*tap* 

* Hm?

*tap* *tap* 

* I hear something…

*tap* 

* What is that... Where am I... Who am I... Why can’t I see anything…

Through his brain goes a million questions, so much that it feels like his head is about to explode. He opens his eyes, but it’s still pitch black, he lies on the cold, rocky ground panicking, but he knows only one thing, and that is - he needs to find a way out, find something. He stands up reaching his hands far, standing steadily not fully up, so that he would not hit his head. He walks moving his arms everywhere to find a wall or something until he does find a cold and rocky wall like the ground, and hears the sound again. *tap* “Let’s follow that sound for now” he gets closer and closer to it, touching the wall along the way so that he would not smash into something. *tap* There the drop landed on his head. 

* Uh? It feels like water.

He gets a few drops in his hands, smells them, feels them trying to make sure that it is water. “Ugh...” he is repulsive about drinking it, but he is dehydrated, so much that his lips are very chapped, his mouth is salivating with dry spit. He cannot hold his intention of not drinking it, his body goes on its own. “Huaah” after drinking it he feels so better and refreshed. 

* Is it my imagination or can I see better…

 His vision has improved, but only by a small amount. 

* Was it this water doing? Nah, I'm probably getting used to the darkness.

Now that he has gotten water, he started to feel how hungry he is,

* Where can I even get some food in this dark hole.

And suddenly a strange noise came from the distance, and a small light shined far away. 

* Ha? Where in the hell am I? In some tunnel? But who is it?

Suddenly only one thought came in his mind, a friend, or a foe? Thinking about it, he thought that it would be better to just hide somewhere as the light and noise came closer to him. Quietly, but rapidly he touches everything around him to see if there is anywhere to hide behind. He found something that he could just sit behind, and he did so. As the sound came closer and became louder his heart beat more furiously with every step of that coming light. 

The light came close enough to him that he could finally see where he was. He looks around; This place was full of blue crystals that now the light that came from the end of the tunnel that the sound came from, halted up all the crystals, they shined as bright as stars in the night, it was beautiful to see, even the far away crystals at the other end of the tunnel were lighten up. The thing that he thought was water was some substance from one of the clysters on the wall, but it was standing out, it was the only one that shined as pure gold color. It was really beautiful to look at, but when he noticed it, the light had come right behind where he was hiding. “oh GOD”, he wanted to scream and puke, but he held his mouth with his hands. The thing that he thought was some kind of cover was actually a pile of some dead creatures, they were not humans. They’re guts were spilling on the ground, until he noticed that the bodies were everywhere in the room. The light came to the shining gold clyster, and he could finally see who this light was.  

He was terrified of the creature that stood before him; Tall, dark colored so that he would be invisible in the dark, on his forehead was like a round rock that emitted light, it seemed like he did not have any skin as if human body was reversed, he was bulky and muscular, stood there like a human on two feet. The most disgusting features of this monster were that he was terrifying, his mouth was always open with hundreds of teeth that seemed like they were sharp as knives, his blood red eyes, and the hole in his stomach that had nothing inside it, but only showed his bones.  “A foe... definingly a foe...” he thought to himself, he was shivering in fear, frozen up from just the sight of this creature. 

The creature drank the liquid from the golden crystal, and walked away, going until the light wasn’t visible anymore, it seemed like the creature didn't have ears, so he didn’t hear the human right next to him shivering in fear. 

* Oh god... Where the fuck am I?! What is that thing!

Every instinct in his body said to run away from that creature. 

* Good thing I hid away from that, I would have been killed!

He was mortified, he cannot believe what that was or in what situation he is. He started crying

* Why? God, why? Why do I have to suffer like this, who did this to me…

After sitting and crying there for a bit, he got his thoughts together, he drank the liquid again and started moving the opposite direction where the creature went. He was walking, touching the wall all the way, slowly, but surely. Darkness and the noise of rocks falling, drops of liquid hitting the ground and him, the strange noises and screams coming behind him. He knew that he cannot stop and has to move, even if his feet hurt, and his mind is going psycho, the thought that is on his mind is only one: “do I die?”. But he persisted and still walked straight, not looking back. “How long has it been? Days? Weeks?” Walking which he felt like for days or even weeks, The loneliness, tiredness, hunger, pain he felt, was why he held the one question. But he did not give up, he still continued. After some time, his legs gave away and he could no longer stand up. 

* AAAWWUU!

He heard the terrifying sound from behind, a sound that made his all-body shake, his heart skip a beat, a sound that he knew from who it came  

* I-I-its t-that creature!   

He crawled with his life on the line, because it was. He knew that if he stopped, he would get killed. He crawled to the stones and rumbled, scraping his forearm on the ground, bleeding. He still persisted crying from the pain and fair, he still crawled hearing as the creature came closer and closer to him.  

* I don't want to die! I don’t want to die! 

Screaming out of his lungs while he was still moving. He could see the light coming closer behind him, but there was another light in front of him. Like a human instinct he knew that the only way for him to survive and live is to get to that light as fast as he can. He crawled, it hurt him so much, the pain was like knives were piercing his arms and legs, his muscles which were so weak from not having anything to eat for so long, his legs who game up from walking so long, and he himself who is so tired from not resting for so long, but he persisted as he heard the creature getting closer and closer to him. And he reached it as he left the cave in a side of some huge mountain, he could finally see when his eyes adjusted to it, the trees, the light, the grass, water he was so happy that he cried again, but his happiness stopped fast when he forgot about the creature, and it stood there behind him, looking in him with his soulless red eyes, the creature was looking straight into his soul, even if the creature said nothing, he understood what he wanted to say “You won't get away next time”. He looked back at the creature scared, freighted, but still wondering why the creature hadn't killed him. As he was thinking that the creature took a step closer and the light shined on him, where it shined it looked as if he was made of darkness, as if the light was removing him, you could tell that it hurt him a lot, but he did not stop looking straight at the man giving him the death glare, warning him that he will come for him.  

* Aargh! 

The creature went back to complete darkness and disappeared with the sound of pain. Now he was left alone terrified and horrified from what just happened. He lied on his back, looking at the sky, he noticed one thing: 

* What? Where is the sun? No! Don’t tell me I still didn’t leave this shithole! 

He was even more mortified, his face told that any happiness that he had just left his entire body – like his soul - had vanished from his human body. The sky was just light blue color, but he thought “Wait, maybe it’s a good thing, if there isn’t sun there that means that there is possibility that it will always going to be sunny” he said that and some joy came back to him “There is only one way to find out, let's just get some water and something to eat”, but as he said that he could not control and his eyes closed on itself. He fell asleep. He was woken up by a nightmare of that creature, but his hunger was more of an issue now. “Fuck I’m so hungry...”. He got up with the energy he regained from sleeping and started walking into the forest, there was a river nearby, he saw it but his legs gave up again so he crawled to it and looked at the water, he saw himself “O wow, right. I didn’t even know how I looked” He stared at the reflection of the water touching his face, which was pretty, as it had more feminine, brown eyes, but they looked more like black, and dark brown hair. His whole body was more feminine, he didn’t have any muscle, you could say that he was really skinny, but he wasn’t short, he stood as tall as 6’3. He cleaned his injuries with the running water and saw some fishes in the river swimming. “Hm? If I could find a spiky stick, I could at least get some fish, but I would need to make fire” after resting for a bit he finally could stand normally, but his hunger was a lot to bear now and the water didn’t help him, so he went to the forest to gather things, he got some leaf's, sticks, wood, and rocks. With the leaf’s he got, they were pretty big so he washed them with water and put them on his arm and leg, at least it will protect somewhat. With the rocks he got he made a spear from a stick. The other rock he put in a circle and in the middle put some wood, got some dry leaves and put them in the middle too, he did find a flintstone. At least he can survive some days in here, because he is not stupid. He used the flintstone to make a fire, it took him several tries, but in the end he could do it. 

* Yay!! 

He was overjoyed that he could make a fire, now what's left is to get some food, so he went to the river, stayed still with a spear in his hand, waiting and bam! He thrusted the spear straight in the water where there was a fish, he caught a fish, he did that a few more times, then went back to his camp. He took the fish and spiked it on a stick, and put it on fire. After some time, the fish has been done, and he started to eat  

* Finally! 

He gulped the fish so fast, because he was nearly dead from starvation. The cooked fish attracted unwanted attention. When he was done eating all the fish, he caught, heard some noise rustling in front of him - in the bushes. His instincts told him to get ready for it, his body unnational felt the murdering aura from the bush. He quickly gripped the spear next to him and stood in position holding it with two hands, that he could easily trust in the enemy. He was scared and terrified, but it wasn’t dark, so he knew that it's not the shadow creature, whatever it was, he got enough of running away, he is ready to fight. And so as soon as he was ready a wolf jumped at him from the bush. He was determined, but scared so he trusted the spear, but closed his eyes. 

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

* Au! Au-u-u... 

He could hear the wolf whimpering, so he opened his eyes, and the wolf was pierced straight in the mouth. “Oke, I got one, but he is still alive, so I need to finish him and then I need to look out, wolves come in packs”. He got the spear out of the wolf and trusted it straight in his head, then he stood in position again, being ready for a wolf to attack, but it was a disadvantage to him, because he was surrounded in forest and only in one side there is the river so he did not need to defend from that side, enemies would not be able to attack him so fast in the water, but 3 other sides are surrounded by bushes. “Fuck what a bad camping spot I picked” so he slowly, quietly went to the side where there were no bushes and stood there waiting for the wolfs to come. He sits there sweating, stressing, not even blinking an eye, holding his breath as his life depends on it. Suddenly he heard a wolf's howl, but it seemed like it was far away, so he relaxed for a bit, and got his breath back.  

* I will have to limit the cooking, or cook a lot at one time, but I should find a spot for me to sleep. I'm really tired. 

He walked a bit and saw a good spot to sleep. There was a big tree; it was a huge tree that seemed like it was out of place, but not at the same time. The tree's height reached at least 50 meter and was wide like a house. There were no other trees in the radius of the tree as if all the other trees left the space for this one. This tree had a lot of different branches that were wide enough to even lay comfortably.  

He came up close to the tree, looked up and got ready to climb, he stepped on all he could and grabbed all he can to just get on a branch, the branch led to a hole in the tree which was utterly dark – the perfect place to sleep as the light did not come go out, it was bright all the time. He went inside the whole he could not see anything but at least he could sleep. He lied down and as soon as he closed his eyes, he fell asleep soundly. It was cool and dark inside and he felt finally a bit safer.

* Hu... ah... AA!! 

He woke up screaming, sweaty, and scared. The monster he met did not leave him alone, even if the monster did not catch him, it left him with something far worse – the feeling of unsafety, disturbance, nightmares and trauma, that will not heal until he escapes from this knowing that, that thing will never be able to touch him. 

After thinking of what happened and what he can do, figured that the best way to survive here is to explore this region, so he went. Surveilling, carefully going, picking up everything useful on the way. He wants to be prepared for everything that can come to him. He walked a straight line from the tree, going in one direction until he came out of the forest and saw something magnificent; A huge mansion stood place, it's not even wrong to call it a castle, it was huge, it was made out of stone and wood, but even the craftsmanship on the walls surrounding the mansion was magnificent. “Whoever lives here is diffidently extremely wealthy” even He was in awe of this sight, and like the big tree from before the forest is surrounding the mansion in precise radius as if everything was made artificially. He stood there looking at the sight for a few seconds until he realized that there was a possibility there could be people here. He ran closer to the mansion until he reached where there was a huge wooden door which acted as a gate. “I guess this is where I will find the answers”. He thought that this is where he will get the answers he wants, of why, who, how. So, suddenly a white light came out of the door's middle as the door was being opened, it shined light as if heaven was behind this door. He quickly got back scared of what could happen and what's behind this door. The more the door opened the more did it shine, eventually when it was almost opened it was like looking at a sun and He could not look at it anymore, so he turned his head and rubbed his eyes. When he looked back at the door after a few seconds getting his vision back, he saw the door fully open, a beautiful garden, and the main door to the mansion. He was hesitating to go from what he saw. He was too scared that something unexpected like that will happen again, but that time it will be dangerous.  

* Fuck... 

But his curiosity got the better of him, he swallowed his saliva and started walking slowly, looking in every direction like a lost child trying to find his mom. As soon as he took a few steps inside holding tightly the spear in his hands into the garden - the door behind him slammed and closed itself, shivers ran down his back, but he persisted to go now that there was no escape. He was walking slowly, taking his every step carefully, looking around, but the more he got closer to the mansion, the less anxious he got. From being stressed and scared looking everywhere around to see any danger, now he was walking through the garden looking at every different kind of flower. The garden was magnificent; You could tell that the garden was taken care of, it had so many different kinds of flowers, every kind of flower had their own restricted places that they grew at, all the different kinds of ornaments of stone and the waterfall, everything was so eye-catching. He could not just walk through everything without his mouth open in awe and smelling all the beautiful flowers until he reached the door which itself was beautiful; The door stood twice as tall as He was, it was made of wood and metal. The door frame itself was huge, out of metal and had some strange writing on it. In the middle of the door was a door knocker. 

He looks at the door with a happy expression “There is definitely someone living here”. Saying that because he sees that the whole house has no spec of rust, deuteration, or dust, it's like this whole mansion is being cleaned every day, and the garden which in itself would be hard for multiple people to take care of. Knowing that there are definitely multiple people living here, he knocks on the door, but still holding on the spear not knowing if these people are good or bad. 

Noone answers the door. No noise, no movement, as if there is not even a single soul in this huge, maintained mansion. Thinking that maybe they did not hear him the first time, he knocks the door, but this time even harder. Nothing. No answer. He pushes the door in frustration and it opens. As soon as he opened the door even a little bit, dust and wind came out of the middle making the door fully open on itself.  

He looked inside the house, he didn’t want to intrude others and get inside uninvited, but they did not answer him. He stepped inside. Before this he didn’t have much hope that he would not be alone, but seeing such a huge house, he had his hope up, thinking that maybe there is a chance that everything will be explained to him. He felt happy that at least he would be not alone in this hell, but now there was no smile, no hope, no nothing. What he saw inside was a place that was not touched by a living being for hundreds of years. He did not know what kind of magic that the outside is so preserved, but the inside is dusty, rusty, broken, cracked. He is alone. 

He fell to his knees as if his whole life had been sucked out of him, he looked at the ground with blank expression.  

* Where is everyone? Am I alone? I’m all alone, and I don’t even know who... I am. What did I do to deserve this? 

It's as if he lost his will to live. 

* No... I won't be stopped by this. There can be others in the forest. I will find them and get my answers. 

He stood up with a face of determination. He was going to find others and escape from this place in one piece. 

He started to walk around the mansion to see what he could find. There are a lot of different rooms that he explored and didn’t find anything spectacular, but at least it was a good enough place with a bit of cleaning to make it the base for now. He was searching the mansion for about two hours now, until he reached a strange room.  

This room was not like other – the other had this feeling like even when there was someone living here, they did not use those room, but this one was different, because it was like an office it looked like it was used every day; there were bookshelves around the room walls, a wooden table in the far back, couches and a small table in the middle. On the wooden table there were a lot of document and paper, so he took a look at them, but they were so old that u could barely read what they said;  

“Subject... Failed... Report... Another failure... #104849 Report.... Killed...”  

There were a lot of different documents, but only a few words would be readable from them. So, he checked the drawers and found a knife, and a letter. The most surprising thing was not the knife, but the letter which was almost in pristine condition. It said; 

“#190487 Report: It’s been more than 300 years since the last experiment subject, it seems raising the standards will not help. I cannot hold on any longer so this will be my final report, I will raise the standards to maximum output. It’s possible that only one subject will be found in thousands of years, but with this method, I can be sure that the subject will pass the experiment.”

“What are they talking about? This is so strange...” He said that looking at the letter. He put down the letter and took the knife. It was a beautiful knife with a golden hint, white ornaments on it and a crystal in the middle of it. 

It was a letter knife to open the letter with it. “Even if it’s not its purpose, it’s better than my spear” while thinking that he put the knife in his pocket. It was not that big, so it fit perfectly.  

Walking down from the office room in the hallway a bit he found a room that was the main bedroom, so he started to clean it, because this is where he was going to sleep. While cleaning it he stumbled upon another letter  

“Congratulations subject number 9000 for finding this letter at least you are not utter trash. I will call you nine for short, listen here nine, I'm writing to you because I am no longer there how good for you, but welcome to the experiment. I will keep this short and sweet – you will die like the trash before you if you don’t get stronger, now the only way to get stronger is to hunt other beings. That’s what is special about all subjects, that you get stronger the more you fight so go on now and fight.” He got frustrated as he was just being used for some kind of experiment that he did not want any part of. This only made him have even more questions, but it did not seem like he could get answers if he did not participate in this “experiment”. He collected his thoughts, standing there i silence until he said:

* So I guess my name for now is nine. Well then fucker, i will participate in youre experiment. I will find you and kill you so I hope you are still alive.

He now was more determined to survive this place than ever. He started to search the mansion rooms again, because he knew if he wanted to become stronger and defeat enemies he needed something better than a letter knife and a spear. Surprisingly he found a door that was behind stairs that led to the second floor. The door leads to a basement. He grit his teeth, clenched the spear and went down the stairs that lead to the basement. When he got down the stairs, the whole basement lit up, and you could see a forge, training room and storage. He was delighted to find something this useful in this old house, and it looked like everything was preserved well like the outside of the house. This puzzled him even more on how some things stay safe of age while others cannot. The storage had some things in it, but like any other things in this house they all got deteriorated, but there was one stone sword that has not deteriorated. 

* Well I guess it’s better than the spear. 

Said as he looked at the stone sword. He looked then at the forge, surprisingly there is fire in the forge this definitely confirmed the suspicion that he had “This is magic, definitely” he concluded that the outer appearance of the house, the garden, this basement, the letters, and the fire of the forge are all connected somehow magically or made with magic, maybe even this place was made the same, as he still doesn’t even know where he is. And the last one he looked at was the training room, which had weights and equipment that seemed like it did not fit in this world.

*  I will use this well.

He thought he could use this to get stronger faster. But his most concern was not to heal up and food, he did see a kitchen on his way here. Maybe there can be some supplies that could heal or at least help his wounds. So when he was done checking the basement he went to the kitchen. He searched the cabinets in the kitchen and found out that all the food that was there had rotten out, but he did find some bandages that he could use. He rolled the bandages on his hurt parts of legs and arms. Now he was ready to go out and fight.

He got his stone sword, letter knife, and the spear. As he was walking determined through the garden the door’s opened on their own and you could see the forest that he came running from, scared for his life, now he comes back determined and confident.

* Let’s get stronger shall we.