In the beginning, there was nothing. Even darkness had no name.

No thoughts, no dreams, no expectations. It almost didn’t exist… but it did. Smaller than a grain of sand, it grew in secret, concealed by time’s forgetfulness. A hollow vessel waiting to be occupied, for the Voice to reveal its name. Lingering like the Queen upon her throne. Waiting for the day all will change.

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[ … Fable … ]

Form the blazing flames into still depth of cool water, It awoke with a startle, disturbed by the sensations. Memories, the lose, the coolness of water and heaviness of the chest, the closeness of…

“Hush, my child, it all be right.” Someone cooed softly, caressing its cheek.

A thought rippled – Mother.

Her voice seemed everything in this still twilight. The entire world. Everything for its nothing. An echo of a heartbeat that soothed. But now, It had a name.

— Fable.

A story yet told. An opportunity for something new. It was more than before.

Close to the Mother’s heart, Fable was held in a protective embrace. Warm, secure… suffocating. Once Mother’s love filled it to the brim, but now it wasn’t enough. Fable wanted more. Darkness beckoned. Wast and unexplored, it urged to be sought. Fable needed to find its own and establish a home – all baby birds leave their nests.

– Nests? Birds?

Fable stirred.

From where came these words that had no place in the dark? How “it” grew into a “she”? Ever since Fable awoke from the dream of fire, she couldn’t shake the sense that something wasn’t right. The kind of impression that hailed before you get knifed in the back. It didn’t let go. It simply spread like a cold sweat.

She had a notion of being here for a remarkably long time. Long enough to turn from a grain of sand to a jewel of a heart, concealed inside the chest of a marionette. But why did visions of blue sky or snow dominate her mind? Fable remember flames, but how can anything burn under water? She remembers pain, but who had hurt her?

A memory flickered — Alex… — And drew a flood of emotions, a sweeping waterfall that swelled her chest and drove it to burst. He had the broadest smile behind that goofy beard of his.

“Mommy,” Fable’s voice broke weakly, pushing against the water that clogged her lungs.

“Hush...” Mother kissed her forehead. “It’ll be over soon. Sleep, my child.”

Her lips were frigid and bonny. So was her hand that stroked Fable’s cheek. Yet they brought comfort.

So… warm. So safe.

— I… will… s…. NO! Wake Up!

Fable fought against herself. Struggled to get hold of her slipping awareness.

“Did I? I tried… fell. Is he...” Her sleepy tongue sticked like taffy in her mouth.

“Hush~!” Mother’s embrace grew tighter. “Sleep… please.” Her voice seemed sad.

Fable yearned to see Mother’s experience, to know her burden. Was it something she did? If so, Fable would undo it in a heartbeat. She would whistle and waltz just to make her Mother happy.

Fable will heed Mother’s request, sleep and never wake... if only she’ll get an answer.

“Is Alex alive?”

A gentle glow bloomed from Fables chest – her heart, a violet amethyst, shined like a smokey mist and drew back the curtains of the dark.

“Mom…”

She been beautiful in life and remained so in death. Her eyes were hollow, mouth lipless. Her hair, curvy and long, hung suspended in water. In her bony arms, Mother held Fable like an infant.

Mother had a gem of her own, but unlike Fables, it was dark, blackened… dead? It extended out of her rib cage, devoured her legs and proceeded down, past the light of Fables heart. Web of silver slithered between branches of crystal.

The sight was breathtaking.

“I told you to SLEEP!” Mother’s affection embrace turned harsh.

Fable heard her bones creak and snap. It hurt. Mother was harming her.

“Please, stop, you’re hurting me.”

“Hush, sleep, It’ll be over shortly.” Mother replied in the same loving voice as before while simultaneously add the pressure.

“Mom… mom… LET ME GO, YOU BITCH!” Ebba snapped.

Her pinned up anger erupting like a volcano. She did the unthinkable, clenched her fist and punched Mother right in her face.

Stunned, more so from the acting then the force, Mother slackened her grip, giving Fable opportunity to wiggle herself out of Mother’s ‘loving’ embrace. Then in a fluid motion, she thrust herself from her encore and drifted away. Mother vanished from the range of Fable’s hearts, but her presence hung in the dark as a foreboding feeling.

“Mom…” Fable recognized that Mother had betrayed her, but it didn’t dampen the pain, she likewise had rejected Mother.

Sadly, this was neither the time or place to dwell on it. Mother might change her mind and follow. Fable peddled, unsure where to go.

— Up, you dum-dum!

She chided her scattered brain. Fable hadn’t thoroughly awakened from the trance-like state she was under. Why did she consider that ‘Thing’ as her mother? Furthermore, how the heck she wind-up at the bottom of a… pool? Lake? Ocean?

Maybe all that salt she inhales got to her head?

While she belittled herself, Fable struck something from behind. Frightened, she spun to gaze a god reincarnated. Naked and perfect in every aspect, Greek sculpture of manly godliness.

— Kin.

Her heart resonated with the though. They looked nothing alike, and yet, Fable had the same overprotective urge when she raised her little brother. The stranger had the longest eyelashes Fabled had ever witnessed on a man. His eyelids were closed, and he appeared to be asleep if not dead. Either way, he wasn’t safe here. He might turn into the next casualty of Mother’s hugs.

“Hello?”

No response. Fable had no time to diddle–daddle, she pinched the man’s nipple, hard. At once he awoke angrily.

“Hey, we got to go, a big scary monster will eat us or something!” Fable never been the convincing type. But the girl tried.

— Please, don’t hit me!

His eyes widened as he stared at her face. Did she have a bad hair day? Or was it the pull of kinship she felt?

“Who..?” Even his voice suited his body—deep and rich.

“Introductions, later. We seriously got to fly.”

Surprisingly, he nodded, no questions asked, and looked around. About to swim upwards, the Greek-god paused and pointed in the distance.

A shape. The man’s jewel added to light let them see further in the dark. Fable was half convinced it was Mother, ready to go after them, but no. Someone else and further a smaller frame that of a child.

“Wake him, I’ll get the kid.”

He seemed to agree as he swam the right way. A guy of few words. The Greek-god rushed like a mermaid and got to them first. Up close, they were astonished to learn that the other one was no man at all—a Minotaur? Half human, half bull, his horns stretched longer than Fables arms and he himself was so humongous that they almost didn’t notice another fellow hiding in his shadow. A slender male with longer limbs than usual.

Fable caught herself thinking – Give the man some black suite and he’ll be Slender Man.

Strange as they appeared, the same kinship resonated in Fable’s heart when she studied them. Same with the youth who had our eyes and arms, and silver hair, long as the girl herself. She resembled a doll.

Fable neared and used both hands to pinch the sleeping lady’s cheeks.

“Ow!” Exclaimed the doll-face and drew back.

“Can you swim?” A Dum-Dum question again. “Come.” Fable grabbed the adolescent’s hand and peddled upwards.

Greek-god, Minotaur and Slender Man had a head start.

— Shiiit!

Her left arm and leg refused properly to function. In the commotion, Fable forget her shattered bones. The pain had dulled to monotone throbbing. Were they broken? She recalled a snap.

Adrenaline—the best painkiller in the world.

Luckily, the girl didn’t protest and soon swam on her own. One forever long time later, they made it to the top.

With gasps, they broke the surface of the murky water and heard the greeting of echoes of loud thumping of metal. The same darkness shrouded the surface.

Disoriented, Fable blinked away droplets of water and coughing up liquid from lungs, breath in the air for the first time.

What was making that sound?

“Up ahead,—stairs!”

Others steered, guided by the voice of Greek-god. Their jewel lights resembled paper lanterns floating in the black sea, with each a unique shade of violet. Bull’s more crimson, Greek-god’s golden, Slender Man’s bluish and the doll-face’s white mixed with pinkish lilac.

The sight was mesmerizing.

— Family.

Again, irrational thoughts croaked Fables head. Her kin, but how? Related by blood, crystal, fate? What’s going on?

Greek-god reached the shore and crawled on the upwards leading steps. This small gesture of civilization seeded in the desire to return to normalcy. As if a few strides on the dry ground could return Fable to her apartment, back to her boyfriend's embrace.

Suddenly, the door opened and put a stop to it. Greek-god’s was immersed in a blinding white light, his dark silhouette staggered a few strides back until a sharp object drove through him.

Hidden by light, two men had charged in the chamber, both dressed in feudal-like armor and armed with swords. The oldest had stabbed Greek-god in the chest.

Minotaur reacted first, practically springing out of the water on to land, and clutched the younger man. The red-haired soldier struggled, trying to injure the bull, but he was no match. Minotaur swung back and tossed the guy in the water where he splashed ere disappearing. His armor was too heavy to swim. By then, Greek-god had taken care of himself. Pushing on the man’s shoulders, they both screaming run up the stairs despaired through the door.

All happened so fast.

“Sich vorsehen” Slender Man’s voice startled her.

Was that German?

He and doll-face stood next to Fable, both starting where Greek-god went.

Unperturbed by silly fear or self-preservation, Minotaur climbed up, every step bulging out his muscles. His jewel glowed blood red. Fable practically tasted the rage seeping out of him. It was the same one she knew. That human had hurt her kin, her brother. If it wouldn’t be for her left hand and leg, she might have joined. But she acknowledged her vulnerability. Fable would have been in the way.

Like a shadow, she limped up with doll-face and Slender Man in tow.

It was over when they reached the top. The old soldiers lied dead with a head of gory mess. Greek-god sat next to him, sword still protruding from his chest.

The hallway looked like the aftermath of a fight. Worm-like creatures swarmed out of the deceased monster’s flesh. Wiggling, they resembled black tadpoles that had one gigantic eye for a body. Minotaur huge mass stood motionless, looking down at the little things—mesmerized.

Fable knelt beside Greek-god. Silver blood gushed from the wound and dripped thick like mercury. How was he even alive? She brushed the tip of the blade and felt it real and sharp. The man’s once vibrant faced had turned hallow with eyes half closed as if in a daze.

He needed help, but how? If she was to pull the sword out, it would open the hole and bleed him out.

While she pondered, a stinging pain struck her left foot, but before she checked, what it was, a woman’s voice spoke.

“Greetings.”

She had a headdress of golden butterflies and the beauty of a goddess, draped in white garb – Roman style?

“Don’t be frightened.” She said holding a bloody dagger while standing next to a boy slumped against the wall with a slit neck. “I am your guide.”