Author’s Notes: This will be my first real chapter. I’m a little bit of a noob… no, I’m actually a complete newbie so I apologize in advance for possible mistakes, errors and my naming sense (I think it is a little off). Also, English is not my native language so do forgive my use of it. Do tell if my writing is not understandable.

About the chapter: How do you find it? Good/bad, short/long, etc?

I would appreciate advices. I’m open for comments, reviews and whatever, but please go easy on me. 

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Chapter 1

The world of Sylvien, Year 5631.

Forest of Verna. This “ancient” forest had been around since the world was created.

Travelers often describe it like this: “Trees as high as the sky itself, the crown of leaves as dense as it can get, darkness even deeper than the night.”

It is a maze for outsiders and insiders alike. It is a grave for those who are not careful enough.

For the strong, especially the ones that live in there, this forest is like a garden where they can enjoy both, the calmness, greenery, protection and sometimes cruelness of mother nature, and also the vast number of play and hunt.

For the weak, the ones who live in and pass by it alike, it might as well be living hell. Yet, the flames of this hell they’ve gotten used to are far better than those outside of it, so many creatures if not all never try to leave this place.

In this forest, the quiet usually conquers all. It is as if the noise is afraid to wake what lies in the darkness. This quiet is tranquil for some and fearful for others, but today it was different, a human could be heard.

The panting was enough to break the silence of the forest, but breaking in between from time to time was a cough and even more rarely the sound of vomiting.

The human kept running blindly in the deeper parts of the forest. The figure looked somewhat mad…crazy. It run at full speed, slowed down, run again at full speed, fell, crawled trying to stand up again and at some point gave up.

It lied down, unmoving, for a while, forehead leaning on one of its arms just to prevent the dirt from reaching the eyes. Among the heavy breathing there were some sniffs and cries but as soon as they were heard they disappeared again.

In those few moments the human had somewhat calmed himself down. With new found determination he stood up and tried to brush off some of the dust and dirt but he suddenly felt a sharp pain in one of his knees.

The fall had caused him to cut his right knee at one of the many tree sharp branches in the ground. Being maybe somewhat numb from fear he hadn’t felt it until now. As for seeing the wound, it was out of question because he was already too bloody to notice his own bleeding.

The pain subsided soon. It was that shallow of wound anyway and it would probably heal by itself with a little bit of time.

Having normalized his breathing too, the human, though still afraid, started for the first time to take in his surroundings… Well, there wasn’t much to take, only trees and darkness as far as the eye could see.

He had been running for a day at least after waking up. Every step taken had brought him bad feelings and even worse memories and scenes playing nonstop in his mind.

At some point while running, tears had started flowing like fountains and his head was filled with nothing but screams and shouts of pain in replay, slowly eating him from inside.

He had tried to run from them. He had run like a mad man, wherever his feet took him, as long as it was far away, he didn’t care. He kept running like that until he fell.

Right now he was thankful for that fall. It brought him to his senses and at least now he could think a little more clearly.

Examining his surroundings once more, only this time he noticed the eerie silence of the forest. Whatever he did the human was weak, he knew that, so no matter how lucky he might have been until now, that silence brought him only fear.

If there were some noises, he would have at least been able to tell what kind of creatures lived in this forest but that quietness not only showed nothing it also scared the hell out of him.

Staying in one place for long was the worst possible action to take, running might have been the reason he was still in one piece so he decided to move. The question was where to go… Well, wherever is fine.

Walking slowly, the human headed in the first direction in sight, the direction he was heading to until he fell. He didn’t really put much thought into it and just went that way, but this time as quietly as possible, as though trying to match the forest.

Having walked for one hour at most, he felt tired, both physically and mentally. It was a wonder he had lasted that long in the first place, but until some time ago he had not been thinking about much, and tiredness and hunger were part of that.

Just like that he fell again, not even trying or wanting to keep moving his eyelids slowly but surely closed. No matter what one might think in this case, he might have been, no, he was in danger sleeping like that, but the pain and all that moving around would tire out an adult and even an experienced warrior, let alone a child like himself. (…Surprise! ...or had you already tied the parts together?)

…Morning. Well, it was probably morning. The density of trees didn’t let even the smallest ray of light pass through. One wouldn’t even know where to put his feet if not for the glowing moss and mushrooms here and there. Other than that the darkness ate everything.

However, even the light sometimes planted fear in the hearts of the weak, because the only things that it brought were the shadows of who-knows-what or better-left-unknown or please-be-just-a-shadow.

As for the strong, need it be told? Those “guys” didn’t even need to see. They could just destroy everything that stood in their way to open up a path. That’s what it meant to be strong.

Mornings usually brought new light for people but opening his eyes just to see a dark new day, gave birth to a feeling of hopelessness.

Rising slowly, the child let his eyes adjust to the environment. The first feeling he had was a little bit of dizziness, the second was the thirst and hunger. He didn’t remember the last time he had a proper meal or even something small to eat.

Out of fear he hadn’t tried any of the weird plants or mushrooms that were all around the place and he still didn’t dare.

A little bit of thirst and hunger didn’t bother him that much. His life hadn’t been that good in the first place, but what he had witnessed that night was the nightmare itself.

The only thing that brought him a little joy right now was the fact that it wasn’t too cold and that he had had a good sleep. As for the other things, he could handle them for a little while longer.

His little bit of hope and happy thoughts were good for as long they lasted, which is a short few minutes. The first sound to hear in an unknown forest it could have been a cute rabbit or a bird but no, it had to be a howl, loud, scary, one lone howl enough to give someone shivers.

As soon as he heard that, the child started to run. Frantic as he was, he just barely missed falling headfirst into the ground, but just at the right moment was able to prevent the fall with his hands and knees, scraping once again his right knee, which sent a sudden jolt of pain. That slight pain though, was nowhere near enough to stop him.

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Heading the opposite direction of where the howl was coming, he hastened his leaps, but that thing had definitely noticed, no, it had been following him for a while and no matter how much he run, he wouldn’t be able to stop it.

With a few gigantic jumps the wolf-thingy blocked his path. It definitely looked like a wolf. It just was much bigger, blacker, with sharper and longer teeth than most. It was a good  2meters high at least and to that six year old child it looked monstrous.

The wolf had been following the kid since about a day ago, while “scouting” for his pack. Imagine its joy when it found a new kind of “prey” that it could keep for itself as long as he told no one.

It had gone closer to the small figure to inspect what it was. At first it was somewhat baffled by this crazy bloody-looking thing that run at a very slow pace (for the wolf). Then it realizing that it was a human it had started to follow. Why? Well, it was because the wolf was too prideful to attack something that wasn’t aware or ready to fight.

After following him for a while, the wolf had started thinking of the situation as a game and laughed (if a wolf can laugh) when the child fell and almost started to cry again. After a while the child calmed down and rose to his feet. Thinking of attacking him the wolf started to get ready, but then he started walking again and soon after he fell asleep just like that.

Yet again, the wolf didn’t do anything to him but waited. It would be even more shameful for it to attack a sleeping target so it waited until morning came and the kid woke up.

One thing led to another and we came to this situation. The child looked at the wolf wide-eyed and scared. The wolf stared back looking amused and very cocky at that moment.

It had every right to be cocky. As much as it concerned the wolf, it had had his fun watching a stupid human’s reactions and now it would fill its stomach with that human.

As for the human, right now he was shaking from fear. He had seen the death of who knows how many just few days ago and that death was now coming to take him who had escaped “its” clutches one way or another.

Seeing this, the wolf had this smug look on its face. Soon though, that face was replaced by a cruel smile (if wolfs can smile :p). It truly looked down on the kid, like the strong look down upon the weak, truly the laws of nature showing their fangs.

“No…” However this shook the child, like a cold shower it brought him to his senses once again. There was no one to save this time. Luck wasn’t that sweet. If he wanted to survive, this time he had to get himself together.

Even a rat when cornered will bite back the cat. This time though the rat couldn’t try to bite carelessly or it would mean certain death. He had to fight with that in mind.

Looking around the child was trying to find something, anything to “bite” with. Except the tree branches there was nothing else, so they would have to do.

Trying to reach for a somewhat-sharp-looking-branch he didn’t notice at all the sudden blow that the wolf gave him. The attack caused him to fly a few good meters and crash to the nearest tree.

“Aah...,” the child let out a cry of pain. The crash probably broke one or two of his ribs, but he was lucky to be alive.

The wolf still looked down on him and as a game it had entertained itself with for the past day/days, it didn’t kill him that soon. Either way, the kid would end up in his digestive system.

On the ground, the child was trying to get a clear view amidst the tears that were now flowing. He knew that he couldn’t remain long like that so he at least tried to stand up but it was futile.

The wolf put his claws on his two arms preventing him from getting up and once again it looked at him with that smug look.

Slowly it released one of the kid’s limbs, raised its claws and even more slowly neared it to his throat like a knife that would immediately cut him. Its face now more close than ever, the kid could even feel its breathing and see how it looked down on him.

However he also saw a chance and was waiting for this right moment. His left hand now free reached for one of the many branches in the ground. The moment he touched one he griped it tightly, and as fast as he could stabbed the wolf in one of the eyes.

The wolf let out a groan and loosened its hold on the kid for a slight moment. As soon as he felt this, the child stood and ignoring pain grabbed another branch…well, a bunch of them.

With its eye bleeding, the wolf looked angrily at him and let out a threatening growl. It run towards the child and jumped at him with an apparent wish of killing and tearing him apart. However the anger had made his movement somewhat sloppy enabling the child to dodge one way or another by a hairs breadth.

This was luck. And sooner or later it would end. If he didn’t finish it off he wouldn’t get out alive.

Even more angry than before, the wolf was readying to attack the child again. Its plaything had actually wounded it. That, the wolf wouldn’t forgive.

Baring its teeth, it once again jumped at the kid that was now fearfully looking at him but still didn’t dare to close his eyes and await death.

To distract himself from the surge of fear, the child griped the few thin but strong branches even tighter causing his hands to bleed. The wolf was going to attack again. Knowing this he instinctively took a step back and another step the moment the wolf jumped at him.

With its mouth open wide and teeth ready to bite, the wolf just for a slight moment rejoiced his victory as it neared the human child but then it felt the taste of blood in its mouth and with it a sharp pain suddenly pierced through, form its mouth into its very being.

Right now its face had neither a smug look nor a look of anger. They were replaced by an utter shock and a face distorted by pain. It realized too late what had happened.

The child had no chance of escaping so holding his wanna-be-knifes, the split second the wolf had jumped down on him opening his mouth wide, he had used the branches to stab him from his mouth right into his throat, a weak and soft enough spot even for those pieces of wood to pierce through.

He had used the power of the wolf as it jumped down, to pierce through. As for him, he just had to hold on to those life-saving-branches and the moment they pierced through, the blood sprayed all over dirtying his hands and even his face.

A loud groan of pain was heard. It would be the last time this wolf would make another sound.

And the child? He stood on his knees near the now dead wolf and stared at the corpse while shaking uncontrollably yet, ignoring his own pain. It took him several minutes to calm down and the relief of being alive suddenly got to him. Without notice he started laughing, happily, freely, madly.

…He was alive. He had survived. He had escaped death again…

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Note that at some points I have referred to the child as “it” meaning the figure and then as ‘‘he’’ meaning the human/child. I noticed this a little bit late so I didn’t change it.