THE FORGOTTEN

Rex opened his eyes in darkness. He could not see anything. 

He looked everywhere but there is no ground. It seems like he was standing on something but there is none. Everything is dark.

He looked at his injuries, but there are no wounds, no pain. everything is in shape. Then he remembered the Tikbalang attacking him then he remembered the voice "Do you want to live?" 

"The hand" he said to himself

"Hello! " He shouted

A voice answered "You have awakened"

He turned to whoever spoke. It was a figure of either a male or female, wrapped in a pitch-black cloak. It had no face. Its body was seemingly dissolving into the darkness, like a smoke floating into thin air. Its voice was rather deep or soft. 

"What is this place?" Rex asked the figure

"This is a place where life and death never existed. A space forgotten by time"

"You prayed and I answered" the figure said "I pulled you here since you wished to live, so I give you the chance to live."

Rex clenched his fist.

"So Who...what are you?"

"I am once worshipped. People praised me and also feared me. Under the light of the night sky, my stories were told together with the other stories. But time is cruel..." the figure paused.

"People stopped remembering me. My stories were gone, unfinished. I am nothing more than a whisper in legends that no one remembers. My name faded into the nothingness. I am unknown. I am...the Forgotten." 

"Basically, you are a god?" Rex questioned the figure.

The figures form started to become clearer.

"I was...a god" It raised its hand and darkness around them shifted like a living thing. "I am the moon's shadow. The dark side that people never seen but were afraid of, until they had never spoken of. I watched over the night, yet none remembered me. Now, I exist only in silence."

Rex sat down on the non-existing floor crossing his legs.

"Then why save me?"

The Forgotten answered "Because you are just like me. Left behind. Unheard. Unseen."

The air felt heavy. The darkness around them pulsed like a heartbeat.

"I've been waiting for someone. But no one wants me. Until I heard you praying for the unknown. Then there I felt your anger, your pain, your desire to be more that what fate has given you."

Rex stayed silent

"I saved you" The Forgotten said to Rex "But I cannot give you purpose"

Rex narrowed his eyes.

"So, what will I do?"

"You must continue my story," the figure flew near Rex then circles around him.

"Through your deeds my story continues. Make the world remember my lost story or make a new one"

"How? You have no name," Rex wondered.

The Forgotten stopped moving as if it is waiting for something.

"Okay. I will give you a name" Rex said "Moon? Dark? Darkness?"

For the first time, the space around them shifted. The darkness seemed to tremble, as if holding its breath.

"Adrienne"

As soon as Rex spoke the name, a blinding light covered the space. The darkness is gone, replaced by an empty white space. The Forgotten started to emit a bursting light as its body started to form. The black cloak that covers it burns away into thin air revealing a woman standing in front of Rex.

She was majestic. Her presence looks commanding and powerful. Her long flowing dress was black as the void but streaks of white ran through it like moonlight cutting through the night.

Her hair was dark as midnight, cascading down her back in soft waves. A single black rose rested above her ear. Her eyes, once hidden, were now visible—deep, endless pools that held the weight of time itself.

She is beautiful.

She is divine.

The once unknown becomes real.

"Adrienne" she speaks softly.

"I once again...exist"

Then she looked at Rex.

Then smiled.

Rex stands in awe as the once forgotten had materialized into a goddess.

Adrienne moved close to Rex and performs a small curtsy in front of him.

"Thank you, Rex"

Then Adrienne look straight close to Rex's eye.

Rex cannot help to blush. Adrienne's beauty is captivating.

"No...no problem" Rex replied with an awkward grin.

Adrienne giggled. "You don't need to be shy in front of me. I am a goddess but what I am now is because of you." Adrienne's face becomes serious "Rex, I know what happened to the world you are living in but I don't know what caused it. I just returned for being one of the legends. I have nothing to tell you for now, but I will help you with your revenge to whoever caused you pain. The power that I will lend you is not as powerful with the one existing with your world today. My power depends on the story. As people speaks your name and learned about you. You will grow. Your power will grow."

Rex eyebrows curled. "You mean that the more fame I gain, the more powerful I become?"

Adrienne nodded "Your power will benefit on any kind of fame. Fear or praise. Good fame or bad fame. As long as your story is known, you will gain power."

"Isn't it cheating?" Rex put his hands on his waist.

"I told you that people either praise me or fear me and for that I gain the power of story." Adrienne told Rex.

"Okay? If your power is story? Then why you become forgotten?" Rex questioned Adrienne.

Adrienne's head tilted a little then think as if wondering for something "I don't know" Adrienne said with curiosity. "The last thing I remembered before becoming an unknown was the prayers stopped suddenly. The stories about me changed and my name became an inaudible word."

"But enough about that." Adrienne opened her hand and pitch black dagger suddenly shows. "This is my gift to you" 

"A dagger? Are you an assassin?" Rex asked

"You can say that. My ability were based on darkness and chaos, or shadow and you can gain abilities as your story grew. The possibility is endless."

"Don't forget. I am the darkness, the other side of the moon. In the darkness there is a gift. Even in light, there is darkness" Adrienne smiled at Rex.

Adrienne move closer to Rex. Her beautiful face closer to his. Rex started to blush, blood raising to his head as the beauty is getting closer and closer to him. Then Adrienne whispered.

"Now, kill that damn monster."

Adrienne pushed Rex.

"Waiiit!"

Rex screamed as he falls.

"See you soon."

Adrienne smiled waving goodbye as she look at Rex falling in an unending white space.