Magic Meets Might

Wake Up

I walked through the night woods nervously, feeling like a rabbit hunted by a forest of foxes. A cold half moon glittered above, offering no warmth to the Overworld realm below. Moonlight turned the forest trees silver and a hot wind rustled the leaves and branches. I was on edge, for some reason I couldn't remember. Why am I here?

Pictures, images of things and people floated around in my head, but I couldn't place them or connect them to a name. My head was trying to play connect the dots without a pen. Was I even here? Are these my memories? If they are, what's in them? I tried to call a name or something back to grasp this new reality around and only gave myself a headache. So my memories don't want to be remembered, fine, I can deal with that.

I don't know who I am.

I woke up here and now I am scared and lost. I have nothing. I looked down to an empty sheathe at my side and my fingers fluttered around it. The leather was strong, meant to hold a heavy sword and two letters were burned onto the strap: C A. Initials? I ran my finger along the strap and found beneath the two letters, a name. Cassandra Ambrose was written in curly lettering just under the initials.

Next to the sheathe was a small pack. I flipped up the top and reached inside, fingers closing around a cold metal hilt. I pulled upwards, revealing a black knife that glinted in the dim moonlight. Shrugging, I placed it carefully back into the pouch, closing the lid.

Eyes traveling further down, my lip curled at the state of my clothes. Black leggings, torn at the knees, were tucked into a pair of muddied leather boots. My shirt was only barely passable as decent- only one sleeve was intact and the neckline was torn horribly low. Two buttons would've kept it closed but no buttons were to be found. A long cloak hung from around my neck, tattered at the ends but the black cloth was still fairly shielding from the wind.

I walked through the night and the night parted around me. Wind caused my cloak to billow out behind me. Things whispered in the trees, too soft for me to hear. Could the trees help me or were they leading me astray? Whatever held presence on this lonely road, did it hide behind those sharp, jagged holly leaves or in the shadow of that great oak tree yonder? Were they saying anything useful that could help me?

At the end of the dark road, I saw a man. He held a torch but his back was to me, so in the darkness I could only see him as a faint outline. The man wore a cyan tshirt that looked well worn and frayed at the edges, along with a dark purple pair of pants. Eagerly, I ran to him, making no effort to be quiet. A person- finally a real person to break the silence of my confusion! He turned around slowly and I gasped. His eyes were wrong, like those of no person I'd seen before. Well, I don't think I knew anyone before this night- but still! No iris or pupil. His eyes glowed whiter than snow in the sun.

In his hand was a sword of pure blue crystal, gleaming with blood. I stumbled back into a tree as fast as my fear-shocked body would carry me. Seeing my fear and smiling as if to make fun of it, he advanced with superhuman speed and pressed the blade to my neck. I had nothing with me, no shield, nothing to defend with. Wait- the knife!

"Why can't you seem to stay away from me?" Seeing my confusion, he paused. How did I know this person? He frowned for a moment before a sick smile returned to his face. "You don't have a clue who I am, do you?"

A sudden weight at my hip startled me. I looked down to see a sword the same caliber as the man's resting in the leather sheathe. I reached to unsheathe it and my hands got inches from the hilt, then dropped. For some reason, some instinct told me not to use it now.

I shook my head as much as I dared with the blade so close. I would've backed up but the rough bark of a tree prevented me from doing so. I slowly reached downwards, left hand edging towards the pack where the knife from earlier laid.

"Well this is fantastic!" The man let out a cruel, chilling laugh. "You don't know who I am! If you did, you'd be afraid. You probably are already aren't you? But then, you don't know me do you?" The man's eyes locked onto my movements and he growled, slashing the sword at my wrists and blood trickled down.

I whimpered in pain, any thinking of the knife forgotten. The pain soon turned to rage. The blood on my hands glistened in the light of his sword and brought a chill down my spine. Who is he? He thinks he can just throw me against a tree an hurt me? I may not know who I am but I must have some sort of standards.

My stomach twisted, pulling my gut in two different directions. A blast of light shot from my hands and hit the man square in the chest, sending him flying across the road. The impact of him colliding with a tree sent it splintering in all directions. Along with that, I smiled at the tell-tale sound of cracking bones. Sliding down my own tree and leaning against it once my feet found cool grass, I dared glance over at the wooden rubble out of which stuck a shoes foot with deep violet pants.

Pulling himself up, the look of hatred on his face made me cringe. Plucking a cluster of splinters from his chest, the man calmly walked back toward me, seemingly ignoring the pain that would come from any other man in his condition. All skin exposed was bloodied and his clothes were torn. Where my strange light hit, the cyan shirt had a gaping hole singed black at the rim. I could not help but give a small chuckle for he maintained the image of a porcupine.

Raising a bloodied hand, light sprung fourth from him and flung me against the same tree as before. Before I could orient myself, a shock reverberated through my spine. This time it was my turn to cry in pain as my thudding heart did not block out the cracking of bones and a tree splintering in a directions.

"And I'll take that," the man reached for the pack at my side and pulled. I felt the leather break. "Let's see," the light disappeared and the man stood over me, pack discarded and the knife in his hands. "Useless," he said as he tossed it over his shoulder, into the dark forest.

My eyes focused on the moon hanging above. Spots began appearing, more and more until the moon was blocked from view.

I hope you liked it! Here, accept hot chocolate from Herobrine!

-Moo