Purpose

  Although I never understood our purpose, I knew we must have some significance in the world. We moved about all the time. One minute we lived in one place and the next we were taken to another. We were, perhaps, travellers, allowing the wind to take us where it may.
  We had a good life, though we cried a lot. We cried through the day and, even at times, through the night. We were still when we slept and then sometimes we were still for no real reason; I always liked those times... It wasn't long, however, until everything began to change.
 
  I was only four when I first saw it. It flashed brightly and leapt about my room; I’d never seen anything move so fast. It growled at me fiercely, shaking my room, and told me that its name was Hunzabul. I was afraid and cried for my mother. She came rushing in and held me against her. She told me that I'd just had a bad dream and that I was safe. I really wanted to believe her, but I just knew that she was wrong. So long as she was there with me, however, the bright entity was nowhere to be seen.
  For many years I saw the creature; every time it seemed to grow larger and fiercer. The larger it became the closer it got to me.

  One night I was awoken to find the frightening creature was clinging to the end of my bed, watching me like a hawk as I slept. At this point I no longer cried for my mother. I knew that I wouldn't be believed and I also knew that by morning it would be gone.

  Another night the creature actually climbed into my bed with me. At this point it was almost the same size as me. I squirmed and tried to push it away. Its long, angular body was razor sharp and cut into me. Long silver strands of energy poured from my hands and onto my bed.

  Suddenly my eyes met with those of the creature; its fierce eyes locked on mine. An invisible force pierced through them. I cried out in agony; it felt as though someone had pushed needles into my eyes. The pain was unbearable.

  I felt my eyes being pulled from their sockets; despite this, I could still see everything. The creature, bright and agile as ever, shot into me through my eye sockets and forced its way into my body and out again through my stomach. I felt the razor like being slice my insides brutally. It was such an awful feeling I thought that I would surely die. But I didn’t.

  As soon as the creature had left my body it vanished in a flash. I collapsed back onto my bed and fell instantly back to sleep.

  The next day I was awoken by my parents. They were speaking to me using words I'd never heard before. Their voices were strange... Quiet.

  "Dad?!" I said, reaching for him.
  He didn't respond to my touch and carried on saying things that I couldn't understand.

  "Dad, what's going on!?" I demanded, now frightened.

  Still he did not respond to me. I sat up in my bed.

  My parents were crying.

  "Why are you crying?" I asked, disturbed. They were crying without me! We usually all cried together!

  No one answered me. Neither of them could even look at me! What had I done wrong? Was it my fault? Had I hurt them?!

  I looked down at myself to discover that my skin had changed colour. What had happened to me?! Had I died? I couldn’t have.

  Suddenly I felt an anger rage inside me. A fire burned through me and I rose above my parents. I grew stronger and larger than them somehow. "WHY DON'T YOU CARE ABOUT ME ANYMORE?! WHY ARE YOU SUDDENLY SO SMALL AND WEAK?!"

  I grew and grew, bigger and stronger, over powering my parents. They responded to me now and appeared frightened.

  "Kyla, we need you here!" I suddenly heard a voice call.

  I followed the voice and that was when I came across someone who looked like me. "Who are you?" I asked. "What happened to us?"

  "My name is Sann. You're new, aren't you?"

  I was confused. "What's happening to me? Where are my parents?"

  Sann came to me. "Listen, it's time to forget about your parents. They can no longer hear or understand you."

  I pulled away from him. "Why?! What's going on?!"

  "You're with us now," he said. "Your purpose is here now."

  I began to cry and so did everyone else. The wind howled with us and I cried harder than I'd ever cried along with the others...

  That was when I saw the creature again. It flashed in front of me, brighter and larger than ever and growled loudly; a low guttural growl that shook the sky.

  My mind slowly drifted and my grief faded from me. I was with my new family now. I had a purpose; this was it.


  The animals of the forest fled to find shelter. The storm had just begun...