Adam didn't know where he was one minute he was at his work the next he was somewhere else. All he saw was darkness. He feared what he would see when he inevitably opened his eyes. His other senses were unfortunately not optional. All over his body he felt microscopic water droplets lightly hit his skin. As if a mighty wave was giving him a gentle hug. The air around him smelled of freshly wet dirt and flowering plants. Reminding him of the morning after a heavy rain. The memory was interrupted by the ominous sounds around him.
Flowing water, rustling of leaves and grass. All these noises unsettled Adam somewhat though what unsettled Adam most was the sound of a high pitched Melancholy whistle.
Upon hearing that whistle Adams eyes were shot open. He was expecting to see a serial killer standing over him but instead he saw trees, tons and tons of tree. Turning his head he saw near darkness besides for peculiar bioluminescent mushrooms glowing a neon baby blue at the base of the trees. Examining the trees farther he discovers hundreds of deep jagged cracks in many. Looked up to see the tangled branches almost entirely bare of leave.
"They're all dead… or close to it at least." he mumbled to himself
Turning opposite of the horde of dead trees he sees more dead trees, mushrooms and a shallow creek that glows a sickly green. It Lights up the darkness of the forest considerably more than the mushrooms.
-I better follow the creek best vision-
He walks past the sickly and dead trees toward the creek. Admiring the few green leaves he could see on the ground.
A melancholy song is whistled yet again, this time substantially closer to Adam than it was originally.
He tenses. He begins looking around and sees nothing. Then he looks down to see a small elf-like creature with a red cap. 2 feet tall, Light green diamond-shaped eyes, skin colored beak nose, large oval-shaped ears. It looked at him with confusion then it quickly whistled the sad song. Suddenly another came out and their expressions changed from bewildering confusion to anger.
-Oh shi…-
He knew he had to run.
He hastily ran into the limitless sea of trees. His heart pounding furiously. Air massaging his face like an overzealous fan. Nimble legs performing the best they could to run. Going farther in speeding by a few more trees trying his best to run where the trunks would obscure the sight of him. He discovered a mature tree with a particularly large trunk a couple of meters ahead and opted to hide behind said trunk.
When he arrived at the trunk He rests his hand on it. Quickly regretting the decision upon feeling a sticky goo all over said hand, He hastily drew his hand back in profound disgust. Sought to wipe it off on his clothes to no avail. Wisely deciding to just leave it be as he did not have the time. He looked earnestly towards the creek he just ran from. Carefully looking up the stream towards the direction He came. To see if those creatures were still following. He let out a long held breath upon seeing no visible sign of them.
That relief quickly dissipated when he saw only trees and darkness in all directions.
-Where was I? How would I get out of this strange place? Would I ever be able to escape it or do the trees literally go to the ends of the earth?- He did not know and had no time to dwell on these thoughts. He had to escape, Atleast make more distance between himself and the monsters. A moment later I heard the all too familiar melancholy call of those very monsters in the immediate vicinity.
-The world must be playing a cruel joke on me-
On instinct, he began running in the opposite direction. Only going a couple of meters before suddenly 3 of the creatures jump down from the Jagged branches above the grass rustling loudly in response. He then tripped and fell on his back and was face to face with their hatred filled gemstone eyes. He heard more rustles to his left and right and looked around. Seeing 3 more come from each side. His body filled with intense dread.
-This has to be a dream?-
He saw them inch closer. -This is a dream. I have to wake up.- His mouth opens to say wake up but he is unable. As if his vocal cords did not exist at all only air comes out. Yet he persists trying again this time the "Wake" coming out. He tries one final time and yells wake up and finally, the phrase comes out in its entirety.
But it was all for naught as the monsters did not disappear, the trees did not shift, the cold did not dissipate, and the damp feeling on my backside did not subside.
-How?- The strength he held moments ago quickly turned to fear. Staring right back in the face of what he began to think was a tiny form of death itself. One of the creatures began to walk on his right leg. It looked towards his head as if it was going to walk to his upper body, but suddenly it stopped on his right knee. The creature pulled out its right hand and suddenly punched his knee cap. He immediately felt immense pain and yelled out-How can something so small hurt him this much?- he saw one of the other creatures climb on his right chest and get ready to punch. He closed his eyes bracing for more pain and possibly death. Fortunately that punch never happened
He heard leaves and sticks crunching behind him, and suddenly he no longer felt either creature on his body. Then, he heard strange inhuman screams accompanied by wood cracking and leaves rustling. He reopened his eyes and saw one of these elf creatures hurtling towards the ground and turning into a thick mist. -What?-
He looked around and saw a guy throwing these creatures and knocking them into trees and the ground with immense force. More apparently appeared as he was distracted by the pain as he saw a total of 7 just in his immediate vicinity, but none were focused on him anymore. They were all focused on this mysterious man.
The man moved around fairly fast and punched, slammed, and kicked all these creatures with a disturbing amount of strength . He was throwing them like they were pebbles. There was a pattern to it. He would throw around a few until they burst into mist. Then he would move on to another Then he'd rinse and repeat until they were all gone.
After seeing the man presumably kill most of these creatures. He decided to try getting up. He told himself he would help the guy once he did so, realistically though he probably would have just stood and done nothing, cause one he was terrified, and two he probably would have just got in the way and possibly get one of those elf things thrown at his face. Unfortunately he will never know what he would have actually done if he got up at that moment. As he was barely able to move the leg that was recently punched and was forced to stay lying on the damp, and uncomfortable forest floor.
The man killed two more elf creatures then relaxed. Once he finished up his epic massacre of Santa's helpers. The release of the thick mist from the creatures made the visibility in the area poorer for a few moments but it quickly cleared up. Once it cleared the man began to walk towards Him. He was hoping he would have some answers. Unfortunately that hope was quickly subdued when the guy finally spoke after staring at him for a couple seconds.
"Where are we?"
He was a bit shaken by the aggression and general gruffness of his voice, it was very deep and guttural and clearly held accusation in it.
-Dick why you treating me like I'm responsible for what's going on.-
"I have no idea… do you?"
He held his head in thought for a moment then, The intensity of her stare seemed to subside after that. He appeared to believe him.
"I'm sorry, I just woke up here after… I have no idea where we are" the man said.
The man gave pause for about thirty seconds at this point
"Neither do... I... unfortunately" he replied
The man turned his head looking around for a few moments then back at him. Then spoke again
"Hey, I know we don't know eachother but you should come with me to look for shelter or a place to camp out"
He thought about the situation for a moment. This man could be dangerous? Though he's also the only other person he's seen here and he did in all likelihood just save his life. This man seemed experienced obviously he was uneasy but he seemed much more adapted to this situation than he ever could be. He appeared to know a lot more about places to camp in forests than he did. Which considering he knew nothing about it at all wasn't very hard. Even if he turned out to be pure evil, he didn't really have a choice. He could not survive another encounter with those creatures and he could tell that guy was very much capable of handling himself. At least against those elves anyways. Ultimately the best choice at this moment was to join him.
Unfortunately his right leg had other plans, he still could barely move it.
"Yes, I think joining you would be the best bet for us. But this leg was punched by one of those things and now I can barely move it."
The man looked at him with pity at that statement. He looked like he was in deep thought for a solid 5-10 seconds. Then he put his hands out for him.
"Here grab my forearms," the man said
Adam did as he was told. He thinks he knows where this is going.
"Fair warning this will hurt"
"I figured as… YOU WWW FUUUUCOAK CO ACK OW OW OW OW OW OWWWW"the man quickly pulled Adam to his feet. And his right leg and hip felt like they were breaking apart said leg immediately started giving out. The man noticed and quickly grabbed Adam allowing him to lean on his left side for support .
So, this an idea that has been swirling in my head for about half a decade at this point. I hope everyone enjoys the concept it was loosely inspired by the fanfic "Edge of tomorrow by Daystorm" Let me know what you think. Also anyone have any theories where our characters are at the moment.