Awakening

“Awaken child”

I slowly opened my eyes. I was in some kind of tube. I slowed down and looked around. It was so cold here.

“We need to go child” It was a woman’s voice. It felt like she was talking into my head. I slowly reached out and pushed the tube open. There was a loud hissing noise and I fell forward face first and the metal floor.

I slowly got up and looked around. It was some kind of facility with tubes like the one I was in but they had all been shattered. I looked down. I had no shoes on, just a black bodysuit and had a bronze sword design stitched onto the left side of my thigh.

“Hurry child you must leave this wretched place” I could hear anger and fear in her voice. Whoever she was, she was not a fan. I looked back at the tube that I had been stuck in. I had no memory of who I was or where I was from. There was a small sign with letters on it that said Anastasia Queenheart aged twenty-two. Is that me? I thought I was so confused there was a voice in my head telling me to go and I couldn’t remember anything before waking up in the tube.

The place I had been at had been long since abandoned. I made my way through the facility. It was old and decrepit. There was smashed glass everywhere along with wires hanging from the ceiling. There were dents and holes in the walls along with claw marks. Whatever did this on a complete rampage.

“Take the next left child you will be brought to the surface”

That same angelic voice again I didn’t know why but I felt like I could trust her. I slowly made my way up to the ladder and started climbing.

“Who are you? The voice in my head?

“It matters not who am I but your safety right now”

Okay, that was helpful. I thought she wanted to keep quiet about her identity. “What is this place?” “ A place of death the worst things that walk the face of the earth came from here however It has long since been abandoned”

I slowly pushed the hatch open and stepped outside. It was a little bit warmer outside. I was in some kind of alley. I looked around and the walls were covered in graffiti and symbols I couldn’t understand. I slowly walked out of the alley and when I saw it there were buildings higher than the eye could see, however, they were mostly destroyed. There wasn’t a single sign of life anywhere. Cars had been either destroyed or abandoned, the shops were smashed up or inaccessible. It was late afternoon by the looks of it but what was this place? I heard a ton of noise and I immediately slipped back into the alley and hid behind a dumpster. I quietly watched as a group rode past me. They were covered in blue war paint. The top half of their bodies were human but the bottom part was a horse they yelled and cheered as they disappeared down the road.

“What the hell was that?”

“It was a centaur child”

“A Cena-what now”

“A beast that is half man half horse the are the fastest animals on land and the best hunters they speak a very old tongue you should avoid them at all costs”

Avoid them at all costs huh how am I supposed to do that when I don’t even know where I am. This is exhausting I slowly peaked out of the alley and took another look around I didn’t see anyone or anything before I could take another step the voice in my head chimed in “take a right child I will act as your guide to help you find an old friend of mine” this was a lot of bitterness in her tone when she said that whoever this friend as she wasn’t a fan of them either. I slowly moved through the city. It was the same scenery: destroyed buildings, overgrown trees and wrecked cars every once in a while I would have to hide from another group of centaurs.

What happened to me? How did I end up in a test tube? Why is the world like this? I had a million different questions but when I had the lady in my head she remained silent. She seems to only wanna speak to give me directions and to tell me when to hide.

I had been walking for almost an hour and the sun had already started setting. It was one turn after another. I had no idea where I was going or who this friend was but whoever was should be a saint or something because I was in dire need of one. I looked down at the shoes I had stolen from one of the shops I wasn’t proud of. I couldn’t exactly walk around this place without footwear. I had also grabbed a dark blue windbreaker and a scarf to go along with for a sense of warmth.

“Child you need to run right now there is a great danger coming towards you if you do not run away I fear you will be killed”

I took an immediate right turn into the alley and ran to the end but it was a complete dead end. There had to be some way I could hear the hoofbeats. A group of centaurs was coming and there were a lot of them. I slowly walked backwards and I hit a wall I was at the end of the alley. “My friend is near child, trust him we will speak again soon” The Centaurs were seconds away just before I thought they were gonna grab me. A pair of hands reached out through the shadows and pulled me in. I couldn’t even scream because whatever grabbed me had put a hand over my mouth. I could still somehow see the alley the centaurs stopped and looked and after not seeing anything they rode off.

Whatever had grabbed me had gently let me go. I felt pressed up against something warm yet hard. I turned around and it was a guy he couldn’t be much older than I was he wearing a black three-piece suit with a red tie he had also thrown a black long coat over it his expression was pure surprise he didn’t even try to hide it his hair was pure black slicked back the sides had been shaved he had just grown out the top he was wearing a bandana around his forehead his red eyes bored into mine. He towered over me by a good couple of inches. I didn’t know how tall I was but he was way taller. I looked down and I saw the sword attached to his belt which had a centrepiece of a woman with a snake for hair. I was creeped out, to be honest, his face had a scar going over his left eye along with burns on his neck. He was ghastly pale like he was sick or something.

I turned around to a group of people who were all heavily armed and looked ready to go to war. I looked around. We were in some kind of old building. There were a ton of crates, some of them were sitting on them watching me. The guy who I assumed was the leader was silently watching me process the room I didn’t even know what to say or do.

I looked over at the girl leaning on one of the crates on his direct right. She had on blue jeans a pair of black ankle boots a black turtleneck with a beige overcoat a small cherry blossom tattoo was sticking out of the edge of the collar she was a foreigner from where I didn’t know but her eyes shape was different from the rest they almost looked like she squinting. The face mask design she had on was an open mouth with fangs with blood on them. The look in her crystal green eyes from what I could see was the same as the guy in front of me; her pupils however slit instead of round. She had a bunch of knives clipped to her belt on either side as well as under her arms. The guy on his left hand in a black suit with a silver cross hanging around his neck had a bible in one hand and an assault rifle in his other hand. His blonde hair was gelled back. He had crystal blue eyes. I felt like I was looking at water. He was also wearing a fedora for some reason. The guy sitting on the crates behind them had a mad look in his brown eyes. He was darker than the rest. His head was shaved but he did have a goatee. He was wearing a three-piece dark blue pinstripe suit. He had scars all over his knuckles and parts of his neck were covered in ice. The girl that was behind stood out even more than the rest she had on a grey three-piece suit and was also wearing a fedora but her most noticeable feature was not her golden hair or silver eyes but her long pointed ears and pale skin. She looked like someone that was frozen in time leaning up against the crate. She out of everyone’s passive faces or surprised ones seem to be amused. It’s almost as if she knew something I didn’t. She had a quiver on her back along with a silver and green bow

“Who are you?” It was the guy with the red eyes. They felt like they were looking right into my soul. I couldn’t even give him a straight answer because honestly, I didn’t know myself.

“Honestly I don’t know I woke in some kind of lab a few hours ago and some voice in my head told me to come here and find an old friend that’s what she said at least”

“She?”

Yeah the lady in my head said to find her old friend and that they would be able to help”

“Huh that’s not possible though you shouldn’t even be here ”

“What’s not possible?”

“Me and the girl with the mask on watched you die six years ago”