Ben's consciousness gradually sparks to life. His gaze immediately goes to the timekeeper; It's year 100, day 3.

"I slept for exactly a century?"

Ben's shock is shortlived as he moves his attention to his realm. Thankfully nothing disastrous has happened, albeit the wolves and deer have overpopulated to the point of pushing other species to endangerment.

The landscape has been weathered by the passage of time, but remains recognizable.

"Well, I have all the energy I need. I think its finally time I create humans."

Ben is a little giddy at the prospect of creating sapient beings. The last conversation he had was with a customer in his previous life; He yearns for someone to talk with.

With that in mind, Ben manifests the first bones of a human. The tendons and muscle cover the bones before organs and fat tissue are layered on. The human is given both skin and hair; Ben appraises his creation.

"Looks human enough to me."

The inanimate human body is erased, and without delay an army of unique humans are manifested within Ben's world. These humans are created with functioning brains unlike the test specimen.

Ben creates each of these first humans with unique names as well as a shared spoken language. He could have let them develop independently, but Ben prefers being able to understand their conversations. He even goes so far as to bestow some innate knowledge about the world to each of them.

"This is going to be fun!"

~

Gol is born not of flesh, but of God's light. He opens his eyes to see a dense forest in all directions; Birdsong as well as rustling leaves give the forest a tranquil feeling. Gol takes a deep breath of forest air, and laughs without restraint.

"Thank you, my creator!" Gol shouts at the sky.

He basks in the dappled sunlight a moment longer before focusing on the here and now. He must survive, and to do that he'll need food, water, and shelter.

Gol is grateful to his creator for his basic knowledge; Without this innate information he would have relied on instinct alone.

"I can hear flowing water, but its faint."

Gol walks in the direction of a stream. His bare feet crunch twigs and leaves without caution. The sight of flowing water brings a smile to the man's face, but that satisfaction is short lived when Gol hears a low growl.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Gol looks up slowly to see the dark eyes of a wolf. The four legged beast is only a couple meters away, and watches from behind the trees. Quiet footsteps can be heard as the rest of the wolf pack approaches. Gol doesn't stick around, and sprints back the way he came.

~

Cara is crouched low to the ground, looking at a rather large fern. She knows what ferns are, yet seeing one for the first time fascinates her. She plucks the leaves from the fern carefully before inspecting them closely. Cara turns the leaf over in her hand, and rubs the slightly elastic leaf curiously. The fern feels unlike the trees and grass.

Cara places the plucked leaves onto a flat rock alongside some other gathered plants. She gazes at the rock with a melancholy look in her brown eyes, and sighs. These plant samples are very vulnerable when laid out in the open like this, but she has not way to store them.

The sound of footsteps rapidly approaching brings Cara out of her thoughts; She turns with wide eyes toward the woods. Cara sees a rather well built man with shaggy dark hair come running into the clearing. He's glistening with sweat, and looks visibly shaken up.

"Hello? Who are you?" Cara calls out to the man.

The man braces himself on a nearby oak whilst taking deep breaths. Several seconds pass like this before the man clears his throat, and looks back up at Cara.

"I am Gol. And you?" He replies in a deep yet friendly voice.

Cara looks the man up and down, her eyes not lingering anywhere in particular as she appraises the stranger. She isn't sure if she trusts this man, but he too is one of the first people created by God.

"My name is Cara." Cara pauses for a moment. "Why were you running like that?" Her voice is laden with suspicion.

The man laughs rather loudly despite the pointed question. His smile is genuine in appearance and he stands up straight.

"I met a wolf at the edge of a stream, but that was deep in the forest." Gol explains plainly.

Cara's expression falls as she realizes the world around her is not as safe as it seems. Her musings over plants feel silly when faced with the threat of wolves lurking just beyond the trees.

"Do you think they'll come here..?" Cara asks in a hushed tone.

"Maybe, but we should prepare ourselves regardless." Gol answers firmly.

Cara frowns slightly at the word prepare; She knew the three necessities, but the thought of wolves unsettled her greatly. The pack hunters might smell them cooking food, or follow Gol's trail to find them here.

"Shouldn't we find more people first? Wolf packs are large, and we could be outnumbered." Cara appeals to reason.

Gol looks thoughtful for a moment before nodding in agreement. The man notices the plant samples laid out across Cara's flat rock, and walks over casually with a curious glint in his eyes. Cara grabs his arm, giving him a stern frown.

"Those are mine, and I'd rather you left them alone." Cara says firmly to Gol's confused face.

Gol glances back at the carefully organized plants before clearing his throat awkwardly.

"I uh, sorry. I was hoping I could take that branch with me, but it's fine if not." Gol says in an apologetic tone.

Cara scrunches up her face slightly, but doesn't refuse him. She lets out a soft sigh before nodding at him whilst releasing her grip on his forearm. The man lets out a relieved breath, and picks up a rather sturdy looking branch from Cara's collection.

"Thank you, Cara." Gol thanks her with a smile on his face.

"Just ask before you take my plants. You're welcome." Cara replies with a slight smugness.

The pair of them begin their search for other humans whilst avoiding the deep woods.