1. Who am I?
Who am I running from?
She was running at breakneck speed.
She couldn't see anything except darkness. She felt the pebbles under her bare feet, they hurt her.
She heard no sound except her own breath. If there was anyone behind her, he was chasing her very calmly. Yet she was being followed.
She couldn't stop.
As if that weren't her body.
Even clouded thoughts seemed foreign to her.
Who am I?
She saw only her shaking hands and a glimmer of light, far away. Should she reach it? She kept running.
Then she heard a voice, she couldn't understand its genre and origin, she didn't even understand the words. Could she speak? Now it didn't matter, she had to run, the light was near.
She felt cold in her back, her pursuer was approaching.
With one final final sprint she reached the light.
Was it safe?
Exhausted and with no more air in her lungs, she fell to her knees. Next to her hands there was placed a large bowl, with clear water in it.
Who am I?
Now safe, she looked at herself, but no reflection appeared in the water. Only the dark.
Her eyes blurred, was she crying?
She looked up as soon as she heard small bells ringing.
It seemed that a woman was in front of her, she was smiling, but she couldn't see her well in the shadows.
Her smile disappeared.
«Who are you?» she murmured unsatisfied, almost disappointed.
Then the light went out ... no, they hadn't gone out, it was she who had fallen down.
The darkness enveloped her completely.
She fainted, with the image of her invisible reflection in her head.
-
From the sky, or most likely from the trees that surrounded her, three red leaves fell.
They fell right into the snow-white hair of a girl, lying on the grass.
She opened her brown eyes, then closed them immediately afterwards. The sun was blinding.
It had been a strange dream.
The girl, confused, rose from the ground.
Where am I?
She simply saw a forest of trees with identical red leaves. Yet the grass was green and without a single fallen leaf.
She tried to get up, barely managing it. She felt like she had slept for too long.
Wait.
Who am I?
The trembling in her legs forced her to fall back to the ground.
She thought of a name. Her name. Nothing.
She thought of a house. Nothing.
She thought of a familiar place or person. Nothing.
She remembered absolutely nothing of herself.
Who... am I?
Her whole body trembled, she hugged herself to calm down. Her eyes were full of tears, but none of them came out.
No matter how long she thought, no memories came to her except that strange dark dream, but it contained no useful information and she was already forgetting it.
She searched for anything in her head to which she could anchor: a name, a place, a person, even a smell.
Nothing.
Only that dream remained.
I need to find someone.
If she didn't know someone, at least someone should have known her.
She stood up again, even weaker than before.
She didn't feel like she did in the dream, that body belonged to her, even if, without memory, it seemed foreign to her.
She didn't even remember what her face was like, but she noticed that her white hair, dirty and untidy, reached her waist and the tips, for about the lenght of a hand, were brown.
Her pale skin felt more golden thanks to the setting sun.
She wore a simple white dress and was barefoot.
Walking made her stomach upset and she felt stiff.
She wanted to find something, other than a tree, or someone, before the night.
It's best to stay safe at night.
Had someone taught her that? It connected nothing to that thought, neither people nor voices.
«Welcome!» a voice rang out from the sky, frightening her to death. She fell again.
In the middle of the sky, still blue up there, stood a gigantic screen, on which a woman with pink hair was depicted. She kept her eyes closed.
She hid behind a tree, ignoring the fact that her goal was to be noticed and recognized by someone.
That woman's voice was different from the one in the dream.
«Welcome to this year's Acceptance! Now I will explain the rules for those who are not already aware of it: you have one goal, which is to overcome the Barrier and consequently form the Contract to enter the World of Deorum.» The pink woman chuckled, her voice was very playful.
«As you well know, to be accepted you have to respect the rule imposed by the Barrier every year, regarding numbers. This year's rule is that 100 participants will be accepted... That's all!» her mouth twisted into a smile that gave her shivers.
«Obviously, everything is allowed. May the gods lead you to the light…» After a short pause she raised her tone.
«Start!»
With her fingernails stuck in the tree's bark, with confusion and fear, she clung tighter and tighter to the tree when far from her she heard the sound of an explosion, caused by something unknown to her.
Though trembling, she removed herself away from the tree and started running in the direction opposite to the noise.
Yet the more she ran in that red forest, the closer the noises came.
Especially the noise of the screams of people, both male and female.
They weren't normal screams, they were heartbreaking: screams for help.
She couldn't help anyone right now.
She kept running until a blue, almost transparent wall appeared in front of her, blocking her way.
No, it wasn't really a wall, it looked more like water.
Although she had no memory, she knew very well that the water was clear and not bluish.
It looked like an infinite wall, both in length and in height, yet it was very thin.
Could it be the Barrier that the pink lady mentioned?
As she heard the sounds getting closer, she didn't think twice and took two steps forward, crossing the Barrier.
Strangely, she didn't get wet.
She turned to continue running, but in front of her the only thing she saw was a huge green meadow, kissed with an orange given by the sunset.
There were no more trees, nothing, just grass and no people. The only thing was a very high stone not far from her. It looked like a cube statue. It said "22" on it.
She thought of going back, but the sound of those screams terrified her, so she decided to hide, curled up behind the rock.
What should I do? I don't even know what's my name or where I am.
Once again, she was shaken by tears, which did not roll down her face.
Then she heard a thud behind her, and then another.
Without getting too noticed, she peered over her shoulder with one eye.
There were many, many people.
Of all ages and ethnicities, she managed to see a girl and a man three times tall by her side.
Everyone was staring up and shouting more or less the same thing.
«Hey! What's this all about?!»
«Let us pass!»
«We're less than one hundred!»
Leaning a little further, she noticed that a white number had appeared on the barrier, the number 92.
Everyone was holding one hand or both on the barrier, many hands were bloody. Nobody could get through.
«I have to pass!» shouted a boy nearby, kicking the wall, which now seemed made of stones.
Yet she had passed with simplicity.
«You can't pass. You have to be accepted.» suddenly the pink lady on the screen was now standing in front of the rock, with her back to it.
Her pastel pink hair looked fluffy.
Everyone stayed silent.
She leaned even further, standing up. She was torn between staying behind and coming out.
«The rule this year was that 100 participants had to go through each of the 22 entrances. 100. No more, no less.»
Many imprecations and various dissensions arose.
«For each entry 100 people will pass at the same time, in unison. I would advise you to go back and recover those who have been defeated, but aren't dead.» with a chuckle she was about to turn around, but a boy whose face he couldn't see shouted.
«Hey! What about her?!»
Confused, she leaned out too far, eventually tripping over a small rock in the grass.
Whoever had shouted was pointing at her.
She ended up lying with her face on the ground, in front of all those people on the other side.
Though frightened, she had to ask something about herself.
They had seen her, but that was what she wanted in the end, after all, they would have found it sooner or later.
«I-I ...» she realized at that moment that she knew the words, but not her voice.
Along with her body, her voice also trembled, searching for the right words.
Before she could say even one more letter though, a bubble of water enveloped her. A bubble full of water. She didn't even have time to shut her mouth. The water seemed to want to trap her. It was choking her slowly as it moved upward.
She looked down and saw the pink lady, with no playful smile, staring at her with an icy look.
«Who are you?» she asked. She was angry, of course, but she didn't show it.
Was that water bubble her doing?
She tried to answer, but her lungs were filling only with water.
Water that choked her even more strongly.
«How did you get over the Barrier?» she repeated, more threatening.
The people behind the barrier stared at her with looks of hatred and curiosity.
«I ... I ... don't know.» was what she tried to say, but it came out more like a "i gwo wo".
Thus the water twisted more menacingly. She could hardly see anymore, she had no more air now.
«Reply!» said the pink lady, impatiently.
«That's enough!» immediately shouted a girl who she couldn't see well.
«It's killing her!»
The pink lady sighed then looked away from the bubble, and it bursted, knocking the soggy girl to the ground.
She sobbed and coughed for an endless time, her eyes were burning.
«Hey, aren't those three leaves of fate?» another person, behind the barrier, was pointing at her with his mouth wide open.
The girl who had "stopped" the pink woman was also staring at her in amazement. She had green hair.
She didn't quite understand what he meant.
When she finally looked up, the pink lady was no longer in front of her, but her shadow indicated that she was behind her.
She ran forward, toward the Barrier, then turned.
The pink lady seemed to block out all the sun behind her.
Before she could say more, with a broken voice, she was the first to speak.
«I don't know who I am!»
She took another breath, in front of the woman's surprised face.
«I woke up in the woods and crossed the Barrier. I don't remember anything! ...Help me!» she shouted with all the breath she had in her mouth.
She was shaking again, but managed to get up to look the pink woman in the face.
Nobody replied, there was only silence.
Had no one recognized her?
«What a pathetic excuse.» with a loud click of the tongue the pink lady took a step towards her.
She backed away.
Another step forward.
Another back.
«No ...» in that bubble, before, she was about to die. She was aware of it.
So this woman was going to kill her? Without her even remembering her name or where she was? Nothing?
Destiny in that moment, wanted all the stones in that grass to hinder her on her path.
She slid backward, tripping over another rock and accidentally found herself on the other side of the Barrier, again.
She didn't believe that thin barrier would stop this woman, yet she didn't move.
The people around her moved away, leaving her in an empty circle.
They always murmured the same words.
"Three leaves of fate" and "She came back".
She didn't understand what they meant by that.
The playful smile in the pink lady's face returned, which confused her a lot.
«Well… You should all be there now. Come back here when you are 100.» she turned her back on all the people and in an instant they were all pushed everywhere in the forest, flying amidst screams, laughter and tears.
She didn't know where she ended, but ironically, she was back on the ground staring at the sky.
Was she safe? What had just happened?
She took the opportunity to relax for a second.
The sun was gone.
«Hey, you!»
She jumped back up, bringing back all the fear and adrenaline from before.
In front of her stood the girl from before, with green hair.
She felt strangely relieved.
«Is everything all right? What's your name?» the girl's body seemed to incorporate the last ray of sunshine in the sky.
On the other hand, the moon began to shine behind her.
«I don't know.»
-
«Nelsea, you went too far with that little girl.»
The woman was brushing her long pastel pink hair, humming a song.
«But... Seriously... Do you think she's like her?»
«No.» she put down the brush.
She smiled, she was perfect, now she could meet the Master!
«I think she is her.»
She walked down the wooden corridor.
Really?
«Yes, really.» she answered her friend.
«Stop reading my mind!»
She laughed.
Ah, she couldn't wait to tell the Master what had happened.
No, she couldn't wait to meet the Master! Maybe... he would have looked at her today?
She giggled like a child a who was about to receive a gift, opening the door.
Things are going to get interesting.