Into the Fabled Settlements: Amara and Tristan's Epic Journey

Darkness, cold, and a soft breeze made up the only world around me. My eyes refused to open, my fists were clamped shut, and my jaw locked tight. I was curled into a ball, knees tucked into my chest and hands clasped in front of my face.

I heard the waves crashing not far away from me. The sound of the water hitting the shore was rhythmic, but I couldn't tell if it was loud or soft. The tide continued to pull away from me and back towards the water. The pebbles beneath me were hard and rough against my skin as I lay in place for what seemed like hours. I could feel a slight layer of sand on top of my legs, but no grains ever made contact with my skin. It was as if they hovered just over top of me, keeping their distance instead of falling down onto my body.

Two voices echoed through the dark void that surrounded me. One was deep and held a masculine tone while the other was higher pitched and had a feminine quality to it. Neither voice filled me with an emotion that I could place. I knew someone was speaking to me, but their words were muffled by the darkness that surrounded me.

"Amara... Amara... Amara..."

"Amara..."

"Amara."

The voices kept repeating my name; sometimes separately, sometimes together. I wanted to open my eyes and see who it was calling out to me, but each time I tried to force them open all I could see in my mind's eye was darkness, too much darkness. The callings continued even as they faded further away until they were nothing more than whispers echoing in the distance.

As quickly as they came they left leaving me alone once again with nothing but silence surrounding me - the kind of silence you'd expect in a graveyard during midnight mass on Christmas Eve with nothing but ghosts in attendance. And then there was something else: a sharp piercing pain that shot through my temple and into my eyebrow. My eyes snapped open as I screamed out in pain causing another wave of pain to shoot down the side of my face from ear to ear causing tears to fill my eyes making everything blurry before returning back to normal when the pain stopped just as quickly as it started leaving me gasping for air and gripping at the sides of my head trying to calm myself down so I could think straight again without feeling like screaming every few seconds because of another jolt shooting through my body.

I sat up slowly trying to regain control over myself knowing full well that a panic attack only makes things worse when you are already experiencing an episode of whatever this is that is happening right now! A headache like no other pulsed at the front of my scalp hoping its way across the side of my face working its way toward the backside of my head where it made its home long ago causing random bouts of seemingly unexplainable pain over time simply explained away by migraines or sinus issues... never something like this though! Not like this! Nothing close! This was different! This felt like something else entirely! This felt like... not this world... not earth or whatever incarnation we may be on at any given moment! There's something else here with us! Something evil!

The idea sent shivers down my spine causing goosebumps to rise up on every inch of exposed skin causing tiny bumps to appear on top of those bumps creating one large pulsating ball on top of my head threatening to explode sending shards off bone piercing what little flesh still covered it all over at once causing blood to begin pouring out everywhere coating anything within arms reach red enough for anyone looking at it to think we've been attacked by some sort of demonic beast hell bent on eradicating mankind from existence itself!

"Amara!" A voice called out from behind me startling me halfway out of this world and somewhere else entirely forcing quick breaths out between clenched teeth while trying desperately not to scream or yell while also attempting not fall completely out of reality either causing everything around me to fade into black allowing perhaps this whole situation maybe take care of itself? Maybe if I just stay still here everything will go back to normal eventually? Things always do after all don't they? Everything goes back to normal eventually right? Yes... yes it does doesn't it?