Caleb coughed up a mouthful of water and groaned. Slowly, he cracked his eyes open to assess his surroundings. It was dark, with the only light being from the moon high above. He could feel the cool water streaming past his waist and pushed himself out. Looking up the stream, Caleb could make out lights from the city and see smoke rising into the air. Contemplating his next course of action, he got up and began to trudge back towards the city. Caleb followed the river next to him, fearing if he strayed too far, he would end up lost. As he trekked to the city, he went up a gentle slope. Underneath, sticks and leaves would crunch under his soggy work shoes. He was still left with a lingering headache fogging his thoughts, making it hard to plan. As he tried to clear his mind, he heard the snap of a twig to his left and froze. His heart quickened as thoughts of what could be out in the dark consumed his mind. Standing there, the sound of twigs snapping and leaves rustling increased until it was only a handful of feet away. Suddenly, a squirrel came barreling out of the forest, running past him and jumping over the river. It landed on the other side and continued its dash into the dark. Caleb breathed a sigh of relief, believing he was safe from harm. However, as he prepared to continue hiking, he heard more rustling in the distance. Slowly, he could make out the fast rhythm of multiple paws crunching leaves closing in his direction. ‘There’s no fucking way those wolves followed me,’ Caleb thought. However, he began running in the same direction the squirrel had.
Caleb’s stomach growled as he ran blindly through the forest, smacking into branches and tripping over roots. His current goal was to find some secluded place, hide until dawn broke, and then attempt to find help. He had already received numerous scratches and bruises simply from running in the forest. Tripping for what seemed like the hundredth time, he stopped and leaned heavily on a tree, breathing mouthfuls of air. He sat down at the tree's base and proceeded to pass out.
When Caleb woke up, he was sore all over. The moon still loomed high above, casting the forest with an eerie glow. It gave the forest a magical feeling but still left Caleb feeling nervous. Moss covered the trees, and various species of mushrooms grew about. Getting up, Caleb realized he was lost in the forest. He tried remembering survival info he read for situations like this but was drawing a blank. His mind was still foggy from his previous brush with death. He knew no search party was likely to come anytime soon with how the city was ravaged. He decided his best course of action was to climb one of the trees to gather his bearings. He found one with sturdy branches to use as handholds and began climbing. As he got near the top, he could somewhat see the river to the east of where he was. With this knowledge, he began to try and climb down the tree; however, about halfway down, the branches snapped from under him, and he plummeted.
After falling out of the tree, he berated himself for the mistake and slowly walked towards the river. While on the way, he heard a loud crash near where he stood. Quickly hiding behind a tree, he peaked in the sound of the direction to see what made the noise. From behind his cover, he saw a ten-foot-tall ogre. Its skin was blue from head to toe. It was covered in densely packed muscle that seemed like a mixture of freaky genetics and steroids. It wore a long cloth that draped from its head down to its knees, and it held a long studded club that looked like the creature ripped a tree from the ground. Its club was driven into the ground with blood at the tip of it.
“Stupid wolf! I’m the leader, and I will not tolerate insubordination. Amarok, get over here!” the ogre barked.
A tall silver wolf stepped into the clearing near the ogre. The moonlight reflected off his coat, making it seem to shimmer. It had materialized from thin air. The wolf looked at the ogre and shouted, “How many times must I tell you, Gurrath! You can’t kill my kin without good reason.”
“I did have good reason. The wolf was spouting nonsense, saying something about smelling a human, and began trying to order me around. Nobody orders the great Gurrath,” the ogre spook said smugly.
“Maybe if you allowed my kin to speak, you would have gotten more answers, Gurrath,” Amarok grumbled. “That’s irrelevant for now. The assault on the human city was a success. The human scientist's information was accurate, allowing us to breach the city defenses easily,” he stated. “Many humans fled, and the city is in ruin. We shall be able to conquer the land and continue to hold up our end of the bargain,” the wolf continued. Before the wolf could continue speaking, another wolf appeared and said something Caleb couldn’t make out. Amarok’s face twisted into a snarl and barked loud enough that the entire forest could hear. “Humans are hunting within our territory. Whoever can bring me the most mangled corpses shall receive a prize. Starting with that one over there.”
Caleb’s blood ran cold as he realized what this meant. Caleb ran as hard as his legs could, making his way through the forest. However, as he got further away, he heard a twig snap and swiveled toward the sound. He saw a dire wolf had attempted to ambush him from his blind spot. Once the wolf realized it had been detected, it pounced on Caleb, leaving them tumbling down the slope. The wolf tried to bite Caleb’s face, but he barely kept the creature back. Eventually crashing into a tree, they bounced off and were sent in different directions. Caleb quickly got up and began to hyperventilate. He was lost as to what to do and feared the end was near. As the wolf regained its bearings, it locked its eyes on him and growled, getting into a low stance. Thinking fast, Caleb grabbed a large rock and stared the beast down. It pounced, Caleb tried dodging, but he wasn’t fast enough. Biting down on his torso, the wolf sunk its teeth deep into his flesh. The pain seared through Caleb’s entire body. Acting quickly, he bashed the rock upon the wolf’s head. The wolf released its bite, but before it backed away, Caleb slammed the stone into its head again, causing it to stumble and fall. It didn’t seem to be dead, but it wasn’t moving to attack immediately.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Clutching his side, Caleb ran for dear life, hoping not to get torn apart. Blood leaked from the bite mark trailing on the ground behind him. He heard a gargled bark ring out from behind. He realized the pack would be upon him soon. Enhancing his body, energy filled each of his limbs. The adrenaline forced his legs to pump faster than he had ever run. The forest blurred together as he ran, with his only focus being on escape. Failing to realize where he was, Caleb ran past a tree and felt the ground underneath him fall away.
Before he knew it, he was plummeting towards the ground and tried grabbing onto anything to break his fall. Scraping his hands against the rock wall, he recoiled in pain. His perception slowed to a crawl as he absorbed his surroundings. To his side was the rock wall, which was rough at a glance. Below was another canopy of trees as far as he could see, slightly parting a little way to the north. He spotted an unnatural cave opening in the lush greenery surrounding it. Before hitting the ground, he grabbed a hold of the rock wall with his hands and feet, tearing his hands as he slowed his fall. The pain was dulled due to the adrenaline still flowing through his veins, but his hands were still in extreme pain. They were shredded from dragging against the wall, with multiple fingers bent far beyond normal. Slowly, Caleb descended the wall until he was near the canopy and dropped, hoping the trees would break his fall.
His idea partially worked as he fell with the branches and leaves hitting him, slowing his descent. Landing on his back, the wind was knocked out of him, leaving him gasping for breath. He slowly got up and inspected his body for injuries. His right hand had two broken fingers and looked like he put it into a blender. His left hand was worse off, with four of his fingers being broken. He had a long gash on his forearm and the bite mark from the previous wolf. The wounds were leaking blood, which he tried patching up as best he could. He tore strips off his clothing to bandage the injuries, but they bled through the cloth before the blood continued dripping on the ground. Deciding it was a futile task, Caleb oriented himself and began walking towards the cave he saw.
As he got closer, he felt the energy in the air change slightly. It had a strange distortion fluctuating wildly. This confused Caleb as he was never skilled in energy detection. As he got closer, the environment started to become abnormal. Tree trunks were replaced with moss, and leaves on the ground were glasslike. The grass became jelly-like under his feet, causing him to nearly trip. Caleb slowed and contemplated turning back. He had never heard of environments like the one he was seeing, and it only got stranger the closer he got to the cave. As he was about to turn to a different section of the forest, he heard a pack of wolves howl in the distance. ‘THESE MOTHERFUCKING WOLVES!’ Caleb mentally screamed. He threw away his uneasiness and sprinted towards the cave at full force. The landscape became more chaotic the closer he got to the cave until he reached the mouth of the cave. He peered into the opening, observing it went down farther than he could see. Hearing the wolves' steps approaching on the slimy dirt, he knew they were closing in. He ran deeper into the cave, losing light the further he went. Eventually, all the light in the cave faded out, and Caleb had to run blind. He kept hitting the cave walls, sometimes colliding with a hard surface, other times feeling a soft material. Caleb didn’t care as he stumbled onward until a glimmer of light entered his perception. Caleb charged towards the glow, which began to grow until he saw a clearing. The cave walls surrounded the area with a hole leading up and up towards the sky. The ground was smooth obsidian, with the walls being made of granite. In the center of this area was a small marble floating in space. Caleb couldn’t believe his eyes. “Is that an item?” he whispered. The ambient energy spiked to unbearable degrees as he stepped into the clearing. Caleb felt like his entire body was being crushed under the pressure of the energy in the area and immediately backed away. Content with where he was, Caleb was going to rest when he heard paws slowly approaching. Caleb swore to himself and stood to his feet. Making a snap decision, Caleb decided to walk into the clearing.
His body was wracked in pain as the energy in the air was crushing his entire body. Step after step, he approached the item before him while the energy kept crushing his spirit. Caleb’s ears popped as he got closer, losing hearing in both ears. Still, Caleb pressed on with each continued movement, the equivalent of climbing a mountain. Finally, he reached for the item in front of him. His muscles strained, fighting the force. His vision turned red, and his eyes began to bleed. He cupped his hands together and grasped the item. The moment he made contact, the crushing feeling stopped immediately. Caleb stood rooted in place in an internal war well underway. The energy in the item seared through his veins, coursing its way toward his heart and brain as he fought back against the foreign energy. His mind was wracked in pain. This pain was worse than any pain he had ever experienced before. He felt like his very soul was undergoing assault. Finally, the power in the item reached his brain, and Caleb felt a veil being lifted. His mental fog and fatigue disappeared in seconds. He could finally move and noticed his fingers were no longer broken. Before he could inspect himself for changes, he heard a low, monstrous growl. He turned to see Amarok blocking his path.
“Of all the humans, I would have believed you were stronger. You were able to hurt one of my kin in a fight severely. Yet you look frail, timid, weak.” Amarok snarled with contempt.
“Please don’t hurt me. I didn’t see anything. I don’t know anything. I’m just an office worker who got dragged into the wild. Can’t you have some pity?” Caleb pleaded. He saw the wolf’s eyes and realized his fate had already been decided. As man and beast stared each other down, Caleb had one consuming thought: ‘I don’t want to die.’ He repeated these words, backing away and trying to find a way to survive.
Amarok pounced. Caleb could only raise his arms to defend himself. He heard a loud crash before he thought he would get torn apart. Slowly, he lowered his arm to see what occurred. Amarok’s head was pinned under a large tree trunk, immobilizing the wolf. Caleb stared at the wolf in disbelief. Amarok thrashed to reach Caleb, shifting the trunk slightly, but the trunk was too heavy for the wolf to move off. He was dumbfounded at his luck and quickly scrambled out of the cave. Glancing back at the cave, he gasped when he saw the cave was gone, replaced with a solid stone wall. He also noticed that the nature in the area seemed normal now compared to when he initially went in. Lost for words, Caleb decided his best chance of survival would be to get back within the city.