Alythia’s eyes fluttered open, bright sunlight could be seen filtering through the dense canopy of trees above me.

“Ugh” she groaned as she shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness.

The sky was a clear blue with the sun directly overhead, indicating that it was around noon.

She blinked repeatedly as her eyes slowly adjusted and the feeling of disorientation faded. She took a look around, but that only served to confuse her more.

'I'm in a forest…?’ She thought.

In doubt, Alythia blinked and rubbed her eyes some more. But to her dismay, the trees remained. Additionally, the fresh, earthy scent of the forest floor and the distant sounds of rustling leaves and bird calls assailing her senses further cemented the reality of her situation. There was no denying it. She was indeed in a forest.

“My body's killing me”

With a groan, she pushed her aching body up from the pile of rubble around her and leaned against a nearby tree. She could feel her head still throbbing as she tried to digest her current situation.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she swept her eyes around to examine her surroundings more clearly. But what she saw shocked her

“What in the world…”

The messy surroundings entered her view. In front of her, where she just came from, was what appeared to have been a wagon smashed together with a pile of rubble. Its wooden structure was splintered all over. The wheels all broken apart, and the fabric roof coverings all ripped and torn.

‘The contents of the wagon… I'm guessing are the rocks. But where's the driver?’ She wondered.

Nearby lay the motionless remains of a horse, its once noble form now twisted and broken as its lifeless eyes started vacantly into the distance.

Behind the wreckage was a tall wall, a steep rocky cliff tracing the edges of this forest.

‘It looks like the wagon fell from there.’

Turning to the left was the forest, an endless darkness with the occasional beam of light that managed to make its way through the thick leaf covering.

Looking to the right was the same.

Panic began to bubble within Alythia as she realized every direction was either blocked off by the cliff, or an endless unknown forest.

‘Deep breaths Alythia, deep breaths’ as she took repeated deep breaths with a hand on her chest, trying to calm her racing heart.

Trying to make sense of her current situation, she began to recount all that she knew.

“My name’s Alythia. Ok, that's good.”

“I'm a human from Earth. Of course I'm a human from Earth, what else could I be?”

“...” but she doesn't remember where on Earth she was from…

“I remember living in the city. It was a big city, with lots of people and good food. I can't remember which, but I grew up there! I went to school, I watched TV, played on my phone, but why can't I remember any of the details?!”

She cradled her head, desperately trying to remember, but she just couldn't.

“Was I really Alythia? I feel like it was, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't my name growing up. Hell, what's my last name?!”

Stuff about the people she used to know, the experiences she’s had, the memories she’s made,

“They're all gone…”

She felt lost and confused. Her anxiety grew. She was unsure. Unsure of who she was, where she was, and everything in general. The panic within her was increasing. Her head once again began to ache.

PAH

With a sudden, determined resolve, she slapped herself on the cheeks. She didn't hold back her force, with the impact causing a sharp sting across her face and palms. But the pain helped to clear her thoughts.

“Enough! I'll remember eventually”

‘First things first’ she thought. ‘I should find a way out of here. To civilization and get some help.’

She walked past the wagon wreckage and stood in front of the cliff. Her eyes staring up, past the jagged cliff side, to the very top. To freedom. That's where she needed to go.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

If her hypothesis was right, that the wagon did indeed fall from up there, then all she needed to do was get back up.

‘Maybe there’ll be a road or something up there’

She placed her hands against the cliff. The coldness of the rocks spread through her palms as she felt around, trying to find something she could grab onto. It needed to be pronounced so that it was easy to grab, but also needed to be firm so that it doesn't break.

Her hands and eyes darted along the wall, desperately searching for any protrusion, any sign of a handhold.

Finally, her eyes settled on a solid-looking rock jutting out just within her reach. She grabbed hold of it with her right hand, then quickly found another with her left. The rocks were firm as she applied some pressure, mimicking her eventual climb.

‘Nice!’

She felt a glimmer of hope as she positioned her left foot on a small ledge.

After mentally imaging the climbing motion and playing it through her head, she felt ready.

With a grunt, she pulled herself up a bit, reaching for a foothold for her right foot. But as both her feet were finally off the ground, a wave of instability washed over her. She felt like she was going to fall backwards. She tried to tighten her hold on the rocks but it was more tiring than she thought. Terror gripped her heart as she could feel her grip loosening and her body slowly tilting backwards.

“No, no, no!” she gasped and frantically set her right foot back down onto the solid ground. Her breathing was ragged and her body was slightly trembling, a bit from the strength she exerted, but also due to her embarrassment.

'That wasn't climbing at all…’

Determined to prove herself, she took a few deep breaths, and tried again.

This time, she managed to grab a new rock after having both feet off the ground. Initially it looked promising, but the same feeling of instability returned and won as she once again backed down.

‘I can't do this’ she panted, hands still in position. Tilting her head up, she once again looked at ‘freedom’, but this time with no thoughts of climbing to get there.

'It's impossible. It has to be at least a hundred meters. I'll die of exhaustion before I even make it halfway up.’ She concluded.

Feeling a mixture of frustration and curiosity, she turned her attention to the surrounding forest, which seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction. The trees looked tall and ancient, their gnarled roots reaching out from the ground like the fingers of a giant hand.

'They don't look like pine trees. Probably not oak. Definitely not birch or maple.’ She racked her head trying to identify what type of trees these were, hoping it would provide some type of clue as to where she was.

‘Maybe cedar? Though I don't know what that looks like.’

She began exploring the forest, but travelled only along the cliff side. Her reasoning being that it was one less direction to look out for.

Her steps were slow and deliberate, mostly due to the unfamiliar terrain combined with her lack of shoes.

With no shoes, her feet were sensitive to every twig and stone that lay on the forest floor. She also didn't want to step on any insects or any wet patches with her barefoot. She found herself wincing and hopping at unexpected pricks and jabs, cursing under her breath at the inconvenience.

“At least give me sandals, even high heels will do.”

Though, despite how disgusted she was walking through the damp forest barefoot, she still admired her surroundings. The plants and trees were unfamiliar, more vibrant in color, and exaggerated in shape and size compared to anything she has ever seen. Everything, even the air itself seemed to contain a sort of pulse. It felt strangely fantastical.

She didn't know why, but it felt oddly comfortable and refreshing. Though…

“I still remember that colorful things are usually the most poisonous.” She mumbled, as she steered a good distance away from any life forms that exhibited a vibrant colour found on a rainbow.

As Alythia continued, a growing feeling of unease began to creep up. Yes, everything looked beautiful, but it felt… off. The vibrancy of the surroundings was otherworldly, as though someone had turned up the saturation on reality itself and splashed in more colour. Shapes seemed more grand and pronounced, the colors more extravagant.

The resemblance to plants she recognized were still there, but it just felt different. Like she had stepped into the set of a movie. The surroundings were ‘too’ beautiful and untainted.

“I’m still on Earth, right?” she whispered to herself, a chill running down her spine. Of course, she could just have found herself somewhere she doesn't recognize, which wouldn't be hard with her current memories. But the more time passed, the less certain she felt. The doubt gnawed at her, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she had somehow found herself in a world both like and unlike her own.

Additionally, there was the horse drawn wagon.

‘Who still used a horse drawn wooden wagon?’ She questioned. ‘Where was the engine? The metal or plastic parts? The rubber wheels? The electronics?’

But innocent until proven guilty. Or in this case, it's Earth until something proves otherwise.

Otherwise, she'd truly not know what to do.

When the sun was about to dip below the horizon and the forest was cloaked in a blend of orange and purple hues, she spotted a small cave-like depression in the cliffside wall. It was just large enough to offer her some protection from the elements and the unknown dangers lurking in the forest.

“Lucky!”

Grateful for this stroke of luck, she carefully made her way to the entrance, her heart pounding with a mixture of relief and trepidation. Once inside the small cave, she sat down and the fatigue from walking all day and the mental exhaustion finally caught up to her.

It was at this moment that she realized she hadn't ate anything the entire day, not even a sip of water. But strangely, she didn't feel hungry or thirsty at all.

‘Oh well’ she thought, 'I can deal with those tomorrow.’

As night fell and the temperature began to drop, she tried to create a fire to keep warm.

She picked some twigs and dry leaves from the ground hut outside the cave, arranging them into a small pile. Frantically rubbing the sticks together, she desperately tried to start a fire using the techniques you would see on survival shows, but her efforts were in vain.

Truly exhausted now, she gave up and decided to just sleep and deal with everything the next day. With the comforting embrace of the cave walls around her and the gentle sounds of the forest outside, her eyelids grew heavy before finally drifting off to sleep.