“Please don’t recapture me! I promise to stay a good girl from now on! Please!” Coralia is rubbing her head from her collision with me as tears roll down her cheeks, blood still covering her. She looks up and her eyes, momentarily stunned by the absence of a cyborg guard but greeted by a sight of a disheveled and bloodied boy. I’m still on the ground, the shards of my gauntlet scattered to the side, my focus too disturbed. I myself am still trying to recover from the dissipating rush of fear and panic after seeing an ally instead of an enemy. However, Coralia beats me to it.

“Reynold! You’re alive! Oh, thank goodness!” She lunges towards me, having fully registered the situation, and gives me the tightest hug I could ever imagine. The small fragrance of strawberry shampoo somehow makes its way into my nostrils as her blood-coated hair splashes onto my face. Tears wet my shirt as she cries into my shoulders. A rather peculiar situation to be in.

Coralia, a girl I tried to kill, though not intentionally, now hugging me, the supposed killer, and is showing complete care and concern to the culprit that caused her to be caught in the midst of this catastrophe in the first place. The worst part is, I have no ability to reciprocate her emotions, even if I wanted to. The best thing I can do is rely on my knowledge from reading romance novels.

I force myself to hug her, an action I can only describe as squeezing another for affection. I let my hand rest on her head, fear of being infected by her blood through the small cuts and gashes splayed throughout my palm dancing around in my head. Seeing as how she’s comfortable with my initial touch, I slowly move my hand down, stroking her head in an attempt to calm her down. Sure enough, my lonely days at home turns out to be a blessing. I feel Coralia relax, her muscles not as tense and her breathing more controlled. Her shower of tears slowly halts to mere sniffles. We stay like this for a moment, neither of us sure of what to do next. Behind you…

A hear a voice, barely a whisper. I suppress the quiver of fear up my spine, afraid to cause panic in Coralia. From the looks of it, she’s gone through a whole lot of fear and stress to survive this hellhole. I wouldn’t want to torture her more than she has already gone through. If not out of sympathy, at least out of respect. I control my breathing, careful not to give any signs of fear to her. They’re coming…

There it is again. Twice in a row. Words, almost inaudible. ‘Oh, it’s just the wind’ would be too impractical at this point. Too much of a coincidence if you could call it that. The words are too clearly formed and pronounced to be a passing breeze in this dank tunnel. Screaming…

I feel an urge to abide the whispers, almost seducing me into a trance. My fear is rising. My breath wavering. My arms quivering. Burning…

Who’s to say the whispers aren’t the breeze? Who’s to say the whispers aren’t lies? Who’s to say the whispers aren’t imaginary? Dying!

Fear overtakes my body. My muscles completely tensed up. Coralia, already pulling away from the hug, panic reigniting in her. I swing my head around, bracing myself of what I will inevitably see. Is the dragon come for me? Are there cyborgs rushing towards us? Please don’t let my life be on the line! Take someone else’s, no take a whole group’s lives for all I care. Just not mine! I’m not ready to die!

Not anymore.

What I saw next completely stunned me. It wasn’t a dragon. It wasn’t a cyborg. No, it was much worse.

There was nothing there.

Something has been tampering with my mind, making me hear things, think things, feel things. The bad part about it, is that I already know something that could, or more accurately someone.

I turn back to face Coralia, sensing what I’ve grown to learn to be suspicion inside me. My fear has always hindered me from getting close to her, even more so towards trusting her. I didn’t want to live that life of fear, so I dug it deep down, constantly pushing it away. What if… my fear has been right all along? That she was sent to kill me.

Before I had the chance to accuse her, I hear a noise echo down the corridor. For a moment, I thought she was doing whatever I think she does to me again, but her lips aren’t moving, her eyes are staring straight at me, and she’s too far to whisper anything. It’s not a voice… it’s a scream.

I turn around again to see two cyborgs, both enveloped with raging flames. They seem hopeless, flailing their arms around desperately to put out the inferno as screams of agony escape their throats. Despite their best efforts, I can see them falling apart, bits and pieces of metal melting off. The voices were right…

I have no time to be awestruck, however. The two firecrackers are running down this one-way corridor, with me and Coralia at the end of it. Coralia seems to notice this before me, already standing and grabbing my arm. I redirect my focus back to my gauntlet, the shards flying towards my fist before forming the familiar weapon. Coralia looks amazed, but quickly switches to a serious demeanour.

To witness the such sudden switches in emotions in someone who’s usually either always cheerful or fearful is quite intimidating, as if she had a secret to controlling her emotions, close enough to her that she can pull it out anytime she needs it, possibly right under her chin. I don’t get time to ponder on her emotions as my body jerks upwards, my body being dragged down the corridor by my arm.

I turn around and see the cyborgs, already crumbling to the ground. Dead. My fear slowly diminishes, but not before I hear a roar echo down the tunnel. Heavy footsteps and the sound of metal against metal follow, quickly gaining in volume. The dragon is coming for us.

“We have to get out of here!” I scream, my voice thick with fear.

“What do you think I’m doing?!” Panic in Coralia’s voice betrays her confident front as she hurriedly runs deeper, frantically scanning the surroundings for any source of escape. The lights get dimmer, clearly showing a lack of life in the deeper end of the tunnel. The dragon seems to be slowing down, the cyborgs buying us some time as they fend off the predator, some being sacrificed in the process from the sounds of their ear-splitting screams.

“We can make it. We’ll get through this…” Coralia stops abruptly, frustration and worry pasted on her face as her confidence dies down, “…alive.”

A fork ahead of us, no sign to tell us where to go. It’s near hopeless. Both paths lead into darkness. Unfortunately, we don’t have our supplies. The heart would’ve been an easy solution to this, but life isn’t easy. As if to rub salt into the wound, the distant screams dies down, but the dragon’s approach only quickens. The cyborgs failed, the dragon’s too strong and we have no way out. Left.

I swivel my head around. Again, the voice returns once again. I look back at Coralia with an unreasonable amount of fear pitted against her. She looks innocent, and she probably is; I always had problems with trust. It’s hard to accept that these voices are just… voices, from somewhere. I know near nothing about these voices. Can everyone hear it? Where is it coming from? Is it my natural instincts?

Even though instinct is powerful, I’m very sure my gut feeling is not capable of premonitions. And yet, if I know anything about the whispers, it’s that they speak the truth.

“Left, turn left now!” Coralia looks at me, the conviction in my voice clear enough to catch her off guard. Though, I wouldn’t call it conviction, more of desperation, but it works just as well. Coralia recovers and firmly nods her head, her trust fully placed upon my shoulders. She grabs my arm and runs down the left path, no hint of doubt in every step she takes, no hint of confidence in every step I take. Right.

What? There’s no fork here… well, at least not right now… No, right.

What if the voices are wrong? They can contradict themselves, clearly proven by what I just heard… unless I heard wrongly. They are just whispers after all. Right!

“Right! Over here!” I blurt out without thinking twice. I don’t have time to process all this new information now. I just want to get out of here alive, and if these voices can do that, then for God’s sake I’ll trust them!

Coralia without hesitation turns a sharp right before stopping in front of a cell. It’s too dark to see any details, but I’m sure they are markings or initials written on the walls. Coralia looks at me questioningly, asking for confirmation. All I can reply with is a doubtful nod, fearful that my excessive trust to the whispers may be the cause of our deaths.

Coralia wastes no time after seeing my less than convincing approval and pushes the cell door. It opens with a shrill creak and gets jammed midway. Luckily, it opened just enough for both of us to fit through. We can hear the sounds of the stone being chipped away as the dragon drunkenly rushes towards us. What does it want from us? Is it that desperate to kill?!

Coralia has already gone to exploring the place, looking for any opening or loose bricks of the sort but returns empty-handed. I myself took to exploring, but only with sight, too scared to move around. Markings cover the wall: Writings, tallies, drawings, and random dents all fill the dark stone room. All usual things one would do if holed up in a crammed cell like this one, especially if they’ve been stuck a long time, judging by the large number tallied on the wall. What makes this room eerie is the writings isn’t carved out.

It’s written in blood.

What more horrifying secrets does this place hold?

“There’s nothing here. Why did you tell me to go here?” I can sense a feeling of defeat in her voice, slightly betrayed by my erroneous instructions. I’m a bit stumped. I too have no idea what’s in the room. I was just blindly led in here by the voices. Wait. What if this was a trap?! I’ve never thought about until now… but the voices only came after the Dragon was infected with that black ooze. What if…no. I can’t let that blind me… it doesn’t matter what the source is. All that matters is that I have to trust it. I need to.

“Reynold, what’s going on?” She grips my shoulders, her eyes drilling into me as she questions me, more out of frustration than concern now. She put all her trust in me, and I failed. Of course, I would fail, I’m trusting something that shouldn’t be trusted in the first place.

“Ugh, Reynold! Can’t you do something?! You have a shape-shifting gauntlet, so please use it! I don’t need to do all the work, do I?” I’ve never seen Coralia so angered before. I’ve been taking her kindness and gentle nature for granted. Now, I’m getting the other end of the spectrum. She’s stressed, and so am I, but it still hurts being gunned down like that.

I give a hesitant nod before moving towards the end of the cell. From the dim light, I make out a messy ‘X’ with arrows pointing straight at it. The arrows are all throughout the room, however, pointing circles around the cell. I take a deep breath, a feeble attempt to calm the raging fear in me. You want me to go right, correct? I hope you’re right…

My gauntlet forms the shield and I bash it into the wall, nothing at first, but after repeating it a few times, the bricks loosen and crumble down, revealing an alternate pathway behind it.

I stood there, fear of what was lurking behind the walls rooting me before Coralia drags me down the tight hallway. At this point, I think it’s safe to say that Coralia are my eyes, my ears, my legs, my source of emotion, my everything. Yet, I can’t bring myself to fully trust her. There’s just something off about her…

I hear the Dragon hurtle past us, calming me down as I realise that we’re safe. Coralia heaves a sigh of relief, slowing down as fatigue settles in. All the running and fighting now felt like it lasted over weeks, the sheer weakness in my muscles threatening me to collapse at any moment. Coralia doesn’t seem to be holding up well either, but she’s far more strong-willed than I am. For now, there’s no more action. I sigh tiredly, letting myself be dragged through the long, winding tunnel.

~ ~ ~

Eventually, we reach a small trapdoor at the end of the tunnel. Both of us already drained, we rest in the darkness, sweating profusely from the journey. We sit across from each other, leaning against the walls of the narrow hallway. If I were to be frank, I would stay here for the rest of my life. The dread of not knowing what lies behind the trapdoor is overwhelming. Why find out when I’m already in relative safety? Who in their right mind would launch themselves into danger?

“Alright, I think I’ve rested enough. Let’s go.” Coralia stands up and offers her hand. I just look at her blankly, a mix of thoughts rushing through my head. Confusion, I presume. She takes my response as a rejection to her offer before she hesitantly places her hands on the trapdoor. She takes a deep breath and pushes it open. I brace myself, expecting a creature or a cyborg to be patiently waiting right outside. Of course, my predictions aren’t right.

Coralia crawls out and calls out to me. She’s safe, that’s one. So… I guess I should trust her, considering how she’s not done anything suspicious enough to conclude otherwise. Despite that, my body is reluctant to move, still frozen in trepidation. The possible dangerous scenarios play in my head, repelling me further away from the exit.

When Coralia realises I’m still inside, she comes back down and pulls me out forcefully, comforting me the whole way. What I saw next was rather unexpected.

We’re back out into the Forest, but to call it that feels like an understatement. The trees are less packed and there’s no longer a permanent absence of light. I look up and see stray rays of light, literal natural light, finding its way through the leaves and branches and onto the luscious green ground. The usual dangers still exist, like the invasive roots and poisonous thorns, but it pales in comparison to what I’ve had to deal with. I look behind me and see the other side of the wall that we came from.

My city, my house, my home, all contained within the boundaries from the wall, and now I’m free.

“Hey Reynold, check that out! There’s a place ahead of us!” Coralia points up ahead, where, in the distance, we can see a few man-made structures. Though it looks to be abandoned, it’s further exploration that I’m sure Coralia would love. But, if I were to be practical, it is an opportunity for more supplies that we’re clearly lacking.

Coralia takes off into the unknown, leaving me behind. How does she have so much energy after all that has happened? All I know is, that we’re venturing deeper, and deeper into the unknown. Well, if all is considered, the Forest looks like it has a form of beauty to offer, a nicer side if you will. How much worse can it be? Danger.