Chapter 1: The Forest

I hop carefully between the large tree roots. The eerie silence of the Forest is broken only by the rustling of leaves and the occasional screech of an unseen creature. Spinning my handmade knives, I keep my senses sharp, ready to face whatever may come my way. As terrifying as it may seem, this forest is my home. There is no longer anything here that scares me. I flick a small ball of fire at a small goblin that got a bit too brave. Coming up to the biggest tree in the forest, I jump, and push the air under myself to propel me upwards. I land on the small platform I built for myself and stare up at the near constantly dark sky through the canopy of the tree. I do a quick check of my surroundings, and then, satisfied that there is nothing near me, let myself fall asleep.

6 Years Ago…

I wake up shivering. That's not uncommon now as it gets closer to winter. A couple droplets of water begin to fall on my face. Damn, the roof must be leaking again, I think, slowly opening my eyes. My tired brain takes a moment to process the view in front of my eyes. Where am I? I panic and jump up, heart racing. Why am I in a random forest!

As I try to figure out what's going on, I hear a screeching noise in the distance. I immediately spin in that direction. There, standing a few metres away from me, is a large, fearsome creature. It's taller than me and has razor sharp claws and teeth. Its eyes are as black as night, and it seems to be sizing me up. I back away slowly until I hit a tree. It steps forward slowly, stalking me. I turn around sharply and sprint in the opposite direction. I don't know where I am or where I am going, but I just need to get away from that thing. I run and run until my chest feels like it's going to burst.

I'm getting deeper and deeper into the heart of the Forest but there's nowhere else to go. I can hear the creature behind me growling and screeching. Branches whip my face and the ground is hard on my bare feet, but I keep going. I see a small cave up ahead that this massive thing won't be able to fit in. I have one last burst of energy and squeeze through the entrance. I collapse on the other side, gasping for breath. I can hear the creature crashing through the nearby bushes. It can't get in.

After what feels like an eternity, my breathing returns to normal, and I am able to get up. My hands and knees are scraped and bleeding, but that's the least of my concerns. I don't know where I am. How did I go to sleep in my corner of the house and wake up here? I live on a farm, the closest forest is far away. I take some deep breaths. I'm here now. There is nothing else I can do other than try to survive. I look around the small cave. I know how to make some small makeshift tools so I grab some of the stone from the floor and quickly stick my arm through the cave entrance to grab some sticks and plant stems. I bash the stone against the cave floor as strongly as my 6 year old arms let me.

I peek outside the cave, checking for any signs that the creature had stayed close. I grip my makeshift knife tightly and head out for some food. I haven't eaten since I snuck that food the day before, and my stomach is growling. I carefully and quietly walk back out into the forest, searching all over for something I can eat. Then, I see movement in the distance. It's the creature. It's coming closer and closer. I back away, towards the entrance of the cave, but it is too far away. The creature leaps at me. I start stabbing wildly at the creature's eyes with my makeshift knife. Blood streams down its face and it shrieks in pain. I don't stop stabbing until it's dead, and then I collapse on the ground, trembling from fear and exhaustion. I am covered in the creature's blood, and my own.

I feebly raise my hand to a gash in my leg and try to press down on it to stop the bleeding. My tiny and starving body almost gives up. My vision feels fuzzy and my limbs don’t want to move, but I have to. Shakily, I push myself to my feet. Not too far away is the food and water I was headed to. A small lake and a couple berry bushes next to it. I limp over and flop into the shallow water. The cuts sting, and I almost yell out, but I don’t want to attract another creature. Before the water around me is contaminated too much by all the blood, I take a few small sips. I just lie there for a while, trying to let the blood rinse off of me. I think I passed out a few times as well, but eventually, I manage to get up and grab a few berries. I shove them into my mouth and immediately grab more. I look down to check my leg, and almost pass out again from the sight. The gash was so deep it almost exposed the bone. The rest of my body and clothes were covered in blood stains and cuts.

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I wasn't sure what I could do, but then I remembered seeing someone who was camping out on the farm grounds earlier that year burn their deep cut and wrap it with their shirt. The burn hurts a lot, but I manage to bite down on my shirt to not make any noise. Then, I squeeze the worst of the blood off in the lake and wrap it tightly around my leg. Once it's wrapped, I crawl over to the nearest berry bush and grab another handful. I quickly shove the berries in my mouth. I am still incredibly hungry, but at least I'm not starving. I look up at the sky. The little sunlight that I had gotten was starting to fade, and there's no point in trying to get any more berries or food. I don't feel comfortable out here at all, but the cave offers the most safety.

I try to fall asleep, but I can't even get a moment of rest. Every time I start drifting off, the image of the creature's bloody face comes back, and I bolt awake, tears streaming down my face. I can't see any other monsters nearby, but there's no way for me to truly relax. Finally, my body becomes too tired to stay awake, and I manage to fall asleep. I wake up the next day, shivering and in pain. I can barely move.

Everything hurts, and my whole body is covered in bruises. The gash on my leg looks terrible. It's soaked red through my shirt and I can barely move it. I just manage to push myself to my feet and hobble back over to the lake. I peel back the shirt and almost faint from the pain. I stick my leg into the water and see the clear water once again turn to a deep red. I take the shirt, dunk it in the water, and wring it out. Then, I rewrap the wound. It feels a little better, and at least it's not bleeding as badly. Maybe it will heal soon. I’m not sure what to do.

After a while, I managed to get into a routine. My leg healed well, and I can walk normally now. The other creatures here are stronger than me, but they never come in groups. I can usually get away from them and hide. I know this place like the back of my hand now. I'm not sure how I'd deal with a pack of them though. I wander towards my new home. The biggest tree in the forest. I recently managed to stab hand and foot holds into the trunk so that I can climb up, and I've made a small platform.

I sit there, looking down at the ground. A small animal darts between the bushes, and I drop down to the forest floor. I grab the creature and slit its throat, quickly killing it. A small but fat goblin. Anything will do for food in this place, so I climb back up with it, and start my fire. I stab a few of the small branches into the animal's body and suspend them over the fire. I never got to learn how to cook, but it’s edible and that’s all that matters. I impatiently reach into the fire and tear off a piece of meat. The fire lightly burns my hand, but the pain is not as strong as it used to be. I can barely even notice it. I keep watch for a few minutes, but nothing moves. I fall asleep.

The next day, I wake up, and the first thing that greets my eyes is a small pile of goblin bodies near the stump of the tree. They are all torn apart, with claw marks in their chests. A small trail of blood leads into the woods, and I follow it. A few hundred metres away from the campsite is a huge creature. It has sharp claws, and a massive mouth filled with pointed teeth. Its scales are a shimmery blue, and it has piercing yellow eyes. It leaps at me and I quickly jump out of the way. I check my weapons.

I have 6 knives and my bow with 10 arrows on me. I grab my bow and draw an arrow, aiming it at the creature. I take a shot at the beast, and the arrow lodges itself in its shoulder. It roars, and throws itself at me. I pull out a knife, and slide under the monster, attempting to drive my knife into its stomach. It glances right off its hard scales. I quickly get up and try to run to get some distance between me and the creature. It doesn’t work, as it follows, much quicker than it should be for its large size.

As it gets closer, I start to feel something burning in my chest. The burning feeling flows through me. The air around me starts to ripple, and then a wave of fire erupts from around me. The creature is knocked back by the force of the flames. I feel the air ripple around it as well and barely manage to dodge as a massive jet of water bursts from its mouth. I am frozen in surprise. How did I do that? Magic is not common. I didn't even know I had magic. I didn't know I could control magic. I have a thousand thoughts going through my head, but then the creature roars again and throws itself at me. I throw another knife, this time aiming for its eye, but it destroys it with another jet of water.

I know now is not the time to be thinking about these things. I have it, and it will help me survive this. I try to concentrate on the same burning feeling that I felt before. It is harder to find this time, and I barely manage to keep the flow going. The fire is much weaker, but it does its job, knocking the creature back again. It screams and charges at me. I grab another knife and wait for the creature. When it gets close, I jam it straight into its eye. I pull my knife out of its eye and the creature goes limp. It is dead. I collapse to the ground, still in shock. I just used magic. I slowly walk back to the lake and clean off the blood.