Hello! This is the first fic I have ever written, and as such would ask that you please alert me to any mistakes I have made. And if you feel like it please tell me what you thought be honest as I in no way think that this story is perfect.
"Why don't ya want ta go hiking? The forest is amazing this time of year! And the lake is just beautiful! Just take my hiking pack, its not like I use that damnable thing anymore! just stuff some of your own socks in it, you'll be fine!" I recalled the words my grandfather had used in an attempt to convince me to get out the house that I had only just recently come to call home. It had worked of course, if only because I didn't want to argue with him only for my grandmother to intervene and force me to go anyway.
"Dead trees and snow aren't exactly what I had in mind..." I grumbled to myself, a bit annoyed with my grandfather for sending me on a seemingly pointless venture into the snow.
"Not even a single animal in sight." I said out loud to no one in particular as I trudged onwards through the mess of snow and branches that littered the ground as I made my way ever closer to the nearby lake that would mark the conclusion of my hike in this otherwise empty forest that my grandfather had assured me would be an amazing sight to behold.
"Maybe the old man had finaly gone senile?" I thought to myself as I made my way past the barren trees which had thankfully thinned out the closer I had gotten to the lake, and now all that stood between me and this so called "amazing" lake was a small hill, just large enough to block it from view.
"Well lets see this "amazing" lake" I thought to myself as I adjusted the hiking pack my grandfather had assured me I would need. Griping my walking stick just a bit tighter I made my way up the hill through the thick snow.
"Oh my," Where the only words I could manage as I took in the sight before me.
Just below me was the lake, the surface had frozen over in a perfectly flat layer of ice that reflected everything around, almost like a mirror. I unfortunately found myself tumbling down the hill after attempting to run and get a better look the amazing spectacle before me. I must have hit my head on the way down as a found myself laying some ways away from the hill on the iced over lake."Arg frack, my head" I groaned as I attempted to sit up. There was a loud cracking noise and barely had time to panic as I found myself falling into the freezing waters below.
I was awoken by the sound of, rain? It was the middle of winter, and it was snowing before I... Scrambling to my feet and assuring myself that I was in fact alive I began to take in the area around me. I seemed to be in clearing bordered on all sides by trees that stretched out as far as my eyes could see. The trees which upon closer inspection seemed to surround the clearing in a perfect circle another oddity made itself apparent when I reached down to retrieve my walking stick, my pack which had been on my back before I found myself here was laying on the ground parallel to my walking stick.
I begun to wonder exactly how it had ended up there, had it fallen off my back when I fell into the lake? That didn't explain how it had managed to end up placed almost meticulously next to my walking stick, or how I had ended up here in the first place "had someone dragged me out of the lake and deeper into the surrounding woods?" I dismissed the thought almost as quickly as it had accrued to me the trees around me looked nothing like the withered husks that had made up the majority of the landscape around the lake, and even if someone had dragged me out of the lake they probably wouldn't have just left me laying in the middle of a clearing deep in the woods.
My pondering as to where I was and how I got there was quickly interrupted by the rustling of bushes and the sound of growling. Quickly turning my attention to the direction of the noises I saw what seemed to be a small black fox with patches of dark red on its head and paws come stumbling out of the bushes clearly injured, making it only a few steps before it collapsed to the ground barely breathing. I was about to walk over to examine the poor thing when three strange bight orange-red dog like things with black stripes came barreling out of the bushes growling, seemingly ready for a fight.
I couldn't just let them kill the small dark colored fox so I did the only thing I could, quickly lifting my walking stick off the ground I rushed to get between the dogs and their quarry.
"Back you mutts! I wont hesitate to swing if you get any closer!" I yelled waving my walking stick at them threateningly. My actions asinine as they where somehow scared off the strange orange mutts and left me alone with the bizarre fox like thing.
Bending down to examine the little thing revealed that it had quite a few nasty gashes and bite marks all over its body as well as what appeared to be light burns. letting my pity for the small thing get the best of me I ignored the fact that it was a wild animal and took the small first aid kit (one of several items my my grandfather had insisted I take with me) out of my pack, and attempted to disinfect and bandage its wounds to the best of my ability.
While I was working on applying first aid to the odd black and red fox creature I noted yet another strange thing about the clearing, the grass and the ground it grew from appeared to be perfectly level, the clearing also seemed to be an inch or two lower then the ground outside it causing the water from the rain to pool into it making it to look like an extremely shallow lake.
By the time I had finished applying the final bit of gauze to a rather nasty gash on the fox's side the rain had only worsened, and despite my best efforts the keep the small being dry we both managed to be entirely soaked the fox only a little worse off then I was. Deciding I would need to find shelter before the storm got any worse I lifted the injured fox up off the ground and headed out of the clearing and into the woods hoping that I could find somewhere dry to spend the rapidly approaching night.
After making my way through the low branches and thick bushes that seemed to make up the majority of this forest I eventually found myself at the entrance of a small cave. Looking back at the rapidly darkening forest and increasingly heavy rainfall I made my way inside hoping that it was uninhabited. After making my way into a dry part of the cave I placed the small oddly colored fox down and taking off my now soaked coat and boots I begun to search through my pack, a quick search produced no less then seven pairs of socks causing me to both question my grandfathers aging mind and regret his offer to pack the thing myself.
A more thorough look gained me a lighter, both a lantern and a flashlight the former of which I quickly turned on revealing that the cave was in fact empty, three small blankets one of which I used to dry off both myself and the small creature before covering the poor thing with another, and lastly In the spot normally reserved for bottled water I found two more pairs of socks that after having taken out I discovered where actually just socks wrapped over water bottles causing me to believe rather than being senile my grandfather had done this simply to mess with me.
Deciding that my next course of action should be to get a small fire going I gathered some of the small rocks scattered about the cave and deciding that any sticks I could have gathered from the forest outside would be far to wet to burn I piled up some of the excess socks and assembled a small fire. After placing both my wet hiking gear and the blanket next to the fire to dry I took the last of the three blankets and went to lay down on side of the fire opposite from the fox, my attempts at sleep where for naught though as both my soggy cloths and questions about how I had ended up here kept me up until late into the night.
I am to assume you are down here because you have finished the first chapter and would like to thank you for taking the time of day to do so! Also I would ask that you keep in mind that the next chapter has yet to be updated and as such is extremely subject to change both in story and editing.
Some notes more for me then anyone else, this was originally typed out between 1AM and 6AM on june 8 and edited at 2AM the next day. The rewrite was done between 12AM and 4AM september 18th