- VOL 1 – THOSE UNITED BY THE FATE -
Prologue: Roarings at The Dawn
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"Ahh, how much further do I have to go? Was the nearest city actually that far away?"
A few murmurs were heard, disturbing the natural noises of the forest. A human voice.
"How many days, weeks, months has it been? I have no idea but I'm hoping to find something soon..."
This human voice belonged to a boy traveling alone. He was wearing a thick coat made of fur and carrying a sack, which was attached to a long stick. Inside that sack were his belongings. Even though he was not overburdened, his load seemed excessive for the dense forest he was in.
"Hahh... I guess that's the end of the road for today."
With a tired sigh, he looked around. He couldn't see any glaring danger or anything that might be useful to him. There were only bushes and trees around.
‘It is difficult to move without finding a place to set up. I have to explore the area, carrying my entire load with me’
He looked weary. He had been wandering these forests for a while, as he had just murmured, and although he had gotten used to it; he was starting to get bored by now. All he had been doing for a while was moving in random directions and taking care of his basic needs while traveling.
Having left his village a few months ago, this young man's goal was to start an adventure for himself in a nearby city. From what he had heard, the city he is trying to find would more than fulfill his desire for that adventure.
"Hmm?"
He was going to stop progressing any further for the day, but something inside of him told him to keep going for a while.
"Do I hear the sound of water?"
A big smile settled on the boy's face. As if he had found exactly what he was looking for, he started to move toward this distant sound.
‘It's definitely water. Oh boy, I can finally settle down properly and explore these areas more carefully.’
He seemed quite pleased. Despite his baggage and exhausted body, he quickened his pace. Taking a step hastily through these dense forests could have been dangerous. He could have tripped, fallen and been injured. But regardless of his fast pace, he was going quite alright. The boy must have known these forests very well because he was cautiously looking ahead of him and easily avoiding most of the objects that could get in his way.
Soon he stopped his steps. The sound of water filled the silent forest. The dense forest ended and a plain-like space came into view. In the center of the forest was a wide, though not very large, gap. A shallow river flowed in the middle of this space.
"Wow, I think this is one of the best places I have found in the forest for a while. Wait, is that a cave?"
The first thing that caught the boy's attention was the source of the sound of water. But when he took his eyes off it and looked around, he also saw a small boulder. Standing near, but not adjacent to, the river. This boulder was also in the center of the open space. Apparently, it was also hollow inside, so that it could be settled.
Once out of the dense forest, the boy became more aware of the time. Although it was hard to see when he was in the dense forest, the sky was very clear from this clear space. The orange reflection of the setting sun was painting the air and it was clear that it was not long before nightfall.
‘Lucky, arrived just in time. It's good that I found a water source, but I have to hurry and make a fire. Otherwise, I will be without light tonight.’
Since he was moving with all his belongings, he was prepared for many situations. He had some fuel in a carrying bag made of sticks and some fruit to eat in a small bag hanging around his waist. He also had a canteen for water, one of his most important needs.
He didn't spend any more time thinking and moved quickly to the boulder in the plain. He unsheathed the knife hanging on his belt and took it in his right hand. Putting down the sack he was carrying on, he entered the hollow boulder and quickly examined inside.
‘Hahh... This place is pretty small, but it's nice to have it empty.’
The inside of this hollow, which could not even be called a cave, was barely the size of a room in a small house. Still, this empty plain area could have been breezier and colder than the dense forest. In any case, it would be useful for him to stay indoors. He placed all the stuff he was carrying inside and carried his sack, which he had left outside.
His next task was to go quickly to the river, fill his canteen and drink some water. After that he went to collect a few pieces of firewood, but not many. The darkness of the night moving fast. The sun was gone in less than an hour, leaving only the half-reflected light of the moon.
‘It seems that even the moon will not light my way tonight. It's time to turn back to my new camp.’
The boy knew what it was like to wander through the forests with no sight. So without thinking, he decided to return to the new place he had found. He managed to carry a few small pieces of firewood through the forest. Led by the moon, which reflected more light on the plain area than on the dense area of the forest, he made his way to the cave where he had set up.
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‘Huhh... It's suddenly cold, is it because this place is a little plain? The winds are blowing really hard here.’
He quickly carried the pieces of wood he had collected outside of the boulder to the inside and took shelter from the wind. Now that it was night, he had no business going out. Maybe in a city or a village, there would be things to do at night, but right now he was in a forest. That was one of the unwritten rules here; the forests belonged to the hunters at night.
After some effort, the boy managed to build a fire at the entrance of the small den where he had taken shelter. Unlike outside, there was not much wind coming in and the warmth of the fire made it feel like a little home.
He took out some of the food from his bag. In addition to fruits, there was also cooked meat, though not much. After enjoying them, he curled up next to the fire.
‘The fire will burn for a few hours, it's time to sleep.’
He put the last piece of wood he had left on the floor that lit the place. In fact, he could have kept the fire going longer if he had built it slowly instead of putting all the fuel in at once, but he didn't think it was necessary. After his long walk in the forest today, he wanted to spend an uninterrupted night's sleep. Also, It wasn't that much cold inside without the breeze and he had his thick fur coat on him.
"Good night."
He was used to talking to himself in these forests where he was alone for a while. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.
-
ROOOAAARRR!!!
"What the fuck!"
RRRGGAAAOORRR!!!
"W-what the hell is that?!"
The boy jumped up from his spot in astonishment. There were small flashes of light coming from outside, but what really caught his attention were the sounds he heard. He squinted his eyes and hurried outside, the sun was just rising. He would have preferred to sleep for at least a few more hours, but...
RRAAAOOOOOORRR!!!
The voices wouldn't stop. The roaring had captured the whole forest, demanding something as if it were the owner of the place. The sound was so strong that the boy could feel it as if it were coming from right next to him.
‘I've never heard anything like that in my life.’
GRRAAAAOOOORRR!!!
The roar, which had stopped for a few moments, was repeated and startled the boy.
‘Is it, is it coming closer?..’
It was not possible to tell whether the loud sound was coming from close or far away. But the boy sensed that something was wrong. The roaring had been very loud from the beginning, but now it seemed to be getting louder.
ROOOAARRR!!!
‘I have to run... I must leave this place... I have to get away as soon as possible!’
For some reason, his body trembled for a moment. He had wandered these forests for a long time and had faced many dangers in them.
He had encountered wild animals and hunted them, sometimes for protection, sometimes because he needed food. He had survived the unliving dangers of the forest, he had crossed the mud bogs and passed the cliffs. But something was different now. Something was terribly wrong.
The boy gritted his teeth and didn't think about anything else at that moment. He quickly gathered his belongings in the cave. It took him only a few moments. After that, he rushed out and looked around.
‘Have the voices... stopped?’
Even though he was worried and frightened by the noises he heard, he did not dare to make a move. Even though he knew the direction he had come from, he didn't want to go back there, he wanted to move forward to new places he didn't yet pass. So he looked at the misty forest in front of him. He hadn't paid much attention last night to it, but in the opposite direction from where he had come, where the plains ended, there was a forest so foggy that you couldn't see through it.
‘What the hell is that place? It's nothing like the forest I came out of...’
He gulped nervously and continued to examine his surroundings about the sound. Although he had just woken up from his sleep, his senses were extremely sharp. His mind was clear and his concentration was at its peak. Even though he was next to a river, he hadn't even washed his face and was looking around paranoid.
grrhhhh...
He heard a voice, a very thin voice. Unlike the previous roars, this one seemed to be trying to disguise itself, even through the calm and silence of the forest, it was so faint that the boy barely noticed it.
"AAAHHHH!!!"
His paranoia seemed to have saved his life. At least for that moment... He turned around for a moment and saw two big eyes staring at him. These eyes, which he lost himself in them just for a few seconds, resembled both a still sea and an angry ocean caught in storms at the same time. He just started running with all his might after what he saw.
‘Damn it. Damn it... DAMN IT!’
He was experiencing a feeling he had never experienced in his life. Not when he had fought against a big army, not during his years of hunting in the forest, not when he had been on new adventures. What he felt was nothing like fear, but the boy still seemed terrified. He was in a state of pure desperation.
The thing he was trying to escape from didn't seem to care about his movements. It was taking very slow steps, even though it was watching the boy very carefully. The monster left the dense forest where it came from and approached the cave where the boy had spent the night. After looking around for a few seconds, its focus shifted back to the boy.
ROOOOAAARRRR!!!
The boy's ears tingled. This roar was nothing compared to the previous ones. He didn't know if it was because the sound source was closer this time or if the monster intentionally increased its intensity. But what he did know was that this scream was directed at him. The huge creature behind him stomped its four feet on the ground and, after digging its claws into the dirt, lunged forward. It launched itself at the boy like an arrow from a bow, seeming to ignore the fact that he had been running for some time.
"AGGHHH!!!"
The creature was about to catch the boy when he reached the misty forest. Although he could see almost nothing, he jumped in without hesitation and kept running. The creature's claw mark bypassed the boy and carved into a tree, causing it to fall to the ground a few seconds later. It was unclear whether the beast, like the boy, was short-sighted in this strange forest, but judging by its movements, the fog was not causing it any problems.
Even if it couldn't see its target in the foggy forests with near zero sight, it was sure it was following the boy, and even though it didn't chase after him after launching towards him, it continued to observe the boy from the shadows.
---
"Huff... Huff..."
The chestnut-haired boy kept running through the forest, struggling to breathe.
‘Did I get past it? Huff... I don't know, but I can't stop now...’
The thick coat he was wearing and the sack on his back slowed him down a bit, but despite the burden, he kept running without looking back. He couldn't stop for a second to rest after what he had seen.
‘I've never seen anything like that in my life. It looked like a giant tiger. No, it literally was a giant tiger! How can something like that be real? There were dragons, gigantic monsters, golems, and huge beasts mentioned in a lot of stories in books. But I thought they were all myths!’
His whole body, visibly his face, was soaking wet from the load he was carrying and the fact that he had been running for several minutes. At least these strange foggy woods were a bit colder than usual.
‘The fog is clearing!’
The boy ran in a certain direction without stopping. He didn't even know how much time had passed since he began running, but he went as straight as possible. The vision in the forest was very poor, and although obstacles kept appearing in front of him, he tried not to break his straight route while going around them.
"I finally found the exit!"
He uttered his thoughts with a great sigh of relief. Realizing he was loud, he turned his head back to the foggy forest for a moment. Fortunately, there was nothing in his sight. Although he couldn't see much through the foggy forests...
‘I must get away from here quickly, just in case. It seems that the forest is not over, but the fog has completely disappeared in these parts.’
Although he could not see any danger around him, he was still careful not to make a sound. The sun, which had barely reached the foggy forest, was now shining brightly overhead. Once out of the misty forests, the boy could only realize how tired and sweaty he was. Still, he had no intention of stopping or resting. He would keep going until he felt safe.
Perhaps it was best for him to listen to those instincts. Although he did not see it, a pair of bright blue eyes appeared behind him as he emerged from the foggy forests. They followed the boy out of the fog and disappeared after a few seconds.