009: Red String and Gold Tree

Hyperventilation is bred from shortness of breath combined with a feeling of anxiety or nervousness.

At that time, I was much more than just nervous.

My entire world was turning upside down.

I was in an unknown place.

I was with a man, who I did not know, that tried to kill me.

Breathe in…

Breathe out…

At that moment, I forgot how to function.

My basic bodily functions were shut down.

The moment only lasted about thirty seconds.

The knife sped towards his chest, but hyperventilation can cause lightheadedness and dizziness.

My shortness of breath caused me to miss his body, only slightly.

The knife slipped out of my hands and landed next to his head.

Calm down.

Deep breaths.

In…

Out…

In…

Out…

I lay down on my back as my breathing returned to a normal rhythm.

My body calmed itself down, but my mind was anything but calm.

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?!

Asol…

Just what is he?

I don't get it.

What is all of this?

How am I still alive?

Where am I?

The questions circulated through my head, and I could not piece the puzzle together.

As I found the connections between the two pieces, another twenty pieces appeared.

An everlasting puzzle.

That's what my life has become.

No.

Isn't that what it's always been?

Life is a puzzle that never ends, and you never get to see the full picture that will appear at the end of that puzzle.

Every time you solve a piece, you add a new aspect to the final picture, increasing the number of pieces.

The only reason I didn't notice this before, was that I didn't care about those extra aspects, I only cared about the truths that I could see.

Never in my life could I have imagined something like this.

As the puzzle was forming, one question utterly obliterated the puzzle and made me start over from one singular piece.

What happened to my family?

The rest of the pieces didn't matter anymore.

All that mattered was the new puzzle.

Is my family okay?

Are they grieving my death, even though I'm not dead yet?

Will I ever see them again?

I sprang up.

I stood tall with a newfound purpose.

I will see my family again, no matter what.

I will be there to save the people I care about.

I SWEAR IT!

I picked up the knife and stabbed it through my right hand.

Was it smart?

No.

It was merely to strengthen my determination.

"I VOW ON MY OWN MORTALITY, I WILL BE STRONG ENOUGH TO PROTECT EVERYONE I CARE ABOUT, NO MATTER IF I AM WITH THEM OR NOT!"

I screamed out.

The canopy of the trees above me shook from the magnitude of my scream.

A large gust of wind blew, and it cleared a hole through the canopy.

Through that hole, I realized that there was no cliff above me.

I fell off a cliff, yet there was no cliff anywhere in sight.

Where am I?

Nothing makes sense.

The old me would have stood there trying to piece things together for a while, but the new me didn't care.

The old me is no more.

In a mere day, I have completely rebuilt myself.

Now only one thing matters…

The people I care about.

I live now because it is my destiny to protect them and stop Asol.

I won't die, and I won't stand still.

I must push forward, even if I have no clue where I am going.

My gaze drifted to the masked man's body.

I removed his mask, and it revealed a handsome face with short black hair and some stubble growing on his face.

He had bags under his eyes as if he was stressed out.

I searched his belongings.

I took his:

Knife

Gun

Snacks (granola bar and bag of chips)

Money (not much use to me since I'm in the middle of a forest)

Phone (no service)

And a strange emblem.

I did not understand what this emblem meant.

It had a black background with a castle built in the middle of a volcano.

I stuffed it in my pocket, just in case it was of any use to me.

I was in the center of a forest, and I had no clue where to go.

I looked to my left and saw a massive boulder in the distance.

I began to walk in that direction, but I wasn't quite ready to leave yet.

The man.

I don't know what to call him anymore.

He's still breathing.

Maybe I should just…

No.

What's making me think that?

I've never wished death on anyone, so why did I try to kill him before?

No.

I don't need an answer to that question, I already know.

Absolute evil is a part of me.

There is no escaping it.

His presence has warped my mind.

I used to be a kind person who never wanted to hurt everyone, but now…

NOW I LUST FOR BLOOD!

ASOL!

YOU ARE DEAD!

DO YOU HEAR ME?!

I KNOW YOU CAN!

I WILL KILL YOU!

In the deepest recesses of my mind, he responded.

"HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT, PITIFUL DISAPPOINTMENT!"

Even if I recognize that I have changed, that does not mean the change is gone.

The man standing laying at my feet…

I WANT TO SEE HIM BLEED!

I WANT HIS BLOOD TO PERMANENTLY DYE THIS FOREST RED!

I WANT HIM TO DIE!

DIE!

DIE!

I held the knife to his throat, and at that moment I had no control of my body.

It moved on its own, as the knife slit…

No.

This isn't me.

I don't want this.

I don't want to kill.

I want to be a hero who saves others, not one who kills.

I removed the knife from his throat and sheathed it at my side.

It took all the strength I had to resist murdering him in his sleep.

I didn't kill him, but maybe I should have because eventually, he would both cause me great suffering and great success.

As I walked out of the small clearing we were located in, I oriented myself toward the giant boulder I saw earlier.

Before I exited the clearing, my body turned around against my will and pulled out the pistol.

I held it in my right hand, which was still bleeding from when I stabbed it.

It was pointed directly at the man.

NO!

I REFUSE!

NOT LIKE THIS!

It took everything I had to resheathe the gun and continue walking.

Blood dripped onto the grass from my right hand, but I paid it no mind.

I reached the boulder in a few minutes and climbed up it.

The rocks were sharp and cut my right hand immensely, yet somehow my left hand was absolutely fine.

I reached the top of the boulder and took in the amazing view.

I was in a massive forest, which grew denser the closer you approached the center, but what set this forest apart from every other forest was the giant golden tree.

It stemmed from the very center of the forest, and it was much taller than any man-made structure I have ever seen.

It had to be at least 1000 feet tall.

It was at this moment that it dawned on me.

I was no longer in the world I once was in.

Millions of questions circled through my head as the puzzle began to slowly take shape, but I chose to ignore it until provided with more information.

The problem was that I did not know where to go next.

At that moment, I needed a destination, and I was not provided with one, but I was provided with a path.

I felt a slight tug on my right hand.

You could barely see the hand through all of the blood that covered it, but the blood began to clear.

The blood was magically cleaned off my hands, and the pool of blood took shape into a red string that attached to my right hand and led me into the depths of the forest.

At that moment, the old me would have had way too many questions to process any of it, but the new me wasn't asking questions.

That damn old lady.

She's doing this.

I remember…

She said:

"Follow the red string, it will guide you to where you need to go."

As reluctant as I was, I chose to follow the red string.

I had no other plan anyway.

The red string led me into the forest, but I unknowingly left a bright red path of blood behind me, and anyone could follow this trail if they wished to.