Last chance

Prologue

Deep in the forest of nightmares there exists horrors beyond waking imagination, no one should have to see even once in their life time. Let alone over and over again. Trudging through the forest along a well worn dirt path was a lone human figure. They had flowing black hair and tired grey eyes, dulled by a fate worse than any death, every death. Branches clawed their skin as they hugged their arms close to them self just trying to get to the end of a familiar path. At a long awaited break in the trees a giant creature blocked the exit. The figure’s heart sank as a giant humanoid figure stretched nine feet high before them. It was a grotesquely stretched man whose neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Its bones creaked as the ligaments barely held its limbs together. Its crooked mouth twisted into a cruel grimace and its glowing red eyes radiated betrayal as they fixated on the small figure approaching from the forest. They looked up, tears in their eyes and hugging them self even more tightly as their eyes fixed on the tall creature. Blood splashed loudly as it pooled beneath the giant and splashed on the figure.

“You…did…this…” it growled as it painfully raised a broken gangly arm to point a gnarled finger accusingly at the figure. “YOU. SOLD. ME. OUT.” It accused again.

The figure looked startled, tired grey eyes widening in surprise. “What!? No I didn’t!” They exclaimed in a battle worn, hoarse voice. “What are you talking about?”

“Only. You. Knew. They. Found. Me.” The giant croaked out and the figure fell to their knees sobbing.

“I swear I didn’t tell…I’m so sorry I was late but I didn’t tell anyone!” They curled into a ball, not even knowing if there was a chance to make this right.

“You. Did. This.” The giant slowly stretched a hand towards the crouching figure. “You did this” it repeated over and over as the hand got closer and closer, the smaller figure accepting their fate. “youdidthis! Youdidthisyoudidthisyoudidthis” over and over again with each inch that was closed.

Suddenly an urgent voice sounded in the crying figure’s head, familiar, but unknown. “Name him! It’s not too late!” The voice insisted, drawing the figure out of the panic that was filling them.

Stricken with clarity from the voice the small figure looked up with a flushed tearstained face to face the giant as it’s hand was directly in front of it. “Derek! Derek Tremin please hear me! It’s okay…it’s going to be okay! I’m here now…you’re safe.” They reached out and gently took the large hand that was in front of them.

Slowly the hand and the figure shrunk and took the form of a young man with dark skin, kind, scared eyes, and a fuzzy head of hair. “Derek…” They whispered and gently pulled the bloody broken boy into their arms. “I know they scared you…but it’s okay…sibby’s here now.” They said and the boy hugged them back. “I’m going to set it right…”

“It’s too late…” the boy whimpered and hugged back with a whimper of pain. “No it’s not…it’s never too late…Don’t lose yourself…hold on…I’m coming…” They assured him and as they held him the boy began to fade into a wisp of light. Taking a moment to breathe the figure looked at the archway that led to the clearing beyond, that now loomed before them. They didn’t know how many more times their soul could endure this.

Taking a deep breath they walked out to the clearing, faced with a deep endless pit stretched before them. The pit of choice. They held themselves tighter as they approached the pit and looked in. Images of their life swirled around in the pit as they looked in, showing them all the pain, failures, regrets, betrayals and deaths they endured all through their life. They fell to their knees again staring in at the pain as it all filled them at once. The moon shone down on them illuminating them more than the rest of the clearing around them. Tears fell hard and fast, dripping down their shirt and onto the grass below them. Every place their tears landed the grass died as they cried deep bitter tears. They didn’t know how many more times they could watch them self-fail their task before they just gave in to the pit. Maybe this time. Maybe they didn’t need to try again. Maybe the answer was that they were never going to save them. Maybe they just needed to give in this time. They were a fool to think they could change the world.

Slowly a massive maw opened up in the pit and tendrils began to rise from around it. Dread and sorrow seeped out of the pit and filled the figure at its edge. “29 attempts is so many…give in…be free…” a sickly sweet voice rose up from the depths of the pit. It was dark, alluring, and deceptive. It sounded like the best answer. Why should they try again? The result was always the same. It would always be the same. There would never be a different outcome. The promise of the pit was freedom, and it had never been more inviting than it was right at that moment.

“Is it real? Would all of this finally be finished?” The figure asked weakly, bitter tears still dripping onto the grass. A warrior who had seen so many battles, suffered so much death and loss. The fight, that fire of justice and vengeance, was finally dying in them. There was nothing left that they could even call a spark. Nothing but smoldering embers that were smoking and slowly going out. They felt the dark red tendrils slowly wrapping around them and slowly pulling them into the pit. They slowly opened their eyes and looked into the pit. There was a large row of glistening white teeth, saliva dripping from the gaping maw as it thought of its meal. A long awaited, well fought for meal.

Suddenly in a flurry of wings and feathers the figure was ripped from the monster’s grasp. “No!” The figure screamed and the Pit roared in rage the tendrils writhing in pain and hate trying to catch them. They weaved in and out of the moving appendages. Soon they found themselves flying towards the cliff beyond the pit.

“Not yet…you have a promise to keep.” The familiar voice from before whispered in their ear before another flurry of wings left them alone on top of the cliff. They looked around startled, before looking at their feet. Laying there was a single large hawk feather. The Pit let out a wail of pure, primal rage sounding like a tornado siren. The figure reached down and picked up the feather by their feet and stared at it. Slowly that spark in them reignited and they looked back at the pit. It’s promises of freedom didn’t seem so alluring from so far away.

“YOU FOUL PIDGEON!” The pit screamed in rage at something the figure couldn’t see. “YOU CAN’T PROTECT IT FOREVER! I WILL HAVE WHAT IS MINE!”

The figure tensed and tried to remember why it had a claim on them. Flashes of a young child in twin braids, a lost puppy, a new friend, and a broken heart all flashed in their head before that same kind, unknown voice whispered in their head. “Ignore it…wake up.”

The pit seemed to be getting farther and farther away as the rest of the world around them faded away into nothing.

Suddenly there was darkness, nothing. Emptiness.

Then a beeping. A steady, rhythmic beep. A heartbeat.

Slowly they opened their eyes again. This time they were in a hospital. The forest was nowhere to be seen. They looked at their body. Their long hair was chopped short. Their skin was a sickly grey and inserted into their arm was an iv. They looked at the heart monitor attached to them and saw the beeping starting to get more frantic as their panic started to set in. There were lacerations and bruises covering their body. They had no idea who they were or how they got here. The more they tried to figure it all out the louder the heart monitor got. The more frantic the beeping became the more they panicked. It was a cycle until a voice broke the cycle.

“If you don’t calm down they will find you.” Startled the teenager turned to face the voice. Standing in the corner framed in the window, was a tall woman, about 6 feet tall. She was backlit by the full moon shining through the large bay window she was standing in. She had cropped teal hair that was longer on one side, soul piercing yellow eyes, and smooth caramel skin. She wore ripped black jeans, a red tank shirt with a large feather tribal design on it, and an off black leather jacket, covered in pins and buttons. To the teenager she was beautiful, but in a dangerous kind of way. She was also comforting, like a friend they had been waiting years to see. Looking at them for a few moments was enough to calm them down so they could speak.

“I’m…sorry. Who are you?” they asked softly their voice hoarse from lack of use. The woman looked startled and a little hurt, then relieved. It was that last part that confused the teenager. Why would this woman be relieved that they didn’t know her? Did she do something bad?

“You don’t know me?”

“I’m sorry, should I?”

The woman quickly shook her head. “No, it’s better you don’t. It means you’re almost out. You have just one more step to go.” She said and the teenager was suspicious.

“What does that mean!? What did you do?” They demanded sitting up getting dizzy in the process. The woman chuckled at that, as if that was exactly the reaction she was hoping for.

“I can’t answer that. I brought you here. I found you like this and brought you to this place so you could recover. They did a number to your soul and you needed time to recover. You’re almost ready to go back out there. It’s good to see your spirit back.”

The teen stared at her untrustingly. “Did you do this to me? Who are ‘they’? What’s going on!”

She nodded as if that was a sensible reaction, exactly what she was hoping for. It was just making the teen more irritated. “I did…in a sense…but I’m trying to set it right. I got you wrapped up in something a really long time ago. But I’ve taken 29 life times to fix it. They, are the forces of darkness who don’t want you to succeed. They want you to fail and they are doing everything in their power to stop you. You have to remember who you are before you go out there. Who are you?” She asked and the teen tensed at that question.

“I don’t know…I’m…” they reached up and touched their hair. “this hair is wrong…” The woman nodded encouragingly.

“Will it…you can become who you are.” The cropped black hair slowly grew out to mid back length firey red hair.

“What else.”

They looked at their body as they slowly braided their hair. “My name is Ember.” They said slowly zoning out. The woman nodded.

“Yes! Hold on to that tightly. They, out there, will try to tell you that you’re wrong, that it’s not your name. You must never lose who you are.”

Ember slowly looked up at the woman. “who are you? How will I find you out there?”

The woman blinked, almost startled. “My name is Diane. You’ll find me…you always do.” She said calmly and Ember growled and glared at her.

“Okay but how! You said we’ve done this 29 times? Maybe I spend too much of it looking for you because you’re always here.”

Diane paused and stared at them. They didn’t remember, that much was clear, but they had a really good point there. She stared as their silver eyes glared at her. Finally she gave in and sighed. “You wont find me as a woman at first. But one day a hawk is going to crash into your room. It’s going to break it’s wing and you’re going to care for it. That’s how it goes every time. That’s when we meet. That’s when everything starts…”

Ember looked thoughtful then nodded and finished braiding their hair. “Okay…what am I even trying to do? What have we even done so many times?”

Diane seemed surprised. Clearly she wasn’t used to Ember asking so many questions. This was already different, and Ember, with no memories of it, could tell. The woman seemed to be having trouble being mysterious and still answering all the questions.

“This may be cheating…” Diane said worriedly glancing at the window and the door then at Ember who seemed unmoved by that tidbit and sighed hugging their knees to their chest.

“I should know what I’m getting into…if I’ve done it before I should have some memory of it right?” Ember reasoned and Diane smiled softly as if that was exactly what she expected from the teenager.

“Okay I’ll give you some vague thing…like a prophecy because you’ll remember most of this when you wake up again. So…” Diane thought long and hard about what she was going to tell them. Finally she got something and smiled gently at them.

“Ten in one, the world goes dark. A year of horrors plagues the earth and demons crawl out of hiding to wreak havoc on all races. A band of six, unlikely and broken, together can bring the light back to the world. All they must do is survive the year. They demons will come for them, and try to stop their ascension. If they all survive, A decade of light and prosperity awaits the world. Darkness cannot win. Again and again darkness prevails, again and again the fire child wishes for another chance to win. This cannot happen again. Light must prevail.” Diane said her eyes glowing a bright yellow before they faded.

Ember seemed to understand from just that exactly what they needed to do. They needed to find Diane, and then find four other people. “Will you remember when we meet?” Ember asked looking at the woman in the window. Sadly the woman shook her head. “No…I’ll start over too…I just happened to survive this time…” She said softly.

“Did anyone else survive with you?” Ember asked sadly and Diane looked at the floor. “no…” she said softly. “never more than one survives…you and one other…”

A long silence stretched between them then Diane looked up again. “Please…Don’t let your pride cause you to fail this time…You’re the leader…but you’re not alone…”

Ember looked startled, then down at their hands. They had pride issues? They nodded. “Okay…” they said and looked up at Diane. “What happens now?”

“When you’re ready…you’ll go back to sleep. When you wake up again you’ll be in your life. Your journey will begin again. I can’t say exactly what point in your life you’ll be at. It could be the day before the darkness falls, it could be a year before. You could be a child. It’s where ever they feel is best for you to start. Whether they hope you forget everything, or get complacent, or don’t want to risk your development before they can strike. It isn’t fair but they get to decide…”

Ember clenched their fists. “so we’re playing at a handicap?” They demanded indignantly but Diane shushed them.

“Maybe…but in the forest you didn’t remember, and you never ask questions. They might not be listening. They might think you don’t know anything. Which means if you wake up shortly before the darkness…if you wake up at this age…write down everything you remember from this dream. It wont be a handicap then because you will be prepared. But you have to go soon. They could start listening at any time. If they find out I told you we could both be in even more danger.”

Ember nodded firmly. “Diane…” They said softly and looked at her for a moment before holding a hand out to her. She softened a little and moved over to take her hand. “Above all else…we are friends…It’ll be okay…I promise…” Ember said softly and Diane smiled sadly at that. She leaned down and wrapped her arms around her.

“Yeah.” She said softly and seemed to be holding something back as she held her close. There was something about this that sparked something else in Ember but they didn’t say anything about it as they held her tightly.

After the embrace Diane pulled away and walked back to her window to take up her post again. “This is my fault…I signed us up for the quest the first time…” Diane admitted and Ember paused laying back down and looked at her. Then a gentle understanding smile spread on her face and she shook her head.

“It was the right thing to do. I would too.” They said and lay back down. They turned to face Diane so her face, a grateful but sad smile forming, would be the last thing she saw as she went back to sleep. The room blurred and slowly faded to black. As the world started to fade there was one more thing Diane had to say. Something she had been hesitant to say during the entire conversation. Something that was so vital, and she finally decided it had to be said. She blurted it out to be sure Ember would hear it as they faded back to the plane of the living. A frantic shout that she wasn’t even sure would penetrate the veil. Of all the things she needed Ember to remember this was the most important.

“This is our last chance!”