Feeling a stinging pain in her head, Yana slowly opened her eyes.

At first her sight was nothing but blur and pixels. The dizziness she felt was strong that she was not able to think of anything until everything had cleared up.

The first thing she saw was a ceiling made of intertwining branches of trees above her. With the rays of sunlight weaving through each lush layer of leaves, the leafy ceiling was filled with green lights.

The particles of light that was able to pass through, formed small pillars which appeared to be like spotlights from live TV shows and live concerts. One of these pillars of light happened to be shining down on where Yana was lying. The concentrated light forced her to squint her eyes half-open but the light was not something irritatingly hot similar to that of the summer’s high noon sun. In fact, it brought a warm and mild revitalizing sensation on her skin.

Yana had laid there for a brief time, waiting for her sense of sight to completely adjust and the dizziness she feels to cease down. It did not took that long for her to feel better. When she felt she was already fine, she slowly sat up and found herself within a forest.

The forest was shady but the suspended light illuminated enough to see everything here. Though, there was not much to see anyway. There were just a tree, then another tree, a bush, and another tree.

The place was completely surrounded by trees and small shrubs.

As she was looking around, Yana saw him not far from her, lying flat on his back, soundly sleeping. The sight of him, sent a warm feeling to her heart. Then, she remembered herself falling from somewhere.

Was that a dream? … No. It’s more like a nightmare.

To her, those events felt real. Confusion rose within her, unable to confidently tell that what she had remembered was just a bad dream. Numerous questions started to pop up on her mind but she discarded them for now.

She scooted closer towards Jiro to look at his sleeping face. Jiro’s face was nothing outstanding, it was simple yet neat. His skin looked healthy, free from acne. His eyelashes are short and thin. His eyes, when open, are black in color. Yana could recall how it looked drowsy most of the time. His body is lean, built with underdeveloped muscles. It was the same for his arms and legs. After all, he was not an outdoor person.

Yana knew that what all he did on his spare time was to read books or play console games. Yana had asked him once, about how he does not get fat after having a poor lifestyle. He just smiled at her saying, “It’s the gift of heavens for me.”

“Are we on a picnic and happen to fall asleep here?” Smiling, Yana combed his messy hair with her slender fingers. Yana could not understand herself. She failed to stop the parade of questions that had been wanting to march inside her mind. Why did she feel relieved? Why was she so happy when she saw him? Was it because of that dream?

“You know what? I had a nightmare. There, we already broke up, and you were already dating another girl… It pissed me off so I, um uh… decided to follow both of you.”  She was fumbling with his hair as she narrates her dream to the sleeping man in an embarrassed manner. “Then, the two of you went into a construction site. For some reason, there y-you jumped from the second floor…

“I-i-it’s scary to lose you, Jiro.” Her lips began to tremble. “I can’t really explain it, but I’m really happy that I’m with you now.”

Whatever she felt at that moment was poured out through her eyes. The words she was about to say were choked down by her sobbing. Her soft cries echoed through the forest and vanished in the wind.

Yana was surprised at herself. It seemed like these tears were held up for a long time and now was just the time for her to let them all out. She was wondering what the reason for these tears was, but she failed to think of any. She continued to cry until she felt something wiped her tears away.

It was Jiro’s hand. He was staring at her silently. She returned his gaze as she tried to hold his hand, but it slipped through her grasp.

He was pointing something else at her back.

It was then Yana became aware of something growling behind her.

A big shadow loomed over her, completely blocking the spotlights shining down upon them.

She quickly spun around and saw a creature she did never expect to see in person.

The creature was like a cross from a human and a boar or maybe it was more appropriate to say, it looked like a boar standing on its two chunky hind legs.

Its eyes were staring sinisterly at her, telling her that it has found its prey. Drips of saliva ran down from its mouth, which was fenced with two rows of pointed teeth. If those teeth did not look lethal yet, there was also a pair of tusk on both end of its wide mouth.

But Yana’s horror did not end with that, the boar-human-like creature was carrying a wooden club with spikes made from uneven-shaped stones. It was also wearing an armor made of wood, framed by iron piles, and each parts were connected by metallic chains.

Shuddering in fear, Yana quickly scrambled up, pulling along Jiro at the same time. She never let her gaze leave the creature as she slowly back away.

“We have to run,” she whispered. Her grip on Jiro’s hand tightened then she broke into a run almost dragging the sitting Jiro. He was forced to follow her, otherwise he himself would get hurt.

Directions did not matter to Yana. She was convinced that this place was not on Earth.

There was no way such creature exists on Earth!

She turned around to see if the creature gave chase.

Unfortunately, it did. It was running using its three limbs, the one which holds the spiked club occasionally hits the ground and served as its fourth leg. Whenever the club hits the earth, it either leaves a small crater on the soil or leave the weeds completely trampled on.

Yana noticed that the creature was still fast, despite its massive body and she began to doubt that they would be able to outrun it. Being pessimistic at a time like this, she could not believe herself. She immediately rebuked herself for thinking like that. She started to run on full speed, still holding Jiro’s hand tightly.

“What’s an orc doing here?!” Yana exclaimed exasperatingly. Was it really an orc?! It resembles an orc so it must be an orc!

Stolen story; please report.

“Y-you can — let go — of my hand — now,” Jiro said in between breaths. “It would be — ea-sier — for us — to run that way.”

She looked at him nodding and hesitatingly set his hand free.

The terrain they were running on went downhill. They were still running as fast as what they could manage. They often crashed through bushes and shrubs, and if they do, they will always come out with grazes and scratches.

The pain notified Yana that she was not having a nightmare, that everything that was happening right now is nothing but reality.

The two of them were breathing heavily. The downhill slope did not make this run easier for them. They had to keep their balance because if they did not do so, they do not know how long their fall would be.

Funny, I’m about to fall again, she thought sardonically. Yana did not know why she thought of something like this again. At most, at a time like this, where her life was depending on a marathon against a creature, which she still could not believe exists.

The creature Yana referred to as an ‘orc’ still pursued them. This very fact drained the energy out of her. She was beginning to give up, intentionally get out of balance, and die from injuries she would receive from the fall. But she knew that it would not make any difference. Her body would still be this creature’s meal in the end so she did not gave in to the idea. She had never dreamt of being served as a luncheon dish for orcs.

Not from far away, she heard a new sound. Different from the whipping sound of the branches hitting them. Different from their non-stopping puffs. Different than the growling of the monster lurking behind them. This was the first time she heard such calming sound from the time she woke up on this place.

It was a sound of rushing water.

“Jiro! Can you hear that?!”

“What?”

They kept on running, exceeding the fastest speed record they had done in their lives.

“That sound. It’s a sound of — water.” Yana panted. “There must be a river nearby.”

“What about it? Can it save us from that orc?”

“I-I don’t really know. But — let’s hide there. Beneath the water or behind a big rock, anything would do.”

“What if it can — swim?”

“Then we’re going to run away again!” she shouted this time getting impatient of the continuous questioning. “We can’t keep on running like this! We have to rest!”

They had already reached the base of the slope and a rocky river came to view. The water running on it was crystal clear clean. The current was calm, good enough for a normal person to cross it.

In Yana’s pleasure, boulders were scattered both on the river and the riverside. One particular boulder caught Yana’s attention, it was located right in the middle of the river piled with smaller rocks.

“There!” she pointed. She took Jiro’s hand again and sprinted towards the river.

They hopped into the body of running water hoping that this enough to serve as their haven.

The river’s depth was knee-deep. The cold water running through their calloused feet gave a soothing and stinging sensation. Both of them had thrown their shoes away some time ago when they started to run downwards, so right now their socks were completely torn and as a result the soles of their feet were filled with light wounds and scratches.

Gasping for air, they crouched low behind the boulder Yana had pointed earlier. When their breathing partially became normal, they turned to look on the direction where they came from. Waiting for the unusual creature to come.

Its barrel-like body appeared a few seconds later. The monster quickly surveyed the area. From how it took each breath, Yana noted that the creature was also exhausted from the chase. After scouting the riverside, it headed towards the edge of the river, crouched low and drank the fresh water from the river.

At this moment, both of them became tense. The ‘orc’ was just a few yards away from them. They were so near that they could hear its ragged breathing. The very thought that it was tasting the same water they were dipped in, did not help Yana to relax.

Does this creature has sharp senses? Yana wondered silently.

If yes, then they are definitely going to meet their demise here. Both of them knew they had to run immediately if the situation went worse than this, but it was highly doubtful that they will last another marathon against this monster.

Yana could hear her heart beating hard against her chest, it was still following a fast tempo. Yana wondered if dying people could hear this same tempo. For this beating to become this eminent in the last seconds of your life, it felt like it was a taunt coming from the universe. A taunt that reminds anyone that they were alive at this moment and when this beating finally came to a stop, it was the end of everything.

Nevertheless, it seemed like their lives were spared for now. The beating of their hearts continued to beat the tempo of life in them. For the ‘orc’ had turned its back on them and began to climb the dense forest hill.

Sighs of relief were expelled at the same time.

“Thank goodness. Jiro, we’re safe.” Yana completely sat down on the river bed making her whole body submerged in water except for everything above her neck. She thought that they were done there, but they somehow made it out alive.

Alive.

Yana savored that word in her mind. Smiling, she looked up at Jiro to see his face, wanting to see his smile she loves so much as a form of reward, as if their lives being spared was not enough.

He was looking back at her, but the expression he had was different from her expectations.

“What is it?” Yana asked curiously furrowing her brows. Her smile turned to a straight line.

The words she heard from him were not definitely something she fathomed of.

“Who are you?”