Found in Hidden Darkness

Dreams are the Tangible Subconscious Screams

The Creator

I don't remember falling asleep but I must have, cause this sure as hell isn't real.

Everything is on fire.

The trees, the bushes, any remnants of life...burning to the ground. Bitter ash coats the once crystal clean snow. I can't tell what this place once was, but I know that I've been here before. The dead silence that echoes into the landscape is begrudgingly familiar.

But why?

I stumble through the torches landscape, figuring out it is on the later end of the fire. The fire that must have been raging through everything in sight. All that's left now is hidden answers and dim embers.

My jaw clenches, frustration and confusion playing tug of war in my mind. I need to get out of here. Just at the thought of leaving I realized that my body tended in anticipation, almost acting as if it was out of my control.

My quickly paced steps falter as an unknown force throws me back. It wasn't the impact onto the ashen snow that knocked the wind out of me, but the sheer shock of it all. I stumble as I sit up, skeletal hands sinking through the deep snow.

Nothing is in front of me.

Cautiously I get up, wondering what in the multiverse could have happened. But only obstacle the lays in front of the wooded path is charred trees. Nothing should have knocked me down, and nothing did?

Instead of dwelling on fantastical probabilities, I march forward, determined to get out of this barren landscape. "Error!" I cough, not expecting the drifting snow...no, ash, to get in my way. Wouldn't he be here? I mean, where else could he be?

I try to pull from the back of my brain the last thing that happened before waking up here aģ̴̫͉̳̙̱̹̱͍͂̈́̉ā̴̡͓̰̲̻̖͈̹̼̮̜̞̖̤͖̇͋͂̀̉̈́́̇̂͑̓̉̏̎̈́̓͂̓̎̀͐́͘͜͝ͅi̵̛͚̣̗̗̳̝̳̘̪̫͈̹͙̯͓̼̮̙͓̪̪̳͚͔̪̐͂̃̽͌̈͒͒́̈́̂͊̽͆͌̅̐̓̈̄̋͛̈̔͜ͅn̴̡̡̹̠͔͚̠̣̖͔̘̰͕͇̅̀͊. I try to hold a headache that is steadily growing in intensity, by placing a hand on the bridge of my nose. I don't know why this always happens, missing memories, dissipating health, and just landing myself in these kinds of situations.

Where everything is on fire and I have no idea what's going on.

I continue to trudge through the ankle deep snow, thankful that I am desensitized to the cold. Pulling my hand away from my face I notice that there is black soot from when I had fallen down.

Ah, great, it's probably all over my face now.

But before I could wallow more in the fact that I fell, and probably look like a mess, there is something in the distance. A structure, poking out between the smoky trees. I can't tell if the smoke that is billowing out of the top is from a fire place, or due to the surrounding fires still blazing on.

I really hope it's not the second one.

I push forward through the snow, as the building comes into focus through the barren trees. I use my scarf to wipe my face of any ashes and soot. Since I'm not going to know what to expect, and I don't want to make bad first impressions.

I stand still, taking in the scene before me, the smoky wind wiping my scarf around. Before me stands a log cabin, a structure that I am unfamiliar with in this multiverse. The oak is untouched, whereas the once towering titans of trees were lush and strong are now charred and hollow.

The windows that are evenly spaced out around the building have the curtains drawn, and the chimney is billowing with smoke. Only one question enters my mind as I shamble up to the door.

Where the hell am I?