Risen [Dean Winchester FanFiction]

Prologue

An unsettling veil of darkness encompassed the vast forest. The soft rays of moonlight reflecting off the blades of grass were hardly bright enough to guide the lost woman through the dense thicket of trees. It was difficult for her to see, and every now and again she would find herself getting caught in the stray branches that obscured her path. For what she counted to be the seventh time, she plucked yet another broken twig out of the tangled mess of her hair, discarding it to the ground with an irritated flick of her finger.

She had no clue just how long she'd been blundering around in the dark. She couldn't even recall how she'd gotten herself trapped in these infernal woods to begin with. Her memories prior to her journey through what she assumed had to be the grassy depths of hell were all hazy. She couldn't remember any of the day's occurring events, let alone what she had for breakfast in the morning. That is, if she'd even eaten anything at all.

And as she hopelessly tried to recollect anything that could prove to be of possible value, the woman noted something startlingly strange. Her thoughts, her memories—anything concerning a life she knew she must have, friends, family—all of it was gone. There was nothing. It was as if her mind had been wiped clean, and yet, there'd been one thing she was relieved to see she hadn't forgotten.

Her name.

What exactly happened to her? Had she gotten hurt? Was she suffering from some form of amnesia?

She hesitantly lifted a hand to her head and began feeling around for any external injuries, but saw that there were none. No bumps, no wounds. Patting the rest of herself down, she failed to find lesions of any kind—excluding that of the small grazes delivered by the sharp branches slashing their way across her face. As she brushed her palms across the pockets of her jacket, a sudden idea burst through her mind like lightning.

A cellphone. What if she had one on her?

Frantically, she searched in every possible place a small, handheld device could fit into. However, to her growing frustration, the universe seemed to be in favor of her misfortune because there wasn't a phone, or even a convenient pair of car keys stowed away into the confines of her pockets. Angrily, she muttered a trail of expletives under her breath.

She was lost to the utmost sense of the word without a guide, a map, or anything relevantly helpful that could shed light onto her confounding situation. If there was one thing she could say she was grateful for amidst her current circumstances, it would be the fact that she wasn't wandering around in the woods, stark naked. She still had the clothes on her back, although they did little to nothing to keep her warm.

With a shuddering breath, she coiled her arms around her midriff, hugging herself as tight as she could. Aside from the sound of dead leaves crunching under the soles of her shoes, not a sound could be heard through the thicket, and it made a sense of uneasiness settle deep in the pit of her stomach.

What if she never found her way out? What if no one came to her rescue? What if she died out here, all alone?

Hopelessness began to nestle itself into the deepest cracks of her mind. She couldn't tell if she'd been walking for hours, days, or weeks. She had no tangible sense of time, and without her memories she felt truly lost.

There was no way she was going to make it out of the forest alive...

The disheartening truth burrowed into the woman's heart, forcing a wave of realization to come crashing down over her. And just as she thought on giving up, something in the near distance caught her eye.

It was light.

She stopped for a moment, and trained her gaze onto the spot within the dense thicket where the steady, warm glow radiated from. For a moment, she almost believed it to be a figment of her imagination created by her desperate mind, but as she carefully inched forward, she came to realize it was the exact opposite.