The Awakening

Your brain is the most powerful thing in the world. If you keep telling yourself that something's the truth, you'll soon start to believe it. Isn't it funny? How we can easily make up lies in order to please ourselves? It's a simple yet fundamentally flawed aspect of the human mind, but now, I wanted more than anything for my brain to accept these lies.

The air felt cool and almost melancholic, slight breezes shifting against my head. Silence pierced the empty sky, inviting peace and tranquility into my consciousness. A blanket of comfort washed over me as I felt both the hard ground and chilly air around me. But this feeling wouldn't last for long.

I jolted up from the ground, raising myself just enough so I could observe my environment. What welcomed my eyes was a landscape unlike any other I had ever seen before. A vast plain of land stretched beyond my eyesight, with small trees and rocks scattered throughout. The land itself was incredibly dynamic, with lots of small hills and mountains occupying the barren plain. As I looked around my surroundings I couldn't help but admire how beautifully natural the whole terrain appeared. It carried the elements of a majestic Earth without any sign of civilization or humanity of general, but the most striking aspect was the color of it all. Instead of the varying green and brown colors that envelop the Earth, this land was colored with a dark gray tint that covered nearly every surface. A beautiful moon pierced the dark black sky, illuminating the land with a soft, majestic white glow. The darkness of the land, while intimidating at first, put me at ease as I embraced the calmness instilled within the absence of brightness.

Before I could get up on my feet fully, I suddenly remembered what had brought me to this place. What I had done to get here.

Sam. Where is she? Is she okay? Did anything bad happen to her? I couldn't help but think of all the horrible things that could've happened to her after I had jumped in front of the truck. Wait, I jumped in front of a truck? Didn't my mind go blank after I got hit? Am I-... Am I dead?

I raised my arm in fear and observed it with great precaution only to see a normal arm. The same arm I had when I was with Sam. I looked down and examined my entire body in order to see if anything had changed but fortunately enough, everything seemed perfectly fine. The only questionable thing was that my clothes were different than the clothes I had worn with Sam. The clothes that she had carefully picked for me the day before. Oh god, what have I done with myself?

Before I could stop myself I felt myself crying softly, my tears embodying the sorrow of losing Sam. Although I wasn't sure for certain whether or not I lost her forever, I couldn't help but pour out my inner emotions. It was a surreal feeling to me. I wasn't the type to easily cry, but this time I just couldn't help it. She was my everything, and I had lost her just like that.

My sorrow quickly turned into anger as I slammed the ground in fury. Wasn't there anything else I could've done? Why did I have to be such an idiot for me to die and lose my one happiness in life? I wish I could have done something better. But I was stupid. I didn't think. And that was going to cost me for eternity. I balled up my fists again and continued pummeling the ground, desperate for any possibility that this was all just a bad dream. It was infuriating to realize that there were countless other decisions that I could've made in order to save both me and Sam from ever suffering any type of pain like this. I hated myself for not making the right choice.

After my physical altercation with the ground, I looked back up and re-examined the land in which I was now trapped in. Am I trapped here forever? Can I even escape? What even is this place? I picked up a nearby delicate flower and observed how its color had been absorbed by a gray tone of despair and emptiness. It had a sense of cruel beauty, and I admired how beautiful the flower had become despite the corruption it had endured. In fact, this entire world carried this similar sense, and the more I looked at my surroundings, the more I appreciated the darkness associated with this tainted realm.

I lifted my head up and analyzed the barren sky, desperately searching for any clue as to what this place truly was. It couldn't have been any place on Earth. Nothing in the world was as dark and depressing as this environment. The absence of color in the terrain and stars in the sky revealed that this wasn't the reality I was used to. It was a sort of pseudo dimension, one that I probably conjured up in my last moments of life. I lifted my left hand up and examined my ring finger: the finger that was supposed to be surrounded by a small smooth, gold band with a small diamond embezzled in the center. It was supposed to be the symbol of my love. The love that I would have never traded for anything in the world. Is it really just gone?

I lowered my hand down and stared off into the deep regions of the dark land and burrowed my eyebrows. No. It can't be gone forever. I could come back. I could go back to Sam and live the happy life I always wanted. It was possible. It had to be! There was nothing that could stop my yearning for Sam. I didn't know what this world was, what to do, or where to go, but I had one thought in my mind: I will go back to Sam. Whatever it takes.

As my mind began filling with ideas on how to escape this world, I heard multiple loud cluttering sounds slowly come closer and closer to me. They sounded like solid iron boots that stabbed the ground, eager to reach their destination. I quickly got on my feet and looked around to see the source of the sound until I saw it directly behind me.

What is that? It definitely wasn't human, but it looked like it had certain human characteristics. What entered my vision was a tall, bulky, skeleton type being that possessed bright cyan eyes that illuminated the surrounding air. It had various types of metal armor that looked as if the whole set had been slowly torn off over time. The only pieces of armor the being had equipped were on the shoulders, part of the arms, and on one leg. A helmet polished off its mystical appearance, and its whole figure exuded a feeling of dread, chaos, and most importantly, death. As it slowly approached me I noticed it carried a long blade composed of sleek dark material, and it didn't look like it was putting it down so we could talk.

I had no clue what that thing was. All I knew was that it was walking towards me with a sword. I've been in terrifying situations, but nothing could've prepared me for anything like this. Before I could react, the being sprinted towards me and raised the sword up, ready to strike it down upon me with a resilient force.

I was about to die again.