Footsteps echo through the spiral stairs with every step. I slowly move my way down, keeping a watchful eye on the darkness. My backpack is rattling with my belongings with the cooking wares from the kitchen. Hearing my own breathing as I scan the series of stone hallways made by the dwarves. I still feel the uneasiness clinging to me as the memories of my past life lingers in my mind.

“Death.” As I continue down the spiral stairs “What will happen if I die again? Will I come back in a different body? If that is how reincarnation works right? l'm not much for Religion, it never really interested me until now.” I kick down one of the pebbles off the step and deeper down the spiral. It vanishes from my point of view, but the sound of it bouncing off a wall reminding me how deep the stairs lead. And how easy it can be if I stumble off here to meet my short-life once more.

I shake the silly idea away. Yet it reminds me just how mortal I truly am.

"I don't like how I could easily die again if I make one-mistake." I look over the railings and stare at the amazing architecture. Some lanterns here and there, a lot more carved out stone hallways. “Man, imagine if you fell off those stairs, breaking your head open-” I slap myself to chase off that dark idea. "God! I need to stop thinking about this stuff!" Exhaling out of my frustration, I tighten my fists. "I need to focus to get some food or I will starve to death" Moving down spiral stairs as I shake my head again. “My mind needs to stop wandering off like that.”

It takes me an hour to find the entrance of this mountain I call home. Opening the door just a crack to check if it is safe; only hearing some birds, and seeing that the sun was still up... “Don't see it, so I think I am good.” I step outside, feeling the warm light of the sun on my body is... nice. Clear blue sky, calm wind. Nature is so beautiful today, it might be my first nice day in this other world. But a bit of fear still lingers in the back of my mind. I don't want to live in fear all the time, I just need to be safe rather than sorry.

I set my backpack onto the ground before cycling through my stuff and take out anything that'll help me for this hunt. Equipping the leather armor for safety, a green hooded cloak I can use to blend with the forest and a rat skull mask... I still have no idea why this is in my backpack. Maybe it's a magical item? If so, then what can it do? I place it on my head and…

...nothing...

"Huh?... I was expecting something more flashy to happen. Maybe it did nothing. But it feels like it's where it belongs. So I'll be keeping it on." I shrug my shoulders at the maybe or maybe not magic mask. Then I grab my longbow and my quiver, as well as the dwarven leather sheath for my dagger. Stock up my quiver with arrows, before wrapping the straps of the dagger sheath around my leg. My attention falls on the last weapon in my arsenal: The rapier.

No holster for it, sadly. Though, of course it makes sense that I can't find any in a dwarf trading post. A rapier is certainly not their style. Which is shown in most media. So I just leave it in the backpack. To be fair, I lack any experience of using such a sword. Sure the same thing goes for the longbow but all you need to do is just pull it back and fire it. Can't be that hard right?

With my backpack in one hand and the longbow in the other, I look around at my environment. The sun is still high in the sky, so that means the north is right in front of me, the south is behind me, and so on. So if I just go to my right, maybe I can find fish or berry bushes, or I might have to eat bugs to survive. Which I will only do if I was ever so desperate.

Heading off to the west, I hope I can get lucky on my hunt and figure out where I am in this world.

Four hours later... So far, I found the used-to-be-outhouse that the mushrooms conquered. . A fog just rolls in out of nowhere when I trek deeper into the woods and can barely see anything. Some wandering later, I gathered more berry bushes, but now… I keep hearing whispers behind me, every time I turn around it just stops. I even did the dreaded horror movie stereotype by saying hello to the foggy woods and not just running the hell out of there... I was far too desperate for food to care, to be honest. A diet of only berries won't fill my stomach, so I need to find fish or hunt.

“Wait. What do animals actually look like in this world?” I mentally question myself. “Do they look like the ones back on earth or weird magic animals... or both?.” As I am walking, I imagine what magical animals would look like. Despite pondering the idea, I keep an eye over my shoulder. Glancing behind me for whatever beast lurks in the shadow. Call it paranoia, or reasonable. But I don't like all that whispering.

Then I see something. I freeze as my eyes finally catch something.

I see... a boar. Not a mystical beast from some fantasy, no. Just a normal boar on top of some rocks with tree roots wrapped around it. l am... a bit disappointed actually. But I guess not everything in this world is going to be crazy magic nonsense or something.

But the boar hasn't noticed me yet... God. I shrug off my backpack and quietly move as best I could. My arm reaches for one of the arrows from my quiver, then pairs it with my longbow and- I can't draw it back. "What?" Despite my confusion I try my best to pull it back even harder. This shouldn't have been an issue. No. Sure the bow is like 6 feet long, and touching the ground with one end- Oh, I haven't considered the ergonomics of my own size. I'm not meant to use a longbow!

I hear a deep growl, then look up to see the boar staring at me. And he seems to be infuriated. "UM?!" Out of panic, I slam my foot into the bow and draw the string back with an arm that extends past my head. Thanks to the terrible mockery of a yoga stance, I have drawn the bow fully. I look extremely ridiculous but I managed to fire it... which just trims a good part out of the boar's leg. It let out a loud high-pitched squealing as the sting registers. It looks angrier than before. The beast jumps off the rock to charge at me. I drop my longbow and dive out of the way just as it barrels through. It crashes face first into my backpack so badly that it somehow knocks itself over. The beast is vulnerable now that it is on its side.

Seeing my time is now, I unsheathe my dagger. With a mighty yell, I run up to it aiming right at the neck non-stop. My arms move on their own as they bring down the dagger over and over. I am fully immersed in my blind assault, so desperate to stay alive that it takes me a minute to realize that it is no longer breathing. "Holy... holy crap. I did it." I glance down at the bloody extremely-mangled boar and notice that my backpack is still on its face. I retrieve the bag, before taking a step back from the corpse. I felt somewhat sick, yet proud. "I actually killed something." My hands, dagger, and clothing are now red thanks to the encounter. A testament to my victory. Strangely, it doesn't bother me enough. "Great, I need to find a way to get this blood off of me." Miraculously, my bag is free of any filth.

"I can help you with that."

My head shoots up, I turn around looking for the source of that voice I heard. "WHO'S THERE?!" I snap at the foggy forest, my eyes dart around every shadow.

"Down here." The mysterious voice calls out to me.

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Following instructions, I face down and see... a normal brown squirrel? “Hello there." He greets me while he waves its tiny paw. The normal squirrel continues to look at me as my brain reboots itself to try to understand what is going on, because a talking squirrel is the last thing on my mind.

"Is he good?" I hear another voice to my left, and I just now notice the gathering swarm. Just a swarm of squirrels everywhere. In the trees, on the ground, on the rocks. Just so many eyes looking at me. And the whispers, they were whispering to each other... Wait, are they the source of the whispering?

"I-I… Hi?" I don't know how to deal with this; I am surrounded by an army of talking squirrels. A frightening moment in my life.

The talking squirrel faces the dead pig. "Hey, we can find you a lake to clean that blood off of you." He points at the bloody boar's body with his tiny little paw. "In return, you give us that." Well, I didn't expect this, but it did give me an idea.

Breathe in, breathe out. "Hey!" The squirrels become silent as their attention is now on me, which is honestly terrifying. "W-what about this. Can you bring me to a river so I can find some fish and as well remove the blood off of me? And I will give you the dead boar in return?"

The talking squirrels look back and forth at each other. "Was that not the plan? You probably didn't hear me. Kinda hilarious considering those big ears of yours. Okay, it is a deal." He says with a nod of his head.

"Thank you." I thank the squirrel mafia, grabbing all my stuff and the arrow I shot. Then the swarm closes in on the dead boar and claims it. The sound alone is horrifying. Hundreds of little chewing noises tore through the corpse. A mound of bloodthirsty squirrels. All writhing and moving just to get a piece of meat. It takes them 10 minutes to finish it. All that is left are... yeah now I have a fear of squirrels.

After the squirrels finish up with their brutal assault, one of the squirrels or maybe the same one, runs up to me. Then motions me to follow. And so I did. Not like it is my biggest mistake. I follow the rodent for a while who is leading me the opposite way I came from, before revealing to me a river. Then the little critter vanishes into the fog.

“At this point in my new life. I need to just. accept it, yes there is still a part of me that doesn't believe any of this is real. And I'm terrified by all of this. But if I am going to survive in this new world, I need to try my best to understand stuff in this world and accept it.” I mentally monologue. I place my gear on the ground, then remove my skull mask off my face. I look down at the reflection in the water. A rat's face stares back at me, no longer human in appearance.

"This is going to take some time to get used to that." I tell myself. I take my gear off of me, as well as my clothing. Opening my backpack to get my bar of soap. Taking a step into the river only to sink down. I struggle up to the surface before coughing my lungs out. A minute passes by until I stop with a sore throat. "God... ok. forgot how short I am now. I need to remember that next time. At least it aint the ocean." My hand reaches out of the water for my bloody dagger.

The cleaning finally starts, and first on my list is my current favorite weapon. The one that brought me victory.

"Time to make a plan, first things first. I need to make a map of this place to find other food sources in this weird forest. Hunting animals is going to be a lot of trouble for me since I don't know what kind of tricks they can do now." With the dagger done, I place it back on the edge of the river before moving on. "Which it reminds me as well that I need to start to train with my weapons, I'm sure that boar could have easily gutted me if I didn't roll away from it." The blood finally comes off of my leather armor finally, now it's next to the dagger. Next is the mask.

"As well I should switch my longbow with a shortbow in that dwarf place, I need to try out something small to understand how the bow works before I start with the longbow. for last, medicine and money... which is weird that I didn't find any gold coins in that trading post, I'm guessing the squirrels must have grab all of it since it's very shiny for them.'' As I continue rambling on to myself and cleaning my clothing, a sudden gust of wind blows past me. I stop my chatter and remember that I need to make a fire so I don't end up freezing to death.

My mask is clean and yet there is still some blood stain on the clothing but it will do for now. After putting it on the pile of clean stuff, I crawl out of the river before shaking myself dry; it's the best I can do without a towel. "Time to find some-AAAHHHH!!!"

A sudden sting.

I lift up my tail to see a fish on the end of it. A... salmon, I think…? My dad told me about how they swim upstream from the ocean to spawn in freshwater rivers and that's the best time to get them. Wait, did that mean an ocean is nearby? Does that mean I am on an island? I need to explore to confirm that but now, fish time. Thank whatever jerk God that placed me here and gave me a tail. Easy fishing for sure.

5 or 6 hours later, and the day is still burning. I light up a campfire with some dry leaves and sticks. Using some boiled water from a pot, I refill my waterskin before cooking some fish. Prepping the fish is easy thanks to the tools I have on hand. I keep doing the same trick with my tail and end up with a lot more fish... it did hurt a little but it is worth it. It's been a good day so far. Other than the creepy fog that is still around, I keep seeing those squirrels up in the trees that stare at me before running away. Still, the day is good so far.

"Man, if dad sees how I am doing all on my own, he would be proud of me." I grin from ear to ear as I remember all the good memories I have with my dad. Fishing with him, watching horror movies with him, showing me how to change a tire... him getting a dog for my birthday. And when... Mom got me my first bike, got me ice cream when I am sad and- and… Grief settles upon me. All those good times with mom and dad are long gone, my pet is gone, my friends are gone, everything IS gone. I finally realize that I am truly alone, too busy trying to survive to even notice. “I.... This is just a nightmare. I wish I was home.”

Those same words repeat in my head over and over and over. Wishing to be somewhere I actually belong. While staring blankly at the campfire. Silence is deafening. I don't know how long I was staring at the campfire before I felt rain hit the top of my head. I sigh and look up to the sky...

… Why is it suddenly clear…? I touch the top of my head and look down at my hand to see blood. What? I stutter away and onto my feet facing toward the trees above. There I see. A dead. Giant. Bat.

"What could’ve killed that thing!?" I snap around at my surroundings for the culprit. The body is fresh, so whoever did it is still around. I dump what water is left in my cookware onto the campfire to put it out, then grab all my clothes and toss them in my backpack. I don't care that I have to run back home naked, I am not staying here to find out who iced that bat. I begin to make a quick inventory check. The mask in my backpack, the dagger, the quiver, and th-wait. Where is my longbow?

I scan my surroundings, finding it on the roots of a nearby tree. How did it get there? I run over to the tree to retrieve it but I trip on an exposed root. “Damn it.” I try to move my legs but for some reason, they aren't budging. Confused, I look at my legs and witness the tree roots snaking around me.

"What the f-AAAHHHH!" I am pulled into the air and toward the tree as I hold onto the longbow tightly. Never before was I ever fearful of my life. The roots bring me over to the center mass of the tree. And what happens next I can only describe as a scene from a horror movie.

The surface of the tree begins to shift in place, the bark slowly breaking apart to reveal the face within. It reveals beneath a mix of wood, blood, veins, and meat. The only thing that looks human is the face, and it is staring right at me. "Tserof Siht Stnuah Taht Tsaeb Eht Era Uoy!? Evac Nevrawd Eht Morf Era Uoy, Tiaw! Tsaeb, Ereh Eb Ton Dluohs Uoy!? Ereh Uoy Dnes Tnedor Das Taht Did!?" I can't understand what it said, it is pure gibberish. So... I strike it in the face with my longbow which in turn breaks my weapon in two. The action is enough to cause the monster to drop me.

I have no time to mourn my longbow, I climb up back on my feet as fast as I can, grab my backpack, and run like hell back home. I hear the creature wail as I escape, but as I am running, the forest seems to shift before my very eyes. Faces of fury and malice growing from the bark of the wood. All eyeing me as if I have done them wrong. Their dark black empty eyes staring right at my soul. I ignore them and just focus more on getting back home.

I am out of breath, my heart is beating like crazy but I make it back home. I take a look at the forest and my god… so many moving trees. It is against what's natural as these trees start crawling toward me. I open the door and slam it close behind me. Using anything to barricade the door with.

As I finish my work, there is a deep rooted dread in my chest. A harrowing nightmare is just outside that door.

"I think I know what happened to those dwarves.”