Merida had been running on her horse for a while: both her and her animal were tired and needed a break. She had stopped next to a river, to drink and let Angus drink, but she knew they couldn't stop for long: they were close to Lincoln, and that was still too close to her house, just a couple of hours away, she could still be found easily.
But Angus didn't seem to care, he was enjoying that relaxing moment and rolled on the ground like a dog, making Merida laugh. After it she bent on him with a sweet smile whispering "Come on, you big silly, we have to move." But the horse neighed upset without move, making her laugh again.
It was in that moment that a flash, a weird light captured the girl's attention…
She turned and raised her glance toward the train's bridge, just a moment before something huge, terrifying and in a weird green color showed from nowhere destroying it. Merida stared at the scene with her eyes wide open, as well as her mouth: what the hell was that? What sort of demon?
It quickly disappeared, but after just a few seconds something else appeared in the sky: at the beginning Merida didn't get what it was, it seemed just like a green cloud, but when she looked better she got that it was moving and it wasn't a could, they were creatures, living flying creatures, something like phosphorescent demoniac bats.
And they were approaching quickly.
Merida shook her head in fear: what were those little monsters? She approached again Angus shouting to the horse "Hurry Angus, we have to leave!". The animal heard the anxiety in the girl's voice and with a scared neigh he jumped on his legs and, as soon as the girl mounted on his back, he started to run.
Merida kept looking behind them, hoping that the green bats weren't following them, and after a while without seeing them she started to believe that the demons weren't interested in them. But then she heard noise: broken branches, leaves's rubbing and a terrifying, unnatural screech. The girl felt her heart sink in her chest and with growing fear she incited Angus to run faster.
But it was useless: the bats were too fast.
Merida was terrified: she tried to hit them with some arrows, but her weapons simply passed through the green demons without hurting them.
"Faster, Angus, faster!" she cried to the horse, but the poor animal couldn't do better then that, and in a few moments the bats had reached them.
They started to fly around her head, to pull her hear, to push her head, and every attempt of the girl to remove them was simply useless: her arms simply went through their bodies. She couldn't touch them, but they could touch her. Merida had ever been a coward in her life, there had been only a few things she had been scared about, but this time she was terrified.
Angus was keeping running, even if Merida wasn't able anymore to give him directions, but the poor horse was scared himself, and more and more tired. And as the attacks of the bats became more aggressive and Merida started to scream, the horse became even more scared, tried to run faster and stumbled upon a rock.
Merida fell on the floor, hitting her head, and she fainted.
When she recovered her senses, she had no idea how much time had passed, she didn't know where the green bats had gone and, even worse, she realized that she didn't know much about herself. Her memories, her past… it was all hidden in some forgotten place in her mind, wrapped in a dense fog that made impossible to remember.
She remembered her name. Her age. The green bats. The fact that she was running, from them, or maybe from something else. But then? What else? She had the vague idea that she hadn't been alone, she thought a horse was with her but since she had woken up there had been no hint of him.
Breathing heavily she sat down, her whole body was aching and she was shaking slightly. She looked around: she was in a small glade from where she could see the sun, around her only trees and rocks, but sharpening her hearing she could sense the presence of a stream.
She was confused and unsure of what to do, and still too tired and aching to raise up. She was planning to recover her energies and finally stand up when suddenly something weird happened.
Around her, suddenly, everything was wrapped in a curtain of fire: the sky became red as blood, the grass burned, the trees crackled in the flames, even the rocks were on fire. Merida mouthed a scream of fear, breathless, while the flames started to approach her, surrounding her.
She closed her eyes preparing herself to the worst, but after a few minutes still nothing had happened and when she opened again her eyes the flames were gone. The sky was blue, the grass was green, the trees were still all around her, unharmed.
What had happened?
Merida swallowed and stood up. Had she just imagined it? Had she hit the ground so badly with her head?
She didn't know, she didn't have any answer, but she was thirsty and so she decided to follow the noise of the stream and reach it. She was walking slowly, still too proved by all those experiences, and she arrived only after an half hour. She bent on the river to drink, but as soon as she put her hand in the water, she realized that it wasn't water.
It was blood.
She screamed with all the air that she had in her lungs and stepped clumsily and quickly away from the stream, trying to clean her hand, but it seemed like the blood didn't want to leave her.
And then…
Then everything was gone again.
She was panting heavily. The streams seemed normal but, even though she was still thirsty, she didn't have the braveness to reach it. Tears started to cross her cheeks. What was happening to her? Was it related with the green bats? Was she only imagining those things? Was she going crazy? What was she supposed to do?
Curling up on herself she started to sob desperately. She was alone, she barely knew her own name and she had no idea of what to do.
"Poor little girl, you really seem lost."
An husky, caressing, melliferous voice made her raise her head again: she dried her tears looking around to understand who had talked. A cat, a black, big cat was sitting a few steps away from her, staring at her with his yellow eyes.
"Poor little thing" repeated the cat, and this time the girl was sure it was him to talk.
Merida tried to focus, to remember: did cat talk in the 'real word'?
Yes, they… no… wait… no they…
She really couldn't remember. Was she just imagining that cat, or was he real? Merida bit her lips, while a new sob shook her body. How could she know?
"Are you real or not real?" she asked in a broken voice to the animal, but he tilted his head without answering
"Are you real, or not real?" she asked again shouting.
The cat mewed.
With new tears running freely from her eyes she shouted again desperatly
"Real or not real? You're real or not real? Tell me! Who are you? What are you? Are you real or not real? Real or not real? REAL OR NOT REAL?"
