Small burst of light, incoherent sounds in haunting melodies, a worn down home in a dystopia...

“Tell me what you should never forget?”

Leave me. I coiled deeper into myself, the darkness not remaining still, blobs of shadows lashing me with cold tentacles, drawing me away from rest.

“Tell it to me now!, why do you fight?”

My mind was betraying me, I wanted to rest, I wanted to sleep, I wanted the howls to fade. But my boon were a blessing and a curse, I could not rest, I could not go mad with grief, my soul was diamond.

“you are pathetic!”

That voice. Why was it so familiar. Like nails on chalkboard, it scrapped and dug into my lethargy, not letting me find a moment relief... Get away from me.

“Then let me have it, go to the long night... you should rest, I would carry our burden.”

I know now, why it’s familiar. It was mine. It was the sound of my voice.

Sensations slowly bleeds into me, but first there were sounds, little chittering animals, the twittering of birds, rustling of leaves as the wind blew through them. Then the smell, it was unique and familiar, the scents of the forest__ damp with a mild scent of rot.

I felt a dull pressure on the tip of my finger, I slowly opened my eyes, and saw blinking colours, it shimmered in a mesmerising dance, my mind stilled and I was entranced by the gentle spectacle, it was a butterfly, alighting on my fingertips.

I inched my hands closer to my face, until I could trace the veins in its tiny wings, it fluttered off and my eyes traced its flight, it flew through leaves, and scented flowers, it turned around a huge tree, and disappeared out of sight.

I was in a forest, laying on a healthy bed of dead leaves, I tried to sit up and gasped with pain, six point of deep pain radiating from my chest, my head fell back to the floor with a thump, cold sweat of exhaustion dripped down my scalp. The minor movement nearly taking everything from me.

I lay my head down, and felt my chest. my heartbeat, if you could even call it that, was slow, erratic and sluggish, a tiny breeze it seemed was enough to sniff out their struggles.

I took time to observe my surrounding as I lay on the leaves, the forest was dim, with little beams of light shining through cluttered leaves, it was mostly filled with large trees, with several gigantic ones scattered around its smaller kin. The leaves not only coming in green, but in several vivid shades of yellow, pink and blue... and the lights that bounced off the leaves made the forest glow like rainbows.

For a moment I was at peace, I did not trust that emotion, I was in a position of weakness, anything could come by and take this peace from me, I looked around seeing a fairly wide tree at my back, and slowly crawled towards it.

It took a long while, an extended term of torture that finally ended when I lay my hand on the tree.

I struggled for breath, calling all the resolve inside me and I pushed my self to sit and rest on the trunk.. I stayed still for several minutes, until my mind stopped swimming in exhaustion and I could put down more than two thoughts together.

I touched my naked chest, six dots of pale skin were affixed on it, they throbbed whenever my fingers circled it, thankfully I had been clad with a purple silk loin cloth, it wrapped tightly along my legs to above my knee, with extra folds of material that extended below the knee, like a sirwal worn by ancient Persians __ a piece of knowledge I had that was unverifiable to me. It must have been very durable because there were no tear or even stain on it for that matter, I crawled at least fourteen feet with no change.

The pain in my heart drew me back to the memories of Zarathul good graces. And I knew that the spike he drove through my hearts could have killed me.... should have killed me.

My brain strained to shut off the whys. Why would Zarathul do this to me?. Was I mistaken to believe him when he said I held the legacy of his daughter and wished to keep her flame Alive?. Did he despise me?. Or perhaps it was fear, fear of my potential, I thought I was careful enough by not revealing all the details of the incident. But clearly I was wrong and I did give out far more information that spooked the old Dragon.

My life this past few lifetimes had been nothing but a madman wet dream, and making sense of the waves of tribulation driving me to the bed rock of sanity was futile.

I could do only one thing, move on, get more experienced and get stronger, I had been on the short end of the stick for far too long, I needed to get better. Well as soon as I could figure out how to move without my heart bursting apart due to exhaustion.

I looked around at the trees, tracing my eyes up to the skies, the leaves covered up the view, I had no way to recognise where I was, maybe I could find a tree that mildly sloped upward, so I could shimmer my way up the trunk?.

Looking around the trees were fairly straight. That idea clearly won’t work, perhaps a stick that could support my weight, and aid with movement. I would have to pick up direction and walk. The forest was inhospitable and finding a source for sustenance would be very difficult.

Already I was feeling the rumbling of hunger in my stomach, and my tongue was wooden, all these were minor aches however. My eyes caught a tree with low foliage, some of the branches looked small, yet sizable enough that they could bear my weight. Target acquired.

I spent the better part of five minutes struggling to stand up straight by leaning against the tree, I succeeded, puffing and panting, pain shooting down my throat from the unforgiving dryness of the wind. I will need water soon, I guessed a major source of my weakness was the need for sustenance.

I let my self fall forward but rapidly pumped my legs, and I kind of fall-run towards the direction I picked, I am sure I would have looked like a comical sight, but again I was surprised at my body, even weakened it hold a grace that was unnatural... my arms compensated, and even when my vision got dimmed with pain and tiredness, my body moved like clockwork and I ran Smack into the branches of the tree, where I hung like a fly caught in a Web.

I promptly fell into a dreamless doze, I had drawn every single speck of energy from my cells, resting was my only option, and I indulged in it with abandon. I woke up aware, the normal sounds of the forest had been interrupted, by sounds of laughter.... I was not alone in the forest.