The Barrier

The gentle splashing of a flowing river woke me up.

My head feels heavy and the comfortable grass surrounding me does not want to let go.

But realizing this won't lead anywhere, I struggle to stand up.

"Where am I?" I say aloud when I see myself surrounded by the forest and a river flowing near me.

I try to take a step. A sharp pain shoots through my head. That's when I realize.

"What am I doing here?"

I say aloud once again, with my voice echoing through my head. Why am I here in the first place? What is my purpose here? I start looking around when I suddenly catch a glimpse of my silhoutte in the river. I start walking closer with my face getting more clear with every step. Finally I stand on the river's edge and see a young face of a man, with chestnut-colored hair and soulless blue eyes. He seems tired. Or is it I?

Suddenly I lose balance, falling down onto grass where I recently had been lying.

"Who am I?"

I say as I realize I don't recall anything about myself. My memories are a blank state. The only thing I understand are my surroundings.

I try to piece myself together, even though I am lost in an Identity crisis.

After some time passes I garher myself and decide to get familiar with my surroundings.

Walking along the river I come across two graves. They look fresh marked with cross-like figures made from wood branches. One has pink flowers lying down, the other does not. Despite the unsettling nature surrounding graves, I feel a strange warmth here.

A few hours passed since I woke up. I spent most of that time resting near the graves the only place in this mysterious forest that felt welcoming. It was hard but once again I forced myself to get up. I hated this forest, but I know I must keep exploring If I want to find answers.

After wandering for some time I noticed an object not belonging to the natural forest's environment. It was a wooden sign with arrows facing to opposite dirrections. The one facing left had "Astaria" engraved and the right one had "Barrier". As much as I wanted to get out of this forest immediately, the word "Barrier" piques my curiosity. I decide to walk a bit that way, just to see what it has to offer, but just after a few steps an extreme pain pierces through my head.

My body startes moving back by itself. I feel numb and cold, shivering uncontrollably.

"I don't want to go there."

Echoes in my mind as I walk back.

"I really don't want to go there"

The sense of avoidance grows stronger, until, suddenly, everything just goes black.

In the brief moment before passing out, I noticed a figure with light yellow hair and pointy ears, smiling with hatred.