Rain Drops

Chapter 10

Then, focusing all of my energy into my hands, I pushed them as far up the wall as I could go. Unfortunately, that was very little as I was still too weak to push them higher. However, I managed to get one foot under the top edge of the door in an attempt to support myself and I slowly lifted my foot to reach a new position. As I leaned forward, I tried to increase the strength of my push, but failed miserably. I couldn't use the magic in my blood to propel my weight upwards as I could sense that I would be unable to control the force required. I tried pulling on the door with all my strength, but nothing happened. There was definitely no way that I could ever move the portal to another location. Suddenly, the door opened wide, making me jump backwards in surprise, only to see that I hadn't been discovered by the other side of the door. It seems that I'm not the only one here who doesn't want to reveal their presence. However, I was still very curious about whoever the person was, especially considering how long I've been trapped here. With the amount of curiosity I've accumulated over the past few days, I decided to walk towards the doorway. The person stepped aside, allowing me entry to wherever they were. I walked in as quietly as possible and I was greeted with the most unexpected sight. It was a completely deserted area filled with black mist, with no one around. There were no doors anywhere. Everything was perfectly normal except for the fact that there seemed to be a gigantic hole that stretched beyond the limits of my range of vision. I tried walking further forward, but the moment I got close enough to touch the hole, the darkness suddenly started swirling faster than it usually did. I felt incredibly uncomfortable at this point, but continued walking towards the hole nonetheless. When I was within arm's reach, the dark vortex became larger and bigger until everything stopped spinning. I took a good look at the hole, but all I could see was more darkness. "Do not approach! Otherwise, the hole will swallow you whole," a voice echoed through the air, forcing me to freeze in place, "You have been cursed, human. You are not welcome among us." As soon as I heard these words, I turned and ran back outside of the portal without saying anything. However, I didn't escape unscathed. As soon as I got out of the portal, a huge gust of wind blew past me, knocking me backward. I fell on the grass, the impact sending shock waves throughout my body. Before I could even regain my composure, a large creature landed on top of me. Its breath stung my skin and burned my lungs. The creature stared at me with its blank gray eyes, as if it had noticed that I was struggling to breathe. However, it didn't pay me any mind and continued staring at me. I tried pushing the beast off of me, but unfortunately, I couldn't even lift a finger. However, I managed to get up, and once I had stood up I started running away as fast as I possibly could. Although I was afraid that it would catch up to me before I got very far, I kept running. After running for hours I arrived in the middle of a forest filled with trees similar to those which grew near the house. However, the place was far different than the scenery at home. No longer were there lush greenery. The trees here were withered and shriveled with branches hanging downwards lifelessly. It seemed as though they had died centuries ago and now laid scattered around in random directions. A large part of their leaves were falling from their branches and landing on the ground with a soft thud. Just as I tried to take a quick glimpse of my surroundings, I heard loud footsteps approaching behind me. I immediately turned and began running away, but I soon realized that the creature wasn't coming after me as easily as I had thought. Despite being much bigger and stronger than me, it still had trouble catching me. I ran as hard as I could, knowing very well that it would only get harder when the monster caught up with me. As I continued sprinting through the dense forest, I felt tears starting to form in my eyes, but instead of panicking I decided to try and focus on something else. I thought of the time when my brother would chase me through the woods when we played tag, and how every single time I would try to avoid being attacked by him by jumping behind a tree whenever he appeared. As usual, he always managed to defeat me eventually and then we would play some sort of game together in a nearby clearing. Even though I would never admit it to him, it was probably the best thing about going to the woods and playing tag with him... it reminded me of home. Once I remembered that, I began thinking of my younger brother as he would always call out my name, asking me where I was. If we had gotten separated, he would call out for me repeatedly, his voice growing more desperate every time I didn't respond. As I got closer and closer towards our hideout, I would begin to feel uneasy and start running faster in case he might appear out of nowhere to attack me. Eventually I had grown so scared that I lost track of where I was going, causing me to crash head first into a giant log which blocked my path. With my face covered in dirt and dust, I quickly got up onto my feet. I wiped away the dirt that had smudged onto my face as fast as I could. As my vision cleared up, I found myself standing on a cliff that overlooked a wide valley below me.