A creative writing piece from teen blogger, Timothy
Nathan woke with a start, his body dripping with sweat. He had woken from a bad dream- a dream that was almost lifelike. He had dreamt that he had fallen from sky, and shattered into billions of fragments when his body impacted with the cold ground.
Nathan had had dreams like this before, but this time, when he woke, he felt his entire body snap, as if he was a giant twig. When he tried to sit up, he screamed out in pain, unable to move, but even worse, he was mute. Every part of his body hurt, as if a blue whale had fallen on him and crushed his bones, all he could do was move his eyes, looking around at his surroundings. After laying in bed for a moment, he tried his voice again, screaming out for help, but again, he was mute, unable to utter even a whisper. He yelled again, and again, hoping if he kept trying, he might be able to find his voice, and maybe, just maybe, someone would hear him, and come help him, but no one came… After yelling for what seemed like forever, he closed his eyes, breathing heavily, his chest heaving.
As he lay in bed, he tried his best not to fall asleep and let his conscious slip away, fearing what might happen if he dreamt again, even if only for a second. Nathan did his best to stay awake, but his conscious started slipping away as his brain tortured him with fragments of his nightmare, driving him past insanity, and to the point of completely breaking, slowly tearing him apart from the inside out.
After battling with his brain for control, Nathan found himself picking the shortest straw in the pile, losing the battle, and quickly drifting back into sleep, letting the nightmares take over, but somehow, this time was different.
As Nathan fell into sleep, he found himself standing in a blood red expanse, all alone. The expanse was very dimly lit, as if the entire world’s light source was one star. As Nathan looked around, he found he was alone, this made him afraid, but when he turned his neck, he realized he was no longer in pain. As he looked around, he saw nothing-just a blank space of blood red expanse. But he could hear a voice, softly laughing, taunting Nathan. Surprised by the voice, he looked around, but saw no signs of life.
“Hehe… What do we have here?” The voice taunted, coming from all directions, disorientating Nathan as he continued to look around.
“W-where are you?” Nathan stammered, unable to find the source of the voice.
“Right behind you.” the voice replied as a shadowy figure slowly began to appear in the haze just a few feet behind Nathan. As the figure began to materialize, they stepped towards Nathan, placing their black-gloved hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump, and land on his back in front of the shadowy figure. “Heh.. sorry, did I scare you?” asked the shadow, now fully materialized.
Nathan looked up at the figure, trying to find his words. In front of him, stood a humanoid creature in pitch black clothes, with one hazel eye, the other eye hidden by their hair. Nathan stayed silent, trying to discern whether this person was a threat or not, his eyes widening when he saw the small throwing knives attached to their belt. The figure had a neutral, but menacing voice, as well as an androgynous body, making it difficult to tell what gender they were. After a moment, the figure reached their hand out towards Nathan, a soft smile on their mostly hidden face. “My name is Daniel. I’m sorry I scared you.” the figure said, helping Nathan up.
“N-Nathan.” Nathan replied, still in shock, “Where are we?”
“I wish I could tell you Nathan, but to be quite honest, I really don’t know. I woke up here a few days ago - at least I think, since it’s hard to tell time when the entire world is one colour...” Daniel said, his voice still quite strong, not wanting to show his fear.
“What are you? You look human, but I couldn’t see you… how?” Nathan questioned, still unsure if he should trust this mysterious person.
Daniel stopped for a moment, smiling as he pondered the question, looking Nathan up and down, laughing to himself as he noticed the poor boy was defenseless. “Good question… As to what I am? I’m not exactly sure… but why you couldn’t see me, that was magic.”
Nathan looked at Daniel, confused as he heard the word 'magic.' “What do you mean, 'magic?'''
Daniel smirked, looking at Nathan. ''What I mean is this cloak is infused with certain magical properties, such as invisibility. Also, this…” Daniel moved his right hand to the black spiral bracelet that was woven around his left hand, tapping it. In a matter of seconds, the charm had begin glowing red, then disappeared. As Daniel reached his hand up, a large scythe with red veins, and a black aura appeared. Daniel smirked, quickly swinging the scythe and smashing it down in front of him, causing Nathan to jump backwards, just barely avoiding the attack.
“What was that for?!” Nathan questioned, outraged that this stranger his randomly attacked him.
“Haha! Sorry, I was testing your reflexes. One wrong move, and you’re dead.” Daniel said, frowning slightly.
“What do you mean? You’re not going to kill me, are you?” Nathan wondered, fear filling his voice.
“Hmm... no, that would be cruel, especially since it would make quite a mess. Unfortunately, there are monsters that roam these plains that would kill to taste the blood of a human, mainly because it would make them more powerful, and we can’t have that happening, now can we?” Daniel said, laughing to himself.
Nathan shivered, feeling a force touch his spine as Daniel explained, feeling the need to duck every time Daniel swung his scythe around. “So, what now? Do you know of any way out?”
“Yes and No.” Daniel replied, letting his walls down as worry slowly began to fill his voice. “Do I know a way out? Yes. But is it safe? Probably not… you might die.”
“I might what?!” Nathan said, shaking, suddenly feeling quite cold-most likely because he was wearing light clothes in a cold ‘world.'
“You might die, but I will do my best to protect you.” Daniel said, flattening his hand out as something appeared on it. “Put these on, they’ll keep you safe.” Daniel carefully handed Nathan a stack of clothes, along with a pair of black combat boots. Nathan hesitated for a moment before carefully taking the bundle, quickly pulling them over his muscle shirt and gym shorts.
“Thanks,” Nathan said, smiling softly. “But what if we get attacked, how will I defend myself?”
“Hmm, true. Hold on..” Daniel carefully took one of his throwing knives from his belt and handed it to Nathan. “Here, this should suffice…”
Nathan looked at the small knife as if it were a joke, “How will this protect me? Compared to your scythe, it’s nothing!”
Daniel smirked, laughing at Nathan as he looked him in the eyes. “Well of course it is, at least if you have that attitude. But in this world, anyone can wield magic… you can make that small knife whatever you want if you will it. Just concentrate.” Nathan did as he was told, and sure enough, after a few seconds, the knife began to slowly grow longer, turning into a sword with red veins, similar to Daniel’s scythe. “There… you do know how to use a sword, right?”
Nathan shook his head, having never wielded a sword before. “No… is there time for lessons?”
Daniel laughed, patting him on the back. “Haha, nope. We better get going, they’ll begin tracking us soon.”
“Where do we go? All I see is red, on red, on red…” Nathan said, frowning as he looked around, unsure of where they would be going.
“We go North,” Daniel replied, pulling a compass out of his cloak. “Of course, according to this, every direction is North, but if I change it, it should then show us true North.”
“And if it doesn’t?” Nathan said, worry filling his voice, “Besides, why should I trust you?”
“Because I’m your only hope,” Daniel calmly replied, “And if I try to cross you, you can cut me down. Deal?”
Nathan stopped for a moment, pondering the question. “I guess… Lead the way!”
After a moment, Daniel frowned, staring down at the compass as it slowly pointed to true North, leading the way. “Let’s go… we don’t have much time.”
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