Kari's heart was pounding against her ribs. She slowly sat up while taking deep breaths. The forest around her was quiet and unrecognizable. She knew she had to be somewhere in the digital world, or at least, she hoped so.
Uncertainly, she looked around at her surroundings, seeking desperately for anything even remotely familiar. Her stomach fluttered, she couldn't recognize anything. The forest she was in was dark, the trees grown unnaturally close together. The air was stagnant and musky, humid but not particularly warm.
She took two shaky steps in what she hoped was the right direction. However, she didn't know where she was going, so direction didn't really matter. Moss and dead leaves yielded to her feet and she continued through the dark.
Before long a mist seemed to rise from the ground, covering everything with its moisture. Now cold, wet, and lost Kari sat down with her back against a large tree. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, trying desperately to cease her trembling. Kari didn't understand why, but she felt like crying. It wasn't as if being mysteriously transported to strange places was unusual for her, but there was something her that unnerved her, something unmistakably evil.
She ignored this thought, blaming it on her paranoia. Her frustration she was more than willing to blame on the stress of the last week. Quickly she tried to block out this thought as well, but his face stayed imprinted against the backs of her eyelids. Thinking about him made the tears build up, and she let them fall reluctantly.
Losing track of time, she sat by that tree far longer than she had meant to. Rising to her feet, she wiped away her tears and continued on her trek. She had not gone far when she felt the same uneasy feeling creep back to her. It was the silence, she decided some time later. The tomblike silence was what was disturbing her. Kari did not know for how long she had been walking in this manner, but it was odd to her that she had not encountered any of the digiworld's inhabitants.
As soon as this thought passed through her mind, she felt a curiously familiar wave of darkness sweep over her. All she felt was cold, pure, naked hatred, and it sent her to the ground.