The mountains rose high into the distance, creating a wall around the horror that happened within their valley. I looked up and saw the sun had soaked the sky into a red and orange haze, the clouds looked like smoke rising into the air. Though as I looked down I could have died from what I was seeing. Every single person I ever knew, hundreds I never even met, marched along. Their faces were slack and their eyes were blank. They all had chains around their wrist and ankles, even the toddlers, and were connected like some twisted form of a marionette doll. It was too much for me to look at, my body felt as though it just wanted to collapse. At the front of everyone I saw something of a large stage made out of rock, a throne sat there and on top of the throne was a young man. He had black hair and a twisted smile. He wore jeans and a hood, covering his eyes from view. All around I looked at his minions, they too all wore jeans and a hoodie, with either a sword and shield or a bow and a quiver of iron arrows, and were stationed along, keeping their prisoners moving. Two of them flanked me on both sides. I was chained up like everyone else. The two boys started to march me along. One kept his the point of his sword on my back, the other had a near death grip on my upper arm. I decided to make my last chance of defiance. I stepped on the one boys foot with all my force and swung my chains around to hit the other, but he was expecting me. He grabbed my chains and threw me to the ground like a rag doll. Then he dug his foot into my side. I was expecting this but I wasn’t expecting to hear a low and hushed whisper in my ear. The boy acted like he was scolding me something fierce when really he sent me a warning message. He said,
“Listen we don’t have much time... I am going to free you of the chains by magyk and when I do it is up to you to make it to the woods. Follow the stream and try to make it to somewhere safe. Get help and free everyone..” He grabbed my arm and jerked me up. I stared beneath the shadows that danced on his face and saw piercing green eyes, like mine. The two boys continued to shove me to the rocky stage. My adrenaline started pumping, I only had one chance. I wished I could communicate to the boy again but we were already to the stage... No. I had to try. I summoned up some magyk and concentrated on speaking to the boy in a way only he would hear me. My voice was faded and echoed, but I managed to do it.
What will happen to you? Will you come with me as well?
He responded in a clear crisp tone. He must have had years of magyk practice as well.
I might. It would be difficult but I will try. I can tell by reading your thoughts that you are in no condition to try and survive on your own..
Hey! Watch it..Don’t step over your boundaries..
I could almost feel him grin from five feet away, You ARE a feisty one..
I wanted to argue again, but I knew he was right that I was in no condition to try and survive on my own. I was beaten up pretty bad. I wasn’t sure who the boy was, but I was desperate. I needed help and he was the only one who seemed to be on my side. I was taking a huge risk though, this could all be a trap. I really wasn’t in much of a condition to be able to fight. I had a gash above my right eye, bruises had formed all down my arms and legs. I was severely dirty and I had a slash in my side that was bandaged poorly, thinking about it brought back the memory of the hot metal blade slicing me when I had resisted the chains. I looked more like a walking corpse in shorts a t-shirt and old sneakers. I set one foot on the stage when I saw my escape route. There was an opening in between two of the guards, if I was quick enough I just may have a chance to break through it. Slowly I walked towards the man sitting in the throne, Leighton. He had deep red eyes and jet black hair. His teeth looked more like fangs and it was as if the air around him dropped ten degrees. He grinned at me, I knew he was enjoying himself. He was just about to say something when the boy with bright green eyes coughed. He must have seen my chance of escape too because next thing I knew my chains had fallen and I had slipped right between the two guards, I leaped over boulders towards the treeline of the woods. It was my best shot to being able to escape. My heart was beating so loudly in my ears that I didn’t hear any pursuers until I was already racing over the mountain side. Arrows soared over my head and I could hear shouting and the clanking of metal on rock as people fell over, dropping swords and shields. Being weaponless benefited me, unless they actually caught up. The blood curdling yells of Leighton caught up to me. I turned my head towards the forest and saw more people streaming out of it, swords and shields at the ready. There went my shot in the woods. I gritted my teeth and took off in the opposite direction. I finally reached the opposite side of a small hill atop the mountain and began half sliding and half running down the side. The metallic taste of blood seeped into my mouth each time I pushed myself to go faster, the gash in my side had gone numb from the adrenaline. Below me stretched a grassy moore that ran to the edge of a cliff, then jumped 50 feet before continuing beyond a raging stretch of ocean water below. I knew it was near suicidal but I had to try. Staying was a one way ticket to being 6 feet under, that is if they were nice enough to bury me. I didn’t break stride once, every part of me screamed in pain and my lungs clawed for air. I had to save everyone, It was all my fault anyways. I was their leader, they were counting on me. I was nearing the edge, I knew what was coming. I saw the water churning down below, as if it was saying  Come to me, your death will be quick! I didn’t dare look back. My foot left the ground, I was soaring through the air. I only managed to jump out 20 feet. The water laughed below, baring its rocky fangs at me while foaming at the mouth. I was an easy 200 feet up in the air and I began to sink. I would hit the water like a bug on a windshield. I heard shouts from behind me but nothing registered until I felt a hand grab mine. I jerked my head, startled. The boy with the bright green eyes grinned at me, he held a spell bottle in one hand. He had slowed down time. I was never so thankful for someone in my whole life. I was in too much pain to be able to take in his features and see who he really was, my vision had started to go blurry. My adrenaline was draining, I painfully became aware of all my wounds once again.
Time started to speed up, we were still a good 20 feet from the water. The boy pulled me closer to him, wrapping his arms around me and we fell in the water. It had stung but not as bad as it would have been to be flattened. My body had gave out and I couldn't move, I realized thats why the boy had his arms around me. He pulled me to the surface, I tried to swim but my body wouldn’t allow it. There was a cave nearby and he began to half swim half drag me towards it. I managed a weak doggy paddle. The salt water stung my eyes and scratched the cuts all over my body. We finally got to the cave, it had a sandy beach to it. We gratefully crawled to it, I wasn’t sure why I did it but I grabbed the boy and kissed him on the cheek, then I pulled him into a hug. I was so grateful for him. He laughed and hugged me back, he said to me,
“I told you, Adira... I will always protect you.” I pulled back and took in the boy for the first time. That’s when I finally saw who it really was. It was Leo. Leo was the first friend I had made in school, we were the best students in the entire system and I had thought we would always be together. Then one day he had told me he was joining Leighton and his gang, when he first told me I was furious. My best friend became a traitor to everyone, even though he always swore to me it was to keep me safe. Never once did I believe him, until now. I wrapped my arms around him and held on to him tightly, for the moment I was selfish and enjoyed having him back. When he had left I had marked him as a traitor, being the leader of everyone they listened and treated him like an outcast. I wouldn’t listen to him whenever he snuck by to talk to me, I felt guilty about all of that now. Tears started to pour down my face. I let go of him and sat on the sand crying, I was drained. Leo started to look at my wounds, while I sat there motionless, and began to clean them up. I only just realized the backpack and all the medical supplies he had. We were both silent while he cleaned my wounds. Once he had finished he put the old bandage in a hole and buried them, then placed everything else in the backpack.
“Leighton was stupid enough to trust me to be the one to ‘liberate’ your personal home,” I gave him a look, he gave me a dry smile, “ ‘liberate’ is what he called the attack on everyone. He said we were ‘liberating them from their prison so that they could be made anew in our perfect world’.. Ha.. , this guy is crazier than either of us thought. I had to do some twisted things to get his respect and trust. Which I am glad that I did, I told you by joining him I could keep you safe.” He kissed the top of my forehead and hoisted me up. I cringed from the gash in my side, my legs felt like rubber as I tried to find my balance. Leo helped steady me, then we walked towards the back of the cave. There was a light coming from the end of the cave, as we hobbled along it got brighter. Soon we were standing in a clearing of the woods. Leo grabbed my hand and pulled me to the side, we ducked behind a large tree. Three of Leighton’s guards were scouting the area. Leo looked at me, he motioned up. He wanted me to climb up the tree, I almost laughed at the thought of me trying to scale the massive tree. It was an old oak wood tree that rose several stories into the air before its green leaves left the blue sky looking like little spots against the hundreds of shades of emerald greens. I gave Leo on last glance, gritted my teeth and began to scale the tree. My fingers started to bleed from clinging to the bark in places where there were no branches. Soon enough I was at the top of the tree. From between the leaves I could see all of Leighton’s little minions prowling through the foliage like wolves, thirsty for blood to be spilled. My throat tightened, if they saw me I would be dead in seconds. Normally I could have taken them all out myself, but I was in no condition to do so after being starved for two days and beaten senseless. I sat on the branch and watched as Leo tried to climb up the tree without being spotted. I felt like it was just yesterday when we graduated from finishing school, everything had been a blur that day. Everyone had been so excited that I graduated at the top of the class because that made me the first girl leader in history. I was also the youngest at only seventeen. I remember how angry Leighton had been at this, he was three years older and didn’t think a girl could ever lead anyone. Right now I felt like he was right, I had failed to protect everyone from him. Now I had to fix things. I was jerked out of thought when Leo finally reached me. I saw his hands were slightly bloody, like mine, from climbing up. We still didn’t dare to speak out loud, instead he motioned to a near by tree. He wanted me to do the very drill I had come up with for my finals project in school. I called it the ‘Flying Squirrel’ and it was where you climbed to the top of a tree and jumped from tree to tree to avoid an enemy encounter. It had earned me an A in Tactics class, but I hadn’t taken into account what it would be like to do it when I was on the brink of giving in to sleep and the pain. My only thoughts now were that I had to save everyone, so I stood up. I found balance with surprising ease on the thick branch and prepared myself. The closest branch was a good ten feet, but it was ten feet closer then when I jumped off the cliff so I liked my chances. I took one step and then I was airborne, I stretched out and reached for the branch. I felt rough bark against my palms and clung for life to it. I had made it. I pulled myself up onto the branch, my hands were stinging from the bark and my fingernails were still oozing some blood. My body was painfully aware off all my injuries. It felt like a thousands knives were stabbing at my body and I could feel the salt water in the gash on my side. Leo was next to me in an instant and I stood up to jump again. This time I didn’t make it.
I caught onto a branch ten feet up but everyone had spotted me. Arrows were flying and the forest was alive with shouting. The hunt was over. I let myself drop and took off in a sprint. My heart was pounding in my ears as I narrowly jumped over tree trunks and rocks. I wasn’t sure where I was heading, but forwards was my best shot. I broke out of the woods after three minutes of running, my body was screaming to stop but if I did I was dead. I wasn’t sure what had happened to Leo. I scanned the area, the shouts of hundreds of boys flooded around me. It finally clicked to me as to where I was. I was in the Valley of Pesadilla. The grass was fresh and alive, but it was the color of charcoal and felt like sandpaper. The trees were an ashen grey and felt as though they had eyes and watched you as you walked past. At the heart of the valley was the Portero. Legend has it that he was the physical form of nightmares and if you were able to look him in the eye he would transport you wherever you needed to go. The only catch was that when you looked into his eyes you saw your worst nightmare, most went mad from this. It was my only option at this point. An arrow grazed my ear, I turned and saw Leo had fired it. He looked at me grimly and shook his head.
“Give it up Adi! Look I’m sorry but I can’t protect you. I never could. Leighton puts a spell on all his followers so he can control us...” His eyes filled with tears. I saw him fidget a little, then it clicked with me. Leighton did have control, but not over Leo. He was crying but I could see the faintest smile in his eyes, he had to keep Leighton’s trust for a little bit longer. He lifted his arms and drew back an arrow. I tried to speak but my voice was gone. I took a step towards him .
“Leo...I trust you.. you can break the spell!” My throat tightened with each word. I had to play along with his game or else it could be the end for both of us. I could barely manage to even cry, my body shook with pain. Leo shook his head, indicating for me to run. Tears rolled down his face. He shut his eyes, the arrow flew through the air. I tried to duck but it hit me, it stuck in my shoulder. I cried out with pain. I wanted to try and get Leo to come with me, but I could see a ring of magyk around Leo that kept him from running after me. I was too weak to be able to break through it. I ran towards the center of Pesadilla Valley. My only chance now was to face my nightmares.
Once I reached the center of the valley each breath pained me. The air was so cold I could see my breath. My lungs felt like they were on fire and my vision was going blurry from pain. I left the arrow in my shoulder so it wouldn’t bleed out, so far it had worked. Pain was all I could think of. I was consumed by it. A hooded figure stood by a stone wall. I stumbled towards it, slowly it lowered its hood. There was no face to the creature, only a blank head, almost like a screen. It started to swirl with images. Then it stopped. It replaced its hood and a voice floated around me. Echoing through the valley, coming from everywhere yet nowhere.
“You are living your worst nightmare....Think, of your destination...”
This came as almost no surprise to me but I think the hooded figure was disappointed. The stone wall started to light up, I thought of home. Home with my caretaker, Darah. Then I saw the image of my home swirl into view. The grand cabin style home in the middle of the woods. It seemed a world away. The sun poured in through its large windows and made the dark wood shine. My garden was full of fresh strawberries and the fruit trees had littered its fruit across the ground. Slowly I began to sink into the image. I could feel the warmth of the sun, the softness of the grass. Soon I was laying on my own front lawn, staring up at the sky, as I heard the shouts of Darah and other survivors echoing through the air. I closed my eyes and allowed sleep to put me to rest in its arms, as I was carried inside with my life holding on by a thread...