The constant swaying of the carriage mixed with the sickening smell of human waste broke Alice out of her quick nap. She raised her aching body off the floor and slumped against the cold wooden walls.

Only a few holes poked in the walls, allowing for some air flow gave Alice any sense of time. Judging from the moonlight it is definitely still night-time.

Alice properly would have thrown up long ago if not for the fact her stomach was empty and had been for almost a week now.

She was once the daughter of a rich merchant from a small kingdom called Eshnar. But on her 18th birthday, she was ‘blessed by the spirit of darkness. Her life fell apart after that. Her ‘beloved’ family sold her off to avoid a scandal with the church in the kingdom that worshiped all spirits but decided the spirit of darkness was evil.

After being sold to slave traders for 3 gold coins she is now being transported around the edge of the cursed forest. To go around this forest takes around a month with a carriage.

Many tried to go straight through the forest in an attempt to cut weeks off their travel time only to never make it out of the forest alive. The forest is so dangerous prisoners are often ‘set free’ inside only for the criminals to beg to be locked up again instead of being left for dead.

Alice was currently being transported to the much larger country on the other side of the cursed forest simply known as the “Empire”. It's around 3 times the size of Eshnar but doesn’t wage war due to the obstacle of the cursed forest.

While Alice was starting to fall asleep again to try to escape the relentless hunger pains there was a shout outside her carriage, although the exact words were muffled a bit and drowned out by the noise of the wheels turning.

Then something massive seemed to slam into the other side of the carriage. A loud bang filled Alice's ears and a wave of dust and wooden splinters flew at her.

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The carriage rolled over onto its side with Alice now on the ground and looking up at the now visible night sky through the hole left from the impact. Her head spinning, possibly a concussion.

A head poked its way through the hole and glared at Alice with its red eyes. Alice could only shiver from being eyed up like a piece of food. The huge wolf wasted no time and started destroying Alice’s cage with its huge metallic claws to try and reach its prey.

Over the sound of the wolves claws tearing apart her metal cage Alice could hear her captors shouting out orders

“Monster attack men! Everyone gather around me”

“Boss the slave carriage is being attacked,” one man said in a very panicked voice. Although these ‘merchants’ were planning to sell many goods at the Empire the slaves were definitely worth the most especially the girl blessed by spirits, Alice.

She wasn’t blessed for nothing however and Alice knew this was her one chance of escape. She had been starving herself for an opportunity just like this one.

With a lot of effort and leaving friction burns and scrapes on her hands, she was able to slip her bony wrists through the metal shackles chained to the floor.

Right as the wolf received an arrow to its leg and stopped its assault on the metal cage to turn and look at its new enemy, Alice climbed up through the new hole in the cage and then through the hole in the wooden wall of the carriage and took in her first breath of fresh air.

Thanks to her [Stealth II] skill she received from her blessing she was able to temporarily slip past the distracted wolf. The men could see her escape as the skill was too low level and only masked her presence and didn't make her completely invisible.

The merchants wanted to charge forward and get her before she could escape but a wolf stood in the way. While the men were occupied Alice made her escape.

Looking around desperately the only place she could seek shelter was the cursed forest. Hesitant for a second she decided it would be fine so long as she stayed near the edges. The monsters get stronger the closer you are to the center.

Alice ran almost tripping over herself, the sharp forest floor pained her bare feet and the cold night wind was relentless on her body which was only covered with thin rags. Blood dripped out of her wounds alerting nearby monsters of a potentially injured and easy meal.

She made it around 100 meters into the forest before she could hear the men chasing and calling after her. It would seem the wolf lost already.

The merchants were hesitant to chase the girl into the forest but they had paid a solid 3 gold coins for the lass and were not willing to lose that investment.

Because of the chasing men, Alice was forced to go deeper and deeper into the cursed forest. She was surprised she hadn’t been eaten yet, or she would be if not for the hundreds of dead bodies already lining the forest floor.

What kind of monster among monsters was she currently following? Alice didn't know nor did she want to find out.