Bark
Max was surrounded by darkness.
Cold.
Empty.
Exhausted.
Scared.
Bark
His ears twitched at the sound echoing in the void.
It felt warm.
Safe.
Familiar.
....Haunting.
Bark. Bark. Bark.
He blinked and the first thing that greeted him was the sun's glaring rays.
He squinted his eyes to adjust to the light but yelped in shook upon feeling something wet on his fur.
The sound was squeaky, filled with surprise than fear.
He gazed up and saw eyes gazing at him lovingly, but he couldn't see their face.
Mom
The word echoed from the back of his head as the female curled up around his smaller frame as she groomed his fur.
He pressed himself against her, feeling relief.
He blinked and he found himself in a collapsed building, as if to hide.
Suddenly, he heard a stick hitting flesh, followed by a pained whimper and a man cursing loudly.
Max flinched at the sound but failed to move an inch. His heartbeat echoing loudly in his ears, his tiny paws trembling upon hearing a crack.
He curled up, whimpering as the sounds grew louder.
After what felt like an eternity, they stopped and a metallic scent filled his nostrils, followed by his mother's body curled up against him, her heartbeat close to his ear. Calming him down.
He blinked again and he found himself playing in the forest with his mother chasing him with a limp.
The barks filled with playful joy as they ran around.
Happy.
Peace.
Completion.
That's what he felt.
He blinked again and thunder rumbled in the sky. The rain blurring his vision as he found himself staring at her motionless body.
Her golden fur stained as the water around them turned red.
He stared at the stained stick before him in rage.
No.
No!
NOOO!!
Mom's not gone. MOM'S NOT GONE!!
He ran up to her and barked loudly as if trying to woke her up. However, she remained motionless.
Max bit her, tapped her and pulled at her body. But he stopped as he felt no heat from her.
Mom....
He tapped his head on hers, whimpering as the rain soaked his fur, exposing him to the cold.
He stood up and darted his gaze to the man walking away. His boots crashing the ground beneath him.
Max didn't think, rage clouding his thoughts as he ran through the rain, slipping on puddles and mud, focused on the man before him.
He growled and bit his leg, the man's grunted in pain.
Max looked up and saw his eyes— filled with disgust, cruelty and rage.
The next thing he knew, he was picked and thrown before everything went black.
Bark
Mom
Bark
Mom
Max blinked and he found himself running in a valley towards his mother as the sun hit her fur, but her loving eyes were on him.
Just as he reached her, the valley changed into a wasteland and he gazed on her bloodied paw.
He blinked and he found himself running away from a giant with a stick and the man's eyes chasing him across the wasteland.
He blinked again and he found himself living the continuous loop. But he didn't stop running.
He couldn't stop running.
MOM!!!
"Max!"
Alex slashed at the thick hedges with his sword, his arms trembling.
"Max!"
Click
[Hey! Stop!]
"Max!"
Alex refused to stop, continuously trying to cut through the tall floral walls.
[You're wasting time.]
"Max!"
[You idiot! Stop! That's enough.]
"MAX!!"
Alex dropped to knees in exhaustion after slashing the bushes for a long time. His sword fell beside him with a thud.
The grass beneath him felt like needles through his jeans as he stared at his glaring red palms, blood seeping from his bruises.
[You know you can't cut through the walls. So why bother wasting energy?]
"Go away."
[You only have five hours left.]
"I said..... GO AWAY! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT THIS IS HAPPENING!!
[*Rolls eyes*]
[Blaming me won't change a thing.]
Alex glared at the screen, his eyes red. As he was about to resort, his heart began to ache, his throat closing and his lungs burning as though he couldn't breathe while he clutched his throbbing chest.
[Calm down.]
'I can't...'
[Breathe.]
'I can't breathe.'
His breath in uneven suffocating pants and wheezes and his eyes losing focus as his body began to tremble violently, trying to regulate his breathing.
[Just focus on the quest. He'll be fine.]
'What if he's in danger?'
Pant
'What if he's hurt?'
Wheeze
'What if he's....'
His mind began to spin and the walls began to ripple and swirling colors filled his vision as he felt the ground tilt before everything went black
Suddenly, he heard voices— familiar and unfamiliar, captivating and haunting, warm and mocking, all whispering in the darkness.
Whispering about him.
His faults.
His fears.
All judging him.
Assessing him.
.... Waiting for him.
Alex immediately got up and ran.
He didn't know where he was going, what he was running from or who he's running to. All he could think about is getting away from it all.
Away from the shame.
The fear.
The judgement.
Running to relief.
To Max.
His parents.
Home.
'Home.... I want to go home....'
Eyes appeared in the darkness— all staring directly at him.
Watching.
Mocking.
Sympathetic.
Judging.
Amused.
He stretched out his arms, hands reaching out for anything in the void.
Then he felt it. A door. But it was moving away from him.
He chased after it, feeling like fool putting on a ridiculous show for an audience as he felt the eyes' piercing gazes.
He grabbed hold of the handle and twisted it, pushing his weight on the wood, forcing it open and he collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain upon hitting the tiled floor.
The door closed and the familiar scent of lavender and roses filled the air, giving him a sense of calm as he opened his eyes.
He froze, eyes widening, refusing to believe where he was.
The TV hiding the crack on the custard yellow wall. The faded red carpet with a small permanent yellow stain. And the cracked framed baby photos he tries to hide but his parents always put back.
The door opened, causing him to flinch as he sat up and hesitantly turned to look but his eyes were closed.
"Minjun-a?"
Alex immediately opened his eyes, tears streaming down his face as he stared at his mother, who stared at him with concern.
"엄마?"
He stood up and wrapped his arms around her.
"엄마...."
"괜찮으세요? (Are you okay?)" she asked, gently wrapping her arms around him upon hearing him sniffling, rubbing his back as she whispered words of comfort.
A sudden chill ran down his spine at her touch. Feeling no warmth from her hand and soon her whole body felt cold.
He gulped, nervously lifting his head and his eyes became impossibly wide at what he saw, distancing himself from him. His skin erupting in goosebumps.
The thing that stood in his mother's place was white and almost 2D with lines scribbling around it like a rough sketch.
Its limbs were ridiculously long, its body thin like a sheet of paper and a large mouth plastered on its tiny head.
Alex crawled away from it, his legs giving out as he stared at it, unable to look away.
"Minjun-a," it said, its a mixture of several voices.
The room shifted, the walls broke and the furniture changing into weird creatures that made his stomach churn at the mere sight of them.
A scent emitted from the creatures— a mixture of lavender, oil, rotten flesh, sweets and meat, causing him to gag as he remained frozen in place.
The creatures closed in on him, their hands all over him. He didn't scream. He didn't struggle. Just cringing at the slimy, sticky sensation from their hands.
He closed his eyes.
'Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?'
He opened them and found him standing in his room— his childhood room. But he was the only in color as everything was in black and white.
Suddenly the door burst open and a twelve-year-old him entered the room appearing as though he came back from school. His eyes teary and filled with fear and panic, clutching his bag tightly.
"I must hid them.... She won't find out...." young Alex muttered continuously as he rummaged through his bag and took out papers, looking around the room.
Alex blinked and found himself in his room again but this time, it was his sixteen-year-old self, curled up on the bed crying.
'Why am I crying?'
He checked the calendar and saw that it was last summer. He furrowed his head in confusion.
'What happened last summer?'
Outside the door, he heard his parents talking, but no matter how hard he tried to listen to their conversation, all he heard was "funeral", "accident" and..... "Fredrick".
Alex went completely still at the name as he suddenly remembered crying last summer upon hearing Fredrick's accident.
He remembered Fredrick being his best friend since kindergarten and the accident occured when he went for his summer break.
He remembered his smile and gleaming blue eyes before the break started.
'But why do I still feel like I'm forgetting something?'
The door creaked open, gaining his attention as he saw a dog— a 7-month-old golden retriever walking towards the bed, curling up next to his crying self.
'Max....'
Alex's eyes dawned with realization and his surrounding rippled, the images fading as he found himself back in the maze.
He looked around in confusion, finding himself kneeing on the ground, his hands on his head. His gaze on the sword next him as everything came rushing back.
Whimper.
He stood up at the pained sound, eyes darting around before he took off running towards it.
"MAX!!!"
[Trial Quest: Survive The Forest
-Escape the forest in 24 hours
-Collect the ten items
-Stay alive
•Duration: 2 hours
•Reward: ???
•Failure: Erasure from existence]