August stirred in his sleep. He Already was one to wake up easily, but today the bed felt rather hard.
The air also felt different, calmer and more fresh. August opened his eyes and groaned, the light from the sky above blinding him.
Wait, the sky?
August was well educated– especially for a boy with a late start to education. Yet even he knew the roof couldn't miraculously cease to exist.
He sat up, crunching resounding under him. Leaves fell from his hair, which further aroused his suspicion.
He was a light sleeper, made that way through years of sudden morning flingings from his bed. Even after moving out, that Trait had stayed with him.
Looking around, August found himself in what seemed to be a forest clearing. Autumn-colored leaves littered the ground around him, covering wet brown dirt underneath.
To his right, he noticed a girl sitting with her legs to her chest. Her back was turned to him, so it seemed she hadn't noticed him yet.
Looking at her, he saw fiery red hair with dirt and leaves scattered throughout. Under the grine that covered her skin he could easily see that it was pale and porcelain.
She wore what seemed to have originally been a white crop-top but was now a mix of cream and dirt brown.
Further down, a high waisted pair of blue jeans that cut off just above her ankles.
August opened his mouth to question her, but was cut off by an unfamiliar female voice accompanied by a lavender screen.
has awoken. Welcome! August Cross!"
He attempted to scuttle backwards in surprise, but his body failed to comply. His joints and muscles felt heavy and stiff
August tried to push through, but was then interrupted by another few words from the female voice.
"The Heart of the world becons you to call out to the Guide"Pioneer"
Before he could fully process what was being said, another voice called to him. This one however, had a point of origin.
"You're awake!"
The girl from earlier had turned her attention to him, moving in his direction. He saw her burning red eyes locked onto him, her face covered in brown freckles with a light scar on her top lip.
"Don't worry we're safe, or at least I think we are. What's your name?"
Her soft and jubilant voice did not match her exterior at all.
"I…Uhh-"
August found himself unable to speak, it was as if trying to pilot a body in which he was a guest.
"Oh, I almost forgot what it was like first waking up. Although, you probably have it worse after sleeping for an extra two months.."
Two months? August was bewildered by this statement, so much so that he stopped paying attention to her ramblings.
'I was asleep for two months? Here? How could that have happened? Did Hart-'
His inner thoughts were cut short by a sudden loosening feeling in his body, and suddenly he fell back onto the ground.
"Looks like it's starting to wear off, unpleasant isn't it?"
August pushed himself back up, trying to stretch his arms out. This time they listened.
"Yes, it is"
August internally celebrated being able to reply, but managed to keep his composure outwardly. He also noticed something strange, a numbing feeling, something of a mental wall that blocked the raging panic inside him.
The girl stood up, then extended her hands toward him, clearly intending to pull him up.
"My name is Alia, what's yours?"
He took her hands, and she pulled him to his feet.
"August, now how did we get here?"
He looked down at her, being quite a bit taller. Waiting patiently for her answer as she seemed to think.
"What do you mean how? Don't you remember? The rifts swallowed everyone."
That's when it hit him, the rifts that had opened all around the planet. His fuzzy memory slowly started to return to him.
The end days, waiting to be swallowed. He touched his head and felt a slight scarring from when he was thrown across the house by one of the quakes. His brother had barely made it out carrying him. Then rest of that night was fuzzy to say the least, he couldn't even remember the events leading up to it.
'Hart!'
August looked around frantically. His brother was with him when the great tear swallowed their small home town.
"is something the matter?"
He looked at Alia, the girl seemed concerned for him. It made him quite uncomfortable.
"My brother, have you seen my brother?" He asked.
"I don't even know you, how would I know what he looked like?"
The girl's response was true, but much more cold than he had expected. Though he didn't really know what he was expecting.
"He was with me when we were consumed, he has to be close by!"
August was beginning to become increasingly frustrated and worried, and her short and snarky responses did not help his condition. Once again, he suddenly started to feel more calm and collected that he reasonably should have been.
Alia let out a long sigh, then pointed to herself, and then at him.
"I don't suppose you come from London, do you?"
August paused, caught off guard by the sudden statement, then asked.
"What?"
"I'm from London, and even if you were a Brit, I don't remember seeing you when I was being consumed by the rift. And I certainly have never seen any of them." She pointed around the clearing.
It was then that August realized that the dirt mounds he had recognized earlier, had been decaying corpses. Each one looked totally different from the last, these people clearly shared no nationality.
August shuddered at the haunting revelation, very clearly disturbed. Both by the disgusting revelation, and further so by her nonchalance when referring to it.
Even though he had already begun to feel defeated in this debate, he made one last attempt to push.
"Then, what happened h-"
Alia cut him off.
"Whatever brought us here, clearly didn't care who you were with or what for that matter."
August bit his tongue and sat down once more, a hopeless sensation taking over him, smothered by that feeling, the sense of normality and tranquility he couldn't put his finger on.
There was no point in debating any further, he had just awoken here, and from her demeanor, he could tell Alia at least knew a substantial amount more than him.
"Where are we?" He asked once more.
"I don't know."
Maybe he was wrong.
Alia knelt down in front of him, clapping her hands to claim his attention. A kind gesture which August was not fully able to appreciate in his current state.
"But I do know what we can do. Quite a few ideas at the very least. All of them are going to involve a daring escape, and i might need your help for that."
He had no idea just what the hell she was talking about, but he knew that this girl was the best, if not only chance he'd get to explain just where he was or what was going on.
Compounded by the feeling of peace in his heart, his decision making seemed to be sound, so he wasted no time in making his choice. He was going to find out just what had happened, or at the very least, find his brother.
And if it was going to involve a daring escape, looks like he'd have to give it a shot.