The first I felt was my head. It was pounding. In fact, it hurt so much I was tempted to just pass out. What had happened? Why did it hurt so much? I groaned and gently rubbed it, flinching as light pain shot through my already injured skull. Whatever had hit me, it had been strong.
Wait, where the hell was I?
I slowly opened my eyes, taking in my surroundings. I was laying on the ground, surrounded by an endless amount of trees with red leaves. I noticed that the leaves also covered the floor, every single bit of it. The entire thing was…
"Beautiful." I murmured, my voice sore and heavy. I frowned and forced a few coughs, then licked my dry lips. I just now felt it but I was thirsty, really, really thirsty. How long had I been out here? I don't remember where I heard it exactly, but I knew what dehydration was and what a serious problem it was. I had no idea what had happened, or even where I was, but I needed to find water.
I slowly stood up, extra careful with my aching body, and looked around again. The sun was high in the sky, but the weather was cool and the trees gave me excellent shade. Judging by the position of the sun, if I turned left and walked there I'd be going west, so if I want to get back here I'll just have to turn east. Now I wouldn't get lost from my original position…or was I already lost? Why would I be here anyway? What had happened…
"God dammit!" I yelled, clutching my head and falling to my knees. Pain pierced my blade, slow and large, digging itself into my head. I shivered for a few moments, focused on nothing except keeping my mouth shut until the pain subsided. I sighed in relief, slowly and cautiously letting my hands fall. Nothing hurt now. But it had started as I tried to remember, that was odd.
Then it hit me, I don't remember anything. What's my name? How do I look? Where am I? What world is this? Country? Do I have friends? Do I have a family? I groaned, suddenly so desperate for answers, but I didn't dare try to remember. Not just yet, I didn't want to go through that pain once again. So instead, I decided to focus on the problem at hand and find water, and began walking to the west, slowly at first, then a bit faster. I should hurry, who knows what could be around here, if I had to face any dangers I'd rather do it after finding water and, maybe, some food. Still, the forest didn't seem dangerous. I hadn't seen any signs of life here, no birds, no little forest creatures, no people either…just how remote is this place? Would anyone find me here? Would I be lost forever, dying or living off whatever I could find? I shuddered, imaging some primal human in a cloth running away with a spear. Hm, thinking about that, what do I have on me? Do I have a weapon? What am I wearing? I paused and looked down at myself. Blue sneakers, black jeans and a black t-shirt. My skin itself was a light brown, not very dark but not white either, and I had nothing useful on me. Judging by my body, and how I felt, I had to be a teenager. 15? 16? 17? Maybe 18? I sighed loudly, feeling completely lost. Who had to wonder what age they were? How could this happen to me?
"Focus on the water, just focus on that water." I muttered to myself, renewing my walk.
I walked for what felt like hours, although the sun didn't move that much, and didn't find a single drop. Could it be the red leaves had fallen on the ponds and were covering them? I sighed and continued walking, my lips cracked and my head pounding. My body felt sluggish, not responding as easily as it should have. I must've been laying there a long time because I was definitely dehydrated. I looked around but, as before, nothing appeared. Just trees, and red leaves, an endless amount of these.
Thunk!
I immediately spun, looking towards my left. I quickly grabbed the first thing I could, a long stick, and pointing it at the trees. But no other sound came. I was about to accept the fact that I had imagined it when I heard it again.
Thunk!
I knew that sound, it happened when you threw something into-
"Water," I whispered, smiling. But I knew I couldn't just run towards it. Something had made that noise. So instead of running in blindly I continued on my path, jogging for a minute or two, before turning left and then turning again. I should be approaching whatever was there from another angle now, and I began making my way towards it. Carefully and quietly, I made it in a couple minutes, observing the place from behind a tree. I was glad to see there was nothing there except a pond. No animals or anything else. I sighed with relief and dashed towards the small pond, taking a moment to see if it was drinkable before dumping my head in. I kept drinking until my legs burned then pulled my head out, gasping for air. Oh, that felt great! I suddenly felt so much more awake. I took a deep breath and dunked my head back in, taking a few more gulps before pulling myself out again to breath. I focused on the water now, for some reason. It was clear, clean, and had a muddy bottom. No fish, or bugs, or anything. I frowned, my eyes focusing on two rocks at the bottom.
"Somebody was here," I muttered to myself. Two rocks, two thunks, it made sense. But someone must've thrown them in. I stood up and looked around, cupping my hands around my mouth. "HELLO?! IS ANYBODY THERE? PLEASE, I'M LOST. I NEED HELP."
I waited a few moments. No answer.
"HELLO! I'M BY THE POND! PLEASE, I REALLY NEED HELP, I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON, OR WHERE I AM!" I yelled again. This time, I wasn't greeted by silence, I froze as an ear piercing roar sounded throughout the entire forest. I wasn't even curious this time, I just turned around and ran. I ran as fast as I could, changing directions every now and then, unsure of where I was actually going but wanting to get away from that. Whatever had made that noise. I shuddered, replaying it in my head, and didn't stop for god knows how long. Finally, when I was completely lost and in another area, I fell to my hands and knees, gasping for breath.
"What…the hell…was that?" I said between breaths, spitting at my side and standing up. I groaned, feeling like an idiot. Now I was even more lost than before. I was on the incline of a hill, no, a cliff. The trees covered its entire side, but I could see the top. It wasn't that far, maybe this was good. I could get a better view of the area, maybe find help? With this in mind, I smiled lightly and began walking upwards. As I had thought, it didn't take very long, although the incline got pretty steep and forced my to work more. But eventually I made it to the top, and I couldn't help but smile wider. The view was amazing. The trees with red leaves covered every nearly every available space for miles and miles, the only absence of them could be seen in small valleys. The sun was setting, giving everything a glow of sorts, which just made the entire scene better. In the distance, I could barely see, just barely, a wall…
"A wall. Ha ha! A wall!" I yelled, laughing loudly afterward. Someone must've built that wall, there were people there! And a lot of the if they had a wall that big. It was huge, but I couldn't tell much more from this distance. All I had to do was make it there. That wouldn't be too hard, right?
Grrrr.
I froze, slowly and carefully turning around. My heart began to race, and I wouldn't run away if I could've. In front of me was a…wolf? It seemed like a monster wolf, with black fur and evil red eyes, a bone mask and some wicked claws. I gulped, seeing a few others behind it, those of which quickly made a semicircle around me. One of them growled and starting towards me, but the one closest snarled at it. This one must be the leader. It turned back to me and bared its fangs, but I slowly bent down, keeping my eyes on it, and grabbed a rock. This was such a stupid weapon, and I could imagine these things would be laughing at me if they could. The leader inched forward, and I inched back, nearly falling off the cliff now. I focused on its eyes, those red, glowing things…
This must've been the wrong thing to do. It howled and dove for me. I guess I was lucky it wasn't so smart because I rolled to the side and it fell off the cliff. The other monsters looked confused, just staring at the cliff edge. I couldn't blame them. That was stupid, for an animal or a human or anything really. They looked at each other a few seconds and then one gave a weird bark noise, standing forward, then another also did so. The rest stayed back and, much to my surprise, these two started fighting each other. They were slashing and tackling and biting viciously, having no mercy for the other. What the hell was going on?
It's a pack. I realized. The alpha just died, now they need a new one. They're fighting for dominance over the pack.
It's not like this helped me too much, besides the fact that I'd have one less monster to worry about. I couldn't escape, when I quietly tried to slip away one of them stopped me, growling. If this kept up then I'd only have one choice…
The smaller one let out a howl, tackling back into the bigger one and knocking him on his back. He bit into the others neck, tearing out the flesh, and I watched with horror as the thing died and a few moments later disintegrated. Would that happen to me? Would I disappear without a trace? No, I wouldn't allow it. I'd die normally before letting that happen. As if sensing my fear, the new alpha bared its teeth and stepped forward. I threw my rock (which nailed him in the eye) and smiled widely.
"Bye." I spread my arms and closed my eyes, my heart already pounding in fear and excitement. I let myself fall off the cliff.
I still don't know if all that "life flashing before your eyes" thing is real or not, but it didn't happen to me. What was I going to see? I couldn't remember my life. What did happen was that time seemed to slow down, I still felt terrified and sad, but a type of calmness filled my body as well. I was ok with this. It was the choice I had, it is the choice I took. I accepted this. I accepted death.
Ironically enough, the minute I accepted this and time seem to speed up again I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, then everything went black and I felt nauseous. I had the feeling that I was moving too fast, much too fast, and suddenly I hit the ground hard.
"What the…am I dead?" I muttered, shaking my head and opening eyes.
"No, you are not." A voice said, a female voice. I turned my head to see the owner of that voice walking towards me. Long, black hair, eyes that seemed to be in flames, a red dress which left most of her legs bare and complimented her slender figure, and smooth white skin. My heart quite literally stopped, whether from her beauty or my fear I couldn't be sure. Yes, I was afraid. She radiated something that was…wrong. I just watched her stalk toward me, unable to move or react, and then suddenly she kneeled and wrapped her arms around me. "I'm so glad your ok."
