Years of Forget: Rewrite

Chapter one

But, he never felt the impact. He was safely on the ground, no damage to his legs- or anything, really. Just a couple cuts from the broken stone. Maybe it was the adrenaline. He looked around him to discover he had landed in some pretty, white, strong-smelling flowers. He imagined the Warnters might have a hard time smelling through the flowers. He jumped as two more curious Warnters sniffed the hole into the city. Crow could see that the attempt to take down the first one had failed, as there was a trail of spattered blood leading further into the city.

Crow huddled against the wall, in the flowers, hoping that the beast wouldn't smell him. He hid for what felt like an hour, before the speakers came on, announcing that it was safe to come outside. He wandered back into the city, and ran through the streets toward his house. He passed the mechanic's- Bonbon and Melody were fine- and then made a shortcut through Anni's street. He was on the roof. When he finally came to his house, there was blood spilled on the doorway. He carefully stepped in, and to his absolute horror, he found Judy's cold dead eyes staring back at him. The beast had eaten her legs and just... left her there. He left the building immediately, in shock.

This couldn't be happening. His mind raced. Where should he go? What should he do? He wandered through the city, frantically looking for... something. Eventually, he came back to that hole in the wall. The outside world seemed so serene... so quiet, and beautiful. And then he saw the forest. The urge to run there overtook his senses, and he finally gave in. He stepped out into the flowers, starting at a slow pace.

But, the more he looked at it, the faster his walk became. It went from walking, to trotting, to eventually, running. He ran like the wind. Coincidentally, the wind was blowing in the direction he was going. It was a lot farther than he had thought, and he ran for an hour. He became tired, so he walked for two hours or so before finally coming to the edge of the forest. He stopped in his tracks. What was he doing? What could possibly be so important out here? He paced around the edge for a while, wondering if it was worth it. He knew the forest was a lot deeper than the prairie, so it would take a little bit of trekking to get anywhere.

But still, the feeling nagged at him. Pulled him forward. So after a quick rest, he ventured in.

It was beautiful on the inside of the forest. The sunlight seeped through the leaves, illuminating patches of the ground as he walked. He couldn't remember how long he spent walking through the forest, but soon, it started to get dark. And that meant Pale. Dread seeped into his stomach as he kept going forward. The only indication of where he was going was the pulling feeling, but he was still scared, so he picked up the pace.

Suddenly, he stepped out into a clearing, and a bright light illuminated the area. He looked up, and saw the glowing, white leaves of an enormous tree. The feeling told him that this was the place, and Agrobacter started playing again, this time filling his ears. There were little streams of clear water everywhere, and a little cobblestone path brought him to the entrance of a large, old monument. It had a blocky build to it, like a pyramid, and the roots of the tree all came from one spot on the top, spilling down it like a giant, unmoving waterfall. The roots themselves were wider than he was tall.

All of his fears and doubts vanished as he entered the halls of the temple. Water flowed through small channels in the floor, and there were symbols carved on the walls. When he stepped beyond a certain threshold, the symbols and carvings started glowing, as well as the channels filled with water. It illuminated the room, revealing it to be a small reception area of sorts. There were stone benches, candles, and strangely enough, perfectly preserved rugs. Crow took off his shoes, and placed them near the entrance, out of a feeling of respect for the monument. He passed through another door with curtains, that lead into a much larger room, with a huge spiral staircase in the middle.