Mariola awoke to someone poking her side.

"Ouch." She swatted the stick away, only to receive a jab in the hand. "Ouch!"

"Scatter!" A voice shout-whispered, and the rustle of leaves whispered and covered the rumble of footsteps into the bushes.

Moaning, Mariola sat up.

Drenched, shivering, scared, she surveyed the sorry excuse of a shelter—tall palm leaves and barks of sticks—that would heave if she so much as breathed on it. As she struggled to stand up now, her only home shattered. She huffed; she'd worry about that tonight, if it rained again.

She squinted at the buttery sunlight upon her. "Hello?" She called out. "Anyone here?"

Silence, save for the whispering leaves.

"I know someone is here!" She demanded. "Who poked me?"

Fwoosh.

Mariola craned her neck to the sound and stalked towards the elongated figures behind the bush—

"Wait!"

She ran after the fleeting shadows. She needed answers, help, friends—anything in this muddy, alien world she descended into.

"Please!" She cried out. "Stop!"

The figures disappeared, and Mariola entered a clearing of trees—and humans.

"Wha—"

Mariola gaped. She stood surrounded—people of all ages, sizes, races, faces. They, too, were stuck in this hell-hole, but they made the most out of it. Tall, thick oak trees reached the skies, encompassed with a sandy wooden hut around its trunk.

People milled about, lounging on their wooden balconies atop the oak trees, climbing down their runged ladders with water vases upon their heads, chopping down more wood with sharpened blades, greeting her with warm smiles.

"Welcome," a woman in the centre of a burgeoning crowd said, broadening her arms towards Mariola, "and I am so... saddened to see you here. There hasn't been a new contestant for...years."

Mariola furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean by contestant?" She asked. "What is this place? What's going on here?"

The woman's startling green eyes swirled with a tint of pity. "Oh, dear girl, did they erase your memories, too?"

A slow, echo of gasps reverberated through the crowd.

The woman shook her head and looked up to the heavens, if there were such thing. "Those dirt-loving, grape-sucking bastards," she grumbled out, her gnarled fingers twisted into a fist.

Opening her mouth to ramble out more questions, the woman silenced her with a stare then said, "Come, girl," and parted through the crowd. Mariola stumbled after her and looked upwards.

Whorls of light spiraled down from the cracks between the wooden tiles of the houses. Some stood out with cut-out shapes of hearts and angels and stars made by light green leaves. Others had attached hairy ropes to become elevators or water-pulleys. Mariola marveled at the creativity, the hard work, the determination on everyone's faces. She squinted through a sharp shaft of light to see a silver-haired woman carrying a heavy axe and heading to the woods—

"To be honest," the woman beside her murmured, "I didn't think you would survive the night."

Mariola looked at the shorter woman. "What do you mean?"

"You have a lot of raging questions inside you, child; but please be respectful when we reach the Trunk."

"The Trunk?" Mariola bit her lip. Another question.

The woman didn't reprimand her. "The Trunk is the government we established here. We still need some law and order here, as if we even had a choice," she murmured out.

"Is-is it that scary man in...Eden?"

"Do you mean Sir Eden?"

Mariola tilted her head.

"Yeah, he called himself after his own garden; then he hurled us all into this gods-forsaken place and waited for people worthy of himself to reach Eden," the woman rambled, anger coloring her face and her words.

"I don't understand..."

The woman sighed. "You're at Level 1, sweetheart. The rock-hard-bottom of the pyramid. The lowest level of self-actualization. The furthest from the top. We are supposed to claw our way back up to Eden."

Mariola remembered how deep her descend was. "How do I get back up there?"

Snorting, the woman patted Mariola's shoulder roughly. "You just got to achieve all the checkpoints, my dear."

"Checkpoints?"

"Oh, dear." She covered her mouth. "I've said too much already. Hurry, girl, we are late."

"Late for what?" Mariola asked as she nearly fell onto the floor when the woman dragged her to a massive palm tree house.

"Enough questions," the woman hissed gently, if that was possible. "Keep your head down, and don't stare at them in the eye." She ushered the girl up the ladders.

Mariola didn't budge.

"Oh, come on, girl. Climb." As easy as picking up a babe, the woman plopped Mariola onto the rungs.

Mariola froze. She felt her feet dangling, her fingers slipping, her heart dropping to her stomach.

"You're going to be late," the woman tsked, putting her hands on her hips.

Sucking in a breath, Mariola flung her arm and gripped the next wrung, then the next, and the next.

"By the way," the woman called out, her voice loud and clear, "my name is Loma. I'll see you later!"

She didn't reply. Right hand. Right foot. Left hand. Left foot. Don't panic. Don't look down.

Easing her way up, Mariola focused on her pattern and pushed away her worries about climbing up to her doom.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ▽ﾟ*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

"What's your name, girl?"

Mariola panted. She took a moment to fill in her dry lungs and to sneakily glance at her surroundings.

Wooden carvings of vines, flowers, and names intricately twined the walls. Peels of wooden shavings shrouded the floor. Wafts of nature and fresh air circled the council room where ten men and five women sat on stumps and stared at her.

"My name," she said slowly, "is Mariola."

The Trunk blinked—then they began murmuring.

"We haven't had a new contestant in years!"

"Is she a secret agent from Eden?"

"Why is she wearing that dress?"

A tanned man cleared his throat. The murmurs ceased.

He gestured to Mariola. "Let's not ignore our new guest," he smiled politely while his eyes flared ever so lightly. "She is a new contestant, and we will welcome anyone because we are all aiming for the same haven up above, we are all stuck in this mud-hole bottom until we become worthy enough. So, Mariola, are you ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"To become worthy. To get out of this place. To find yourself." His bluish eyes widened excitedly.

She didn't know what she needed to become worthy of; but she did want to leave, and she does want to figure out the void inside her mind.

"Are you talking about the...checkpoints?"

The Trunk councilors raised their eyebrows—then they chuckled.

One of the elder woman in the room spoke, soft and serious, her silvery eyebrows in a line, "If only they were as easy as checkpoints, we'd all be out of here!" Flashing her stormy grey eyes at Mariola, the elder continued, "This is not a game to be played, girl. This is life. So, either you forfeit on this stage, or you never reach Eden."

Eden. Mariola needed to get back up there. To stick her tongue at Eden. To shove and punch at Edie. To figure out what was happening and who exactly was she.

She nodded. "I'm ready."

"Then come with me," the tanned man gestured through a short hallway, his brown hair blending with wood. "Go in." He opened a wooden door into a midnight black room.

She went in.

The men and women peered through the small door; some smiled eagerly, some looked at her pitifully, some watched her with sadness.

"Good luck," the man said and shut the door.

Light exploded—a halo of golden around her. Trumpets blew, and Mariola squeezed her eyes shut from the chaos coming from within her. Then, she felt a ping! and peeked her eyes open.

A floating hologram, white and pixilated, hovered before her. Words—bold and capital—flashed on the hologram, asking Mariola, "Are you ready?" with the bubbles YES and NO below it.

Before she could panic, Mariola hit a button.

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'*ﾟ▽ﾟ*'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

Hellooo! 😁😘😬
I am so sorry for not having updated recently! School just began and...yeah that pretty much explains why 😅
So, what do you think? Was this chapter a little too confusing? Is the action too slow? Am I not explaining things right? Please tell me any suggestions or any random comments, and don't forget to vote! ❤️😆