The Tale of Initium

Annie gasped as she opened her eyes and she looked around as she found herself in the middle of nowhere as the sky was dark and she was surrounded by trees, so many trees as she could see nothing but the moon in the sky.

Annie looked around in confusion, wasn't she just on Caligo a moment ago? So when did the sky get dark, and when did trees spring up out of nowhere, and just where was she??

"Maddie, Matt, Curtis, Ollie, can you guys hear me??" asked Annie as she shouted.

"Guys, where are you?? Where am I? can you guys here me?" asked Annie as she kept on shouting, it was clear that she had somehow got transported away from the others, or maybe they were the ones who got transported away from her, but regardless, she was lost.

"Where am I?" asked Annie as she looked down at the ground, it was sandy and not rocky like Caligo.

"How did this happen? How did I get here?" asked Annie as one moment she was with her friends, and the next she was here, wherever here was.

It was then that Annie remembered what happened, she suddenly got transported here when she drank from the eternal springs, but wait, she didn't think that anything happened, but obviously something happened for her to be taken here.

Annie sighed as she looked around, she did not know what to do, she could not just stay here, how would she find the others? Or at least get out of wherever she was right now, she was sure that the others were worried about her, and she was worried about herself.

Annie looked around as she suddenly saw what looked like a bright warm light coming not too far from where she was, she did not know why, but she felt like she should follow the light, but a part of her didn't know what she would find if she followed that path, or if she would be able to get back here.

"Annie, what do you do?? What??" asked Annie to herself as she did not know what to do, but she decided to make up her mind, maybe if she followed the light then she would find the others or at least get out of here.

"Alright Annie, here goes nothing" said Annie to herself as she sighed and she followed the light as she walked deeper into the trees and she kept on walking as she saw more and more trees as she passed them by and she suddenly saw a little cottage that seemed to be the source of the light.

Annie sighed in relief when she heard some voices coming from inside the cabin, she hoped that the people in the cabin could at least help her.

Annie walked up the steps of the wooden cottage as she attempted to knock on the door but she freaked out when her hand went right through the door like it did not exist at all.

"Oh my word!! What is wrong with my hand??!" asked Annie in worry as she looked at her hand and she freaked out as she touched herself, she could feel herself, but she could not feel the door or any other objects at all.

"Just what is going on here?" asked Annie as she sighed, things were getting weirder by the second.

Annie decided to test if it was only her hand that could go through things or if her whole body could go through it so Annie closed her eyes and she took a deep breath as she walked through the cabin all and she opened her eyes as she saw that she had entered into the cabin.

"I am walking through stuff?? Wait am I dead? Am I a ghost or what?" asked Annie to herself as she did not get it, but she could hear more voices coming from another room, so she walked in that direction, where she saw a woman crying and another trying to comfort her.

"Hello, can you guys hear me" said Annie as the two women continued on, it looked like they could not hear her, or see her, and that made her feel even worse and more scared than ever.

"Mama, I don't want to go I don't want to" said the brown haired girl as she cried and the other older looking woman hugged her.

"My dear, you have to go, you have to, you were the one chosen by the king, and you cannot refuse this, our family is small you need to go, we cannot defy the order of the King" said the older woman.

"No Mama, Mama no I do not want to go, I beg you, don't send me to him, don't force me, I beg you, please don't" said the girl as she cried.

"You have to Demanda, I beg you, for the sake of our family, I beg you" said the woman as she comforted the girl named Demanda.

"But no Mama, I beg you, he's a vampire, a ghastly beast, I beg you mother, why does he want me? Why can't he choose anyone else? Any other woman, and not me, he should change his mind please" said Demanda.

"My dear girl hush now, everything will be fine, you will never lack anything with him, you will be his Queen, I beg you Demanda" said the woman.

"Mama no" cried Demanda even more.

"Umm… what is this?" asked Annie as she was confused, when she tried to touch the two women, her hand went right through the both of them.

"Am I in a memory or in a dream?" asked Annie as she did not get it at all, and in the same moment, she saw the same glowing as she was drawn to follow.

…

"These rogues look serious" said Maddie as she looked at Curtis and the rogues had almost reached them.

"And we have to be equally serious as well" said Curtis as he was getting ready.

"Alright, but seriously, tell me what's going on with Annie, why is she frozen like that?" asked Maddie.

"She's in a trance, and she can't be woken up in that state, so we have to protect her" said Curtis as he quickly explained, he did not want the rogues getting close to them, even though he did not know where they all came from at all, there had to be about twenty of them approaching right now.

"You don't have to tell me twice" said Ollie as he smiled and he quickly rushed at one rogue that was heading in his direction as he hit him with his sword.

"Ollie can you be careful, these are rogues, and they don't joke" said Matt as he warned Ollie/

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I can handle myself" said Ollie as he smiled, he had never had a real opponent before, but now he did and he was happy to get some practice in.

"Wait Curtis are we allowed to kill them or do we have to keep them alive?" asked Ollie as he looked at Curtis.

"They are rogues, what do you think?" asked Curtis as he rushed to one rogue that was approaching him as he drove his sword through the rogue's chest and Maddie gasped.

"Curtis, you are allowing us to use violence?" asked Maddie as Curtis looked at her.

"You say it like we have a choice, if we don't kill them, they will kill us" said Curtis as he removed his sword that was bloody from the dead body of the rogue as he moved for another.

"And besides, don't pretend like you don't live for violence" said Curtis as Ollie drove his sword through the chest of another rogue.

"Oh Curtis, you know me well" said Maddie as she smiled and she rushed and she drove her sword through the chest of a rogue, she didn't now why, she just killed someone, it made her feel so bad, but so good.

"So this is how it feels to kill someone" said Maddie as she wasn't paying attention and a rouge was about to choke her from behind as Matt quickly rushed to her and he thrusted his sword through the rogue's stomach.

"Maddie, can you be serious for once and pay attention to your surroundings" said Matt.

"Oops, sorry my bad, I will be more alert" said Maddie as she smiled and Matt shook his head as he went for three more rogues.

"Now this is why it's good to know how to use a sword" said Maddie as she went for another rogue and she killed that one as well as Ollie was busy going against five of them.

"Hey, it is only me or do the rogues seem different than usual, like zombies? Don't they usually talk a lot?" asked Maddie.

"That's true, they are different and they are not saying anything at all" said Matt as he looked at Maddie.

"They are being mind controlled, I can smell it" said Curtis.

"You can smell mind control?" asked Maddie in confusion as Curtis nodded and she sighed, of course he could.

"Who would want to mind control rogues? And also send them after all, I don't know how the heck they found us, or why they are here" said Maddie as she killed another rogue, she was getting good at this, who knew that practicing with a fake wooden sword would actually make her so good at this.

"I have no idea" said Curtis.

"Ewww, my sword is full of blood, who knew that these things had blood in them" said Maddie as she looked at her blood covered blade.

"I think that's the last of them" said Ollie as there were piles of dead bodied rogues around them as all of them had fallen.

"Umm guys, those are not all of them, look there" said Maddie as she pointed and in the same moment, thousands of rogues started to come out of everywhere, as if they were coming out from the ground, and they were all surrounded with no escape.