BEEP BEEP BEEP

I smack my phone turning the alarm off. I groaned grabbing my phone and looking at the time.

"It's the third time it's gone off." A voice behind me said.

I turned around seeing Yui lying behind me. Her eyes were swollen from crying.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly.

I rubbed my eyes as looked at me with a solemn expression.

"Why... Why did you leave?" She asked

Suddenly I started floating up, I looked at Yui who started crying uncontrollably. I reached out trying to grab her, but she disappeared. I saw the celestial eye looking at me. I could still hear Yui cry as I ascended into the void. The darkness overtook me, and I jolted awake.

I breathed heavily, I was covered in cold sweat. I looked around seeing a small camp with a fire crackling beside me. I was still in the forest, the dog had subsided and the moonlight above could be seen shining through the tiny openings amounts the trees. My arm was in a splint, and my chest was covered in bandages. A green ooze was coming out under the bandages.

I tried to get up, but a sharp pain pounced from my back to my chest. I stayed for what seemed forever.

CRRK

My arm snapped with a quick pain which calmed immediately. Surprised, I moved my hand and regained control.

"Finally awake I see."

The bushes to my side rustled. A man walked through, holding what looked like a boar twice the size of a human on one shoulder. He threw it down and walked over to me.

He had black hair, messy with white streaks throughout. His eyes were dark brown, and his skin was white. He had a singular earring on his right ear. It looked like a five-point star but the star hovered in place from the piercing not attached to anything. His build was brawny but lean, you could see his muscle definition through his clothes. He wore a skin-tight black shirt with a scarf around his neck. He wore black pants, with a white knitted rope around his waist. The rope was easily a few centimetres thick. He wore no shoes but his feet weren't ragged or dirty. He had a sword equipped on his back and a knife horizontally on his lower back near his waist.

"You've been sleeping for hours, you shouldn't be here," he said. "The forest distorts your perception of time and location. Running in is a suicide mission, the familias should have kept you out."

He grabbed my arm and started taking the splint off.

"What happened to the demon?" I asked

"There was no demon near you when I found you." He replied.

"What?" I muttered in disbelief.

He started to take the bandages off my chest. Stopping and then rewrapping them back on.

"I swear I was attacked by a demon," I replied.

"No, it was that boar over there. I brought you here to my camp and then hunted that thing down."

Impossible, I knew I saw a humanoid blur before being hit.

"The demon controlled snow and ice, I felt it fall on my face as I... fainted," I argued.

"The forest doesn't just mess with your perception of time kid. It makes you hallucinate. Most people die to monsters while being under a hallucination." He replied.

"Well you're mostly healed up, and your ribs should be better within an hour or two."

He grabbed a sack and what looked like a sword and tossed it on the ground beside me.

"That's all you'll need to leave, drink the yellow-coloured liquid, it will keep your head clear."

He turned away and unsheathed the knife he had and started butchering the boar.

"So that's it? No name, no direction, no who are you?" I said annoyed.

"Yup, less of a problem for me. If anyone asked you never saw, or heard of me."

He looked back at me.

"Think of it as a thank you for saving your life."

He smiled and then turned back refocusing on the boar.

"Can't you at least tell me what way to go," I asked him. "I don't know where I am or how to get back."

He sighed and snapped his finger. A sparkle of light appeared and floated towards me.

"Follow that." He said.

I got up slowly. I still felt some pain but was getting better. I looked at him. "Thank you."

He said nothing back. I turned and left.

The sparkles move slowly at my pace thankfully. It would be hard to move too quickly right now. The fog crept back in. It started to get thick again and the sparkle light dwindled. The sparkle stopped moving and went into the sack that I had received.

What's this thing doing? I opened the sack and the sparkle was sitting on a small bottle of piss-coloured liquid with a cork on top. You got to be kidding me. I took the bottle out and popped it on the cork. A fragrant scent of flowers came out, and I reluctantly drank the bottle. It tasted weird but not bad at all. Soon after the fog disappeared and the sparkle started moving again.

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Hours passed, and I was deep In the forest. The sparkle continues to guide me, avoiding monsters while taking me somewhere. I didn't tell him where I was from so hopefully this sparkle takes me back to the familias.

I walked following this glow. It felt weird to follow a dancing light around. Eventually, the glow brought me towards a clearing.

Something smelt good. I could hear a crackle of a fire up ahead. As I got closer a cabin could be seen. It was made up of wood logs layered on the side with the bark still on. The roof had a sort of wooden tiles made from logs cut cleanly. A door made of vertical logs was on the near side of the building. There was one window open. A light and a shadow could be seen moving inside.

"Hello?" I called out

The shadow inside stopped moving. The glow hovered beside me as I waited.

"Anyone there?" I called out again.

The shadowy figure moved again. The door opened and out came the man who saved me. He'd taken his scarf off but still had on his clothes from before.

Simultaneously we said, "What the fuck?"

"Why are you here," he asked.

"I just followed the light like you told me," I replied.

The light floated over to him as he looked at it. He started moving his arms around as the light flickered. He looked down as he placed his hand on his face and made a painful expression.

"God why do they do this to me," he said.

He looked over at me and stared. "So, now what?" I asked.

"For now come inside, You must be hungry."

He turned around and walked into the cabin, I followed in.

The cabin was cozy, it had a small fireplace, and torches were hung on the wall. He had a small table and bed with a chest at the end of it. Simple and clean.

He walked over with a bowl of some sort of stew. It smelt good.

"Go ahead and take the chair," he said.

He walked and grabbed some wood throwing it into the fireplace.

I started digging into the stew. It was so good, every spoon filled with flavour with just enough spice. The meat dissolved in my mouth. It tasted similar to pork but had much more flavour.

"This is amazing," I said finishing my bowl.

"Yeah, monster meat tastes amazing when cooked right," he replied as he fiddled with the fireplace.

"What's your name kid," he said as he turned and looked at me.

"I thought it was a problem for you," I said smugly as picked the bowl up, slurping what was left.

"It still is," he got up and sat down on his bed.

"I prefer my lonely lifestyle, and you being here is a problem to that life, but you came back here. This means that your fate is somehow connected to the forest or me."

"My fate?" I asked.

"Yes your fate," he replied. He lay down facing the ceiling and closed his eyes. "What I summoned was a star of fate. It guides you to where your fate is. Meaning yours is here and not with the other familias."

He turned in bed and faced me. "So, what is your name?"

"My name is Ezra Thorne... and yours?" I asked.

"You can call me Orion. Hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor. I don't have any spare beds. You can use the spare pillow I got, and stay near the fireplace to stay warm." He smiled awkwardly and turned over back onto his back. "Let's leave the rest of the questions for the mourning."

I finished the bowl of stew, he didn't have a sink so I just left the bowl on the table. I grabbed the pillow he left me and went to lie down.

A voice came from the window, "Found you."

I looked over as the demon from before with twigs in his hair smiled creepily. He was at the edge of the camp but I had a direct line of sight with him. The fire flickered and went out, and a gust of cold air came.

"God, this day just keeps getting worse and worse," said Orion. He grabbed his sword unsheathing it. "Stay here and keep your head down."

Orian walked out and started walking towards the demon who had created a throne to sit on.

"Ahh, king of stars, what an honour it is to meet you." The demon sat laughing.

"Shut it, you fuck," Orion pointed his sword at him. "You should have run back to your den, and cuddled with your bitch queen."

The demon's mood changed. His face turned serious. he stood up as the throne he made dissolved into snowflakes and created a familiar dagger. The air turned cold, and the trees around started to be covered with frost. "You should have kept your mouth shut, traitor."