He awakens to the intensity of the pushing and pulling of small waves. He was lying flat on his stomach on the wet sand beneath him. He wears what used to be a clean white polo and a pair of khakis. Now it is just gritty and torn versions of their cleaner counterparts. And there were small cuts and bruises all over his body. Sore from his injuries, he struggled to get on his feet. He barely managed just to get on his knees.
When opening his eyes, everything was green blur for him a while. But it later cleared eventually. The man is now subjected to the lovely scenery that he is was in. A small sandy beach nearby a grass-filled field touched with rolling hills and titanic mountains looming over him. And he is subjected to the gradual setting of the sun over the mountains. Not only that, but his ears pierced by the excessive echoes of small rodents around and the high-pitched chirpings of the birds above. The wind blew casually behind him as he stood before this fantastical setting.
It was all so peaceful, so perfect. That is, as he turns around him, he realized the cause of why he was there in the first place. To the left of the shore lies the wreckage of ship he was on. He was boarding in a ship heading to the U.S to witness the unveiling about the discovery of a new prehistoric creature. However he remembered there was a huge thunderstorm that struck the vessel. The boat must have definitely been pulled into the storm forcing it to crash here. It appears the ship is stationary due to it being impaled by the enormous and jagged rocks. He dashed towards the crash site hoping to find survivors. If not, hopefully there would be survival supplies.
Arriving in front of the crash site, he noticed serious damages to the ship and shore around. Metal shrapnel that must have dislodged from the ship after accident is scattered and partially buried beneath sand. The hull of the ship is completely decimated by the rough rocks that impaled it. Fortunately, there was a crack of the ship that appears big enough for him to pass through.
He crawled through the rough crevice and stepped inside the ship. The metal floor is partially submerged with sea water and there was barely any light to see. All he could hear was the screeching clatter of grinding metal haunting the ship and the gentle splashing caused with each step he took. As he walked further into the depths of the wreckage, he could make out what seems to be a narrow hallway in front of him. He carefully staggered through the hallway. Ultimately, he was at the end of the hallway and was forced to turn left into a small room. This room had a white cross within a red circle on the left side of the room.
"This must be the emergency room or medical station." The man thought.
This scavenged the entire room looking for supplies. However, it was all in vain. Whatever the place is or what it held, most of the supplies were destroyed in the wreckage or taken already. All he found was a lighter and an empty backpack.
"Damn, I was hoping for a few more stuff." He furiously cursed. "Maybe I should head back since it was sunset a few minutes ago. It could be dark."
As he returned to the shore, it was already night time. His only illumination was the moon hanging above the world. The night was nearly quiet if it weren't for the swaying of the waves and the boisterous chirpings of crickets. By the right of the ship's remains lies a dense coniferous forest. He gazed into it carefully and notices a dim orange light in the darkness of the forest.
"It could be people, or a fire. Hopefully it is both." He assumed.
He sprinted his way into the coniferous forest. He did not bother pulling out the lighter because there is still a lot of illumination from the moon. The lively sounds of the beach and crickets died gradually as he ventures deeper into the forest. However, the closer he tried to get to the light, the way to it seems to lengthen over time.
Eventually, he entered into a small clearing to where it seems all wildlife and sound is void here. What only lie in the clearing are just grass and few dandelions here and there. Sore from both his wounds and sprinting for quite some time, he decided to sit down on the ground for a few minutes before he starts going towards the light again. He sits the backpack gently on the ground and looked up into the starry sky as he sat down. A couple minutes passed by and he then proceeded to head into the light. But as he stood back on his feet, a dark hooded figure loomed on the other side of the clearing, having its back turned to him.
Relieved to see another person, the man hollered to the hooded figure, "Hey! Are you from the ship?"
No answer.
"Hey are you alright?!" He yelled even more.
Impatient for an answer, he dashed to the hooded figure's position. As soon as it was in arm's reach, he launched his hand to the figure's shoulder. However, as soon as he gripped on the shoulder, he felt the chilling and horrid presence of death all over the figure. In a blink of an eye, he was smacked by some sort of blunt object to the right side of his cheek and was knocked down on his rear.
"Bloody he-" The man cursed. But he was interrupted to the sight of the identity of the hooded figure.
It was a decrepit skeleton with minor cracks on the skull and maggots going in and out of its eye sockets. It pulled a wooden bow from within its robes with its left hand. And, as if by magic, summoned an arrow with its right hand. It then continued to assault him by aiming its arrow at him.
Swoosh.
The arrow had flown by his head nearly instantaneously. Luckily, it merely grazed his hair by a few centimeters. When the arrow pierced onto the ground, a small patch of grass surrounding the arrow rapidly decayed and dried up.
The man gulped and staggered back up to his feet. The skeleton was preparing for another shot, but the man soon tackled the skeleton and attempted to reach for its bow. However, the skeleton jabbed its bony fist to his face. He retracted from his assault and opted to run past the monster instead. He was sprinting into the darkness.
As he was darting through the woods, it seems that more unknown creatures are aware of his current position. The night was echoing the howls of any ungodly terrors verging towards his position. He was then blocked off by a steep stony hill. He tried turning back but to only be halted by the sights of the horrid silhouettes of terrors and creatures unknown to him in the cover of the night. He had to act fast or else become the victim to these demons.
He readied himself for a steep climb. The man leaped to a nearby ledge and started climbing. He kept scaling up the hill until he his left ankle was gripped by something. He rotated himself to see a wolf-like humanoid was striving to pull him down to the monstrous horde below. The man therefore kicked the creature by the face, hoping it would let go. Amazingly, it did let go after shrieking a ferocious cry in pain. It fell down into the horde be seen a dark figure in a pool of its blood. The man afterwards reached to the top of the hill.
On the peak, he could see a well-lighted, three story building next to large river next to the bottom of the hill.
"I am definitely am going to feel this by tomorrow." He gravely reflected to himself.
He skidded down the stony hill, feeling every jagged rock and stone cutting his flesh. By the time he landed at ground floor, he was already bleeding slowly all over. To make matters worse there was several hideous and putrid creatures closing on him. Fortunately, there was small gap between two monsters that might give him a chance to escape. He avoided the grip of the horrid beast and dashed out of there. He hurtled through that nightmare without slowing down knowing full well what would happen if he does.
He reached at the double doors of the structure. Coincidentally for him, the doors were left open. He barged through the doorway and locked the doors behind him. He could hear the disappointed shrieks of the nightmarish creatures outside.
"Thank God. I got out that hell alive." He sighed.
He observed the room he was in. It had four wooden, cobwebbed pillars around the center of the room. Desks were orderly lined up in the room by 3x4 rows covered in dusts. The walls appeared as if they were replaced with bookshelves. And with each shelf was entirely filled with books of all sorts. The lights seemed as bright as sun, completely illuminating the darkness that he was subjected in a few minutes ago. It was amazing. It seemed as if this was some sort of ancient forgotten library. To either side of the room, are stair cases that lead to the second floor of the structure.
He trekked upstairs to find a wonderful lounge-like area. There were luxurious chairs scattered all around the second floor. A wonderfully soft and beautiful white rose-themed rug covered the center of the room. The walls were plastered with portraits of colorful flowers or puppies.
He assumed, "Oh it must be a lounge or something like that."
He kept moving up to the final upstairs and found rows of beds completely filling the entirety of the room. They were a bit sooty, but they are still able to sleep on them without any problem. He plopped onto a bed, and slowly falling into deep sleep.
He awoke to the dying shrieks of the monsters outside. He rushed to a window to see what is going to them. He looked out the window see a skeleton being burned alive. It was scurrying around the area until it reached shade under the tree.
"What in the world just happened?"
The skeleton noticed his confused gazed at the window and prepared itself to fire an arrow at it.
"Oh crap!" The man yelped and ducked under the stony cover. He waited for the arrow to burst through the glass window. But apparently the window did not get destroyed. He peeked through the window to comprehend what happened. He detected a man donning chain mail armor and an iron helmet looming over the skeleton's dead corpse. The knight wields a regular broadsword on his left hand.
The knight stared at the window the man was at. He appeared galvanized to see a person in the forgotten structure.
"Good sir, are you all right?!" The knight hollered at the man. His voice was raspy and has a distinct Scottish accent.
The man answered, "I'm fine. I think."
The knight questioned, "What is your name then, stranger?"
He was hesitant to say anything because he is unsure if he can trust this man. However, be concluded that this person could be the only one that can help in his situation.
"My name …." The man gulped, "is Bestinslot."
End of Chapter 1