Far above a deep jade ocean of trees, deep within a temperate forest. A storm gathered in the sky above. An immense storm of thunder and lightning. The trees of the forest were thrown into a frenzy of light and shade. Flashes of lightning lit the trees in an unnatural brightness. Each flash was like a million tiny suns, and the fire of that light reflected off the leaves. Everything seemed charged. One moment the storm was quiet, then the lightning followed by thunder. A few minutes later the sky was clear.

A few branches from trees that were struck snapped and just a little bit more to the chorus of nature. This sent a few birds which were nesting nearby to fly away in a hurry. This all went unnoticed by the few hundred humans who went on about their days in a chorus of their own.

There were clusters of all wooden shacks with a clearing in the center of them. The shacks themselves had windows and doors but they were filled with nothing. Beside the wooden structures, which had crudely cut stones as their foundation, there was what could be called a wooden gate made of logs surrounding the place. But it was poorly maintained, to say the least. There was a small stone building snuggled within what seemed to be the most lively section of the village. The building itself had a smaller stone shaft coming out the top of the building. It was clearly the most well-kept structure in the village.

Of the people present, most were adults, albeit mostly females walking from here to there, some running as if they were late for something. There were also children, whose numbers were a percentage higher than the adults, frolicking around the area. Some of the boys played games that were physical in nature, while some of the girls watched while clearly wanting to join in on the fun. Other cliques of teenagers, whose numbers were in between the adults and the children, were sitting around the larger group socializing. The few elderly who could be seen were keeping the “peace” of the group, but clearly, this daily activity was only entertainment the whole village had as even the busy adults watched on with glee from time to time.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

There was a stir outside of the gate and a large portion of the group ran with smiles to greet the newcomers.

The new arrivals were the men of the village who had just finished with their hunting for the day. They were clearly exhausted and injured having to kill their prey with just bows and spears, which in itself doesn’t sound difficult but these prey were literally dragged into the village outsized by a factor of three. The beast looked to be a feral pig at first glance but it was at least the size of a buffalo.

Nonetheless, the men albeit exhausted and injured were just as gleeful as the group greeting them and everything was in order in the villager's eyes, this was just another day in their quaint village.

But to one of those villagers who happened to be a teenager, who was watching his “father” struggling to pull one of the fell beasts into the village. This scene was insanity at the very least! As he watched his “mother” run with the crowd with a few clothes and a bucket of water to help treat her husband's injuries, he felt his mind spin as his sight began to darken.

The last glimpse he caught was one of the only things he was remotely familiar with, which was the vast blue sky that was above him his whole life.

Unfortunately for him, his last thoughts were in a completely different language from his own. Even he didn’t understand his own thoughts. The utter confusion of it all sent his mind to the abyss.

‘what the fuck’