The Lost Children Of Magicia

Darkness. It surrounds us. It envelops us. It's a part of us, a part of who we are. We see it as the sun sets beneath the horizon, its dark shroud always following us at every turn, light is the only way to escape it. The darkness pulses with energy, as though almost alive in nature.

The dark always whispers, telling us stories, feeding you it's evil, breathing new life into the twilight shadows.

It's another rainy night in Padgate again, a quaint little village found in the town of Warrington, England. A fog sweeps through forming wispy white silhouettes throughout my surroundings. I can't make out much light from the dim artificial lampposts dotted here and there where I'm walking with an ache within my chest.

I stroll aimlessly along in the darkened shadows, feeling lonely and empty, fear creeping along my nerves, I have no where to go, no destination in mind, just trying to keep myself warm on this cold, wet astronomical twilight.

The frigid icicles spill down onto me, dampening my skin and clothes in a light vaporous mist.

Birds cry out above me as they seek shelter from the foreboding bleakness of a storm about to rage. I only wish I could too, but every single shop near me would be closed by now, and nobody was willing to put me up for the night either.

The drops immersed me in its downpour as it steadily grew into a shower as cold as the Arctic snow, and the clouds overhead blotted out everything around it with its thick, bruised smoulder.

Smatterings of lamp posts, with their dim artificial lights opposite from me, they fought against the inky blackness, and breathed life into their surroundings, as the pitch black night tried to encroach upon them.

Dusk is all but forgotten about as though the wind carried it away in its steely grasp, and twilight continues on as the environment around me darkens further.

I've been out here for hours now with no hope of sleep, just cold, quiet dread, and me anxiously wandering from one path to another.

Ominous, swelling, dark mantles cover the sky, seemingly bigger than before, and I am but an ant amongst it all under their threatening glare. They menacingly block out the moon and stars from the canopy above me, turning the sky and the atmosphere around me into a sinister macabre of unknown origin.

The storm rages at a breathtaking speed, as the wind blows so fast, I nearly take off with it.

I wandered down another side street, my legs beginning to ache, burning like a liquid inferno, and as though they're as weak as a new born calf’s.

I felt exhausted beyond all measure, I wanted to find somewhere I could lay my head down for some respite, but I unfortunately couldn't do that.

All of a sudden I heard haunting footsteps approaching me from behind, like a spectre in the night.

I was made aware of the fact that my heartbeat had ticked up, like a broken clock it missed its timely beats, erratically crescendoing out of control, like a pendulum against my ribcage.

Maybe I was just being paranoid, it wasn’t that late after all, but I felt like this person was following me. There were still some people about, although they paid no heed to me as they rushed to get home and out of the raging storm tearing through the sky above us.

I turned my head slightly, and peered peripherally back at the stalker, and couldn't fully make out who it was, but I think it might have been a man, a stranger I did not know.

In order to make sure he definitely was following me or not, I began to up my pace, nearly jogging at this point as I carried on walking, faster than before, not daring to look behind me again.

I was hoping that he wouldn't also copy me by doing the same thing, but he did, which confirmed that my paranoia was right for once, and he is in fact following me!

I frantically tried to come up with an idea, but all I could think about was running, so that's what I decided to do. I started propelling myself faster, and faster until my adrenaline flew with me, the wind carried on the same momentum.

My legs felt like jelly weak from the strain of sprinting, but my instinct told me not to stop, and whispered to me that I should head to the stepping stones of Parkfields. I made the decision to listen to it this one and only time, to trust myself, and what my body was trying to tell me.

I went past the old post office, and headed down Cinnamon Brow Lane, making a beeline for Parkfields Lane. As I headed down the road; it occurred to me that I was near some houses, and should probably try to yell for help, so I did, but either they went to bed early, or thought it was teenagers mucking around again.

The only person who will help me is me I fear, so my only option left is to head for the stepping stones after all. It definitely wasn't a smart idea to head for a Park, but I didn't know what else to do.

He's likely to do me harm if he ever caught me, so what did I have to lose at this stage? No matter where I go, he's going to try and hurt me, and he may even succeed.

I make the turning onto Parkfields Lane, I can feel myself getting closer to my destination, practically within mere feet of it.

When unexpectedly, he grabs me just as I go past the second house. It startles me at first, but I shake him off somehow, lashing out at him with all I have, and manage to dart away from him.

I see the clearing of the forested shadowy canopy of trees, with its field of rain soaked grass and soggy hedges, and see I'm nearly there. I run past the fairy circle of giant rocks shooting out of the ground like weeds, and the small brook near it. I see another clearing and sprint to victory through it.

I don't know what I was thinking by coming here, or what it'll accomplish, but I'm hoping it will give me time to come up with another plan maybe.

As I got closer to the forested opening near the stepping stones I noticed the creeper was gaining on me, nearing ever closer to his succession, and so I very stupidly chose to hop the stepping stones, I never made it to the tunnel of trees anyway, the energy and flow of the place changed, growing heavier.

All of a sudden the entire area begins to make a strange static sound, as though it's suddenly waking up to the storm going on around me. The entire area around the tunnel up ahead slowly begins to emit these bright shades and hues.

Everywhere is suddenly alive with colour, bursting with an electric energy, flooding the atmosphere, the pressure builds and booms, churning the earth up until it floats in an ethereal form. Shimmering, glittering with colours unexplored, turning into a tornado of liquid, colourful mist.

When it glanced off my skin, it held on refusing to let go, sucking at me, I began to slowly dissipate, becoming one with the mystical shimmers, sometimes being invisible is a good thing I think to myself.

I certainly hoped so, but I don't think that's what's happening here, at least not to my recollection. My body reappears, my surroundings and bearings are gone, my equilibrium on its axis all of a sudden. The man no longer is there, I'm in the tunnel being plummeted through to heaven knows where.

The energy crackles in the air as though it's charged with something powerful. Things start to heat up, as the colours zapped, churning up the walls of coloured clouds as though it was made up of substances unfamiliar to me, and like it would shock me at any point.

Even though I was snuffed out of the park by the watered down mist, and drifted through the lightly shimmering pool of sparkled colours, and cloudy fog, I don't find myself entirely hating this oddly.

I'm pushed through at an alarming rate than before, which made me change my mind. I definitely don't like it now! I'm thrown to the ground afterwards at an obscene force, which I felt was very unnecessary.

When I recover enough of my bearings I look around, and realise that I recognise this place from somewhere, but not exactly sure how, because I don't know the name of the area.

It's like a place I dreamt about or read in a book somewhere maybe.

It would explain a lot, if I'm dreaming, that means the sky's the limit here, I can do whatever I want without any consequences!

It looks like it's Autumn here too, the leaves are all changing to burnt out colours of reds, yellows, and oranges. Even the birds flying above me are weird, they're definitely otherworldly, I didn't know that I could create made up birds in my dreams?

I start to trudge along the street and keep going until I start hearing the oceanic echoes of a beach. I followed along a deserted pathway and came to a row of beach cottages along one side of a street, decorated with vividly vined ropes of what looks like ivy along their walls.

Each house is painted a different colour, either with bright, or more mellow pastel tones, but as beautiful as an abstract painting to say the least.

I feel the beach across from the houses reaching out with its powerful grip, drawing me in, beckoning me closer. It wants me to come to view it in all its splendor, to gaze upon its unknown troves of treasures, ready to explore every mystery it owns that only I can unlock.

The smell of the sea air beckons me closer, I can almost taste it on my tongue. I take my shoes and socks off, and feel excitement trilling along my veins. I wonder if they have caves and rock pools here?!

Two puffs of smoke materialise before me, a deep foreboding sets into my gut, as 2 hooded figures appear in front of me. I start to feel my hackles go up, every hair on my body standing to attention, the thread weaved through my nerves frayed, ready to snap at a moment's notice.

One of them has a wooden staff with a knot at the top, a strange sigil design over the top of it, he lifts it, the atmosphere feels like it's taking its final breath, as he slams the base of the staff down onto the solid ground. It echoes, reverberates through the earth, I lose my step, stumbling as the ground fractures apart beneath me.

As I fall through to god knows where, I worry about my fate, and start to wonder when I will wake up from this bizarro dream? I scream as I fall through the earth's core, down into its darkest depths.