name was.


    ¡°Jane.¡± said the mother. She looked just like her daughter, big brown eyes and thick curls of red hair. The father only had the same mouth as Jane.


    Jenevive nodded and walked out of the rose smelling room without another word. George followed her and they found their way to the front entrance. They stepped out into the chilly morning air. The sun was just starting to peek over the buildings. It made large shadows, and a pretty pink sky.


    The air smelled of dried out leaves, just starting to frost on the ground. A cold wind passed by, making all the leaves flutter in the air. It would have been a great date, except for Mariel.


    George and Jenevive walked to their bright blue car with no conversation. Neither of them knew what to say. No words were said in the car, either, as both were lost in their own guilty thoughts.


    They got home and did their own things for the rest of the day. Jenevive checked Facebook on her phone, and George watched movies.


    A few minutes after they¡¯d arrived home, the hospital called. They asked the parents to come back and take their daughter. The couple refused, and offered that she could go up for adoption. Then, the hospital put Mariel''s doctor on the line. He explained that the baby had a new kind of brain tumor that would kill her in the next couple months. He offered to keep her in the hospital for medical research. After a moment''s hesitation, the couple agreed.


    The poor child was left in the hospital, to be raised and taken care of by doctors.

 Chapter 1

    A-CHOO! I was sneezing more. I felt another tingle in my nose, and A-CHOO! Doctors and nurses filed into the small room. I was scarcely breathing at this point. I started to cough. The last thing I saw was a young man in a white lab coat stick a needle into my arm, and everything went black.


    I¡¯m surely dead. I thought. I¡¯m on my way to Heaven¡­ I slowly opened my eyes, but the bright light gave me a headache. I shut my eyes again, and only dared to barely lift open one eye a few minutes later.


    I was in a hospital room. Beeps and Boops filled the room. Two nurses and three doctors were all doing their jobs, all of them completely ignoring my awakening.


    ¡°H-¡± I tried to say, but my stomach complained by giving me an awful cramp. A doctor turned around. He gave me a sad look, and then turned to a machine that represented how much my heart was beating, or something like that. I looked over and saw that the line was going lower, and the beeps came out slower.


    I could feel tears running down my face. I tried to breathe calmly, but every breath I took was sharper and more painful than the last.


    My vision began to blur. I closed my eyes and let death take me away. I could hear a faint beeping.


    I tried to put it out of my mind. I began to try and picture what a good afterlife I would have, if that even existed.


    Beep. . .Beep. . .Beep. . .Beeeeeeeeep¡­..


    I woke up all sticky from sweat. I put my hand over my heart and let out a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Just another stupid dream.¡± I mumbled. I stood up and stretched my aching back. I walked over to the lightswitch next to the door, and turned it on. I blinked several times before finally getting used to the light. I looked around the room I had lived in all my life. It was small, but all I had. Across from the door was a small airtight window, that showed a view of a busy street. Facing the window was a desk attached to the wall, and a comfortable desk chair. Next to that was a door that led to my bathroom. To the left of the window was a big mirror, about as tall as myself. To the right of the window was a twin sized bed with white sheets and a matching pillow. Facing the bed was a tall wardrobe.


    In between all these things, there was just enough room to take two big steps if I really tried.


    I walked over to the window, the only contact I had with the outside world besides the doctors who came to check on me.


    The sun was just starting to rise. It must¡¯ve been about two o¡¯clock in the morning. I groaned, realising that I¡¯d woken up in the night again because of a nightmare. I laid down on my bed and closed my eyes. I pulled the comfortable sheets over me. Rolling onto my side, I began to daydream of a world where everything was good¡­


    Walking to my locker, I bumped into Fiona, my best friend. She had bright red hair and freckles all over her face. Big brown eyes looked great with her purple framed glasses.


    ¡°Hi, Mariel!¡± she yelled over the noise in the school hallway.


    ¡°Hey, Fiona!¡± I called back. I continued walking to my locker with her on my trail. There was the usual crowd of kids gathered around my locker, waiting for me to come.


    ¡°Hi, Mariel!¡± they cried in perfect unison.


    ¡°Hey guys.¡± I answered with a smile. I pushed my way through the crowd and opened my blue locker. I beamed at the mirror I had placed in there. I was gorgeous. Too beautiful for words.


    Suddenly, as I was combing my hair with the crowd of teens around me, my nose started to feel tingly. A-CHOO! Slowly, the image in the mirror changed, and I realized that I was dreaming. In the mirror I saw a girl about twelve, with a long narrow face, a head much larger than normal, blue eyes so pale they looked transparent. Her stringy copper color hair slung over her bony shoulders.


    My nose felt tingly again, and the world around me began to dissolve. I felt dizzy, and fell on the floor. The kids swarming me morphed into what I pictured my parents looked like. Hundreds of each one called me names and laughed. Then the laughter died down as one version of them came and picked me up. I went back in time, to the day I was born, except that I could think like a twelve year old girl.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    My parents called me ugly, and then left at the hospital. I cried and cried, but they didn¡¯t come back. The doctors set up my room in the hospital, and a nurse came in to bottle feed me until I was old enough that I didn¡¯t need that.


    I woke up, even sweatier than before. A pleasant daydream had turned into an awful nightmare. I stood up and looked out the window. The sun was high in the sky, and the clouds were just starting to cover its bright beams for the day. Maybe it was about eight o¡¯ clock in the morning. Rachel would be here soon for breakfast.


    She was a therapist who came in at mealtimes to talk. She was very nice, but what made me sad was that she always had to wear some kind of a special suit so she didn¡¯t get germs on me. I sat down on my bed as I thought of what to do in the meantime. Rachel loved seeing my drawings, so I finally decided to make one.


    I walked over to my desk and grabbed a paper from the small box I had. I took a pencil and began sketching out a landscape of a magical world. In the distance was a tall castle with four tall towers. The starry night sky was populated with dragons of various sizes and shapes. The viewpoint of the picture was a forest. Magical trees sprouted from strange angles, and fairies fluttered everywhere.


    I decided to not put this drawing in color, so I began to shade and put detail. Just as I was finishing up the castle¡¯s towers, there was a light knock on the door. I eagerly stood up to see Rachel smiling at me through the window on my door. Seeing my smile, she opened the door and walked in.


    Rachel had dark green eyes and frizzy brown hair. She had black skin and dark red lips. Today she had attempted and failed to keep her poofy hair together in a bun. It looked like she used a leaf blower to blow dry it.


    ¡°Good morning, Mariel.¡± Rachel said, smiling and sitting down on my desk chair. ¡°Would you like some breakfast?¡±


    My stomach growled. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn¡¯t realised how hungry I was.


    ¡°Yes please.¡± I answered, clutching her stomach. Rachel handed me a tray covered in clear plastic. I went to sit on my bed, and took the stretchy plastic off. I grinned from ear to ear when I smelled it. Two poached eggs, a slice of bacon, two pieces of toasted white bread, and a cup of water were waiting on the gray tray. A fork and knife sat on the side on a napkin.


    ¡°Thank you.¡± I added.


    ¡°No problem.¡± Rachel said, and then she looked at my drawing. ¡°Oh, my. . .¡±


    ¡°You like it?¡± I asked, biting into my toast. I knew what her answer would be, whether the drawing was good or bad.


    ¡°It¡¯s gorgeous!¡± she exclaimed. Every time Rachel saw one of my drawings, she used a different adjective. Yesterday had been a drawing of an eye, and she called it charming, the day before had been a house, and she called it appealing, the day before was a half eaten apple, she called it grand, and I couldn¡¯t remember before that. I always wondered what the next day¡¯s word would be. Perhaps tomorrow would be gracious, lovely, or dazzling?


    ¡°Thank you very much.¡± I responded. Rachel turned her gaze away from the drawing, and fixed onto me.


    ¡°How did you sleep?¡± she asked, completely changing the subject.


    ¡°Badly.¡± I mumbled. I didn¡¯t like this subject, and she knew that.


    ¡°Nightmares again?¡± she questioned.


    ¡°Yes.¡± I confessed. Rachel tilted her head. I knew she wanted to ask me what it was this time. I sighed and told her about my two nightmares. The one where I died, and the one where I was in a school, and everyone was my friend, then changed into my parents and abandoned me.


    Rachel was a very good listener. She never interrupts, but her eyes show that she has lots of questions. When I finished, she leaned back in the chair she was sitting in. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.


    ¡°Mariel, do you want to have parents?¡± she asked softly. I bent my head forward. I had completely finished my breakfast and put the empty tray, dirty cutlery, and wet scrunched up napkin on my night table.


    I could feel myself wanting to cry. I always asked myself this question, but never thought someone else would ask me. Rachel waited patiently for my answer.


    ¡°I. . . Yeah.¡± I croaked, feeling ashamed.


    ¡°Why do you feel shy to say it?¡± Rachel asked.


    ¡°Because, everyone knows I¡¯m going to die soon, anyway. And even if I did get parents. . . ¡± a tear rolled down my face. I hated when days went like this. ¡°What if my new parents wouldn¡¯t love me for how I look?¡± I whispered.


    Rachel stood up and lifted my chin. I looked right into her eyes. She smiled warmly and wiped a tear from my cheek.


    ¡°How you look doesn¡¯t affect who you are and who you want to be. Your birth parents weren¡¯t thinking when they left you in the hospital when you were born. Who cares if you aren¡¯t as pretty as a princess? I certainly don¡¯t. And you shouldn¡¯t, either.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Rachel had always been like a mother to me. I loved her until the day I would die.


    Seeing me smile, rachel sat back down and looked at her watch.


    ¡°It seems I have to go now. I¡¯ll be back at lunchtime.¡± she leaned over and gave me a hug. While in that position, she whispered in my ear: ¡°Just remember I¡¯ll always be there for you.¡±


    She left the room that I¡¯d lived in since I was two.

 Chapter 2

    When Rachel left I decided to continue my drawing. I still hadn¡¯t put detail and shading into the trees and their rustling leaves. When I was finished, I hung it proudly on my bedroom wall. What to do next? I went to my whitenight table covered in stickers, and pulled out a book. I hopped onto my uncomfortable bed and continued where I left off on page fifty.


    I read for about an hour or so, and then brought my desk chair to the window. The sun was completely covered by clouds, and it casted light shadows all over the street. I watched the cars go by for quite a while. In the end I had counted fourteen black cars, three red cars, two green cars, twenty gray cars, one yellow car, one truck, four motorcycles, and five bicycles. I wish I could go outside and drive around, going wherever I want.


    Finally, twelve ¡®o¡¯ clock came. Rachel was always there right on time, or early. I walked to the door and peered out  the window. Some people I knew waved and gave fake smiles, and then hurried back to what they were doing, probably either feeling pity, or thinking freak. There was no sign of Rachel. I figured there must have been heavy traffic. But when I looked out the window, only eight cars came by. I walked to the door and looked carefully outside. Still no sign of Rachel. It was ten past twelve, and I was getting anxious. Where could she be? Maybe there was a problem at home? Or something came up?


    I decided there was no point in worrying, so I went back to my book. What felt like five minutes later, it was one thirty. Where was Rachel? I stood by the door for a few more minutes, and then went to my dresser and took out a puzzle. I shook out all the pieces and began to put them together. When I was about finished the edge pieces, there was a knock on the door. I jumped up, so excited to see Rachel, but when I saw who was at the door, my heart sank. She was wearing a special suit to keep out germs, but she wasn¡¯t Rachel. She was a petite woman, maybe about thirty years old. Her cheeks were flushed red and she was a bit plump. She had bright green eyes and long, flowy blond hair.


    The short woman was holding a tray of food wrapped in clear plastic. She knocked, and when she saw me opened the door. Now I could clearly see what was on the tray. A bowl of pasta and tomato sauce, a cup of water, and an apple. A fork, knife and napkin were placed on the side.


    ¡°Hi.¡± the woman said quickly, and put the tray on my neat desk, and was about to head to the door when suddenly I asked:


    ¡°Who are you?¡±


    She hesitated, as if thinking whether to talk to a kid who¡¯s been trapped in a room all their life, and after what seemed like a long debate in her head, she responded with ¡°My name¡¯s Lizzy.¡± Lizzy continued her way to the door, when I continued questioning her.


    ¡°Do you know where Rachel is?¡±


    ¡°Rachel? Oh, she¡¯s dead. I thought you would have heard by now.¡± Lizzy said it like someone would say ¡°I had eggs for breakfast.¡± with no enthusiasm, no sadness, nothing. Just Rachel¡¯s dead.


    I couldn¡¯t believe my ears. Rachel was the only person in the entire world who cared about me. She was the only one who didn¡¯t only care about finding out what was wrong with me. She was the only one who understood that I was also human. Now she was dead. My head was spinning so much I thought it might explode.


    ¡°Wh-¡± I stammered and then everything went black.


    I woke up in a hospital room. Well, my whole life I¡¯d lived in a hospital room. But this was an emergency room. I was lying down on a bed, with a perfect view of the door. There was no one but me in the room, so I carefully watched the door to see if anyone was coming in. A few minutes passed by, so I decided to get up and look out into the hallway.


    I¡¯d been out of my room a lot, for tests, but I was never put in this part of the hospital. Peering out of the room, I saw doctors and nurses hustling around, running to different rooms with clipboards.


    I had never seen this part of the hospital, so this was exciting. I tried to keep myself from jumping around and saying hooray! The excitement quickly ended when I saw someone I recognised in the hallway. Where do I know her from? I asked myself. What had happened before this? And then it hit me. Rachel was dead from who knows what. I had fainted after hearing the news. Rachel had been the only human in the world who had actually cared about me. She hadn¡¯t even gotten paid to go see me. It had been volunteering. The only reason the doctors let me live in the hospital was because they wanted to figure out what was wrong with me. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    It didn¡¯t even come gradually. I started crying hysterically, not even noticing the man who walked in.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake.¡± he noticed. His voice was deep and commanding, butI could tell he had a sense of humour.


    I looked up at him. He was all blurry so I wiped my eyes. He was a short man, not much taller than me, and chubby. He had a head full of floppy dark hair, and big curious brown eyes.


    He looked uncomfortable as I looked him up and down, and finally I nodded.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°My name is Dr. Dan. I¡¯m assuming you¡¯re Mariel.¡± he responded.


    ¡°Why am I here?¡± I still had a ball in my throat, and felt like crying again, but I held it in. Dr. Dan didn¡¯t seem to want to see me cry.


    ¡°You fainted, and I was the only doctor off duty, so I brought you here.¡± Dr. Dan explained.


    ¡°How long was I out?¡± I was afraid of what he¡¯d tell me next.


    ¡°Just about three and a half hours.¡±


    I sighed in relief. I had thought that maybe I¡¯d been out for a day or two.


    Dr. Dan nodded, like he could read my mind, and then continued. ¡°What made you faint?¡± his eyes said otherwise than a question. He knew why, but he just wanted to see if I would lie.


    ¡°Rachel died.¡± I said quietly, but I couldn¡¯t hold it in anymore. I sobbed into my arms. Tears stung my cheeks. I dug my fingernails into my left arm, but I didn¡¯t stop crying. When I looked up, Dr. Dan hadn¡¯t moved a muscle. He just looked around as if waiting for me to stop crying over a matter like that. I thought that he had a heart, but it turned out like he was just like everyone else. A black hole in his chest.


    He saw me looking up at him, and motioned for me to sit on the bed. I followed his orders. What else was I to do? If I ran out I would surely die because of my sickness, and if I just didn¡¯t listen to him, he¡¯d probably call in someone else to help him.


    When my head hit the pillow, he immediately did an ordinary checkup on me, and then a brain scan, and some other stuff I wasn¡¯t sure what he was checking.


    When I thought he was finished, he told me to wait there and then went out into the hall. He came back a few minutes later with a woman. She was taller than most women, with her bright blond hair tied in a bun so tight it looked like her hair would be ripped out of her head. She had brown glasses that rested on the tip of her nose, she had very dark thin lips, that matched her darkly tanned skin. She looked like a mean librarian.


    Dr. Dan and the librarian woman huddled in a corner of the room and whispered. A couple of glances were aimed at me, and a few points, and I heard my name a few times.


    After what seemed like forever, they turned around towards me. First, they shared a strange look that I couldn¡¯t define, they walked towards me cautiously, like I was some kind of germ they were going to investigate.


    ¡°Hello.¡± said the woman. She had an accent, maybe from Britain? I wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°My name is Dr. Cornelia.¡±


    ¡°Hey.¡± I said, trying to not show my anxiousness. ¡°Why am I here? I know I fainted, but, like, why is this such a big deal?¡±


    ¡°Well, we have some not so great news. Your virus, the one we¡¯re still investigating, is spreading faster than we thought it would at this age. We predicted it would eventually, but not this fast, and not this soon.¡± she said.


    The blood drained from my face, and I started to shake. My palms began sweating rapidly. Maybe they were trying to get rid of my virus. I could feel my eyes started to water. It felt like someone was ripping the hair from my head.


    ¡°How long do I have left?¡± I croaked.


    ¡°We aren¡¯t sure yet, maybe about two weeks.¡±


    I curled up into a ball on the bed, shivering, the only thing to warm me my own tears. I tucked my head in between my legs, with my arms locked together around my forehead. I sobbed loudly. I felt like I was choking on my own snot. Maybe I would die now due to dry eyes? Was that even a thing? I had no idea.


    I¡¯d never been so scared in my life. Now just, POOF! I¡¯m gone! Just like that. I couldn¡¯t believe it, I wouldn¡¯t believe it.


    My vision started to blur, maybe from my tears? But it felt different, like my mind was blurring too.


    I could hear Dr. Cornelia¡¯s casual voice repeating over and over saying, maybe two weeks. The line haunted me. I tried to take deep breaths, but it was hard while choking on your own tears and snot, and a ball in your throat.


    I tried to keep my eyes open, but my brain disobeyed. As I slowly lost consciousness, my last thought was, I¡¯ll be dead in two weeks.


    And then everything went black.

 Chapter 3

    Bright green grass surrounded me. Flowers bloomed in neon colors, making the field look like it had colorful chicken pox. In the distance there was a small hill. Before I knew it, I was standing at the foot of it. It was much larger up close, and steeper, too. Though my legs were tired, I forced myself up the hill. At the top, there was a single tree. It bloomed with bright green leaves and colorful flowers. A yellow picnic mat was laid right beside the tree. There was a basket full of fresh fruits and freshly baked goods. There was a couple laughing and talking on the picnic mat.


    The woman had bright blue eyes, and a magnificent smile. Her hair was long and a copper colour, like mine. She wore a pink T-shirt, and a blue skirt with green stripes.


    The man had thin lips and a bit of a dry smile.He had a shaved beard and moustache, both the same colour as his chocolate brown hair.


    I stood there, silent, knowing exactly who they were. I¡¯d seen many versions of what I¡¯d pictured my parents to look like, but this was by far the most realistic version. They continued their ratherfakeconversation. Like they were doing a play, but they were both horrible actors. Like they knew I was there, but were just waiting for the right moment to act.


    I waited a few more moments, and then was just gaining the courage to speak, when the woman turned around and saw me. She tilted her head sideways like a dog first, and then slowly her eyes widened as she started to understand why I looked familiar.


    Soon the man turned, and it seemed he recognised me immediately. I stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do or say. They inspected me, as if to see if I¡¯d changed much. The woman whispered something in the man¡¯s ear, and then he began speaking. His voice zoned out for a while, as I was lost in thought. I finally began to listen.


    ¡°-a picnic, so maybe you could find another hill?¡±


    I tried to speak, but it came out in a croak. Twiddling my thumbs, I managed to say:


    ¡°I¡¯m a bit lost, can you help me?¡± I decided not to mention the fact that I was staring at my parents that I never knew.


    ¡°Where do you need to go?¡± the woman asked.


    I hesitated before answering. Where did I need to go? Back to the hospital? I would never go back there. But, where did I need to go? I had no home.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I admitted.


    ¡°How would you like us to help, then?¡± the man asked.


    I blanked out. I had never been offeredhelpbefore. Maybe when I was just a baby, and needed milk, but that wasn¡¯thelp, that was an obligation. Maybe Rachel had sometimes offered me help, but not that I could remember. The thought hit me hard. Tears streamed down my face so suddenly it looked like a waterfall. No one, in my entire life, had ever helped me. I should have felt proud. After all, I¡¯d done everything on my own up to now. But, on the other hand, I had never had anyone to help me with anything. Walking, sleeping, et cetera.


    I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn¡¯t realise the couple staring at me weirdly.


    ¡°Ahem.¡± the woman let out a fake cough, and I remembered that they had offered to help.


    ¡°Oh, yeah¡­¡± I croaked. ¡°I¡¯m actually not sure.¡± I started to feel uncomfortable, and looked at my feet. But, when I looked up, the couple was gone. Everything around me faded away.


    Yellow sunlight was what woke me up. It was unbearably hot, and even worse, bright. I cautiously opened my eyes, afraid that I might go blind if I did it too fast. It was so hot that I could barely see around me. My eyes started to water as I sat up. I was leaning against a dead tree. The rickety tree had few leaves that were still on it, and they were crumbled and moldy. The bark was thin and dried up, most of it peeled off, or peeling off. The tree was hunched over, like it wanted to pick up its dead leaves that were scattered on the ground. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As my eyes slowly adjusted to the brightness level of wherever I was, I began seeing horrible scenery around me.


    The bright yellow sun illuminated the dark red sky. The few clouds weren¡¯t thick enough to stop the sun¡¯s hot rays, and they even parted around the sun like it burned them too. The clouds were a transparent blue, and the blood red of the sky shone through them.


    The ground was dry dirt. The only grass to be seen were a few dead patches that grew around hunched trees like the one I leaned on. These trees were few, and provided little shade, and no comfort. The plain, boring land seemed to go on forever in the distance.


    There were no bodies of water, no animals scurrying on the ground, and no birds or bugs in the sky.


    The scenery was sad. The air was thin and full of dust. Every few seconds my throat ran dry and I coughed.


    I sat down beside a tree and tried to organise my rambling thoughts. I closed my eyes and tried to calm down. Where was I? Why was I here? How did I get here? It felt like there was an uncontrollable party going on inside my head. It was like I was trying to get people to leave. My skin began to burn. I yelped in pain, and stood up immediately. My skin was a nauseating red. And so, not knowing what else to do, I ran in the opposite direction of the sun.


    What seemed like hours later, my legs began to ache. My thighs felt like they were made of jello, and I crumbled to the ground. All this time, I hadn¡¯t noticed that the sun had slowly begun to set, and the scenery around me had changed a bit.


    I looked around me and was surprised to see thicker trees that had more leaves and that were living, a few small ponds, and a few animals such as squirrels and rabbits running around, looking for food, or drinking from one of the few ponds.


    I hadn¡¯t realised how thirsty I was. I forced myself to stand as I slowly practically crawled to the closest pond. I made it there and looked at my reflection in the scarce light from the setting sun. Dirt covered me from head to toe. My hospital gown was torn in many places. My hair was rough with dirt. My white running shoes looked brown from all the running.


    I first dipped my head in the pond to cool me off. Then, after realising that it wasn¡¯t as cold as I¡¯d expected, I took a sip. The water tasted better than any I¡¯d ever tasted before. Almost like a magic potion, if that existed. I took another sip, and then another. The water filled me with energy, but also helped me relax. I backed away from the pond and found a tree that had a small bump at the roots, just big enough for my head. Before I lay down, I started to shiver. The sun was barely to be seen at this point, and soon there would only be moon and starlight. So, I decided to use the even scarcer light than before, and try and find something usable for a blanket. I roamed around one part of the edge of the forest to find a tree larger than the rest. Its thick roots spiralled all around it. Sitting just next to it was a leaf much larger than I was. I picked it up and found my way back to the tree near the pond.


    I wrapped the thick leaf around myself and curled up my legs, all while carefully finding a comfortable spot for my head on the thick root. It wasn¡¯t the best idea, but it was better than nothing. Sleep seemed so far away, or even impossible. Slowly, the wind got sharper and the air got colder. The large leaf around me suddenly seemed like it was just a few strands of string. I pulled it around my head and curled into a ball. I shivered for what seemed like hours, I finally drifted off to a dreamless sleep.


    I slowly opened my eyes, and quickly put a hand to block them from the sun. When they finished adjusting to the harsh light, I looked around. In front of me was just red dirt that went on and on and on as far as the eye could see. There wasn¡¯t anything in sight. Barely any bumps in the ground. Just, flat, plain, red dirt for miles.


    I looked behind me, but the scenery was exactly the same. I sank to my knees. Which way to go? Front, back, left, right, they all went on forever.


    ¡°They all go on forever. . .what do I do now?¡± I mumbled, burying my face in my hands. Maybe just start walking? But where would that take me? Nowhere, like where I was now. But, it was my best and only option. I forced myself to stand and held in my tears as I chose right, because I was a righty.


    There was absolutely no scenery to describe. Just the red dirt. Not a living thing in sight. For hours I walked, but nothing ever changed. Eventually the sun began to set. The thought of being plunged into darkness in the middle of a plain desert sent fear curling through my spine. On that happy note, I picked up my walking pace into a fast jog.


    Cold air swept past my face as I began to run, for the sun was almost nowhere to be seen. The sky was now a navy blue, and the bright moon sent an eerie glow all over the area.


    When the sun had gone completely, I fell to my knees and let out the tears I¡¯d been holding in for so long. Eventually my knees gave out, and I fell to the ground face first. I banged my fists on the dry dirt ground.


    ¡°Why me?¡± I cried. ¡°Didn¡¯t I already have it bad enough?¡± I yelled and complained for very long, but finally came to the conclusion that no one could hear me. I curled into a ball and tried to sleep, but I knew that that was impossible. I let my thoughts wander off. After very long, I finally realised that more than anything, I was lonely.


    I opened my eyes and looked around at the ugly scenery around me. It went on forever. I would die of fear before I could get anywhere. At last I fell I into an uncomfortable, dreamless sleep.

 Chapter 4

    I woke up stiff. My whole body ached. After I¡¯d stretched my back and remembered where I was, I hesitantly looked around me. There was black snow everywhere. I was still in an empty dessert, but the boring red dirt was blanketed with snow.


    I stood up slowly. I was shivering from head to toe. After all they¡¯d gone through, my clothes were thin ripped, and almost transparent.


    After taking a few steps, I realised that I had no shoes. My socks were just thin strips of cloth wrapped around my numb feet.


    The sky was still pitch black, the only thing to light my way was the moon. It must have been around the middle of the night, but I felt like it was nine in the morning.


    Where to go? I felt so small. Like the world was moving on, with me stuck in this disheartening desert.


    At last I decided to pursue the moon¡¯s silver glow. I rubbed my hands together, took a deep breath, and began my journey.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Time flew by, but I wasn¡¯t having fun. Gradually the black night turned into a blood-red dawn. The moon cowered below the ground while the bright sun took its place in the pastel colored sky.


    The brighter the sun got, the faster the snow melted. Eventually there were only warm puddles to be seen every once in a while.


    I did my best to pick up my pace.The faster I got out of this eerie place, the better. Soon enough the heat was unbearable. I collapsed onto the dirt ground and watched in horror as my skin turned red from the scorching dirt. I cried out in pain, and hurriedly stood up, trying to ignore the blazing sun¡¯s heat.


    My feet stung from standing on the painfully hot dirt. I started to run now; I wanted to leave badly. Hopelessness overwhelmed me when I saw that this desert wasn¡¯t coming to an end.


    With no water, and the sun sucking all the energy from me, I started to feel queasy. Don¡¯t stop. I told myself. But finally, my knees gave out and I threw up. I got up as quickly as I could, because the hot dirt again burned my skin.


    I continued. I was walking, but I resembled a slug more than a human. I was practically dragging my legs behind me. I wish I could drop dead at this point. I thought.


    I lost my footing, and fell straight into a deep hole.

 Chapter 5

    Blackness surrounded me. The wind whistled in my ears. In the distance I could hear voices, but they didn¡¯t sound human.


    ¡°Aaaaaaaah!¡± I cried at the top of my lungs. I looked down at the blackness below. It seemed to go on forever. I swung around my hands, trying to find any hold. My head was clouded with fear, but the tiniest bit of relief appeared when I caught a root sticking out of the wall of dirt surrounding me. It was holding me, but I could feel it slowly getting thinner and thinner holding my weight. It can hold me, it can, it can. . . I hoped. And it did, until I looked up and saw how thin and weak it was. It can¡¯t hold me. . . And then it snapped. I screamed again, and cuddled the root to my chest like a teddy bear as I continued to fall deeper into the pit.


    I hit the ground, but felt nothing. No pain, just fear. I looked at my surroundings and gasped.


    It looked like an enormous ant colony. I was in a humongus open space, with holes dotting all over the walls. Each one led to a different pathway. Under each hole was a small platform. I was sitting on a platform right below the dirt ceiling. Above me was the hole I¡¯d fallen through. From here I had a perfect view of the entire colony. There were ladders made of roots leading to every hole. Each hole was smaller than an average sized person. What would be about thirty floors down, was the base of the colony.


    Thousands of little. . . people went from hole to hole, ladder to ladder. One emerged from a hole beside me. I stared at it in awe and terror.


    It was about as tall as a fived year old, and had rough white skin covered with dirt. It had a wide head, and tiny, sunken eyes. It had large, flat ears, one much larger than the other. Its lips were fat and seemed to have bubbles in them. Warts and scars were spread throughout its horrendous body. Its arms were long, thick, and muscled. Its legs were short and stubby. Its toes and fingers sprouted sharp black claws at the tips.


    It was exactly how I pictured aGoblin. But no, how could it be? Goblins didn¡¯t exist, especially not exactly how I pictured them!


    And then the ugly creature noticed me.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Intruder!¡± the Goblin yelled in a voice that resembled someone scraping two rocks together. It sounded like it had to cough.


    All the other Goblins looked up from what they were doing. I could see the excitement on their disgusting faces. I couldn¡¯t blame them. What fun things could happen in this pit?


    Every Goblin began to limp their way towards me. Most carried weapons; sticks, rotting bones, bats, and anything else you would find in a deep hole.


    Eventually I was surrounded. A few Goblins circled me on the platform I had landed on, but most of them on the neighboring platforms.


    I slowly slid to the wall in fear. If the Goblins were so excited, what did they have planned for me? I shuddered as a few ideas came to mind.


    I could hear in the background as Goblins whispered amongst themselves. Soon enough, one Goblins pushed its way towards the front of the crowd. It wasn¡¯t wearing pants made of dried up leaves like all the otherGoblins. I guessed to them what it was wearing was considered elegant.


    It wore a dress made of long dead leaves stuck together by mushy roots. It was barefoot, like all the otherGoblins, but its feet seemed. . .nicer. Better kept, not that rough, skinnier, cleaner.


    I eyed it from toe to head. When I got to its ugly head, I was surprised to see a moldy twig crown.


    This was the Goblin Queen.


    She caught me staring at her and smiled an ugly, crooked yellow toothed smile. The colony was silent for a moment, when one fat Goblin suddenly piped up in a raspy voice.


    ¡°My Lady, my Mistress, my Amazingly Beautiful Mardaug Queen, what will we do with this intruder?¡± Mardaug? Is that what they were called?


    There was a pause, and then the queen answered in a dismissive voice that sounded like leaves rustling. ¡°Intruders are turned into Goblins. Nothing new.¡± and then she raised her voice. ¡°Like all the past prisoners, our prisoner will be chased around our colony, and when it is caught, it will be turned into one of us!¡± Why did she call herself a Goblin?


    The crowd cheered.


    Terrified of what was going on around me, I sank into my thoughts. The first word that popped into my head was: escape. That was the solution and the problem. Although it was so simple, it was so risky.


    Two large Goblins/Mardaugs held me down. They seemed a bit more well-kept than the others. They seemed better fed, and smelled the tiniest bit better. They were probably the Goblin Queen¡¯s guards.


    I wanted to fight them off. I wanted to defeat these Goblins. But when I tried to move my arms, they didn¡¯t respond. I was so tired, hungry, thirsty, and sick. I wasn¡¯t able to fight off guards, or anything. I was weak.

 Chapter 6

    I regret many things in my life. Quite often, actually. I regret not escaping the hospital when I had had the chances, I regret letting Rachel leave my room the day she died, I regret mourning over her loss, and ending up here.


    But, now what I regret the most, by far, is not trying to escape the Goblin¡¯s grasp. I could have, but I gave up too easily.


    Now I was in a cell, in line with many others, all of them empty. Only one, at the far end of the room, contained a dusty skeleton. It seemed that not many people were unlucky enough to fall into the dirty hands of Goblins.


    I was in a cell at the far end of the room, furthest from the door. Two walls were made of dirt, and two more of rusty bars. I was on dirt ground, with no color but brown. The only thing in the cell was a pile of rotting leaves.


    I plopped onto the pile, ignoring the bugs making themselves comfortable under my clothes. I was exhausted. I let my eyes close. It was a horrible time, but I felt relaxed. I didn¡¯t know how long chasing me through the colony would take. Perhaps just a few hours? Maybe days? Weeks? Months? I couldn¡¯t bear the thought of staying here for months, so I didn¡¯t let my list go on.


    I was beginning to slip from reality into my own head, when I heard loud footsteps coming my way. They got closer and closer, and finally I decided to open my eyes. The sight horrified me.


    An enormous Goblin stood before me, and I was suddenly grateful for the bars separating us. All of the other Goblins were shorter than I was, but this one was at least three heads taller.


    It had long, droopy arms like the others, massive legs, and mismatched ears. Everything was the same as the others, except its height.


    I crouched into the shadows of my cell, holding in my wimpers of fear. And then the Goblin spoke.


    ¡°Food. Eat food.¡± it commanded in a deep, strong voice. The Goblin held out a tray of dried mud. On it layed what the creature called food.


    Dead bugs were untidily pushed to one side, and a few dried up roots on the other. There was an uneven bowl of dried mud that held brown water, or what I hoped was water.


    I shakily stood up and took the tray, and then sank into the pile of dried leaves. Setting the tray down beside me, I closed my eyes again. When I was beginning to sink into my unhappy thoughts, the Goblin¡¯s voice spoke again.


    ¡°Eat.¡± it ordered. I don¡¯t want to eat this disgusting stuff. I complained in my head. But the monster continued staring at me, expecting me to eat its underground food. I wanted to yell at it to go away and bring me real food, but I didn¡¯t have the guts.


    After a few moments of me silently begging the Mardaug to leave, or at least take his terrifying gaze off me, he did. He just left with no conversation. I heaved a long and heavy sigh of relief, and I realised that I¡¯d been holding my breath. I resumed my attempt to fall asleep, but was again interrupted, this time by my own thoughts. No, not thoughts. Something else. My instincts were what forced my eyes open.


    I turned my head over to where I¡¯d left the tray. It was the same. I began to turn my head over again when I noticed something about the brown water.


    The gross water looked a bit different. It was cleaner. The dirt that floated in the water was gone . It was still not clear, but it was a lot more appetizing.


    Maybe I hadn¡¯t noticed it before? Perhaps it had been a trick of the mind. After a while of gazing into the water, I concluded that I just hadn¡¯t noticed it before.


    When I finally got over the fact that there was something I could drink, I quickly drained the bowl. I turned my head back over and shut my eyes. I fell asleep quickly, and had no nightmare, no dream, just a comfortable, relaxing blackness.


    I rolled over and groaned. There was an annoying tapping sound.


    ¡°Rachel¡¯s here early. . .¡± I mumbled, still half asleep. The tapping continued. It was like nails on metal. Tap, tap, tap, tap. . .


    I reluctantly rolled over. I had slept well, in my head. But my back was soar like my shoulders, and I occasionally heard a crack in my arms or legs. It felt like my face had hardened overnight.


    I slowly forced my eyes open. It was like they had been glued shut. After a failed attempt to sit up, I turned over and continued my rest, trying my best to ignore the tapping sound.


    Tap, tap, tap, tap. . .was what I heard when I woke up again.


    ¡°Stop it, Rachel. It¡¯s not funny.¡± I muttered, and drool spilled from my mouth.


    Again I woke up to the tapping sound. For a second I thought it might have been an alarm clock, and I reached out my hand to shut it off. My hand hit something dry and hard, and I moaned in pain.


    I opened my eyes and gasped. But soon enough my gasp turned into a long sigh of disappointment.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    I wasn¡¯t in my room at the hospital. Some other time that would have filled me with joy beyond my wildest dreams, but not now, not here. I was in the cell underground in the Goblin colony. I was lying on the pile of dead leaves, and my hand had hit the tray of food I had not eaten the night before.


    I suddenly regretted that. My stomach rumbled and begged for food. But I denied it. The food in front of me was disgusting, and the unknown dead bugs might be poisonous to humans.


    Was I human at this point? Only Rachel had treated me like one, and now she was gone. So would someone like me be considered human? Someone who was only kept alive so others could find out about her disease, someone who wasn¡¯t loved by anyone, someone who was abandoned at birth because of her looks, someone who was weak and powerless over her own life?


    Was I human?


    I had never really asked myself such a question. It had popped up sometimes, but I had always shooed it away like an annoying fly. I had thought it unimportant to be answered until today.


    Maybe what the Goblins were going to do to me was a miracle. I could join others who were treated unfairly as one of them. I could be respected by my own kind, because my own kind would be as ugly as I was.


    I snapped back into reality. I looked up at the bars of my cell to find the same Goblins who had held me down the night before. Behind them was the Goblin Queen, anxiously tapping her claws on the bars of the cell.


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re awake.¡± she smiled. She looked at me as if expecting me to ask a question. ¡°In case you¡¯re wondering, I let you sleep so the chase could last longer, since you¡¯ll have more energy.¡± she grinned as if she were the smartest person to ever live.


    There was a long pause, and then she continued.


    ¡°Can you speak, creature?¡± I kept my frown, but smiled in my head as I formed a plan.


    I nodded no, and tried to look terrified and confused.


    ¡°What is your species called?¡± the Queen asked, making long spaces between the words and speaking a bit louder than before. She sounded out each syllable slowly and clearly, like I was an infant.


    I was extremely annoyed at her talking to me like I was a baby, but I held my tongue as some horrible insults came to mind. I silently shunned the Queen and once again was devoured by my overwhelming thoughts.


    I pushed all the questions aside and focused on my plan. If the Goblin Queen thought I couldn¡¯t speak, was that in my favor or hers? Maybe I could pretend that I didn¡¯t understand english. What would she do, and how would that help me?


    Ideas rushed around in my head. I could pretend I was a useless species and maybe she¡¯d let me go? I could annoy her by saying random sounds as if it were my way of communication?


    More and more ideas flooded my head and clogged my reasoning.


    ¡°Too many questions, not enough answers.¡± I mumbled.


    ¡°You can speak!¡± the Queen enthusiastically squealed.


    I left my thoughts to wander on their own, and turned my attention to the Queen. Once the realisation of what I had done washed over me completely, I grumbled furiously. My only plan had been foiled! What now? Be turned into a Goblin?


    My thoughts from before returned. Would it be nice to be a Goblin?


    ¡°What language do you speak?¡± the Queen asked. I decided that there was no point to pretend.


    ¡°English.¡± I admitted, and then, ¡°What are you?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a Goblin, a sub-species of the Mardaugs.¡± Now it made sense. She was a sub-species of Mardaugs.


    ¡°What a pleasant surprise, you speak english!¡± the Queen turned to her guards. ¡°Let¡¯s get ready for the chase, then. It speaks english, so this should be easy.¡±


    The guards opened the cell¡¯s rusted door and hauled me up. One tied my hands with dry roots, and grabbed my wrists.


    I walked with one guard behind me and one in front. The Mardaug Queen skipped cheerfully far in front. My guess was that she couldn¡¯t wait to have another Goblin to serve her. I whispered a few insults at her on the way. I was relieved that she either didn¡¯t notice, or just didn¡¯t want to react.


    I followed the Mardaugs out of the room full of cells like mine and into a hall with a low ceiling. It was round like a tunnel and everything was made of dry dirt. I prayed that the ceiling wouldn¡¯t collapse.


    Next we ducked into a hole, which led us deeper underground. Then there was a staircase, and next we entered into a massive room with hole far apart from one another.


    ¡°Now, this is one of many neighborhoods. Each hole leads into a Mardaug¡¯s home. We¡¯re going to stop in every one of these to round up the whole population. Get it? Whole? Like a hole?¡± she laughed at her own joke, and glared at her guards when they didn¡¯t. She spoke like she was giving a tour.


    Then the Queen cuffed her dirty hands over her mouth and called,


    ¡°To the Great Hall!¡± almost as if on cue, all the Mardaugs stepped out of their homes and formed a line behind the Queen. She strode away with all the Mardaugs following quietly. On our way to what the Queen called the ¡°Great Hall¡±, all the Mardaugs parted into different holes.


    Eventually we made it to an identical neighborhood as the last, and the Queen repeated her line.


    We did this over and over, my legs wobbling the entire time. At one point I couldn¡¯t take it and collapsed onto the guard in front of me. After that I was carried.


    We went deeper and deeper into the colony, and the pressure kept getting worse and worse.


    I was led into a large chamber, big enough to fit thousands of humans, each with enough space to stretch. The walls were spotted with holes branching out to more.


    Slowly out of all the holes, Mardaugs filled up the large space.


    When the room was full of anxious Mardaugs, their Queen began.


    ¡°Another chase!¡± she cried, and her followers cheered enthusiastically. ¡°Another chase has come. I¡¯m sure you all know how it works, but just so our prisoner understands.¡± she looked at me, ¡°You will be let loose in the colony, and then chased by Mardaugs. Once you¡¯re captured, you will be turned into a Mardaug!¡±


    The crowd yelled in happiness.


    But I didn¡¯t share their excitement. I had a plan, sure, but to get it up and running? That would be the difficult part. And I didn¡¯t know my way around here, so what could I do?


    My plan to crawl back through the hole I¡¯d come from vanished. I wasn¡¯t at the top anymore, now I was so far away from the surface. I would certainly get lost in this horrible maze, and then caught by a Mardaug, and then worst of all, turned into one of those disgusting creatures.


    ¡°And now, release the prisoner!¡± the Queen exclaimed, an ugly smile spread across her face.

 Chapter 7

    One of her guards untied the rope holding my hands together. In a better situation, I would¡¯ve felt relieved, all the blood rushing back to my wrists. And now a small chance of escape, even though there were thousands of the Mardaugs and only one of me.


    But this wasn¡¯t a better situation. This was a horrible one. No, not even horrible. Beyond horrible. I couldn¡¯t come up with a word to match my situation.


    The Mardaug Queen was staring at me questiongly.


    ¡°It¡¯s no fun if you don¡¯t even try.¡± she said.


    I had no idea what she meant. Try? I wasn¡¯t trying anything.


    The Queen seemed to notice my confused look.


    ¡°You¡¯re supposed to run and try to escape us.¡± she sighed.


    It didn¡¯t take me long to process the happy information. As soon as I heard the word escape, I didn¡¯t look back. I just sprinted as fast as I could away from the now cheering creatures.


    It was hard. Now I didn¡¯t have a guide who was used to navigating in the dark. I bumped into the walls. Bruises crowded my skin at this point. Each step I took was faster than the last, but also less confidant. I could hear the Mardaugs gaining on me. Their battle cries echoed along the rocky walls.


    I spat dirt from my mouth. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest. Just a little further. . . I encouraged myself.


    The Mardaugs were close behind.


    What to do now? I couldn¡¯t run forever. I could hide, but the Mardaugs knew their home better than me. I could try to outrun them, if that was possible. But even if I did, I was still outnumbered. Yes, that was my biggest issue.


    But maybe the Mardaugs weren¡¯t too smart? Maybe they were strong but dumb? I could use that to my own advantage. . .but I wasn¡¯t sure that it was true.


    My captors seemed intelligent. Maybe not quite as advanced as humans, but they definitely weren¡¯t stupid. They had a language, for a start. They spoke english, on top of that. But how? If they¡¯d never heard of humans. . .how did they know one of their languages?


    The thought spooked me as I struggled to outrun my captors. They were still gaining on me, faster by the second. Realising this, I continued my run.


    There were so many different paths to choose from. Every metre or so was either another hole or another hallway branching out from the one I was being chased in.


    How was this place organised? It seemed like I was in a tree that never stopped branching out. It was like a labyrinth.


    I took a left, and then a right. But the Mardaugs continued to follow. Some parted from the main group and went their own way. Most stayed in the group with the Queen.


    Twisting and turning through the never ending maze, I finally began to lose the Mardaugs. But not even that allowed me to slow my pace. I continued running, even though my legs felt like jello, my heart felt like it would explode, my mouth felt like it would dry up completely from dehydration, and my feet felt like they had millions of bruises.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    But I continued.


    I felt so lost, running underground through all these complicated tunnels. And to make the trip even more memorable, it was in darkness. I had to feel my way around the different paths. Rocks jutted sharply out of the dirt walls. My hands were coated in cuts. A lot of them were bleeding uncontrollably.


    I kept my quick pace. But eventually the silence faded away.


    A group of Mardaugs were already behind me. What to do now? I couldn¡¯t keep running, not even with fear to motivate me.


    I quickly ducked into a narrow hole. Carefully guiding myself through the turns of the tunnel, I emerged into a narrow space, maybe a metre and a half long. There were three holes. Left, right, or straight. I chose left. After going through more places like that, I finally made it into a small room.


    It looked a lot older than the others, and smaller. The walls were beginning to crumble, but would hopefully not cave in during my visit. Rocks peeked out from the walls at strange angles, making it harder to guide myself along them.


    My hands were quickly going dry because of the dirt falling from the ceiling. I unwillingly sneezed, and prayed that it wasn¡¯t heard. But in the back of my mind, I wondered if I would die soon.


    I¡¯d had nightmares just like this very often. But at least in those there were doctors to save me. Here, I only had myself to rely on.


    I could hear in the distance the happy cries of the creatures I¡¯d unfortunately fell into the hands of. They faded away as fast as they¡¯d come. It seemed that the Mardaugs had run right past the hole I¡¯d found. I sighed in relief, but only relaxed when the loud footsteps of my captors finally stopped echoing in my ears.


    Leaning back, I began brainstorming of ways of escape. Mardaugs. Did they have weaknesses? Fears?


    I racked my brain for possible ideas, and hopefully a fully grown plan. But nothing came to mind.


    Eventually I heard more footsteps. I quickly took a big breath and held it, fearing that the Mardaugs would hear my heavy breathing.


    But the steps didn¡¯t fade away.


    They stayed where they were. I could hear the conversation between two Mardaugs echoing off the tunnel¡¯s walls, twisting and turning through the different paths.


    ¡°Maybe it went through here.¡± suggested one in a squeaky voice.


    ¡°Why would it? This is an old tunnel. It could collapse and kill it any minute. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s not that stupid.¡± said another, in a voice that sounded like it needed to cough.


    ¡°But it doesn¡¯t know its way around.¡±


    And that was it. The Mardaugs went silent. But soon enough, their footsteps echoed along the tunnel as they chose their paths.


    A couple minutes later two Mardaugs entered the small room I was hiding in.


    One of them squealed in delight as they approached.


    Before I knew it, I was cornered. I was shaking with fear. In the darkness, I could only see two figures excitedly advancing towards me.


    I bit my lip, rapidly trying to think of something, anything that I could do. Eventually I had no more space to back away into. I placed my hands on the dirt wall and uselessly tried to dig it open. And then I caught something.


    A root.


    Not knowing what to do, I tugged at it with all my remaining strength. It came out of the wall easily, barely putting up a fight. I just held it in my hands, shutting my eyes tight, hoping that this was just a horrible nightmare, and I would wake up any second now to a parent¡¯s soothing voice. Oh, how I wished I had a parent that could comfort me.


    I imagined myself waking up to my mother hugging me. She knew when I was having a bad dream.


    I imagined myself telling her how I lived in a hospital with a disease, and how I was abandoned at birth.


    I imagined myself explaining to her how I woke up here one day, and how I was the Mardaug¡¯s prisoner.


    As I imagined a world that never was, a plan formed in my mind.


    The Mardaugs were almost touching me now, just a few inches away. I would have to act fast.


    I ripped the root in half, and began rubbing the two halves together. No sparks flew. I rubbed harder. And then harder. But nothing happened.


    Please, oh please. Fire. just one flame. Please! I begged in my head. But still there was nothing. Not the tiniest flame.


    I pictured the one half of the root bursting to flame, just enough to light my way, and just enough to leave me a little space to hold it.


    And then a spark flew.

 Chapter 8

    I¡¯d never seen fire.


    Locked in a hospital room my whole life, I¡¯d never seen the tiniest glimpse of a flame. Not even a harmless candle.


    I¡¯d always wondered what it would look like. I knew the basics, like it was orange red and yellow, like the sun. I knew that it quivered in the wind and died when put in water. I knew that it could burn you; it was very hot. Sometimes I would imagine it branching out like a tree, or perfectly straight, or fading into the surrounding air.


    But it was incredible seeing a flame flickering to life before me.


    My eyes stung in the newfound light. I had been stuck in darkness for who knows how long, in this underground colony. And it was getting worse by the second, as the small flame grew and grew until it was big enough to fit on a torch.


    It was also relieving to be able to see what was around me.


    The walls were a light brown, and it was the same on the floor. The rocks poking out of the walls were a dark grey, like a storm cloud.


    Finally getting over the relief, I cautiously took a look at the two Mardaugs, now staring at me, terrified.


    I had seen the Mardaugs before, in the lighter part of the colony. But now, seeing them in complete detail. . . It was just horrible.


    Now they were even more disgusting, if that was possible. They were so ugly I began wondering if the Medusa stories were true.


    Now I could see that lumps formed in different shapes all around their skin. Pimples showed themselves in strange places, and warts seemed very popular among the Mardaugs.


    Horrendous. Hideous. Awful. Grotesque. Horrid. Monstrous. Misshapen. Frightful.


    I could go on forever listing words that described the creatures. But to sum it all up, the Mardaugs were ugly.


    But now they looked scared. Scared of what, though? Was I scary?


    That was when I recalled that I was holding a root on fire. I quickly snapped back into reality.


    If the Mardaugs were afraid of fire, like I¡¯d thought, I had a massive upper hand. They were obviously afraid of fire because they hate light. For creatures who live underground, that was normal. Their eyes were tiny, because they barely had any use for them.


    But how could I use fire against them? That was the tricky part. If it hurt their eyes, then I could go past the Mardaugs without having them wanting to follow.


    Well, I couldn¡¯t be sure about that. Which was more important to them, their prisoner or their health? These creatures were smart. They wouldn¡¯t hurt themselves. . . right?


    I really didn¡¯t know.


    Maybe I would have to take a chance? Just assume that they wouldn¡¯t follow?


    I looked back at the now whimpering Mardaugs.


    Yes, maybe I would have to take a chance. Even if it was just these Mardaugs that were conveniently afraid of fire, and the others weren¡¯t, I had no other option.


    So I turned my attention to the Mardaugs.


    They were slowly backing out of the room, trying to do so quietly.


    ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt us. . .¡± one whispered. The other clamped its hand over its companinon¡¯s quivering mouth. They continued backing away until they were out of sight. So these Mardaugs were so afraid of fire that they would abandon their prisoner? It seemed almost unrealistic, but then again, everything here was unrealistic.


    I stood up shakily.


    Everything was going eerily good for me. Well, aside from the big picture. It was just little things. Small things that made fear creep up my spine. For example, the water. I could¡¯ve sworn that it was dirty, and then suddenly it was drinkable. And running away from the Mardaugs. I was so tired, and they kept gaining on me. But somehow there was always a distance between us. And somehow I outran them. And now there was the fire.


    I was so weak, I could barely do anything without draining all my energy. I had barely been rubbing the roots together, and then there was fire. It happened right after I thought about it. Could that mean something?


    I shivered, even though I was sweating from head to toe.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    It was time to go.


    I left the old room, and down whatever passage my gut told me to. With the light to guide me, I felt a bit better. At least now I could see.


    I kept close to the walls, just in case a Mardaug were to see me.


    I turned left, then went straight for a while, then spotted a path leading upwards. I made for that one.


    It curved every metre or so, but never branched out. The path just kept straight, going higher and higher to the surface. Not by much, of course. Slowly, ever so slowly, it crept upwards, crawling towards the surface.


    Rocks poking out of the ground cut my bare feet. They came out of the walls, too, that were now narrowing. Inch by inch the walls closed in. In just minutes they were scraping my arms.


    When I was starting to have to squeeze, with difficulty, through the path, I decided to turn back.


    Again guiding myself on the walls, I made it back to where the path started. What a waste of time.


    I chose another path.


    Like the first, it went on and on straight. There were no other places to go but forward and backward.


    Maybe I had stepped back into the same path? But this one wasn¡¯t closing in. It just went on forever. . .


    I spotted something ahead.


    The path widened dramatically. As I got closer, I could see that it was a large round room.


    Ten holes to crawl into. Which to choose?


    It was like a book I once read. At one point a guy was in a room with five doors to choose from. Four led to death, and one led to escape. But in the book he had a riddle to help him.


    Here I had nothing.


    No, not nothing. I had what seemed like a Mardaug¡¯s greatest fear. Fire.


    Could I use that in this situation? How would it help me? I could look into each hole and see which one seems the safest.


    What did I mean, safest? I didn¡¯t know if only one was safe. Maybe all of them led to death, or none? For all I knew, an invisible Mardaug could be waiting in each of the holes.


    In this place, whatever this place was, anything could happen.


    But standing around thinking was doing me no good. I had no clues, hints, to guide me through this. My best option was to guess.


    Four. I cautiously stepped towards the hole. Carefully holding out my makeshift torch, I took a step forward. And then another, and another. I kept going, trying to distract myself from the fear curling through my spine.


    The passage continued straight, but then changed destinations and veered left. Soon it realised it had forgotten something, and curved back. But then, annoyed, it shakily returned. It kept going, and took another left. Then soon it split into two different paths, both dark and spooky.


    Even with my fire, I felt enveloped in darkness. The shadows of the fire danced on the dirt walls, shuddering at every rock that made its way out of the wall. Every time it did, I thought there was someone else there.


    The path was narrow. I¡¯d never been claustrophobic, because I lived in a small room practically my whole life. But now, in a small space, with my only options forward or backward, I finally understood that feeling.


    Forward was black emptiness, and backward was black emptiness.


    So I continued on the trail, not daring to look back at where I¡¯d been before. It terrified me, knowing that every step I took led to the exact same scenery as before.


    I had a horrible cramp in my stomach from hunger. Oh, hunger. Now that I thought about it, I realised that I hadn¡¯t eaten in who knows how long. I couldn¡¯t see the sun. It seemed like I had been here a few days, but it could¡¯ve been hours. I had no idea.


    I was gradually given more space to move my arms. In around half an hour (or what felt like it), I had stepped into a massive pit.


    It was similar to the one I had come into at first. There were little platforms below all the holes, except that here that all ended abruptly around five metres above the base. There was only one hole there, and that was where I had come from.


    I was now in a round room, about as big as a hockey arena.


    It was completely empty.


    But then I spotted a figure above, coming through one of the holes. A Mardaug. And then more slowly piled out of the holes.


    I held my burning root high, hoping to scare them off. But they just came closer. Closer and closer, and soon I was completely surrounded by the ugly creatures. It was extremely loud. All of the Mardaugs talked at once. Imagine the end of the day on the last day of school. Imagine how loud that is. Now multiply that by ten. That was around how loud it was now.


    But the talking ended suddenly. The Mardaug Queen had entered, with her two guards at her heels. She looked around at her followers carefully, and then turned to me.


    Descending her platform, she proudly announced:


    ¡°That was far too easy.¡±


    The crowd mumbled in agreement.


    ¡°So easy that it wasn¡¯t fun.¡± she continued. ¡°I say that we need something more. . .interesting.¡± she pronounced the word slowly for suspense.


    Everyone was on pins and needles waiting for her to explain further.


    ¡°Perhaps we can have a battle?¡± one Mardaug squeaked.


    ¡°What a great idea!¡± The Queen said, delighted. ¡°We¡¯ll have a battle. I need a strong Mardaug.¡± she eyed the crowd, looking for a suitable contestant. She found one in no time. Pointing at a buff Mardaug, she said ¡°You.¡±


    It stepped forward, smiling proudly. Then it strode into the middle of the arena, and stopped, waiting for orders.


    ¡°Now, my fellow Mardaug, do not kill the prisoner. Simply hold it down, and that will be the end of it.¡± announced the Queen.


    I shivered. The monster was way taller than me, and definitely stronger. It swept its eyes over my fire as if it were a feather.


    The Mardaug smirked at me, knowing the best for itsPersonio. It probably didn¡¯t see any way that I, a sick, weak, small, trembling human, could win. Maybe that was a good thing for me? Maybe the creature¡¯s own pride would defeat it? I had no idea, and again, I could only hope.


    ¡°Are you ready?¡± cried the Queen. She didn¡¯t wait for an answer. ¡°Three, two, one, fight!¡±

 Chapter 9

    Sometimes in my life I¡¯d wished for something exciting to happen. Something that would allow me to leave my boring repetitive life. I would picture things as big as myself saving the world, and as small as me slapping a doctor in the face.


    I would dream of something, anything interesting to happen.


    But I never thought of this.


    The courageous Mardaug wasted no time. As soon as the Queen yelled ¡°fight¡±, it was dashing towards me at an alarming speed.


    I jumped aside in the nick of time. If I had been a split second later, I would¡¯ve been toast.


    The monster kept redoing this move. I kept dodging. Soon I realised that the Mardaug didn¡¯t know how to fight in any other way. So I used this to my advantage.


    Although I was weak, my anger and frustration was strong. So I let it all bubble up in my stomach, and then unleashed it in one fiery punch.


    The Mardaug seemed extremely surprised at my act. And again, an advantage. This was going better than I¡¯d anticipated. Maybe I would win the fight? Maybe I would get out as a human, not one of these ugly creatures.


    After summoning all my energy on this punch, I had nothing left. My knees began to buckle. You can do this! Just throw another punch! You can do this! I pumped myself. I pictured myself getting back up and throwing an even harder punch at the Mardaug.


    And then I stood up.


    With a lot of difficulty, of course. Every bone in my body ached. All of my muscles were sore. The bruises that gave my skin color sent jolts of pain through me.


    But I stood up. It was like the teeniest bit of energy had returned. Just enough for this battle.


    The Mardaug continued its tactic of running towards me, trying to knock me down. I dodged each time. And then finally, when the monster was in the perfect position, I balled my hand into a fist, and hit the Mardaug so hard that it stumbled backward.


    My hand hurt so much that it felt like it were in extremely freezing water. How had I done that? It had happened exactly the way I pictured it. No, it wasn¡¯t possible that. . .


    I pushed aside the silly thought.


    I had bigger things to worry about. The Mardaug was slowly recovering from my blow.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    I dared a look at the cheering crowd. The Mardaug Queen was not looking happy. She stared at my opponent disapprovingly. It was obvious that she regretted her choice of a competitor for me. I smiled. Maybe I really would win.


    I then realised that when she had been announcing the battle, she said that the Mardaug shouldn¡¯t kill me, just hold me down, and then that would be the end. But I couldn¡¯t help but notice that she hadn¡¯t mentioned anything about me winning.


    The Mardaug now stood up, looking down at me hatefully. It kept going on its useless tactic, too dumb to realise that it wasn¡¯t working.


    It was too easy. I simply avoided the creature. But I couldn¡¯t keep at this forever. Maybe if I held down the Mardaug, I would be set free? Or maybe I could just escape?


    Both of my options had so many what ifs to go along with them. There was no point in listing all of them.


    But which option had the better chance of succeeding? They both were extremely risky. If I were to beat the Mardaug, they might not set me free. And then I would have even less chance of escape. But if I tried to escape now, I could easily be caught.


    So which was better?


    No, neither was better than the other. What could I do, then?


    And then the idea came to me. I built on top of it until I was sure that it had the least many flaws possible.


    During all this time, I¡¯d been dodging the Mardaug. I pictured myself holding it down, with strength that I knew I didn¡¯t have. I kept this thought close to me as I put my plan into action. Would this work? I certainly hoped so. But I had no choice. It was all I could come up with.


    The Mardaug got ready for another attempt that was bound to fail. And then it came at me again. But this time, instead of dodging, I took a deep breath, held my hands out, and tried my best to stay in place.


    It felt like my arms would fall off when the Mardaug hit. Its leathery skin scratched my own, but ignoring all this horrible pain, I shoved forward.


    I kept the image of me holding the monster down in my head. Please, oh dear please. I prayed that this would work.


    My muscles strained as I pushed with all my might. The Mardaug didn¡¯t budge, but just laughed quietly. You can do this! I pictured myself winning, succeeding in my risky plan.


    And then the Mardaug moved. Just a little, but just enough to send it off balance, and soon after falling backward helplessly. It landed heavily on the ground with a thud.


    I wasted no time. This was my only chance. I ran to the wall, jumped on an empty platform, I kept on moving upwards, avoided surrounding Mardaugs. Thankfully, none of them even noticed that I had passed them with no trouble.


    Like I¡¯d planned, all the Mardaugs had their eyes fixed on the one I¡¯d beat. Not even the Queen looked up from her defeated follower.


    So I kept going. I was out of breath, and my whole body begged for me to stop. But I continued. At this point the only thing keeping me going was he thought that I was almost at the top, and that I would get there.


    Up, up. Gradually it got lighter. The sun, oh how I missed it. Fresh air now flooded the hole.


    I smiled, and then laughed, but that hurt so I quickly stopped.


    And then I climbed out of the dark hole that had held me prisoner for who knows how long.

 Chapter 10

    Fresh air greeted me. Still, the air was dry and thin, but it was definitely better than the air underground.


    My eyes cried out in pain at the sudden sunlight. Although I had seen it a bit before, this was still extremely shocking; I didn¡¯t remember it being this bright. But then again, my memory was very fuzzed from being held prisoner by monsters.


    In just a few seconds my happiness wore off. The hot air dried my skin quickly, and I began coughing from the thin air. It was like if you went very high up, the air thinned, except that here it was hotter, rather than colder.


    My feet started to burn from the hot red sand. Or was it dirt? I couldn¡¯t really remember exactly how the ground was before, but it looked very similar. If my memory served me right, before it had been dirt. Now, here, it was a lot thinner. More like sand.


    Was I in a different place?


    I looked around me carefully. Desert, same as before. I turned around slowly, keeping an eye out for anything. My heart was slowly sinking as I gradually realised that there was yet again nowhere to go.


    But then I turned behind me. There, in the far distance, lay a dead forest of rotting trees that no longer grew bright leaves.


    I spotted a small hill near me, closer to the forest. I walked slowly towards it, dragging my legs behind me for I had no energy left. I eventually made it there, to the top of the hill, the horrible heat weighing me down.


    From the top, I had a better view of the large forest spread out before me.


    The trees were all extremely skinny, old, and unhealthy. Most of them had the same dark brown bark peeling off. Others were either lighter or darker. But all of them were dead. Their branches drooped slightly, a lot of them littering the ground already.


    The ground was grassy. There were some patches of brown dirt placed randomly among the trees. Around them the grass was a tinge greener. But the rest was a dull yellow, a lot of it even brown.


    After knowing what would await me there, I sluggishly continued on my path, arching my back from the heat that weighed down on me like a backpack.


    Each step hurt, but I kept going, hoping for something to eat there.


    Closer to the forest, I could hear the sound of children laughing. A playful one, not mocking. It was more like when someone is having a great time kind of laugh rather than a humorous laugh.


    The best part, though, was that they sounded human.


    After so long only hearing my own voice and the crackly ones of Mardaugs, it felt so good to finally hear human voices. And not just that, it was laughter.


    The last time I¡¯d heard laughter was. . .


    I thought for a while, but nothing came to mind. When was the last time I¡¯d heard laughter? I couldn¡¯t remember. It couldn¡¯t be the first time. . .no, it couldn¡¯t. I¡¯ve heard someone laugh before, right? Maybe my parents when I was born.


    No, that was even more impossible. Why would they have laughed? From what the doctors told me they just left the night of my birth. So no, they wouldn¡¯t have laughed.


    Doctors. One of them had to have laughed, and I¡¯d heard it. Right? I thought back as hard as I could, but nothing came to mind.


    Maybe Rachel had laughed?


    I searched deep into my brain, and carefully inspected all my memories, but found nothing.


    So this was the first time I was hearing laughter? Was that it? Then how come I knew what it sounded like?


    Too many questions, not enough answers. I told myself.


    I soon decided that if there was human life in the withered forest, I better go check it out. And so I did. I carefully walked (as I now liked to call my slow walking) down the hill. Then, once I had descended it, I started on my way towards the forest where the laughter was coming from.


    Closer and closer I got.


    Mist creeped its way towards me and surrounded me as it did the trees. I hadn¡¯t seen this from the hill.


    It also got colder. I could still see the bright sun beaming down on me, but I felt its horrible rays a lot less, thankfully. And also stepping on either dirt or grass helped my burning feet.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    The laughter was getting closer and closer to me. And even thought I could only see a few metres in front of me because of the mist, I was starting to see a speck of light in the distance. It was the same place where the laughter was coming from.


    Closer and closer.


    I soon realised that the speck of light was a fire, and bonfire. It was relieving to see this, because not the branches of all the trees blocked my view of the red sky.


    The bonfire rose proudly with its mighty flames. I could see it very well now. But even better, I was so close that I saw figures. Human figures. I cried out in happiness.


    ¡°Hello! Hi! My name¡¯s Mariel!¡± I called, overwhelmed with excitement.


    And then I heard screams. But who was screaming? It couldn¡¯t be. . .but it was. The silhouettes of the people quickly put out the fire, leaving the forest in darkness, and fled, leaving me alone.


    No, no, no! I had been so close! So close to people! Actual people! I tried my best now run after them, but my legs wouldn¡¯t respond. I wasn¡¯t able to. So instead, I fell onto the ground and cried my eyes out.


    ¡°Please, come back; I-I need someone.¡± I cried, choking up tears. My stomach churned with anger and frustration. I was showered with a horrible, overpowering sadness. I was devastated, awfully angry. But most of all, I was scared.


    There were real live people there. I wasn¡¯t alone. And then my only chance just vanished. The people screamed and ran from me. But I was an ordinary human like them. How could they do that to me? Now I was alone, no more than a speck of dust in a massive dead forest. What now?


    I cried more and more. I was never going to get out of this. . .place. But what was there for me back home? No, not even home. The hospital could never be called my home. Rachel was my home. But she was no more. She had moved on to a better place.


    Oh, how I wished Rachel was here!


    And then I coughed more and then started hiccuping, and through all that tears streamed down my dirty face.


    What would Rachel tell me?


    I had no idea. Maybe she would tell me to calm down or to look on the bright side.


    No, she would never tell me those things. She would know that it would do nothing. I wished she was here to guide me through this.


    I wished I had a friend here. Yes, that was the word, a friend. Someone to feel the same pain I was going through since I got here. Someone to tell me everything would be alright. Someone to remind me that at least we were together. Someone to insist that I would make it through this.


    I pictured myself running after the now almost faded screams. I thought about finding people, and them not running away again.


    And then I stood up with these happy thoughts. One step after the other, I started walking, then jogging, and then a fast run. And I was catching up fast. I didn¡¯t feel tired, I didn¡¯t feel lonely. With the heavy wind in my face, and my happy thoughts to keep my spirits up, I ran. All the aching in my body disappeared. I felt-alive.


    Soon there was no more screaming, but back to laughing that got louder and louder with every step. They¡¯re happy I¡¯m coming! my thoughts rushed to any conclusion that benefited myself.


    Soon I saw a bonfire. And now I was closer than last time, so more than just the shadows of people, I saw tents.


    And then there was a scream. And then another. And then they were gone. The fire extinguished, I could hear the footsteps of the people frantically running from me. No, no, no! Not again! my horrible thoughts were running around in my head, coming up with mad conclusions as to why this was happening again.


    All my encouraging thoughts were extinguished. My newfound energy was suddenly gone, and my heart felt heavy again.


    I sat down and stared ahead of me in disbelief, where they had ran. What now? My whole body felt like jello; there was no way I could chase them again. And anyway, it seemed that they were afraid of me. But why?


    I still had no idea.


    Quickly my thoughts turned back to wishing I had a friend here with me. Someone to help me out in this frightening situation.


    Slowly the wind in the forest got sharper and colder, and the mist got thicker. I curled into a ball to keep warm.


    After what felt like hours of shivering pointlessly, I decided to try and sleep. My eyelids were already starting to feel heavy. So I let them rest.


    But before I did so, I noticed a figure standing a little way away from me. I sat up straight, anxious to see what would happen next. To my delight, the dark figure moved closer to me. As it approached, I began to see more of its details.


    It was very short, maybe a bit higher than my waist, and very hairy. I slowly realised that it had four legs, also very hairy. No, not hairy, furry. Long fur blanketed the mysterious creature. It had dark brown eyes, mostly covered by its beautiful golden fur. It had a tail, too. A long tail that wagged more and more as it got closer. It also had long ears that perked up when even the smallest sound was made.


    And then it was there. Right in front of me. And now seeing it so close up, I could easily tell that this magnificent creature that had probably come to save me was. . .a dog.


    Wasting no time, the dog held out a fluffy paw. I had no idea what to do. I¡¯d never seen a dog, or any other animal. Well, that wasn¡¯t entirely true. Out the window I¡¯d sometimes seen birds or squirrels, but never a dog.


    Astonished that my hand was not obeying the order to not touch the dog, I shook its paw. Then the dog nudged its head right, where it came from. Did it want me to follow it? But I couldn¡¯t. I couldn¡¯t move.


    Incredible. The dog bent down towards me, my hand still holding its paw. It pulled its paw from my hand, and then pointed it towards its back. Did it want me to climb onto it. It seemed extremely strange, but something in my gut told me to. I forced myself to stand and then sat down on the dog¡¯s back, slowly putting my weight on it, expecting a howl or bark, but the dog stayed silent.


    As soon as I was on, it stood up and ran.

 Chapter 11

    A pet? I¡¯d never dreamed of it. Animals were never my biggest interest. I was fascinated by copying the world on paper, or making up new ones. I liked imagining what could never be, and wishing it was. But having a pet? Never on my mind. I knew about dragons and made up my own kind by observing birds out the window, but that was for the dragons, not the birds.


    I never enjoyed the company of animals; I found them strange. They were certainly unwanted by me. I always had something to complain about them. Too furry, why do they have so many legs? they¡¯re weird, they smell bad, ect. I really didn¡¯t appreciate them.


    Until today. After being held prisoner by Mardaugs, I was incredibly relieved to see another living thing besides those horrid creatures.


    It was soothing to let someone else to the running, and let myself rest. The dog¡¯s fur was warm and cuddly, and the cold wind no longer affected me. The dog¡¯s fast and strong steps reassured me, and like a lullaby, they rocked me to sleep.


    I dreamt that I was in a room where golden fur covered the walls, ceiling, and floor.It was long and soft. There was a comfortable couch, also covered in this unexplainably amazing fur. On it was a blanket and pillow which matched the rest of the room.


    I was wearing a long dress that went well past my feet. As you can imagine, it was covered in this golden fur.


    I made my way to the couch, and laid down for a nap. I felt warm, cozy, and comfortable. I had a good kind of strange tingling in the pit of my stomach, making it easier to relax in this unimaginable room.


    As I closed my eyes every strand of fur in the room reached out for me. It enveloped me in a soft blanket, making me want to sleep further. And just as my slumber began, my  soothing dream ended.


    I woke up with my head comfortably buried in the dogs¡¯ fur. Its paw was on my arm, spreading a soothing warmth through my body. It was asleep, wagging its tail happily. But soon after I woke up, it too, like it sensed my awakening, parted from its dream.


    As soon as it did so, the dog¡¯s eyes lit up with happiness. It stood up, stretched, then walked away.


    I had some energy now, but not enough to follow the hero dog. So I decided to take a look at my surroundings.


    I was in a cosy room with cavern walls. At first I was worried that I might have been in the Mardaug¡¯s territory again, but soon realised that this room had a different feeling in it. Where the Mardaugs lived, all the rooms were ugly and uncomfortable, but here it was comfortable and gave me a nice feeling of being safe.


    The room was round and bare. The only ¡°furniture¡± was a pile of hay covered with large leaves. On top of the leaves was a thick layer of wool, and on top of that a large cloth. This was what the dog and I had been sleeping on.


    Near the ¡°bed¡± was a deep hole in the ground where a small fire burned, bathing the humble room in a soft glow.


    There was also at the far end of the room (although it wasn¡¯t very big) a small bin made of sticks woven together. Next to it was a narrow hole in the wall with a big piece of bark hanging from it. This was probably the entrance, and the bark was the door. This was where the dog left from.


    But the dog soon returned holding a basket in its mouth. It jogged up to me, the basket swinging from side to side. Then the dog laid it down next to me, and I was able to see that inside the basket there was food.


    A bottle of clean water, three apples, one banana, a bunch of grapes, a loaf of fresh bread, and some meat were all carefully packed into the basket.


    I looked at the dog in awe. How could it have done this for me? No, the dog didn¡¯t deserve to be called ¡°it¡±. When I first met him I thought of him as a wild animal, not a savior. But now. . .


    I couldn¡¯t wait any longer. I ate and ate until my stomach was satisfied. I felt so much better, after difficult days of no food. But straight after I was finished, I thanked the dog. Of course, it didn¡¯t answer. No, there it was again! I couldn¡¯t call my hero it, the dog deserved a name.


    After a long time of thinking, I decided on the name Buddy. This amazing dog had come when I¡¯d asked for a friend, so this dog would be called Buddy.


    I didn¡¯t know Buddy¡¯s gender, so I decided I¡¯d assume he was a boy, since Buddy was a boy¡¯s name.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As soon as the dog found out his new name, he barked happily. He jogged around the room wagging his tail and letting his tongue droop out of his mouth. His long golden fur poofed up and made him look like a furry ball.


    I couldn¡¯t have felt happier. I had a friend, even if the friend wasn¡¯t human, and I couldn¡¯t communicate with him, I had someone who was on my side. I didn¡¯t need those children that were in the forest, I had Buddy for a friend.


    So what now? I felt so much stronger, having eaten and slept comfortably. I felt alive, and happy. Well, maybe not happy. I still had to get home. But now I had a friend, which was definitely a win. So I was happy as I could be here.


    Now my problem. Getting home. No, not home, the hospital. The hospital was not my home. I would get a home one day, I was sure of it. But to do so I had to get out of this awful world. But how was I going to do that? How was I going to leave a world, just like that? Did I have to obtain something, or find someone? Did I have to cast a spell, or discover an ancient place? All these things were from story books, but this wasn¡¯t a story book, this was reality.


    But waking up in a different world was definitely not real. Was this simply a dream? Would I just wake up in my tiny room, waiting there helplessly for a doctor to fetch me so I could be tested? No, that couldn¡¯t be possible. After everything that had happened, escaping the Mardaugs and finding Buddy, I couldn¡¯t just wake up to find that this had all been in my head!


    So there had to be a specific way out. But how would I find this way?


    With all this thinking, I fell asleep.


    I didn¡¯t dream, though. It was just blackness. A cold, dark blackness, like the pit of my stomach, and the question that I kept ignoring. The blackness nagged at me while I slept, forcing me to wonder about this question. In my sleep I was powerless to fight against my own mind.


    I had to think about this question. I had to give myself a final answer, for the feeling of not knowing was eating away at me. I had to put the puzzle piece in, to fill that empty void in my head. I had to have an answer.


    Did I want to go home?


    Again, the hospital wasn¡¯t home, but what else was I to call it? A place where I lived? But somehow, not home.


    But this was beside the point. Did I want to get back to my old, painful life? Well, it was time to think about the pros and cons.


    Back where I lived (home), what was there for me? What kind of future? Would I stay in the hospital forever, being tested by uncaring doctors? Rachel was dead now, so what was the point of going back? What was the point of going back to a life that had no meaning?


    These were cons, for sure. But what about the pros? There was no danger there. Although I was simply there to be tested on, I was safe. I was being fed well, and given time to rest. And there were things to do; reading, drawing, playing games by myself. By myself. There was no one there who cared for me, loved me, thought of me as a human.


    What about here? Here was dangerous, challenging. It was a struggle to live. Scarce water sources, hard to find food.


    Cons. Now the pros. I had a friend here, Buddy. I had a future here, whatever it was, I had a chance. But a chance at what?


    And then I woke up. I suppose I¡¯d been half asleep this whole time, for I couldn¡¯t have done such straight forward thinking in my sleep. Now that I thought about it, I remembered seeing Buddy walk in at some point, so I had been half asleep.


    I looked next to me to find Buddy sitting there, asleep. So I quietly snuck off the bed, and made my way to the basket that still had some food left in it. Buddy had laid it down next to the entrance.


    I nibbled on the scraps until there was nothing left.


    Now I felt healthy and fine. I had had enough sleep, and eaten enough food, and drank enough water.


    Looking at Buddy I silently thanked him for saving my life. What would I have done without him? I probably would¡¯ve slept in the forest, and look for food the next day. But before I could do so, I would probably have been captured by some other creature. Maybe an Personio or a Gnome. Or maybe a Dragon or a Dwarf. Maybe the grass itsPersonio would carry me away. I knew that from somewhere, I just couldn¡¯t put my finger on it.


    Suddenly Buddy woke up. The golden dog yawned then stretched. He then nodded at me as if to say ¡°Good Morning¡±. I nodded back, for it seemed to be the right thing to do. Buddy stuck out his large tongue, and then jogged out of the room. He waved his paw like he wanted me to follow, so I did.


    The big fluffy dog led me outside the cave (as I would now like to call the little room), and then into a park.


    The park wasn¡¯t that big, but it held some truly beautiful things. I gasped at the tall trees, with their breathtaking fall colored leaves. Orange, red, yellow, some even a very hot pink. The leaves covered the view of the sickening red sky, so it seemed like I was in a dome with leaves for a ceiling.


    The young trees were spread out, far away from each other, like they all minded their own business. They formed a massive circle, and in the middle was a pond that shone like bright blue crystals. Lily-pads lounged, floating in place on the pond.


    The grass was a very bright green, and colorful flowers could be spotted all over, but were covered a bit by the piles of leaves that had fallen around the trees.


    Best. Day. Ever.


    For someone who had never been outside, this was incredibly lucky. I had an answer almost immediately. No. I didn¡¯t want to go home. I wanted to stay with Buddy in his cave, and have the scent of freshly bloomed flowers reach my nose every morning.


    I looked at Buddy with excited eyes. The hero dog seemed to know what I was thinking, and shook his head no.

 Chapter 12

    I¡¯d been told no before. Sometimes I would ask Rachel for a toy and she would refuse. Sometimes I would ask for a different meal because I didn¡¯t like the one being served, but the answer was always no. Sometimes I¡¯d beg the doctors to let me go, and stop with all the tests being done on me, but the answer was always no.


    So I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised when Buddy didn¡¯t agree with my answer. I kept trying to tell myself this, but the same conclusion kept coming up: Buddy didn¡¯t want me to stay with him.


    But why?


    The dog had saved my life, so wasn¡¯t it ordinary to want to stay with him? Shouldn¡¯t he have been barking excitedly, and nodding his head yes?


    I took a deep breath in, and then let it out slowly. In, out. In, out. While I did this, I tried to find a solution in this situation that benefited myself and Buddy. I hadn¡¯t told the dog my answer; it just seemed he knew what I was thinking. That didn¡¯t necessarily mean that he meant no when he shook his head. He might have done it to shake off water, or to be playful.


    Buddy probably didn¡¯t even understand, or know, what I was thinking. How could he? Some talented humans could, but probably not word for word (I didn¡¯t know much about people). But a dog? I¡¯d heard that dogs could be very smart, but I didn¡¯t believe that an animal was capable of reading a human¡¯s mind.


    I looked back at Buddy. He looked. . .offended? Was that the word? His eyes were narrowed, his fur poofed up (especially his tail), he walked backward slowly, and he even put a paw up to his chest. How did he know. . .


    Smart dog.


    That was my final answer. This was nonsense, and I was wasting my time on it. A dog could not read a human¡¯s mind (at this Buddy shook his head no), and that was that.


    I shivered at this thought, but tried my best to ignore it. I wouldn''t waste my time on this, because I had decided I was going to stay, and that was that. Then Buddy shook his head no again.


    I suddenly wished I could communicate with him. But of course, there was no possible way. Then my thoughts turned to this place. Goblins lived here, so why couldn¡¯t magicians?


    No, this was stupid. Why was I getting sidetracked so much? Why couldn¡¯t I just stay focused on what mattered at the moment? My thoughts were put on hold for a second. This didn¡¯t make sense. What did matter at the moment? Convincing Buddy to let me stay?


    Oh, stop it! Buddy didn¡¯t understand what was going on! He was a stray dog that just happened to save my life!


    I started to feel terribly tired. You know after you cry a lot, your eyes feel really dry? That was how I felt now. So I walked back into the cave, laid down on the bed, closed my eyes, and drifted off to sleep.


    No dream encountered my troubled thoughts. I guess this was a good thing, because I didn¡¯t need more things to think about.


    Plip, plap, plip, plap.


    I awoke to the sound of rain lightly tapping on the roof of the cave. It eerily sounded like a soft whisper. Strangely, I understood it. The rain seemed to sound out the same word over and over: la-by-rinth.


    I shivered uncontrollably. I wasn¡¯t cold; the fire still burned at the foot of the bed. But something about that word made fear curl through my spine.


    Reassuringly, I saw Buddy shaking himself off beside the bright fire. His presence stopped my shivering, but I still had bizarre feeling sitting in the pit of my stomach. I tried my best to ignore it, but something just wasn¡¯t right. I could. . .sense that something really bad was coming.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    Buddy noticed that I was awake, and stretched.


    ¡°Hey, Buddy.¡± I mumbled. Then I realised that my voice had cracked, for I hadn¡¯t spoken in a very long time. I cleared my throat, then fixed my eyes on the large dog, wondering what to do now.


    Gosh, how I wished I could talk to the dog. How I wished I could ask him for an answer, how I wished I had someone who I could understand, and vice versa.


    I closed my eyes to collect my thoughts. I felt like there was nothing holding me together, like I was the boss of everything, but powerless nevertheless.


    Even when I was at the hospital, the doctors were the bosses. There was someone in charge, someone to hang on to. But now. . .I only had myself.


    Frighteningly, Buddy barked right when I thought this, as if to remind me that he was there too, that I wasn¡¯t completely alone. Was he really able to read my thoughts?


    The rain had gone from a light drizzle to a loud storm. ¡°La-by-rinth¡± each drop of rain chanted. ¡°La-by-rinth¡± Louder and louder the chant got. Each individual raindrop was doing its part when it landed on the roof; it chanted that horrible word. It was like millions of voices whispering at once the same sounds.


    La-by-rinth.


    I started to cry. I looked at Buddy for reassurance, and as usual, he didn¡¯t fail to make me feel better. The golden dog jumped onto the bed and sat next to me. I stroked his soft fur, hoping the voices would go away. It¡¯s all in your head. I told myself. But somehow I knew it wasn¡¯t.


    ¡°Do you hear it too, Buddy?¡± I asked in a soft voice. This time I wasn¡¯t frightened when the dog nodded yes.


    La-by-rinth.


    All went wrong when the rain fell down harder. Buddy began to whimper and growl, which made me shake even more. Then the fire went out, plunging us into darkness. Soon I heard the bark door crash open, and then an army of wind came marching in. It blew my hair around, and Buddy¡¯s fur.


    It swept through my torn clothes, leaving me shivering and in the dark. The only comfort was knowing that Buddy was there with me, feeling the same fear as I was.


    But then the worst part came. I clung on as hard as I could, but Buddy was disappearing under my hands. I couldn¡¯t see him, but I felt his warm fur leaving my grip. His whimpers and growls got fainter and fainter, until there was one last bark that I could barely hear. Ever so strangely, I understood what the hero dog said.


    ¡°Trust your gut!¡± Buddy cried before his voice faded away completely.


    And now there was no one to comfort me. I was buried in darkness, showered in a mix of rain and tears, and blanketed with fear. The fear curled through my body, making me shiver and bury my head in my arms and legs.


    Black. Pitch black.


    I could see nothing, and of course that made everything worse than it already was. But either way I didn¡¯t dare to open my eyes, for I was afraid of what I might see. What if the Goblins had come back? Or maybe the laughter of the children to taunt me? With barely any relief I realised I wouldn¡¯t be able to hear it; the storm raging outside was deafening. And even louder, it made its way through the entrance of the cave. The bark door lay in pieces on the ground.


    So now what? Wait until the storm ended and then search for Buddy? Or leave now and find another safe place like this used to be?


    None of this was possible. There was no way that I would find Buddy. I had no idea where he went. I wouldn¡¯t leave out in this storm, that was too dangerous. The best option was probably to wait until the storm ended (but not search for Buddy), and then reassess the situation.


    So I waited. I waited and waited and waited and waited. And after that, guess what? I waited.


    It seemed like the storm would never end. I was sure that hours had passed. Lonely, scary hours.


    And what made it worse? The rain just kept getting louder and louder by the minute. And it chanted the same word. ¡°La-by-rinth¡± over and over and over. And every time it got louder, I shivered more, and every time I shivered more, I got colder, and every time I got colder, I shivered more. And this went on and on for what seemed like forever.


    ¡°La-by-rinth¡±


    An eternity later, the thunder in the distance faded away. And soon the cold rain turned to a drizzle again. And the thick clouds made way for the sun. and the grey fog cleared away.


    The sun beamed brightly in the land, lighting up all the trees and making the grass glow.


    After all this, I dared to lift one eye slightly open. It wasn¡¯t too bright; it was almost night time. So I cautiously opened my other eye, expecting it to burn, but it didn¡¯t. The sun was still covered a bit by some clouds that refused to leave.


    Finally I had both my eyes open normally. I gasped at my new surroundings.


    I was no longer in the cave.

 Chapter 13

    Snow capped mountains surrounded me. Most of the snow was a dull, not-clear black. But some of it, lower to the ground, was grey. Not a speck of white.


    Blue clouds covered most of the unusually large yellow sun. The sky was a pale red that reflected on the snow.


    There were a few trees, tall and strong, that surrounded. They had no leaves, but were alive. Most were old, with their roots spreading far away, as if trying to break free.


    I was on a mountain. It wasn¡¯t too steep, but just steep enough for it to be a difficult climb. I was leaning on one of the trees. I miserably realised that I was too high up to see the ground. But I must have been almost at the top of the tall mountain, because I was able to see the tip, full of snow.


    There was snow here, too, but barely any. It sat in small, thin patches mostly in circles just around where the branches of the trees ended above.


    It was snowing now, but I was partly shielded by the strong tree that supported me. But still, I was shivering uncontrollably. My hospital gown was barely a thin sheet struggling to stay above my shoulders. I had no shoes, at this point I couldn¡¯t remember if I¡¯d lost them or I never had them in the first place.


    What now? I wasn¡¯t going to go back down, for sure. I would fall. But up? I was almost at the top of this mountain, so it seemed to be my only option.


    I decided to waste no time feeling sorry for myself. I had a mountain to climb, and that was that. I had no other options that had a possibility of me surviving. So up I went. I huffed and puffed and kept forcing myself to go on.


    I wasn¡¯t too tired, because I had a lot of rest in Buddy¡¯s cave. But soon I was. And then I started to get thirsty and hungry. But I kept going. At some point during the day I decided to rest but quickly refused that thought; I wanted to get to the top as soon as possible.


    Finally, when the sun was beginning to leave my sight for the night, I reached the top.


    Civilization! I thanked every god or goddess I¡¯d ever heard of. Actual people! This was wonderful!


    Spread out in front of me was a wide black snow covered landscape. Little huts, all attached, were spread out to make a massive circle. It was like a wall of houses. The huts were made of bricks as walls, and wooden planks laid on top, and on top of that were sticks to shape a roof. There was a small chimney on each roof, and no space between each house.


    There was a small gap in the circle of houses. This was the only way to enter this ¡°village¡±, unless you wanted to climb over the huts. In the center of it all was an enormous tent, which I couldn¡¯t see inside. Everywhere else were plants of all kinds that didn¡¯t exist in my world, that grew fruits and vegetables, and other things that I had no idea what they were.


    The second I arrived a crowd of. . . not quite people surrounded me, weapons pointed. I raised my hands in surrender, and said nothing. The people stood far away from me, like I was poisonous, so I couldn¡¯t really see how they looked. But cautiously, one approached.


    It was obviously a male. He had a long fuzzy black beard. His hair came down to his shoulders, and was loosely tied back with a thin but sturdy rope. He had wise black eyes which shined in the moonlight from the newly risen moon. He had dark green lips, and a lighter but still dark green face. He wore a hat of animal fur, but definitely not an animal from my world. It was brown and yellow, and a bit blue. His tall, rabbit-like ears stuck out of two holes in his strange hat. He wore a long coat of the same fur, and his little green feet stuck out at the bottom.


    An Elf.


    He was exactly what I¡¯d pictured an Elf to look like. Weird, because the Goblins were exactly what I¡¯d pictured them to look like. Weird.


    I turned my attention back to the Elf. We stood there for a moment awkwardly. Finally, when you could only see the highest tip of the sun, he spoke.


    ¡°Hello, Stranger. What brings you here?¡± The Elf had a comforting, deep voice. It was like a whisper, but one you could hear clearly. It sends shudders of warmth down my spine.


    ¡°Um. . . hi.¡± I said, finding it so strange to finally speak to someone again. I expected the surrounding Elves to shoot their arrows, or throw their spears, or advance with their swords and shields. But when none of that happened, and the Elf who spoke to me smiled, I continued. ¡°My name is Mariel. I-I just appeared on this mountain, and it was too steep to go down, so I came up here, and now. . .¡±


    The Elf nodded.


    ¡°My name is Arkel, an Elf. A sub-species of Personios. Welcome, Mariel.¡± he signaled for the surrounding Personios to lower their weapons. This was a great relief; it meant that the Personios trusted me. But what was a personio? And why did they look like Elves? When everyone had lowered their weapons, Arkel continued.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°What species are you, Mariel? I¡¯ve never seen your kind.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m a Human.¡± I responded quickly.


    ¡°And what might that be?¡± asked Arkel who now looked honestly confused. I was very surprised he hadn¡¯t heard of-much less seen-my kind. I¡¯d grown up with the same people in the same room with the same ugly view from my window, but now, hearing someone confused about what was ordinary to me, was really really strange.


    I didn¡¯t know how to answer. What could I say? But thankfully Arkel just smiled and nodded, and gave a little ¡°Mm-hmm¡±. He stopped moving for a minute, and was so still that you could say he was a very well carved statue. But then he announced:


    ¡°Mariel the Human will be staying with us for the night; it¡¯s too late and too cold to decide on otherwise now. This conversation will be continued when the sun rises again.¡±


    And that was it. I decided that Arkel was the leader after he concluded the subject with his soft, deep, soothing voice.


    He then asked who would share their hut for my stay, and a younger-looking Personio stepped forward. She seemed to be female, and was shorter than Arkel. She had the same black hair (I soon noticed all the Personios had black hair) down to her waist. She wore a plain dress of the same strange fur as Arkel¡¯s, and wore no hat. She had small black eyes with thick lashes, and had smaller ears, but still quite big for a human, that poked out of her hair.


    ¡°My name is Karym.¡± She introduced me. The Personio had a thin voice, like she had been yelling for a long time, and now she had a sore throat. It was the kind of voice that made my eyes water, but I told myself that I¡¯d get used to it, and I did.


    Karym had been one of the archers, ready to shoot. She had a sack that she soon replaced her bow in, and another full of quivers.


    Once the ten guards at the entrance stepped aside, everyone waited patiently for Arkel to walk in, and then the rest of the crowd went. I hadn¡¯t realised how many Personios were aiming weapons at me. Nor did I realise how big the circle of huts was until I entered with Karym grabbing my hand so we wouldn¡¯t be separated.


    I thought that the circle of huts was about the size of a really big park, but when I got in I realised that there were many circles, all attached, like a line crossing through a series of circles. In this first of I could see the front of the huts, the big tent in the middle, and the open space leading into the next circle of huts. The ¡°village¡± that I was in was about the size of two football fields.


    Dragging me along, Karym pushed her way through the crowd. After lots and lots of noise and chaos, we finally made it to around the middle of the circle, to one of the huts. Now that I was closer up, I noticed that each hut was two stories, and only wide enough for about four big steps.


    There was a door of old, thin wood, and on the right of it a circular window. On the second story was a bigger rectangular window that I figured to be the master bedroom.


    Karym knocked on the door in a special way: Toc, toc, tic tic tic tic toc, toc. There was thumping from inside, like someone ascending or descending a staircase. There was a moment¡¯s pause, and then a small flap of wood in the doorway opened, and out looked a big black eye like Karym¡¯s and Arkel¡¯s. Once the eye saw Karym, and then turned to me nervously, It asked:


    ¡°What is this?¡±


    The Voice was crackly and old, older than Arkel¡¯s. It was kind and wise, but had a strange unexplainable tingle to it that made me shiver.


    ¡°A Human. Arkel needed volunteers to give her a home for the night, and I said yes.¡± explained Karym.


    Slowly the door creaked open, and was so old it sounded as if it was going to fall off its hinges. When the door was opened fully the first thing I decided to look at was the one who spoke. A very, very old Personio. She crouched like a Hunchback, and she had so many wrinkles that I thought she had no skin left that wasn¡¯t sunken to her skull. She had no hair on her green head, but had a tiny thin white beard.


    She wore a thick brown dress that was also made of some fur that I¡¯d never seen before. She had no shoes (none of the Personios did) or socks. Her dress sleeves covered her cracked fingers and legs.


    Karym began speaking to the old Personio, but I wasn¡¯t paying any attention. I was too busy taking in the warmth of the old hut. It was an absolutely incredible feeling after climbing a black snowy mountain all day.


    I was in a small living room, with a brown couch in the corner made of hay, and held together by another fur I didn¡¯t recognise. In the other further corner from me, facing the couch, was a stone fireplace, with a wild crackling fire dancing in it. In between these two was a long rectangular window with faded purple curtains which seemed to be made of some leaves that I wouldn¡¯t find in my world. To my left was a small wooden table, with four matching chairs around it. Next to it was a staircase leading down, and on my right a staircase leading up.


    Now I started listening to Karym.


    ¡°-found her, and so Arkel told us to lower our weapons, and then asked for volunteers. So I stepped forward, and we came back here, and now here we are.¡±


    She looked at me with a proud smile. Then I yawned. And then yawned again. And again and again.


    ¡°Oh, I¡¯m so sorry Mariel!¡± started Karym. ¡°I forgot how late it was. Come, let¡¯s set you up in my room, and I¡¯ll take the couch.¡±


    ¡°Oh, no. I¡¯ll take the couch.¡± I insisted, but I was so tired that I couldn¡¯t think straight. Karym just smiled again, took my hand, and pushed me up the stairs on the right. It was a tiny space upstairs, but there were two doors. Karym led me through one, into a bedroom.


    There was the window I had seen from the outside, and under it a mattress stuffed with hay. There was no bed frame. On it were two thick blankets of the same fur from the couch, and a pillow of soft yellow leaves, stuffed with hay.


    On the right of the room was a big wooden chest, big enough to contain two maine coons. On the left was a wardrobe of the same wood.


    I was so dreadfully tired I barely had time to notice this, and no time to continue fighting with Karym about how she should have her own room. I fell face first onto the bed, and fell into an amazingly refreshing dreamless sleep.

 Chapter 14

    Sheep. Had I been counting them? No, that couldn¡¯t have been it. Why would I count sheep? Who would? What a silly idea; I had fallen asleep right away.


    Why was I thinking about sheep?


    I searched my head, looking for the answer, and then, finally, I found it. Sunlight had woken me up, so I thought ¡°What bad curtains!¡± and the word bad reminded me of ba-a, like a sheep. What strange thoughts I had this morning.


    But why were my thoughts strange? I felt so strangely-drowsy. I couldn¡¯t think straight. I couldn¡¯t focus on one thing. Every thought I had led me back to. . .what? I just couldn¡¯t think. It was like someone was controlling my mind, limiting it to only certain ideas and thoughts.


    Weirdly I felt happy too. Like a strange happiness, like I wanted to jump around but also be calm and just watch the fun. What kind of feeling was this?


    I suddenly noticed my surroundings. For a moment I didn¡¯t remember where I was, but then realised that I was in Karym the Personio¡¯s bedroom, in her old run-down hut, in the village, in the chain of villages, on the cold mountain.


    Before any other thoughts could come into my head, my stomach growled like a lion. When¡¯s the last I¡¯ve eaten? I wondered, and soon got off the bed of hay, and left Karym¡¯s bedroom.


    A door in front of hers was ajar. My curiosity took over, and I peeked in cautiously. This room only had one small window in the corner, and no curtains. Below it was a similar bed of hay to Karym¡¯s, but smaller. Beside it was a large dresser, and the rest of the small room was bare.


    Then I noticed that a figure lay on the bed. It was the old Personio I¡¯d seen the night before. She was still asleep, so I didn¡¯t disturb her any longer. I crept quietly down the stairs, for fear of waking Karym if she was still asleep.


    When I made it to the bottom, I saw Karym at the fireplace, cooking something over the dancing fire. She sat on a wooden stool that creaked when she moved. Karym wore a bathrobe of an unrecognisable blue cloth, and her long black hair was tied in a braid down her back.


    Her long Personio ears perked up when I got there, like a cats¡¯. She turned around, scared, but then smiled warmly when she saw it was me.


    ¡°Why, good morning, Mariel. How did you sleep last night?¡± she asked in a still cracky voice from sleeping. She hadn¡¯t woken up long ago.


    ¡°Very well.¡± I said, caught off guard. No one had ever really asked me how I¡¯d slept, not even Rachel. Karym smiled, not noticing that I hadn¡¯t asked how she slept.


    ¡°I¡¯m making breakfast. It¡¯s almost ready.¡± she replied. The Personio pointed to the couch, so I sat down. With my constantly grumbling stomach, and Karym repeatedly telling me that it was almost ready, time passed extremely slowly.


    But what felt like hours later, Karym announced that it was ready. That was when the old Personio came waddling down the stairs.


    ¡°Good morning, Karym and Guest. How did you sleep?¡± she asked. We both answered fine, which concluded the conversation.


    We sat down at the table, and Karym set down the plate of. . .I wasn¡¯t too sure. She had been cooking it for so long-but it wasn¡¯t burnt. What was it? I soon gathered up enough strength to ask.


    ¡°Why, these are eggs!¡± exclaimed Karym after taking a bite. Then I noticed that they somewhat resembled eggs, but they were a lot bigger, softer, and still in their shells.


    ¡°Are they boiled?¡± I asked, poking at mine nervously. But then I realised what a stupid question that was-I had seen Karym cook the eggs, not boil them. Fortunately, the Personio just smiled and said no, and then sank into a deep explanation about how they¡¯re made.


    Normally I¡¯d have been bored out of my mind. But weirdly I was fascinated. Like I was meant to hear this.


    And also weird, Karym spoke like she was saying a speech that she had practised for a long time. Like a robot who spoke with emotion.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    When we finished the meal, Karym decided that I should be brought to Arkel, to clear things up. So we went. The old Personio (I was told during breakfast that her name was Jukon) stayed in the hut.


    Karym and I walked to the big tent in the middle of the village. Everywhere you looked well-armed guards were placed around the tent. Now closer up, the tent was about four stories high, and as wide and long as maybe ten huts.


    Karym led me to the entrance, explained the situation to the guards, and one of them went inside to get Arkel. The moment they left another armed Personio arrived in the spot that the other one had been in.


    A few awkward minutes later the guard arrived with Arkel at his side.


    ¡°Ah, Karym! I was going to fetch you, but you¡¯ve come first! And what greatness! You¡¯ve brought Mariel the Human!¡± exclaimed Arkel, throwing his arms in the air. Then he looked Karym and me over, and quickly invited us inside, away from the biting cold.


    The tent was even bigger from the inside.There were no windows, but torches all along the walls. In a big circle were fancy cushioned chairs, and in the middle a beautifully hand carved wooden table. Spiraling around was a staircase leading to the next floor up and down.


    ¡°Come, come.¡± insisted Arkel. He led us to the staircase, and up we went. It seemed that the next floor was even fancier than the first. There were clear glass pillars, and around each one a wooden table. Fancy chairs covered in blue fur sat around the tables, and each one occupied by an Personio in a business suit. They all leaned over the tables, staring hard at papers, and scribbling with pencils.


    Not a minute later, Arkel led us up the next flight, where we finally stopped. But the staircase went on.


    On this floor was a dark red couch that went all around the circular room. In the middle of the room was the grandest chair I¡¯d seen in this tent so far. It had a high back cushioned with golden fur, and a bottom decorated with swirls and zig-zags in golden thread.


    The room was absolutely gorgeous.


    ¡°Sit, sit.¡± rushed Arkel. ¡°I don''t have much time.¡±


    So Karym and I sat down on one end of the couch, and Arkel carried the fancy chair towards us. Then he sat down on the grand chair. For a very awkward and scary moment he just stared at me like wondering what would become of me, like I was a caged animal. In a way I was. I was simply running around this horrible world, trying my very best to survive.


    ¡°We have gathered here today to finalise the future of Mariel the Human in our humble village, Robus. We are one of the guardians of the center village, the home of the Royal Family, Makchus.¡± announced Arkel, speaking like he was saying a practised speech in front of thousands of people.


    Arkel stared at Karym and I expectantly, like he wanted us to clap. More than a minute later, Karym told him to go on, and he proudly did.


    ¡°First things first.¡± Arkel began. ¡°I need a proper introduction. Last night was too cold and dark and frightening to have something formal as this: My entire name is Arkel Byois, and I am the leader of the mighty guardian village Robus. As I¡¯ve said, we guard the center village, home to the Royal Family, Makchus. I have already reported your being here to their loyal servant, Numew Yohin. The Royal Family should have been notified by now. But anyway, we¡¯re moving off topic. Our original discussion was about what was to become of you, Mariel the Human. After a night¡¯s thinking, I have decided to give you two options. Option one, you may stay (with the Royal Family¡¯s permission) in our humble village Robus. Option two, you may leave with some of our supplies, to help you survive your days.¡±


    Arkel drew in a long breath; he had said this very fast, in one breath. Then he nodded at me, waiting for my decision.


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. Everything in my life had always been laid out neatly for me. I couldn¡¯t decide on what to do. Had I ever made a decision in my life? Had everything been preplanned and ready for me? The doctors always had tests planned on certain dates months ahead of time, and all my meals had been made for me, and. . .


    While my horrid thoughts had been running wild, I¡¯d missed a part of what Arkel the Personio was saying.


    ¡°-you choose? I don¡¯t have all day, Mariel. Please make a decision, and then we¡¯ll run it by the Royal Family.¡±


    It was like I woke up from a dream. My head was fuzzy with bad thoughts, and I couldn¡¯t focus on the ongoing conversation.


    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know.¡± I admitted.


    ¡°Well, not knowing won¡¯t do. You have to decide eventually, and sooner rather than later.¡±


    ¡°Wh-what were the options?¡± I croaked. Arkel repeated them, but I still didn¡¯t know what to do. If I left I¡¯d be alone, but if I stayed I¡¯d never get back to the hospital. I quickly shoved aside the thought of not wanting to go back to the hospital.


    Pros and cons, I told myself. Staying, pros: I wouldn¡¯t go hungry, I¡¯d have a warm place to sleep, I¡¯d be safe, and I¡¯d be with people. Going, pros: I would have a chance of getting back to the hospital, and. . .I couldn¡¯t think of anything else. Staying, cons: I would be stuck with people of a different species, and would always be the odd one out, I would have a small, repetitive life, and I would have to forget about my own world. Going, cons: I would be alone, I would be cold, I would probably starve, and I most likely wouldn¡¯t get any more help for a long time.


    So which option?


    Arkel was tapping his green foot impatiently.


    ¡°How about we pay a visit to the Royal Family, and let them decide?¡± he suggested. Not knowing what to do, I nodded.


    Before I knew it Karym was waving goodbye and I was in a carriage with Arkel, and then it started thumping down the road, and hours passed before I finally found myself feeling tiny before a great castle.

 Chapter 15

    Reading and drawing had always helped me forget how bad my life was. I loved to make up worlds where everything was perfect and everyone was happy. There would be magical creatures like Dragons, Unicorns, Mermaids, Personios, Mardaugs, and whatnot. The sky would always be a bright rainbow, and the Fairies and Birds singing together in harmony.


    I would draw pictures of this, but also read books about it. I¡¯d always wanted to suddenly find out that I had magical powers.


    Now I was here. I was in a magical world, with Mardaugs and Personios. Maybe I would just wake up in the hospital and cry my whole life, being so disappointed that this world wasn¡¯t real, and my adventure never happened.


    Since the moment I¡¯d woken up here I hated it. The cold, the hot, the Mardaugs, and hunger and thirst. This wasn¡¯t what I¡¯d wished for every night before bed. This wasn¡¯t what I¡¯d prayed for before doctors gave me injections, or blood tests, and such painful memories I refuse to remember.


    But now, seeing this outstandingly gorgeous castle, I knew that coming to this horrible world, and suffering through all this, was worth it. This was what I¡¯d drawn. This was what I read about. This was what I¡¯d wished, prayed, and dreamed for my whole life.


    A real live fairytale castle.


    It was ten times the size of the village Robus. The enormous golden double doors in the front themselves were three times the height of Karym¡¯s hut, and five times the length. Wonderful green poles were stationed all around the red brick walls, like veins that held the castle together. I couldn¡¯t count how many floors there were. Hundreds, thousands? This didn¡¯t exist in our world. I wondered how the oxygen was up there. Maybe Personios had a different breathing system, evolved to survive those heights?


    The palace looked as wide as the mountain itsPersonio. As the carriage bumped on the dirt, and then smoothly strolled on the stones, I could see each individual shiny red brick in the castle. Each and every one seemed to reach out and give out sunlight. I didn¡¯t know how to explain it. Magically, like how we breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, it took in darkness, and let out light. How I knew this, I¡¯d never know. Being in this place. . .it was like it fed anyone who entered the information needed, so no one needed to talk. Like everything was done for them. . .


    On maybe the third or fourth floor was a long window that spread out on both sides as far as I could see. The rim was a beautiful woven gold and green, and I could see blue curtains on the inside. But how could I see this far? I didn¡¯t even have to squint. I just barely thought about the window, and my eyes zoomed in automatically. I could relate with a smart robot.


    Bright green trees grew all around. They sparkled in the afternoon sunlight, like glass. Exotic looking bushes and flowers were growing perfectly in the harsh winter weather in circles. In the middle of every circle was a tall stone fountain, with running water. Why wasn¡¯t it frozen?


    There were no mosquitoes or flies. The air was cold and had a constant sharp wind, but the plants still grew excellently, like it was a beautiful summer day.


    The carriage stopped.


    The driver opened the door for Arkel and I, and without hesitation I followed the old Personio down the stone path, towards the tall golden doors. I heard birds chirping, but that was impossible in this weather. I looked around and didn¡¯t see any.


    The trees seemed to sprout as I walked by. They grew gorgeous flowers of various colors, and shining leafs of beautiful shades of green.


    How was this happening? It was so. . .unrealistic. So fake.


    Before I knew it I was standing before the grand golden gates, Arkel beside me. His usual proud, calm features were replaced with pure fear and nervousness. I wanted to ask what was wrong, but decided otherwise. I was soon at a loss for words when the doors opened themselves, and by some unknown force I was entering the palace.


    The first thing I noticed was the absence of life. The palace, or just this room; I had no idea, was completely silent. I looked around for someone, but there wasn¡¯t anyone but Arkel and the guards behind us. I shivered. This wasn¡¯t what I¡¯d expected in a beautiful castle like this.


    The entire north wall of this room was stain glass. They were pictures of male Personios. I figured they were the Kings.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The floor was made of red leaves I¡¯d never seen before. They seemed to sparkle, although there was no natural light in this room. The entire ceiling was one soft light that reflected on the mirrored walls which shimmered like water. My curiosity took over. I touched a mirror, and it made a little bubble like real water.


    In the center of the room was a transparent green cylinder. It bubbled constantly like boiling water. In front of it was a throne made of forever rustling flowers and branches. There were so many different colors that if just one more was added, the throne would look black. The center of each and every flower glowed as bright as the sun.


    On the magnificent chair sat an Personio, draped in so many layers of clothing that he should have died of heat by now. He wore a tall golden crown with tuffs of unknown animal fur poking out at each tip. The bottom rim of it was a pure blue, probably from some stone unbeknownst to me, or any Human.


    The King wore a purple robe, overlapped by a red robe. I couldn¡¯t see his feet, but I assumed they were bare, like all the other Personios I¡¯d seen.


    The Personio wore so much jewelry that I could barely tell what his skin color was. But from the little exposed skin, I knew it was green.


    After I had taken it all in, and was still in the process of trying to convince myself it wasn¡¯t another dream, the Personio King spoke.


    ¡°A Human.¡± he said, and stopped like the conversation was over. He patiently waited for mine and Arkel¡¯s attention. Once that was done, he motioned for the two guards standing behind us to come further in. They positioned themselves on both sides of the doors, and stayed silent.


    ¡°A Human.¡± the King repeated. ¡°How, tell me little one, have you found your way away from your species, and into our territory?¡± The Personio had a deep, rocky voice.


    I took a deep breath, so happy to be here but so nervous that I was going to talk to the Personio King. ¡°I found myself on the mountain, and realised that it was too steep to go down, so I went up. Then I found this place, and now. . .¡±


    ¡°I see.¡± mumbled the King. He looked at a quivering Arkel beside me. ¡°And you, Arkel, have come to ask what to do?¡±


    Arkel nodded shyly.


    ¡°Well then, Human, it¡¯s either you stay or you go. I must talk to the Queen, and all the other leaders of the Villages, and we¡¯ll decide if we want you here or not. For now, Malok, Rabonk, please escort the Human to a guest room reserved for other creatures, and Arkel to a guest bedroom reserved for the leaders of the Villages.¡± he nodded at the two guards.


    They each nodded in return, and motioned for us to follow them. I was going to ask how we were going to go to higher floors, when they led Arkel and me to the clear green cylinder. They simply walked in, so I carefully followed. With nothing as a floor, we began moving up fast. Stories raced by so fast I couldn¡¯t count them. Just when I was starting to get noxious we slowed down and stopped.


    We were on a floor with no windows, so I couldn¡¯t tell how high up we were. Two identical hallways spread off to the right and left. Following the guards left, I noticed that Arkel was shaking from head to toe. I wanted to tell him that everything was all right, but couldn¡¯t find the way to say it.


    There was a space of about 10 yards between doors. In those spaces hung landscape paintings. Waterfalls, gardens, villages, fire, forests, everything. Each painting was so realistic that I felt as if I were traveling through each one as a different person. Suddenly I felt light-headed, so drawn into the swirl of colors.


    A sharp pain in my back woke me from my trance. The bright sun dissipated, the oceans stood still, and the birds stopped chirping. I was back in the long hallway of doors and paintings, with Arkel by my side, one guard in front, and one in back.


    I blinked in surprise, then looked over at Arkel. He was just drawing back his green hand from slapping my back.


    I didn¡¯t have to ask.


    ¡°You stopped walking, and your eyes crossed. You went pale suddenly. I had no idea what was happening, and my first instinct was to slap you out of it. It seems that worked.¡± Arkel explained. So shocked by what had happened, I barely had the guts to nod.


    All this time the guards had stayed quiet, like this happened often. They continued walking down the hall. I cautiously followed with an equally nervous Arkel at my side.


    Finally we stopped at a door. The guard in front of me took out a glowing yellow ball from his bag, and placed it parallel with the doorknob. It hovered in the air for a moment before inserting itsPersonio into the lock. When it exited it looked a tiny bit less bright.


    The guard opened the now unlocked door, leading the party into a circular room with no natural light. All along the walls of the room were doors.


    We headed for the door at the far end of the room. The guard behind me accompanied me there, while Arkel and the other guard disappeared through a different door.


    My escort took out a glowing yellow ball, but less bright than the other man¡¯s. He did the same as before; placed it in front of the doorknob, and on its own it disappeared into the lock, and came out less bright.


    My chaperone opened the door which led into a short hallway. Like all the others I¡¯d seen in this castle, there were doors lined neatly on each side. I followed the guard to the third door on the right, where he stopped and unlocked it. I figured we had finally made it to our destination, because we appeared in a rectangular room with only one door on the left.


    My Personio escort left me to explore on my own. He shut the door behind him. I instinctively tried the doorknob, and wasn¡¯t surprised to find that the guard had locked the door. Although my room was fancy, I felt like a dirty prisoner.

 Chapter 16

    ¡°It¡¯ll all turn out okay. Everything happens for a reason, from birth to death. If someone tried to control their destiny, that would only mess up the world. Let your mind and heart guide you through your life, and destiny will do the rest. Not everyone turns out good, but if everyone was good, there¡¯d be no challenge in life.¡±


    I nodded, shaking so much I thought my hair would fall out. I looked up, tears blurring my vision. Rachel smiled at me. It would be okay. . .


    ¡°Mariel?¡± a voice called. Every part of me froze. I stopped breathing without knowing it. That was Doctor Valen¡¯s voice. There was nothing I could do now.


    Rachel lay a gloved hand on my arm. She said nothing. There wasn¡¯t anything she could say that would make me feel better. I had no more time to cry, no more time to be comforted.


    Doctor Valen¡¯s assistant, Diana, opened the door to my room.


    ¡°Doctor Valen will see you now, Mariel.¡± she said in a monotone voice. She obviously had no interest in making me feel better. I felt a squeeze on my arm.


    ¡°You better go.¡± said Rachel, ¡°Doctor Valen probably doesn¡¯t want to wait.¡± my best and only friend who was about three decades older than me smiled lovingly. She nodded, and then gave me a little push out of my bed.


    I gingerly followed Diana down the hall, to the right, to the left, to Doctor Valen¡¯s office. As Diana closed the door behind me, I saw Rachel wave goodbye, and then I was on my own.


    I knew the routine. I didn¡¯t have to be asked to lie down on the reclining chair. I closed my eyes, knowing that I would shortly feel myself drift off to sleep. My last reasonable thought was: I¡¯m a prisoner in this hospital.


    I sat up straight in the comfortable bed. Where was I? I began to panic. I had just woken from the anesthesia, my operation was over. I looked around. I wasn¡¯t in the hospital anymore. I was in a luxurious bedroom with blue curtains drawn over the massive window. To my right was a night table, and on the wall parallel to that was the door. On the left wall was a big wardrobe. This isn¡¯t my room. . . I reasoned, and then I remembered. I was in the Personio palace, locked in a guest room.


    I struggled out of the numerous plush covers, and forced myself to escape the fabulous pillows. I rolled out of bed, falling off onto the puffy white carpet below. No floor creak, I noticed. Back in the hospital practically the only thing I heard besides my breathing was the floor creaking. I¡¯d been given an old room that no one used. But it had been modified to be cleaner than soap.


    I lay on the carpet and started to close my eyes. It was more comfortable than my own bed. I could have slept there for years if I hadn¡¯t heard a knock on the door. I scrambled up, attempted to flatten my hair (it did nothing), and ran to the door.


    ¡°Come in?¡± I awkwardly asked. A yellow flash lit up the lockhole. Then the door opened slowly. An Personio guard stepped in first, a sword at hand. Behind him was a female Personio. She wore a plain blue dress. Her feet and hands were bare. She had black hair like all the other Personios, which was tied into a long braid down her shoulder.


    There was silence for a moment.


    ¡°Good morning, Mariel.¡± the guard broke the silence with his deep, powerful voice, ¡° It is precisely seven o¡¯clock. The King hopes you have slept well in his humble home. Breakfast will be brought to you shortly.¡± The Personio motioned to the female beside him.


    ¡°My name is Redine. I¡¯ve heard much about you. I¡¯m a clothing specialist. I¡¯ve been assigned to get you some proper clothes so you¡¯re presentable at the meeting this afternoon.¡± she said. Her voice was high and harmonic. Like birds singing.


    The guard left, leaving me to be dressed by an Personio. I¡¯m going crazy, aren¡¯t I? I wondered logically.


    Not a nanosecond wasted, Redine excitedly ran over to the wardrobe. She opened the big doors to reveal mirrors on the back of them. Inside the wardrobe were shPersonios stacked to the top with clothing.


    I¡¯d never been offered nice clothing. I figured that this chance may never come again, so I tried to make the best of it. Unfortunately, I failed this task. After the first five dresses, I zoned out.


    Two hours later Redine led me down to one of the many breakfast halls. Sunlight poured in from the tall windows, flooding the room in white, natural light. A long wood table was set up fancily in the middle of the room. Chairs with tall backs lined the table. Every chair but one was taken by an Personio in a uniform. I awkwardly sat down between a female Personio in a blue uniform with countless badges, and a male Personio in a green uniform which read: GK. Underneath in black were the words: Guardians of the King.


    Redine whispered to the female, then scurried away to her next task.


    All shiny black Personio eyes were on me. I felt ridiculous in my long red dress. It was made of a soft comfortable fabric that wouldn¡¯t be found in our world. It had brown fur at the bottom. Nevertheless the comfort, I felt out of place in this room of generals. Why was I here anyway? Surely the Personio King didn¡¯t want me near his community. The logical option would have been to have served me breakfast in my room, and then have my talk with the Queen and King, I wasn¡¯t too sure where.


    Suddenly Personio waiters filed neatly into the room, carrying plates of food that made my mouth water. They circled the table, serving each Personio to their delight. I didn¡¯t speak. What was there to say? ¡°Can I have some fish, even though I shouldn¡¯t be here?¡±


    After about half an hour of everyone choosing their foods, the waiters left with empty dishes. The uniformed Personios began their breakfast. I didn¡¯t. I had nothing on my plate. The waiters had purposely avoided me.This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it


    I was out of place, uncomfortable, hungry, and bored.


    An hour and a half passed like this, when finally Personios began to leave. In little groups of twos and threes, the generals all left.


    Where was I supposed to go? I didn¡¯t ask anyone, they all stayed away from me. I felt like crying. Why was I being treated this way? Arkel didn¡¯t do this, neither did his people.


    An Personio in a navy blue suit entered the hall.


    ¡°The King wishes to see you,¡± he announced. I got up quickly, eager to leave this awful room. I followed the Personio down some hallways, passed some guards, down the green cylinder that acted as an elevator, and finally back into the throne room. The King sat in his special chair, stroking his beard patiently.


    My escort left. I was on my own with the King and a few guards.


    ¡°I have no desire to waste time in silence.¡± the King said, leaning forward in his throne. ¡°We will get right to business. How was breakfast?¡±


    I didn¡¯t know how to answer. If I said ¡°good¡±, I¡¯d be lying, but if I said ¡°bad¡±, that could be considered as an insult. I raised my hand, as if about to say something, and opened my mouth, but nothing came out. I just stood there silently, hoping that the King would break the silence. He did.


    ¡°I see. Not so great, I suppose?¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°Good. Then I presume your decision is made.¡±


    I cocked my head in confusion. The King rolled his black eyes.


    ¡°I have given this choice much thought. I spoke to the Queen, and we have decided that you cannot stay. To make your decision easier we gave you a little demonstration of how you would be treated if you stayed with us. This is my community of Personios. I don¡¯t want a Human.¡±


    This was too much to take in. I had to leave? Go on my own again? But to where? I felt a ball form in my throat. I wouldn¡¯t cry in front of a King. I wouldn¡¯t. . .I couldn¡¯t. . .


    A tear rolled down my cheek. Then another. And another. I burst into tears.


    ¡°I was afraid you would start crying. There was something on my mind. Since you¡¯re a different species, I wanted to know if you were a child or an adult?¡±


    I hiccuped, then tried to answer his question.


    ¡°I¡¯m a- Hic- child.¡±


    ¡°Oh dear. I can¡¯t deal with a child crying. I will tell you the facts, and then leave you with someone of your choice to deal with your fragile emotions. You can either leave my territory with a fight, and be injured on your way. Or you can leave by will with supplies to help you survive wherever you plan to go. It¡¯s entirely up to you.¡±


    There was a long pause as I attempted to catch my breath. Then the King continued.


    ¡°You may choose one Personio to help you make your decision.¡± I knew immediately who I wanted. She was the only one here who I felt I could trust.


    ¡°Karym.¡± I said.


    Two hours later a carriage pulled up in front of the castle. A young Personio with loose long black hair came out. She wore a brown long sleeve dress with no designs. Escorted by a guard, she walked happily towards the castle.


    I soon heard a knock on the door. Although I had expected it, I was startled. Karym must have arrived.


    ¡°Come in.¡± I croaked, my voice cracked from crying. The door opened without a creak. I wasn¡¯t used to that, but there was no time for thought; I had to talk to someone who I kind of knew.


    She skipped in, every part of her buzzing with excitement. I had never seen her like this before. Since I met her, she had seemed so shy, lonely, in her own little life, controlled. Now she seemed alive.


    Noticing me with my dirty red eyes made her wide grin disappear. Karym took a step back towards the guard, as if remembering why she was here. She mumbled something, and the fit Personio left us alone.


    After a painfully long moment of silence, I attempted a greeting.


    ¡°Hi.¡± I shrunk back at how pathetic that sounded. Karym had come all the way here, just for me, so I, an intruder in her home, could say ¡°hi¡±? I brought my knees up to my chin, curling myself into a ball.


    ¡°Hello, Mariel.¡± Karym responded. When she realised I wouldn¡¯t say anything further, she decided to lead the uncomfortable conversation. ¡°I heard that you have to go.¡± she paused, waiting for a reaction. I only reacted on the inside. My stomach flipped at the sound of her true words.


    ¡°Where do you plan to go next?¡± she asked. I felt like I would puke.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I managed.


    Karym paused, not knowing what to say. Her eyes then briefly lit up with an idea.


    ¡°The Dwarfs are very welcoming. I¡¯m sure you¡¯d have a nice home there. Or the Fairies. They love newcomers. They could even turn you into one of them, so you don¡¯t feel out of place.¡±


    I considered these options. If I had no way to go back to Earth, then these were pretty good ideas.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t want to go alone.¡± I blurted, before the shy side of my brain could stop me. It felt amazing to let the words out. Finally, I told someone the truth. To my surprise, Karym didn¡¯t laugh. Nor did she jeer. She just smiled warmly.


    ¡°Are you asking me to go with you?¡± she asked in a quiet voice. I looked up from the floor.


    ¡°Are you offering?¡± I questioned.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    I let my knees down, and folded my legs criss-cross-applesauce. I stared right into her Personioine eyes. A friend. Like Rachel and Buddy. I had three friends. A human, a dog, and an Personio. Of course two of them were probably fake, and one of them was dead. I had no friends.


    I burst into tears again.


    ¡°You don¡¯t want me to come with you?¡± asked a disappointed Karym.


    ¡°No.¡± I sniffled.


    ¡°Then what is it?¡±


    It took me a minute to build up the strength to say the truth. But finally I did.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to wake up!¡± I barfed out the words. Literally. I threw up on the beautiful carpet. Karym ran away screaming ¡°Janitor! Janitor!¡±. Finally one came and grudgingly cleaned up my tear mixed puke.


    ¡°Wake up from what?¡± Karym asked after he left.


    ¡°This-hic-dream! I know I¡¯m dreaming! All this can¡¯t actually be happening! I know I¡¯m just going to wake up in that awful hospital, and live out the rest of my life as a specimen and a doctor¡¯s toy! I don¡¯t want to wake up!¡± I cried.


    ¡°Mariel. Calm down. No one can dream something this real. Look at my finger.¡± she held out her bony green finger. ¡°Tell me if it¡¯s real. Look at the shadows, the wrinkles. Does my finger look real to you?¡±


    I nodded.


    ¡°Good. Then I¡¯m real, or at least my finger is. And even if you do wake up in your world, there¡¯s nothing you can do about it now. So you might as well make the best of this world while you¡¯re in it.¡±


    She looked me in the eye, then continued,


    ¡°The King is going to kick you out anyway. Can I come with you or not?¡±


    ¡°Please do.¡± I replied.


    Karym smiled.


    ¡°Then let¡¯s go tell him we¡¯re ready.¡±

 Chapter 17

    ¡°So yes?¡± my Personio friend asked. Her King lazily leaned back in his throne, and held back a yawn.


    ¡°I spoke to Arkel and the Queen.¡± his voice cracked, and held up his green fist and coughed. ¡°We have decided that you cannot accompany Mariel. You are a Personio, and so you will live in your Personio society.¡±


    Karym¡¯s eyes widened significantly. She muttered something under her breath, then spoke.


    ¡°You can¡¯t do that! I¡¯ve lived my entire life serving your highness, and then when a once in a lifetime chance like this comes along, you and your fat head just ruin it!¡± she yelled.


    The King looked extremely offended. He gave the guards behind us a look, and then both of them rushed at Karym. From the Personios I¡¯d seen so far, Karym seemed a bit small for her age. Then again, the guards that attacked her were males, and were trained for this. All Karym was trained for was helping the old Personio she lived with survive. Of course she knew how to shoot an arrow, but that skill was useless at the moment.


    One guard grabbed her around the waist and hauled her in the air. The second ripped his sword from its sheath and pointed it at her neck. A blood curdling cry erupted from Karym¡¯s mouth. Tears poured from her eyes. It all happened so fast.


    I had no time to react. All I could do was stare with my eyes wide. The Personios seemed so peaceful, except when an intruder like me had appeared at their front door. But in the village, everyone seemed so at peace with themselves and others. But now, a King ordering his guards to threaten to kill another of his kind, that was horrible.


    ¡°Let me go, you idiots! Please, let me go!¡±


    The King rose from his chair.


    ¡°How about we bring all the villages together to watch your death, so they can understand better why never to insult me!¡±


    He turned to me.


    ¡°Human, you have seen and learned enough about my kingdom. Leave now or die along with your friend.¡±


    My throat was clogged with snot. Tears dripped one by one from my sore reddened eyes. At the moment I wasn¡¯t even thinking about Karym, how I could help her. I was thinking about how the Personio King admitted that I had a friend. Karym was my friend. Even if she was a dream, or an illusion, I would not let her die.


    I conjured all my strength into my arm. I curled my delicate fingers into a fist, and punched the patrol holding the sword in the throat. I was astonished to watch him fall to the ground, clutching his throat, gasping for breath. I never knew I was that strong. Back in my own world, a blow like that couldn¡¯t have hurt a fly. But it seemed different here. . .


    I had no time for deep thoughts. The King was yelling for backup while I recovered from my shock of newfound strength. It was weird, this was what had happened with the Mardaugs. When I fought one of them, I had a strange kind of strength suddenly.


    Guards poured into the throne room from every opening. Their stomping boots echoed along the high ceiling. Some reached out for me, and others for Karym.


    ¡°Kill them both!¡± cried the King. ¡°Kill them with your swords, your hands, your teeth! I don¡¯t care! I want them dead!¡±


    Swords flashed through the air at this command. I felt several blows come my way. Miracly, I dodged them all. Karym wasn¡¯t doing that well. She was bleeding continuously from the various wounds made by the sharp swords. Bruises formed on her skin where she was hit by the guards.


    How was I dodging all this? I felt like a superhero. Except I wasn¡¯t. I was escaping every attempt from the guards at my death, while I left Karym in the dust. With this new conscience, I grabbed Karym¡¯s arm, and forced her out of harm¡¯s way with my newfound skill.


    Slowly we made it towards the door.


    The King had been so focused on murdering Karym and me, that he forgot to place some guards outside his palace.


    ¡°Run.¡± I growled. Karym obeyed with no objection.


    We ran with the wind, not stopping for breath or to look back. We ran and ran, when finally reaching a small hole shielded by a tree. I dared to look back. The guards were nowhere to be seen. I let out a breath I didn¡¯t realise I¡¯d been holding.


    I pushed with my remaining strength Karym into the hole, then followed myself.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    We waited a minute to catch our breath. All I heard was our heavy breathing, and on top of that the swords clashing.


    It¡¯s over, I reassured myself, the palace is behind us. We¡¯re safe. But a big part of me doubted that.


    ¡°Where to?¡± I panted.


    Karym paused, then answered,


    ¡°There¡¯s a small exit in this village. Generally there shouldn¡¯t be, but it was used by thieves, but they never made it back out. Of course I¡¯ve only heard of it, but it¡¯s our best bet. It would take us about a day to walk all the way to a guardian village, where an entrance would be. Even if we got a ride, the King is high on our heels. I think we should find the exit.¡±


    ¡°Okay.¡± I agreed. ¡°Let¡¯s find that exit.


    And so we walked. More like jogged, actually, being afraid to be captured and exterminated by the King. I followed Karym, who only had memories of stories to guide her. We walked past gardens and gardens, never a single other person.


    On and on we went for about two hours. It had been a lonely walk that seemed endless. But both our spirits were raised once we reached a tall brick wall, surrounded by bunches of barbed wire.


    There was no reason to ask where the exit was. Neither of us knew. So I just followed my Personioin friend down the wall, away from the castle. Another hour passed the same way.


    But finally we arrived at a tiny hole I would never have noticed on my own. It seemed that it was a rabbit¡¯s, but was bigger and better made. Karym turned to me, an relieved grin on her face.


    ¡°It was real.¡± she whispered, and began to crawl down the hole.


    I gingerly followed, never liking small spaces, even though I lived in one.


    The tunnel went deep in the ground steeply. The smell of dirt filled my nose. I winced at every bug I came across. They crawled onto me, making me shiver. Buty Karym seemed to be having the time of her life.


    Soon came a steep uphill. The tunnel got even narrower, forcing me to crawl in the shape of a ball. Sunlight began to creep into the dark hole, allowing me to see what was really around me. Roots stuck out at weird angles, worms slithered through the damp earth, and ants crawled along the walls.


    Finally we emerged on the other side of the village now muddy and scratched. It was suddenly colder, with a sharp wind that passed through the new holes in my dress. I began to shiver, and clenched my teeth tightly. Not again. But then I saw that Karym was living through the same circumstances as me. A sudden warmth filled me. I wasn¡¯t alone.


    We locked eyes for a moment, and no one spoke. A large gust of wind blew my hair around, and did the same for Karym¡¯s.


    ¡°So. . .¡± she said. ¡°What now?¡± She looked scared now, all the desire to leave from before gone.


    ¡°Um, do you know any places where we could stay?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Well, there are some small stations around the mountain. We could go there, but I¡¯ve never been.¡±


    ¡°And who lives there?¡± I questioned.


    ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Personios, surely, but I don¡¯t know what kind.¡±


    ¡°There are more of you?¡±


    ¡°Yes! Of course! There are many kinds of Personios, I¡¯m just a subspecies.¡±


    We both went quiet as we sank into our own, private thoughts.


    I had so much to think about. Personios, who were Elves, Mardaugs, who were Goblins, this whole world, that was so different and unfamiliar to me, Buddy; was he a Personio?


    Slowly, ever so slowly, the scenery around us changed. There was less and less snow, more and more healthy trees. I had no idea how long we¡¯d been walking for, but I only started to feel tired hours later. When the trees sprouted colorful flowers, and there were scarcely any patches of snow anymore, did my legs start to falter. Apparently so did Karym¡¯s.


    ¡°Break.¡± she commanded. I obeyed without question. We sat under a tree, its shade partially protecting us from the sun¡¯s strong rays.


    For a moment we both lay there, eyes closed, relaxing.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± I finally asked. Karym took a deep breath of the hot air.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I once heard that there were villages like ours down here, but I guess that¡¯s not true.¡±


    ¡°No,¡± I said, ¡°I mean as a country, or planet even.¡±


    Karym looked at me with curious eyes. She was sweating buckets, not meant to be in a hot climate.


    Well, this mountain is called Mount Rabute, if that¡¯s what you¡¯re asking.¡±


    I took a deep breath, and tried to ask this as clearly as possible.


    ¡°Are we on Earth?¡±


    Somehow I knew what the answer would be. Magical creatures lived here, but then again I never really looked around my planet. I only had the small view of a busy street from my hospital room. And Rachel to tell me stories of her vacations to different countries.


    I braced myself for Karym¡¯s answer.


    ¡°What¡¯s Earth?¡±


    I cried out. I wasn¡¯t even on my home planet. I was lost, with no way to get home. But what did home even mean? Did it mean where I was fed, but unhappy, or in a magical world where I was scared?


    ¡°Where are we!¡± I demanded. Karym looked taken back.


    ¡°Animus. The world of Animus.¡± she said quietly. Animus. What did that mean? I¡¯d never heard the word before. It sounded foreign. Didn¡¯t it mean imagination or something? Maybe it was dream. . .


    I shushed the dark thought, and turned back to Karym, who had closed her eyes. I decided to do the same. My thoughts swirled around me like a tornado I couldn¡¯t control. It was too much. All too much.


    And I fell asleep.

 Chapter 18

    I¡¯ll probably wake up in a different place again. Maybe I¡¯ll wake up in the Goblins¡¯ cell, but this time with Karym. I bet I¡¯m already there now. But it¡¯s not damp. . .It¡¯s hot. Oh my god, it¡¯s so hot!


    I woke up sweating. It was really hot, I wasn¡¯t dreaming it. And I wasn¡¯t outside, either. As my eyes adjusted to the blazing light, I was able to notice my surroundings. I was in a glass cell, reflecting the sun¡¯s rays, making it unbearably hot.


    Beside me lay Karym, still asleep. She looked worn down and sick. I suddenly felt guilty; she was used to the cold, and I brought her here.


    No I didn¡¯t. I didn¡¯t bring her here. We were sleeping at the foot of a  tree.


    I groaned, realising that I¡¯d been taken captive again. My hands were tied to the glass wall behind me with what resembled a charging cable, but thicker. It had strands of red glow flowing through it in swirls. I was sitting on the plain black floor, which was so smooth you could slip on it with the sturdiest shoes.


    There was a black box on the wall facing me, with unknown symbols labeling buttons. I could see through the glass other rooms identical to this one, lined in neat rows.I couldn¡¯t see through the glass behind me, but through the sides were other prisoners, weirdly looking healthy.


    ¡°Karym.¡± I whispered, for there were cameras stationed everywhere. ¡°Karym.¡± I repeated, a little louder.


    The Elf let out a groan. ¡°Hot.¡± she mumbled. ¡°Water.¡±


    Her skin was a pale green, and she looked like she would throw up. Her black hair stuck to her sweaty neck like glue, and her clothing was ruined.


    I didn¡¯t know what to do. I was suffering from the heat, but I could manage. But poor Karym, who was born for cold weather, wouldn''t survive.


    The Personio¡¯s eyes opened gradually, but closed again in the reflecting sunlight.


    ¡°Where are we?¡± she whispered.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± I responded.


    All nearby cameras turned to them and flashed red. Not a minute later a figure stood by their cell, punched in a code, gave a fingerprint, showed an eye, and mumbled a password, and then entered the small glass chamber.


    She was a fine woman, taller than an average grown man, which skin as white as paper, long perfectly clear nails, and a completely bald head. It reflected the sun, giving the woman a strange orange glow, like an aura. She had pale lips, pale brown eyes, long white eyelashes, and almost invisible eyebrows. She only wore a light blue tank top, and very short matching shorts.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    A Witch.


    I cried out in surprise, because like the Goblins and Elves, this was exactly how I¡¯d pictured a Witch.


    ¡°Good afternoon, my unwelcome guests.¡± she said in a raspy voice like crackling paper. She smiled, showing round pearly teeth. The Witch looked at Karym, and laughed cruelly. ¡°Oh, a Personio! And what better than an Elf! We¡¯re complete opposites; I¡¯d perish in your climate and you¡¯d perish in mine. What fun! You¡¯re in mine.¡± she turned towards me. ¡°And what are you? Mardaug or Personio?¡±


    ¡°Human.¡± I responded, still shocked that she looked exactly how I¡¯d pictured a Witch.


    ¡°Human. Where do you come from, Human?¡±


    ¡°Earth.¡±


    ¡°Earth. Hmm, we¡¯ll investigate that one.¡±


    ¡°What are you?¡± I dared to ask.


    ¡°I¡¯m a Witch, sub-species of Mardaugs.¡±


    She turned and left without goodbye, thoroughly locking the door she¡¯d come through. Karym somehow looked worse than before. She was breathing heavily, with tears rolling down her cheeks.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± she mumbled. I cocked my head in surprise.


    ¡°You¡¯re sorry? I¡¯m the one who brought you here! This is my fault entirely!¡± I cried, ignoring the rotating cameras now pointing at me.


    ¡°I never should have left.¡± Karym explained. ¡°But even if I do escape, I¡¯ll be killed back home. I¡¯ll be killed here.¡± she burst into tears, her now pale features hidden by her shaking hands.


    I didn¡¯t know what to say. What could I say? Ever since the day I met her, her destiny was sealed to die. It was my fault.


    But I had no time to cry, because the almost naked Witch came back, with two others. They looked like her, but one was wearing pink, and the other a lab-coat. They unlocked the door, and grabbed me without a word. In my despair and the heat, I had no strength left to fight.


    I was practically dragged down the clean hallway, and tried to leave as much of a mess I could. It was childish, but I was a child, and an angry one.


    I was so hot that I was falling asleep, my eyelids failing to stay open. I saw white walls, smooth double doors, hallways of no end, then I was in a room. There were eager faces, a bed, and I was asleep.


    And all the worst, my mind wouldn¡¯t rest on bad things, even when I was sleeping.


    A sharp pain in my arm. I closed my eyes as the doctor took a sample of my blood. I was used to the pain, of course, but it disgusted me to see my own blood taken from my body. But then it was over. The doctor left with the sample, presumably to check it. Others took her place. They attempted to speak to me. They seemed calm and patient, but I could see through the lies. On the inside, they were impatient and eager to know more about me.


    The first doctor came back. That was fast testing. She whispered to her co-workers, while they nodded along.


    ¡°-wake up.¡± I heard a part of one¡¯s sentence. There was a metallic clank, I was blindfolded, and then everything became clearer: the sounds, the colors, the feelings. Everything, like I was waking up from a dream.

 Chapter 19

    Rows of lights in the ceiling burned my eyes. Giants stood over me, dressed in lab coats, protected by masks. They were all pale and bald. Witches.


    I wasn¡¯t in any pain, surprisingly. I was dressed in a hospital gown, and my hair was brushed and cleaned. I felt renewed, and healthy.


    ¡°Ah, you¡¯re awake.¡± a Witch turned to me. She looked like the others, but she had pale green eyes. Her co-workers turned towards me, all seemingly happy to see my awakening.


    The first Witch spoke again.


    ¡°So you are a Human,¡± she said, reading from a note-pad, ¡°But you have a disease. A virus. Nothing I¡¯ve seen before. It seems like a brain tumor, but I can¡¯t say much because your species is entirely new. You seem to be female, and a child, maybe twelve years old, in your years.


    ¡°You have no trace of Mardaug or Personio blood. You¡¯re a completely different creature. You seem to have similar body parts to Witches, but you are adapted differently, and your lifespan is different.


    ¡°Human, tell us about yourself: Where do you come from, How did you get here, what are you?¡±


    I was at a loss for words. I came from a hospital I didn¡¯t remember the name of, I was a Human as far as I knew, and I just woke up here, like every other time.


    It seemed I¡¯d paused for longer than I¡¯d thought, because the Witches were getting impatient. One came forward.


    ¡°Hurry up and tell us,¡± she ordered, ¡°Or we¡¯ll do this the hard way, which could end with you being very unhappy, both mentally and physically.¡±


    I had no intention of getting on the Witches bad sides, or finding out what bad things they could do, so I asked a reasonable question.


    ¡°What do you want with me?¡±


    She hesitated, whispered to the others, then turned back to me.


    ¡°We are Witches. Mardaugs. One day we will rule over all other species, but we will not get there by killing pitilessly. We will get there by science.


    ¡°Animus is full to the brim with uncontrollable magic, which we want no part of. We will rule this world by science. We will find out all species¡¯ weaknesses, and conquer them.


    ¡°So, Mariel (we found out your name through a recent memory scan), we want to investigate your-interesting-species, in order to conquer it as well.¡±


    I paused, knowing I should respond, but couldn¡¯t think of what to respond with. But the Witches had no patience.


    ¡°Back to our question.¡± One said.


    So I told them, again not wanting to be on their bad side, my story. From when Rachel died until now. Why I was telling them, I had no idea. Something about them just made me want to do what they asked. Like a spell, or a power.


    All the time they nodded along, taking notes in their language, and occasionally whispering to one another. When I finished, the first one who had spoken said:


    ¡°Well, Mariel. That tells us a bit more than what we found out. Good, good.¡± she turned to the other Witches, and whispered something in her language. A few questions and comments were raised, and when they finished the attention was back on me.


    ¡°More operations must be done on you, Mariel. You have two options: do what we say, and you might be released when this is over, or disobey us and when we¡¯re done you will be terminated mercilessly. It¡¯s up to you.¡± the same Witch spoke again. She seemed to be the boss.


    ¡°What are you going to do to me?¡± I asked shakily.


    ¡°We¡¯re going to explore your insides, put it that way. But no worries, Human, for you¡¯ll be asleep, and only when you wake up you¡¯ll feel pain. But if you¡¯re good now we¡¯ll give you some medicines that will put you at ease.¡±


    What would I do? My best option was probably to do what they said, and I¡¯d be free later on, but what if Witches were liars? What if at the end of whatever I chose, they killed me? But they said they didn¡¯t kill. . .but they told me their plans! Or maybe those weren¡¯t their plans, or everyone knew that, and they just wanted to gloat. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Even if I asked them, they could be liars. I was back to square one. So what was my best option? Escape or obey? Fight or be operated on for the millionth time? What should I do?


    The Witches were impatient creatures, for they were anxiously twiddling their long, elegant thumbs, tapping on the bed, muttering, rolling their eyes, waiting for me to do something.


    ¡°We have scheduled the operation for 2:00 p.m, in your time. So hurry up, Human.¡± the boss said, holding in her frustration.


    Another minute passed.


    ¡°If you need help to decide, I suggest you just do as we ask. A healthy patient is always more likely to survive.¡± one of the Witches said; I couldn¡¯t tell which.


    Even if I chose to escape, I had no way out. I had to do what the Witches said.


    I nodded, and they all seemed to know what that meant.


    ¡°You made the right choice, Human. You will feel minimum pain.¡±


    They gave me a sour pill, put a mask on me, and soon I was fast asleep. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t dreamless.


    White. That¡¯s all there was. I looked down, and didn¡¯t see myself. Somehow I knew that I was not a physical thing, in this dream. I was just a soul, floating in endless white. But I didn¡¯t feel like I was floating, I felt still, empty. But all the same I felt anxious, worried, scared.


    ¡°Mariel.¡± an anonymous voice called. I didn¡¯t answer. I was too afraid, even in this supposedly calm state of mind.


    ¡°Mariel.¡± It repeated. Reluctantly, somehow knowing this was important, I answered.


    ¡°Hello?¡± I called into the empty space. There was a slight shimmer before me, like the air itself was bending. It was like a watery mirror.


    ¡°Mariel, it¡¯s me, Karym.¡± the voice continued. It was monotone, making it hard to believe that its owner was Karym.


    ¡°How can I be sure it¡¯s you?¡± I asked suspiciously.


    ¡°You can¡¯t. You just have to trust that it¡¯s me.¡±


    Another shimmer in the air.


    ¡°Is that you?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes. But I can¡¯t take my form in your dream.¡±


    ¡°How are you in my head, then?¡± I asked, not noticing I was dreaming, even after she¡¯d said it.


    ¡°Because I¡¯m dead.¡± She paused, and then, ¡°When Personios die they have two days to themselves. They can make calls into people¡¯s heads, but if that person fights it then you can¡¯t speak to them. We can also visit people, but they won¡¯t see or hear us, only we can see and hear them.


    ¡°But when Mardaugs die they only get an hour alone, with the same rights as us.¡±


    ¡°So you¡¯re dead?¡± I asked, and in my dream state I felt no sadness or surprise.


    ¡°Yes. I couldn¡¯t handle the heat. But I feel better now. I feel free. I¡¯ve met lots of others who are newly dead, like me, and I¡¯ve met many other creatures. I like it here more, for sure.¡±


    ¡°So why did you call me?¡±


    ¡°Because now I know more about Personios and Madaugs. I always knew that Mardaugs were bad and Personios were good, but now I know more. I don¡¯t know how to explain it. But what I wanted to tell you was to not trust Mardaugs. They are liars and cheaters, and most of them would do anything for power. Even some Personios are evil. But that¡¯s rare.


    ¡°I just wanted to warn you. You see, here we can kind of see glimpses of the future. It¡¯s because when you die, if you were a Personio, good or bad, you change worlds depending on what you did in your life. In the world I now live in, we can see bits of the future.


    ¡°Now, I can¡¯t tell you much of what I saw; I¡¯d be stopped before I even knew I was going to say that. But I can tell you this: You shouldn¡¯t be in Animus. But you have a purpose there. LIke-like you''re a part of it, or it¡¯s a part of you. Even I don¡¯t understand it fully. But you¡¯re not supposed to be there, but you being there was meant to be.


    ¡°Now, I know this sounds crazy, but you have to hear me out.¡±


    I felt no emotion at this, but I understood what was going on. But even dreaming, my sense of curiosity was still there.


    ¡°How do I get back home?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯m honestly not sure if you¡¯re supposed to go home at all.¡±


    If I were awake, this would have knocked the breath out of me. But nothing happened here.


    ¡°Mariel, I have to go soon.¡± Karym announced, ¡°You¡¯re waking up. But I can only visit you once, so our last goodbyes are now.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for being my friend, Karym.¡± I said to the monotone voice that came from nowhere.


    ¡°Thank you for the chance to leave the Elf society. I¡¯m much happier here.¡± responded Karym.


    The white around me shimmered, and tore away like paper. I was in the hospital I grew up in. No, this couldn¡¯t all have been a dream!


    But then I realised that the hospital was the dream I was supposed to have, that Karym had intercepted.


    And then that world melted away. My last thought before waking up was a sad one.


    I lost Karym like I lost Buddy.