Rainfall Chronicles: Amelia Reinhart

Chapter 4: My Journey's Dawn

Amelia: Chapter 4 — My Journey's Dawn

Fear...?

Adrenaline begins welling up inside me. As I continue my pace, I slowly begin speeding up. I just wanted to get whatever this is over with. The old man never lets me outside, but, for some reason, he always tells me to never approach these woods.

I never did. I just didn't see any reason to ever explore there — I mean, who wants to look at a bunch of dirt and wood? But, now, I'm being... forced?— to for some reason by whatever is up there.

The trees weren't too far from the back of our house. A minute of walking, and I'm already here. Something inside of me wanted to look back again just to see what would happen, but as I attempted to turn around, my neck just wouldn't budge. I wanted to look behind me, but... I couldn't.

I swear on everything, I was forcing myself to. There's no way that this was something mental, because I swear my nerves sending signals to my brain to move, but nothing! As I kept trying, however, a waft of cold, rainy air sent a shiver down my spine. I could barely make it out because of the sounds of the rain, but I remember something entering my ear... something as soft as a whisper.

That convinced me. The anxiety in my whole body dissipates as I leap into the forest walkway. I begin hyperventilating. My emotions are all let out with each heavy breath I expel into the dank air. I slap myself on the face a multitude of times. It's only when I feel my face redden from the pain is when I decide to open my eyes.

Honestly? Not what I was expecting at all.

This forest... it was beautiful.

No, not the kind of "beautiful, magical forest" you would see in a fairytale. There's no rainbow, no colorful floral life, there's no wildlife populating the biome, the leaves and the grass weren't so perfectly glowing, shining green that they looked plastic.

By no means at all.  In fact... almost everything aside from the trees were dead. I saw how real, how reflective the leaves were when raindrops bounced off of them like a trampoline. I felt how captivating the grass looked and felt as I walked on it. The darkness, oddly, complimented the grim atmosphere the forest exuded.

I admired how the tiny rays of sunlight would crack through the rainclouds, enveloping their small, alluring beams of sunshine on the few, fortunate portions of the forest. I looked at all of the tiny insects somehow thriving in this near-barren ecosystem.

This isn't an ordinary forest. Definitely not a place you would walk through on a date. In fact, it might even be considered terrifying for most. It might have been because I just got out of the unforgiving rain outside, but as I continued walking down the dazzling forest pathway...

I truly admired how enchanting this forest really was.

As I looked up through the cracks that the leaves above me made, I notice that the rain seemed to have calmed down as of the moment. It was still pouring, but not as violently it was mere moments ago. I look up, and reach for the sunlight peering through the holes.

As I clenched my hand to catch it... nothing happens, as usual. Silly me...

At this point, the rain was not leading me anymore. I was walking forward of my own accord, forgetting why I was even here or why I was so afraid in the first place. I traverse the forest for several minutes, but, in reality, my mind was completely enraptured within this ravishing environment I was traversing in.

I roamed for what felt like hours — exploring every inch of this barren woodland until, suddenly, the rain begins kicking in once more. I felt as if I had reached where the rain wanted me to go. Abruptly, the terror began proliferating within me once more.

I take a deep breath, and I turn the corner. My eyes widen agape as I take sight of what was ahead of myself.

A... temple of some sort? It looked like a relic. As I approached closer, the menacing aura around me begins to grow. I really wanted to go back to the forest because this temple was frightening me to the core. It looked dark inside. The only reason I was able to see inside it was because the ceiling was so old, it crumbled, allowing sunlight to beam in.

Regardless, I walked towards it. The dreadful feeling began looming over me again, but I grit my teeth and progress. As I approach closer and closer, I take even further notice as to how old this building was. It looked as if it was hundreds of years old.

My concern was that it doesn't look like it'd fit in. Well, duh, because it's old, but also because the architecture doesn't look like it came from here... heck, it doesn't look like it even came from this continent.

It almost looks... Asian?

All the way here? I must have been hallucinating or something. Despite how well built it looked, nothing can stand the test of time, and this building looks like it has been in ruins for centuries.

No going back now. I close my eyes, and walk forward... and immediately hit my head against the roof. I guess I should keep my eyes open, huh? Hahaha.... I shake my head — now probably isn't the time to act silly. After a few moments of preparing myself, I begin to delve into the building. 

The building wasn't too tall. It was fairly shorter than the trees surrounding it, which explains how it's so well hidden. As I  investigate further, however, I notice how deep down the pathway was. After thinking about it for a little bit, I understood: The building wasn't short at all — it had just been buried under layers and layers of eroded soil over the multitude of years, and only the top entrance is visible after all this time.

That doesn't explain how the entrance wasn't blockaded by dirt, however. In fact, as I realized this, I scanned the walls of the pathway. They were clean... it's as if someone had been tending to them after all this time... but who would be crazy enough to do that? Well, somebody, apparently, since they took the time to clear out the entrance of this place.

As I cascade further into the depths, the sunlight outside begins fading. It was already negligible to begin with because of the rainclouds, but it was nearly pitch black inside of here. It wasn't until several seconds of walking until I reach the end of the incline. 

The ground became flat, easily walkable, but as I plant my feet on the temple floor, I shiver as my feet sink into ankle-deep, ice cold water. I jump up at the sudden change in temperature, landing both of my feet into the freezing liquid.

I can barely make it out in the darkness, but I see that there are multiple, branching pathways in the distance. I sigh in disbelief. There were so many different ways I could go about this; it could take forever before I'm done exploring this whole place.

I was contemplating going back up, but who knows what was waiting for me up on the surface? It was after several moments of strategizing how I was to go about this that I realized that the water below me was moving. No, not like moving of its own accord, but rippling towards a certain direction because of an external force.

I thought that there was going to be some crocodile that was going to bite me down here, but I soon realized that the water was moving with a purpose... it was moving away from me.

Was I doing this?

I don't know if this was due to my power, or if whatever was controlling the rain earlier, or maybe a mixture of both... all I knew was that the water was leading me.

With no other option, I decide to go along with it. I decide to stop halting so much, and just go. I hasten my pace, and continue walking. The water was moving away from where I was supposed to go, and that's all I needed to know. It led me to one branching pathway, then another, then another.

Somehow, it felt as though my power was evolving. I knew that it could never have done this before, but why now? Why all of a sudden? What's causing the rain to take such interest in me? All of my questions are interrupted as I see light coming from the next corner. Not only that, but I swear I could hear mumbling.

Okay, at this point, I was actually freaking out, but I made it this far, right? I told myself "no turning back" so many times I lost count. I have to make sure it was all worth something.

With a heavy heart, I turn the corner...