Another chapter! Enjoy. Also I came up with the perfect writing schedule for Grasping Fate and Destiny Calls. 

          Grasping Fate will be updated every OTHER week.

          Destiny Calls will follow the every other week too, as it's main times of focus. However if given the chance, it will be updated whenever I have a chapter ready. That way this book can be completed before Grasping Fate reaches the point where it spoils the ending.

Anyways enjoy! I'm loving this so much, and thank you so much for the support on the first chapter! <3

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Destiny Calls

Chapter 2

"I'll have to keep looking for more of them, more brief moments of freedom in a world that refuses to allow it"

~~~~~

-Day II-

It was morning, smoke was still trailing into the sky but no more fire persisted. The sun shown brightly even over the strong smell of burnt everything that reached even the distance he was at. He woke up slowly. First rolling around on the spongy grass before pushing himself up into a seated position.

He glanced around, now after more rest he was more aware of his surroundings. The ground was laden with grass, shrubs, rocks and moss. The ground was springy and partially wet to touch, their air had a strong smell to it, a smell he could only assume was because he was in a swamp.

He mustered the strength to stand up and almost fell over as soon as he did. He felt a wave of nausea wash over him and realized immediately how hungry he was. He hadn't noticed before, somehow managing to ignore his hunger, but now relaxed and calm he could feel his hunger at full forces. The gnawing feelings eating his stomach from the inside was unbearable. He was almost sure he didn't have a stomach anymore.

Putting one leg in front of the other, he slowly began walking west. As in his dream that is the direction the people were traveling from, so maybe west of here was the town from his dream. Or was it his memory? He still didn't know without anything to prove it was one or the other.

It was like this all morning to afternoon. Eventually after what felt like an eternity he managed to make it to a town. There was in fact a town in the direction he had believed there to be, making it all the more likely that his dream was actually a memory.

As he wandered the busy city, he barely noticed the odd looks people were giving him. From glancing his way and then glancing back in shock, to staring at him for long periods of time and whispering with someone beside him. He didn't care.

He probably did look like a wreck, anyone would after exhaustion and starvation.

With very little breaks, he managed to stop in front of a plain looking home closer to the outskirts of the town, but not close to the way he had come.

This home in particular looked very much like the one from his dream. He stared at it for a few moments before slowly rising one hand to the door. He aimed to knock on the door, however a voice spoke up behind him.

"Yo dude, you need anything?"

He turned away from the door with his hand still raised mid-knock. He looked to the one who had called to him, along with his two companions. He didn't move as his eyes scanned the people in front of him.

A guy wearing a red beanie reached out to him and spoke, "Hey, are you alr--"

That guy stopped mid sentence and stared at the man in front of him, "T-There's no way..."

He didn't move or say a word, he stood there for a moment before stumbling back against the door of the home he was going to knock on and passing out.

How long was he out? He groaned as he slowly sat up. He heard murmurs and mutters around him but he could not decipher what they were saying. When he opened his eyes he saw those three people again.

The first person being the one he saw before passing out wore a red zip-up sweater who had red hair that peeked out from under a very nice, red beanie designed to look like a dinosaur. Actually, the person next to him wearing a dark green shirt had a similar beanie that was purple. His hair was unnaturally colored as it was purple with green streaks. The last person had a thick red and yellow scarf wrapped around his neck as he wore a grey sweater.

All of them looked very much like the people from his dreams. He didn't notice how long he stared at them until one of them spoke up. The red headed one, "You're awake now, how are you feeling?"

He didn't know how to answer so he stayed silent.

"Ok...Uh. How about telling us your name?" He tried asking him again.

He continued to stare not having an answer.

"Can you speak?"

"Yes," this question he could answer.

"Alright," he grinned glad to be getting somewhere, "So then where are you from?"

He didn't answer again.

There was silence from the people across from him, "Well maybe he doesn't know," a new voice, the one with the red and yellow scarf spoke up.

"Well why doesn't he says so?" The unusually purple colored hair fellow spoke, his speech a bit odd, but understandable. He spoke a little loudly and a bit aggressively which caused him to flinch.

"Whoa, Barney, calm down, Ross might be right. Maybe he just doesn't know, right?" The first guy looked at him and he nodded in response.

"Ok!" He grinned, "Now we are getting somewhere, so you don't know who you are or where you came from, but you came to this house specifically, my home and Barney's actually. Is there a reason why?"

He thought for a moment, looking down at the ground, then he answered, "A dream... I saw it in a dream. Do I...do we know each other? Is that why I am here?"

They looked at each other uncertainly, "Well, we don't know. None of us want to say it, but you look like a friend of ours that died 4 years ago. He fell and never returned from the void."

"The void?" What was that he wondered.

"It was this thing our friend found 4 years ago until he fell in, then... well. It was sealed away so no one else would die. His name was Max."

Max. His ears seemed to perk up at the name, it sounded nice, very comforting. He liked the sound of it, Max.

Max.

Max.

Max.

"Here." The redhead handed something to him. It was a small frame with a picture inside, "You seemed interested, you kept staring at it I think, It's not a super old but pictures like these aren't common so don't break it."

He'd apparently been staring at this picture but he hadn't realized. He held it carefully in his hands before looking it over. The people sitting across from him continued to talk.

"Barney! Ross! Do you remember when we took that picture?"

"Yeas, it takes all of ours moneys to buy camera, two months worth!" Barney answered.

"But when we did Max suggested we take a picture to commemorate the occasion... The first and last photo we ever took as a group."

"Yea..." Ross quietly muttered.

He continued to study the picture. A happy group of four people. Ross, and Barney, the other redhead whose name he hasn't learned yet and the Max guy they were talking about. They looked a few years younger and they smiled happily as they were laughing while all laying on top of each other. Perhaps they had tackled each other to the ground before the picture was taken.

He felt a sense of happiness, and of longing.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but what do you want us to call you?"

He looked up for a moment and laid the photo down next to him on the couch. He faltered, what to call him? He didn't--no. He knew exactly what his "name" would be.

"Max."

The redhead's eyes widened, "M-Max! You want your name to be Max?"

'Max' in turn nodded, he liked the name, "It feels right."

Neither of the other three said anything at first until Barney spoke up, "Oks Max it is."

"R-right! And, call me Red since I haven't introduce myself yet," Red pointed to the people next to him, "This shy lug is Ross, and this weirdo here is Barney."

Max smiled, "H-hello."

"But you must be tired and hungry, sit here and I'll go grab you some food." Red got up from the couch across from Max and left through a hallway connecting the room he was in with Ross and Barney.

Max remained sitting with the other two, the silence was awkward. Max glanced at Barney but he wasn't paying attention, then he looked at Ross. Ross was looking at him, but the moment Max's eyes met his he jumped and looked away, very guiltily he might add.

Max opened his mouth to ask Ross something but Red came storming in with a march in his step, "Alright! Here we go, food for all!"

Red waltzed in with a tray of food, snacks mainly and placed it on a small table in front of them. Red took a seat next to Barney and Ross, across from Max.

"Let's digs in you dirts!" Barney shouted before grabbing the first thing on the tray, an apple. His friends laughed and Max couldn't help but smile. He reached out to grab a sandwich but stopped. Something wasn't right.

Something didn't feel right to him.

Something was wr--

Max cried out. He tensed and his new friends looked at Max terrified as they saw their new friend clutch his hand and then fall off the couch, the photo sliding down with Max. The glass frame shattered on the floor. Max gritted his teeth as tears spilled out. Why was he in pain?

What was causing this terrible, terrible pain that seemed to cover his entire body. It felt like every inch of his body--his soul--was being ripped apart.

He opened his eyes only slightly to the shouting voices of his friends. They seemed to be yelling at him, screaming, and panicking but their voices did not reach him over the loud ringing slowly growing louder and louder. Eventually the ringing grew to great and he clutched his head in an attempt to block out the noise.

He closed his eyes and opened them to darkness, the ringing had stopped. It was silent.

It was dark.

Was it just a dream?

Had those face just been a figment of his imagination, had he never left this empty h*ll hole. Was he going insane?

How long had he been down here?

Why was he here?

Max just wanted to cry.

He just wanted to be free. He wanted to see the stars, he wanted to feel the sun on his face, or the rain down his back, or the wind through his hair. He wanted to breathe and live freedom.

He clenched his fists in frustration and curled up grabbing fistfuls of hair and screamed. He screamed and let his soul out. He was tired. He was finished. He wanted to die. To vanish.

He didn't want to live in this empty void forever. As he screamed his voice became hoarse, and it became harder to scream, it became more apparent that he could hear something. Max stopped screaming and looked up. Though there was no ground and therefore no up or down or left or right, he looked 'up' anyways. At least to what he thought was up.

It's easy see.

A voice of a woman, the woman whose voice he forced himself to remember as he looked for his freedom. Was this a dream too?

Here, why don't I give you guys a little phrase to help you remember. 'Where Duhitian lies, my kingdom thrives, amongst black and purple stone.' Just keep repeating that and it'll be easy.

Hmm? Why have I given you the task to find me?

Well...I thought it would be fun. It has been a long time since the sky has seen your face hasn't it? Who was she speaking to? He could tell. It was like there was a voice there, but every time he strained to listen it just got quieter? Then he heard his voice.

"If we don't find you in time...what will happen?"

This had to be a dream or a memory, he hadn't spoken, but he had, or at least the version of himself in this dream/memory.

The woman didn't answer for a while before speaking up.

If you fail your task, then your life will be taken by my curse. And the sun will never touch your face again, nor will the moon ever see your smile.

A moment of silence passed. He was so sure someone should be speaking right now. Was it his imagination?

Three days after you leave here the task will begin. The curse will start, and slowly the darkness will reach to entangle your soul. And when it does... You lose... 

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Finally, I can stop calling Max 'him' or 'he'. Gah! It was so confusing.

Feel free to post your theories as the book goes on OR ask me questions if you are confused.

~WrittenDarkness