Land of the Forgotten

Already Dead?

The orb glowed, the deep voice seeming to come from it. "You will never return home. You will be wiped from existence, and you will die here." I could hear my heartbeat as it races, my hands trembling.

"I am your guide, guard, task giver, and executioner. Do as I say and your death will be prolonged. Now you will follow me to your first challenge."

Okay time out, he didn't actually say "Challenge" but that's all I can remember. I can't clearly recall what it said. I have a huge headache and my hand feels like it's going to fall off. I need to take a break but I can't. Where was I? Oh, I can't remember oh oh oh where where. Uh uh...............oh first challenge right, sorry. Back to the story.

The shadows that chained our legs sank into the floor and our lips unsealed. The orb, our guide I guess, floated into an even darker corridor and made a left out of our sight.

"I guess we have to follow it." Eric said walking to the slow orange light. We followed and started our last journey.

We shuffled down the dark hallways with our glowing guide moving at a slow steady pace. We walk in silence, but not all was silent. Our silence was filled with screams, cries and voices filled with fear. The mist and fog that surrounds us, clinging to the endless walls in height and length, resonated the sounds from other people who have been sent to this place.

It was terrifying, we could hear names being shouted, the screaming of 'why?' over and over again. There was no escape from all the noise. I look at the orb directly in front of me, and then Eric by my left side.

His lips formed a frown and behind his dark glasses, I could see fear. I looked behind me at Aiden, Jordan and Katrina. Aiden was stuffing his binder into Katrina's backpack as we had with our things earlier. Katrina was looking around nervously biting her lip. Her hands wrapped around her backpack straps tightly moving silently forward.

Ethan!!!

We all froze at the very sudden and very loud shriek of a girl. This scream was different from the others that came from within the fog and mist. It sounded closer and more...more...recent.

"What was that?" Aiden asked. From a short distance, we could hear screaming and crying.

AHHHHHHH!

No no no NO!

"What is going on?" Jordan yelled over the screaming.

The guide stopped and answered, "That is from a different group. A member of their group has failed to complete his task. He is now being tortured and will soon die." It said in a monotonous voice that chilled me to the bone.

"What do you mean?" Katrina asked her face full of confusion and fear.

"You will see soon." The glowing orb eerily said, then proceeded to move forward into the dark maze.

We stood still for a moment all sharing nervous glances and then followed our guide silently with our heads running wild with fear.

"My phone isn't working." Katrina said staring at her old slide phone. It was true, her phone was blank.

"My watch isn't working either." Aiden said looking at his wrist. The hands were stuck in place.

"Well, looks like we won't be checking the time anymore." Eric said looking at his iPhone that was dead.

"There is no time in the Land of the Forgotten." The guide said moving steadily winding us deeper into the endless labyrinth.

"No time?" Katrina asked catching up to walk beside me, "What do you mean 'there's no time'?"

"There is no time in the Land of the Forgotten because there is no future, there is no past, and there is no present. You are already dead, and death has no compassion for time." The guide's answer made my heart drop.

"What do you mean we're already dead?" I asked my voice wavering a bit.

"In your world you are only dead bodies. Corpses, under normal circumstances you would have been sent straight to your judgment, but since you are cursed you have been sent here to die a second time and much more violently. Once you have died here, your bodies will disappear, everything pertaining to you and all memories of you. You will no longer exist, death's ultimate punishment." As our guide talked, I had reached over and grasped Katrina's hand trying to comfort myself.

"Cursed? By who?" Jordan demanded marching to the now very crowded front line leaving Aiden trotting behind us.

"I cannot tell you." The guide said in his monotone voice.

"Why not? If we're going to die anyway just tell us!" Persisted Jordan angrily.

Suddenly the orange glow of the orb turned a bright blinding white and doubled in size. We all jumped back trying not to burn from the intense heat that surrounded the white object.

"This information is not for you to know!" The guide shouted its voice echoing through the hallways. The mist and fog circled around it as it blocked the hallway. "If you ask this again you will be destroyed!" It yelled and then a burst of white light shot from the orb and pierced through Jordan's arm.

"Ahhhhh!" Jordan screamed falling to the ground almost toppling Aiden over grasping his arm in pain. Aiden quickly kneeled down helping Jordan to a sitting position. The orb had gone back to its original form and floated silently in the air. Mist and fog returned to the walls as we all crowded around Jordan in horror.

"Oh God! I think I'm going to be sick!" Eric said turning around and crouching over putting his hand over his mouth trying not to vomit.

The sight was...was...horrifying.

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Writer note: I wish more would people read this. I'm very proud of this book and it's one of my favorite. So if you do read this, try to get it out there. It would mean a lot to me.