For hours he had been walking in the humid shade of the forest, with no edible food in sight, other than some wild berries he found on some trees. Along the way, he scratched arrows on the tree trunks he passed by so that he could find the way back to the beach. Sometimes he passed by logs with several mushrooms growing on them, but he couldn't be sure whether they were safe to eat. Taking his chances was not something he wanted to do, especially when there was no contingency measure. If he accidentally poisoned himself, he could possibly incapacitate himself for days, and that would be no laughing matter.

Marching through knee-high foliage, the ever present sensation of tree branches brushing against his bare arms and the constant chirping of cicadas was starting to get on his nerves. The humidity in the forest caused by the hot weather wasn't exactly helping either. Worse still, he could sometimes hear animalistic growls from the deeper parts of the forest.

There were no visible tracks of potential preys, with most of the tracks he found being too risky to even attempt pursuing. It was only after a four hour march from the beach when he found a trail of footprints that resembled those of humans.

At last.

After following along the trail for an hour, he realized that the forest was not as bright as it was hours ago. "It's getting dark soon, I'd better hurry," he thought, hastening his pace. It was only a couple breaths later that he heard bestial snarls, followed by the sound of crunching bones and the squelching of soft matter. The source of the sounds came from roughly thirty metres away, but the dense forestation blocked the view of whatever was making the sounds.

He decided to remove his straw sandals so that his foot would make as little sound as possible, and made slow, deliberate tiptoes towards the source of the sounds. He rested his right arm on the hilt of his sword, mentally preparing to defend himself against anything that could pose a threat to his life. It never hurts to be cautious.

As he brushed several leaves of a bush apart, what would have been the result of a lack of caution and stealth was laid before him. Flesh and intestines were strewn all over the forest soil, with green creatures that seemed to be a humanoid form of a crocodile, most of them being almost two metres tall, feasting upon the insides of a party of humans donning steel armor and uniforms with the crest of a green gryphon on the chest.

"One-Shard Lizardmen..." His grip around the hilt of his sword tightened. He wasn't even surprised at his lack of discomfort upon witnessing the bloody scene.

A common sight in most forests and swamps, these lanky creatures have learnt to imitate human behaviors over countless eras and wields shabbily crafted weapons of their own, armed with deadly skills and knowledge of the jungle. They could be often identified by their scaly humanoid figures and the bone necklaces hanging around their necks. The number of bone shards on their necklaces was an indication of their rank, with one-shard necklaces for infantrymen and five-shard necklaces for chieftains.

Their intelligence are not as complex as a human, nor do they possess the ability to manipulate ekra, but they make up for them with their superior constitution and numbers. A united Lizardmen tribe is often a deadly force to be reckoned with, even more so when they have a capable and charismatic leader.

The unfortunate party of humans being gnawed on by the Lizardmen were all but alive, and were probably a patrol team of a nearby village that were careless enough to be ambushed by a squad of Lizardmen.

Tensing his right shoulder muscle, he pulled the sword guard with his left hand and the hilt with his right hand, just like you would when getting ready to flick a finger, with the tension of a fully drawn bow and arrow.

One strike, one head.

His instincts kicked in, all unnecessary trains of thought were halted, and all his focus was centered on his unaware enemies and his form. He was getting ready to swoop in for the kill. It was as if he had done this many times before, with the artful grace of an experienced veteran.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Gigiaa?" The Lizardmen nearest to him raised its scaly green head, flesh dripping from the fangs of its half-opened jaws, sniffing the air as if it had sensed the danger. It took a brief look around the surroundings, careful making sure that another predator wasn't around to steal their snack before resuming its meal.

Now!

Kicking off the ground, he leapt towards the Lizardmen that had sensed him earlier, closing the distance of five metres between them in an instant, and a bright flash of light reflected off the shiny edge of his blade, illuminating the scene of slaughter for an instant. The moment the blade left the other side of the head, he pushed the body aside with his left hand, leaping towards his next victim.

"Kiyaa!" The Lizardmen cried with anger from having their dinner being interrupted. They clambered to their feet and grabbed their weapons, some of them stolen from the dead patrol team. The Lizardman that was being attacked raised its steel spear to defend. Its' assailant's sword deftly changed its direction. As the Lizardman realized the impending danger, it was far too slow to react, as the blade was approaching from a seemingly impossible direction, with the assailant moving at a speed faster than it could blink.

Splurt!

Another thunk of head meeting earth was heard. There was now just one Lizardman remaining. Needless to say, it too had neither the skills nor agility to contend itself against the superior technique and merciless blows of its predator.

With a long exhale and mist emitting from his mouth, he closed his eyes reveling in the incredible sense of pleasure of releasing his tension. It was as if all his worries and fear were discarded along with that one breath. "Not enough," he muttered. The sensation of his blade cutting through flesh and bone was the best he had felt ever since he woke up at the beach, one that was extremely addicting. He was tempted to venture deeper into the forest. However, his rationality brought him back to reality. It was too dangerous. Who knows what else was lurking in the depths of the forest.

Swish.

He slashed once at the air, removing the blood on his sword before placing it back into the scabbard.

"Too late," he sighed. He had hoped that there would at least be a survivor, but there was none to point him out the direction to civilization. Sympathy for the dead men laying before him? He felt none, even for himself, one with barely any memories remaining.

Taking a closer look at their bodies, he found that they had, to some extent, a different constitution that he had. All of them had short blond hair, with a much stockier build than he had, with much hairier arms and legs than he had. His hair was black and tied into a ponytail, reaching down to his back, and his build was muscular but lean, one that was highly preferred when specializing in the sword. He felt that having extremely large muscles will result in having less flexibility, causing some sword maneuvers to be slower and less efficient.

"Am I a foreigner?" On top of his long list of hunger, thirst, memory loss, and several other stuff, he now had to add 'possibly in a foreign land' to it. He was starting to feel worried. After searching the corpses of the Lizardmen and humans, the only useful thing he found was a map of the region. According to the positions and patrol routes indicated on the map, he found that it was safe to assume that he was an hour walk away from where the dead patrol team had set camp, and there was a river stream along the way to boot. From the camp, it was a three day march to the nearest village. Finally, he could scratch 'no source of water' and 'having no set destination' off the list.

The sun was starting to set, painting the skies an eerie red. Hair-raising howls could be heard from the distance. It was time for the nocturnal beasts to hunt.

It's going to be a long night.

Author's Note: Hey guys, it'd be really awesome if you guys comment on what y'all think of what I've written so far. Don't hold back, I can take it.