I'm dead. I must be. My whole body aches, and I feel like I've been ripped apart. I open my eyes and wiggle my toes. Groaning, I lift my head and look around. I'm not at home, I realize with a jolt. Slowly and carefully, I get into a sitting position and look at my surroundings. I'm nowhere I recognize, but I feel like I know this place.

I get up and stretch for a bit and my surroundings change. Now I am positioned in front of a huge metal gate. Despite the rust and the obvious age to it, the gate looks like magic itself.

Beautifully crafted symbols décor the perimeter. It looked to be once black, but the paint is now scraping off, leaving it both black and grey. Despite the flaws in it, I stare at it in awe. Then, past through the holes in the gate, my eyes fall on the structure behind it.

Way, far beyond the gate, lifted high by the mountains, lies a building. Not even that, but a piece of art. The walls rise high, kissing the clouds as they hide from the sun. I see the drawbridge, how it is placed just above all the trees, preventing anyone from entering. The towers on all sides rise, protecting the building it looks like. The dark brown of the bridge contrasts with the dull grey of the building, but in a way that captures the eye.

From my distance, I'm not quite sure, but it looks like there are inscriptions on the whole exterior of the building. Even odder, it looks like those inscriptions are moving, or at least changing.

I don't know where I am, but I know I'd rather be in there.

 Again, the image changes, now to a cave entrance. Nothing is visible past the light the sun gives, but sounds can be heard from inside.

Sounds that don't quite sound entirely human.

Behind me, through the trees, I hear a shuffling sound. Something captures my eye to the left, then to the right. Whatever it is, it seems to be playing with me. Something from inside the cave lets out a blood-curdling scream, and the creature from the bushes stalks forward.

I stifle a scream. Never have I ever laid eyes upon such a horrendous creature.

It seems to be looking at me the same way I'm looking at it. With disgust, horror, and a bit of fear.

The next thing I know, I'm running into the mouth of the cave, no idea of where my feet are taking me. The creature chases me, its angry breath following me as I try to escape it. 

I don't know what happened. One second, we were just looking at each other, the next, it just snapped and started towards me. I can hear the heavy thumps of its feet trying to catch up with me. The sound mixes with the noise of my breathing, coming in loud and heavy heaves.

The cave seems to be just a straight line, but I can't tell with the darkness enveloping us. With the dark path before me and the creature behind me, my time seems limited. My broken body begs me to stop, to take a break, but my mind urges me to run faster.

Looking ahead, only a broken lamp dimly lit is visible, along with two tunnels facing apart. Thanks to the lamp, I can now see that the walls of the cave are closing in, robbing me of my ability to breathe properly.

I can also see the shadow of the being behind me.

As I near the tunnels, I can see symbols on them, words I do not recognize, writing I cannot comprehend. I look from one tunnel to the next, hoping I'll get a sign of which I should take. Then, sly as the wind, something soars past my ears, and as I turn to look, I see a raven. Broken little thing, missing one eye and having a scraped beak, doesn't look like he's having a good time. Instead of flying away, he makes his way towards me and perches on my shoulder.

The sound of the creature shakes me, but the bird merely tilts its head, pointing towards the tunnel to my left. I don't think, I just run. The judgment of the raven was enough for me.

I ran through the tunnel, feeling like the walls were caving in and the weight of the bird crashing down on me. I had to stop, get my bearings together. The only sound heard was my heavy breathing echoing off the walls.

That's when I realized, I don't hear the creature. It stopped chasing me.

Why? I thought. What's down this tunnel that even that thing didn't want to see?

With the options I have, either going back towards that creature or to the unknown, this path seems brighter. Or at least a bit safer.

I kept walking farther into the tunnel, jumping at every sound, though it seems the only beings in this cave are me and the bird. Whatever I heard here before seems to be gone.

Maybe they saw the creature come in, I thought, and they ran.

I kept my focus on my feet, one foot in front of the other. The light from the lamp could do no more to help me see. The more I walked, the less I saw. With my eyes trained to my feet, and my hands feeling along the walls, I realized I was in a very exposed position. Should anything try and attack me, I would fall victim to it without question. The raven jumped off my shoulder and flew towards the dark, no longer visible by me.

At least it saved itself, I thought meekly as I continued feeling my way. Soon enough, I heard the flaps of the wings telling me the bird had returned. It went behind me and started to fly into my back. I think it was showing me the way, maybe telling me where to go. The rest of the way the bird pushes and pulls, guiding me through this maze of a place. Gone was the straight path, replaced with pathways and hooks everywhere. Eventually, I saw light, and I ran towards it.

Nearing it, I saw a clearing and a forest not far behind.

I stepped out of the cave and almost fell to my knees in relief. I close my eyes for a second, getting it all together, before opening them. Upon opening, I look around to realize my surroundings changed again.

Silently cursing under my breath, I see a woman up ahead. Just as I was about to go up, a man comes from behind and knocks her out.

It was so fast — I blink and she's down.

He goes down to lift her when more men come and survey the area. I hide behind a tree, praying for the women but hoping they'd leave without seeing me.

I hear them say some things, too muffled for me to understand, and they turn to go. I pear around the tree to see them just as they went behind a wall and promptly disappeared. The man turns in a way that I got a look at the woman's face.

Her face seemed so familiar. Like I've seen it before.

No, I know I've seen it before.

But I just can't remember where.

In seconds, I'm transported to another place. My body turns in circles as I try to take it all in.

Humans dying.

Friend killing friend.

Innocent lives gone.

A war.

A tear traces its way down my cheek as I see what's unfolding in front of me.

I groan as I look to my side.

An arrow.

Someone shot me.

I fall to my knees, barely keeping consciousness as I see a shadow above me.

I saw a sword coming down, right over my heart.

The last thing I saw was a smile playing around my attacker's lips as he- it- brought the sword down.

Authors Note- Hey everyone! This is my first story on Wattpad, and I am really excited to write and continue with this! I would really appreciate it if you left your feedback, what you liked, didn't like, etc, just so I can improve as a writer and give you all high-quality work. This is a work in progress, and I have plans on the storyline, so please stick around until it starts to get better because I promise it will! Thank you all so much!