Darkness.

Infinite unending darkness.

How long had I been staring at this. It feels like it's been a while but at the same time it feels like only but a few moments have passed.

Am I dead? What's going on? Where am I?

Silence.

Strangely there was a certain calmness about this ordeal. Despite being lost, seemingly without form, and without body; There was no fear. Only calmness, and confidence. Infact I feel ready for something. Ready for what? Why do I feel like something is happening?

KA-BOOOM!

That sounded close. Like a sudden release of pressure on water. The sudden high pitch followed by an ear shattering Boom. Wait.. Sound?

Suddenly like water from a faucet, the world was made clear. The sound of a calm easy breeze met his ears. Birds chirping a melody that only they seemed to know. Trees moving and gliding with the wind, their leaves claping against each other in subtle harmony. There's something else but I can't quite figure out what it is.. Is that water? Straining the ears, I tried blocking all other sounds out except for this one particular sound that evaded identification. Follow the patterns of the sound... Yes. A stream of water possibly. Whatever it was, the sound oddly soothing to the ears.

Ears.. I can feel them now. I can hear the wind as it bounces against them and then eventually finds its way around them. If only I could open my eyes..

At once, Almost as if granting a wish, knowledge poured into my brain. What had felt like nothing but an eternity of darkness. Suddenly seemed to be a small dream away from wakefulness.

Opening my eyes, I was instantly assaulted by Light. Light, what a painful greeting. I felt like I should have screamed. Reacted in some way. My emotions feel so null right now.

I attempted to open my eyes again, this time a bit more slowly. The light was there, waiting; but it wasn't as bad as before. Eventually the eyes would adjust and I would open them up just a bit more.

I did not have to see to know where I was however. My ears were already miles ahead of my vision. A forest… in the middle of nowhere.

Picking myself up off the grass I found myself on, I took a quick glance around to get an idea of the surroundings.

Animals. Deer, rabbits, frogs and more. Ugh the frogs. I watched as the creatures moved, all of them making sure not to come to close to him, their eyes glued suspiciously to his body. Did they fear he would harm them?

Suddenly there was a surge of emotion through my body. It was small, but when just waking up from seemingly nothingness, it felt like the high in a big storm of events. A smile eased my lips when I spotted a small cub slowly making its way toward me. It was alone.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Where are your parents?” I said kneeling down towards the small creature. My words did nothing to ease the pup and it, along with all the other creatures suddenly sprinted off in different directions.

Offput by what felt like an open rejection, I decided the next logical thing to do would be to.. Go somewhere.

Forward it is.

One step.

“AAhh!” I screamed. Water. Cold cold water.

“Where did that come from!”

My question was immediately awnsered by simply looking down. The stream of water that I had entirely forgotten about. Its rythmic sounds had turned from a constant marker in her senses to simply background music that was only there to please the ears.

My sudden outbreak of emotion was quickly put down by the reflection said water gave.

In the mirror of water, a young woman of around eighteen stared back. A pale complexion, short dark hair that fell to her neck, and dark brown eyes to fit. She looked a bit strange with all the moving, or was that the water. Her reflection was somehow incredibly interesting to look at. I moved my hand to my lips and watched as my second me did the same. The next logical step now involves making weird faces and watching the reflection follow suit. I grinned. This would be fun. How about.. Surprise! Or Sadness! Or.. Something crazy! The grin was becoming too much and a loud laugh escaped her, further scaring away any animals that happened to be nearby.

“You're coming along nicely. It's not usual for the emotions to kick in so soon.”

For some reason I don't feel nearly as scared as I probably should. This voice had come from nowhere yet here it was. In fact it seemed to come from inside her thoughts? It did not have tone yet it wasn't monotone. It sounded like there was no sound yet here it was. I can hear it but it's not there. This is gonna sound crazy but I should probably talk to this person. Yes.. why not.. Another glance in the water discovered a lot of dirt on my face that needed to be attended to.

“And you are?”

“I am here to help you. You may call me metsis.”

Again, Why am I so calm about this situation. Instead of responding, I decided to throw some water at my face in an attempt to rid it of dirt, and maybe a bit of craziness. At the same time this gives me time to think about this being's name. ‘Metsis’.

It rolled off my tongue very strangely. What a weird name.

“My name is Alpha.”

I said this without thought. It had simply escaped my lips just as I was beginning to asking myself why I could not remember my name. Yet, it fit. I repeated this a few times in my head. It certainly had a nice ring to it. Alpha.

“Where am I metsis?”

“Follow the stream to the nearby village.”

“Follow the stream? Which direction? Left or Right?”

…

Silence. Taking a deep breath I decided that the best direction is the one most traveled by. In this case, that happened to be where the fewest trees sat. Which was left. However I'm right handed so I'm going to go right. I'm pretty sure you follow dominate hand in this situation. How am I sure? No idea.

There was nothing more to it.

It was either Right or nowhere at all, and quite frankly I'm getting a little bored of this solitude.