Sobbing, Nina fled through the trees. Tears blurred her vision. She wiped them with the back of her hand as she continued to run through the forest. Long thin branches seemed to reach for her from every direction. Overgrown, twisted roots of sprawling trees tried to trip her almost on every step she took. The tender soles of her naked feet were sore and bruised from running on the dry, hard ground. Thin branches of trees and shrubs whipped painfully at the exposed parts of her body: bare shoulders, arms, and legs. The only article of clothing that she wore somewhat protected her, but she cried out in pain every time a whip-like branch lashed at her exposed skin. She didn’t let herself slow down, though. She didn’t know if she was still being chased, but she continued to run nevertheless, running as fast as she could, ignoring the pain in her feet.
Over her sobbing and heavy panting, Nina could hear the sounds of the unknown wildlife crying, chirping, and buzzing all around her. The forest was full of life. All she could think of at the moment was her own survival, but she still noticed that the forest was very strange. It looked very different from all the other forests that she’d ever seen, either in person or in pictures. The tall formidable trees were unfamiliar to her, the gnarly bushes with twisted branches looked scary and alien, and the glimpses of terrifying-looking animals that she could catch between the trees every now and then inspired great horror in her.
One time when she ran past a gnarly shrub with twisted branches snaking in every direction, she scared off a group of large birds. They took off from the shrub and flew every which way. They disappeared from sight in no time flat, but not before she could catch a glimpse of them to realize they were no ordinary birds. They kind of looked like overgrown scary insects instead.
What is this place? she thought with terror as she continued to run. Where am I? It isn’t Earth, that’s for sure!
Nina had woken up in a cave filled with glowing huge mushrooms about half an hour ago. She was dressed in a white short nightgown and nothing else. She had no idea where she was. She couldn’t understand how she ended up in that place. She couldn’t remember anything about herself at all. Her head was devoid of any memories. She racked her brain for quite a while, but the only thing that eventually popped into her head was the name Nina. She assumed it was her name. Aside from that, she couldn’t remember anything else, no matter how hard she tried.
Then a blue box containing a text message appeared before her eyes. It remained in her vision wherever she looked. The message told her that she had to kill some kind of monster that was somewhere in the cave with her. She managed to get rid of the blue box with a simple thought. She wanted to cry out for help, but now that she knew that there was a monster nearby, she was too afraid to make a sound, not wanting to attract attention to herself.
Nina didn’t know how long she stayed in the cavern, afraid to move, standing as still as a statue. When nothing scary happened, she finally managed to get enough nerve up to start exploring the cave. The cavern wasn’t too big, and it had only one opening, leading into a long dark tunnel. It took Nina some time to muster enough courage to begin walking down the tunnel. At some point, she realized there was a monster hiding somewhere farther down the tunnel. It almost made her turn back. Only there was no point in getting back to the cavern she had emerged from because the only exit from the cave was somewhere up ahead.
She didn’t know where exactly the monster hid. She knew there was probably no way she could defeat it in a fight, so she hoped that she would be able to quietly sneak past it, but no dice. The monster sensed or spotted her and attacked her from the darkness, raking its claws across her leg. Crying out in pain, she burst into a run, the rough rocky cave floor abrading the soles of her naked feet. A few seconds later, she reached the end of the tunnel and burst out of the cave to find herself surrounded by tall grim trees. She stopped, looking in amazement at the strange alien forest. The footfalls of the approaching creature behind her woke her from her stupor, and she ran on.
Since then Nina had been running through the dark alien forest. The beast from the cave seemed to have stopped chasing her a long time ago, but she continued to run. She didn’t know where she was going. She couldn’t think straight. She just kept running, hoping that this nightmare would eventually end and she would safely wake up at home, wherever her home might be. She was pretty much sure that no matter whoever or whatever had taken her from her home, it’d happened when she was fast asleep, hence the attire. Whoever or whatever brought her here hadn’t bothered to bring some of her outerwear. But who or why had abducted her and taken her to this scary forest remained a mystery.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Her train of thought was cut short when she tripped over one of the exposed tree roots. Yelping in surprise, she fell face-first on the hard ground. For a few seconds, she just lay on the cold ground, sobbing quietly. Her leg where the cave monster had attacked her was still bleeding and throbbing with pain. Maybe she should just give up. She didn’t know where to go or what to do, so why prolong the suffering? Maybe she just should let the local wildlife kill and eat her. If she was lucky, she would die quickly.
However, when she actually heard something growl somewhere in the nearby bushes, she realized she didn’t want to die. Especially not in a place like this and not in such a horrible way. Being eaten alive by some unknown animals undoubtedly was a horrible, painful death. She wouldn’t wish it on her worst enemy. She didn’t know if she had one, though.
Anyway, Nina got to her feet and continued to run. However, her strength was quickly leaving her. She couldn’t run as fast as she had before. She was getting tired by the second. She kept tripping over the exposed tree roots and snagging her nightgown on the branches. Now that she ran slower than before, the movements of branches were more noticeable than before. Some of them were still as they should be, but some of the others seemed to snake through the air toward her as she ran past them. It was scary as hell. She seemed to be trapped in a nightmare.
At some point, Nina’s foot hit something on the ground. She tried to keep her balance, but no dice. She fell on the hard earth again. He rolled on her back and tried to get up, but couldn’t. She was too tired. Her chest rose and fell heavily as she breathed in short, quick gasps. Tears blurred her vision. Welts from the blows inflicted by the whip-like branches criss-crossed the exposed parts of her skin. Her nightgown, which had once been white, but now was gray from dirt, was torn in several places. The scratches on her leg where the cave monster had attacked her were still bleeding, and the bruised soles of her naked feet were throbbing with pain.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted a glimpse of a movement. She jerked her head to look in that direction and saw a long snake-like branch whip through the air toward her. Before she could do anything, it wrapped itself around her left wrist. Another one grabbed her right ankle. Nina tried to free herself from their grips, but they held fast, and she was too tired to properly resist. Several other branches whipped out from somewhere and snaked beneath her torn nightgown. She could feel their rough bark on her skin as they moved across her body in a snakelike manner, looping around her torso. In just a few seconds, she was bound up with branches so tightly she could hardly move.
Something buzzed angrily somewhere nearby. Nina looked in that direction and saw an ugly creature fly toward her. It kind of looked like a mosquito. Only it was the size of a large dog. So far, it was the most terrifying thing that she’d seen in the forest. And maybe it was the last thing she would see. She tried to free herself from the branches once again, but they held fast. The mosquito-thing was quickly approaching, its proboscis pointed at her. Nina screamed in terror.
Something streaked through the air and lodged itself in the flying creature’s body. It looked like a crossbow bolt. The monster screeched in pain. Another bolt flew from somewhere and embedded itself in the monster’s body. The mosquito-thing slowed down and turned around. Nina turned her head too. She saw a male figure emerge from the foliage. The stranger was dressed in what looked like medieval light armor and was armed with a crossbow in his hands and a sword at his side. He was already loading another bolt. Just as the overgrown mosquito flew in his direction, the stranger brought up his ranged weapon and took aim. Before the monster could reach him, he fired. The third bolt struck the large mosquito’s body, but the monster was still alive.
The flying creature got dangerously close to the stranger. He had no time to place another bolt against the bowstring, so he dropped his ranged weapon and pulled out the sword from its sheath on his left hip. Showing no fear at all, he lurched toward the monster. The mosquito-thing tried to attack him with its proboscis, but he ducked the attack and swung his sword at the enemy. The monster screeched in pain. The stranger attacked again, severing one of its wings completely from its body. The mosquito dropped to the ground. The stranger stabbed it in the head, and the creature went still. He put one foot against the now-dead monster’s body and pulled the sword from its head.
Nina screamed when the branches wrapped around her body began to lift her from the ground. The stranger wasted no time coming to her aid. With a powerful swing, he severed some of the branches. He swung his sword again, cutting the rest of them, and Nina plopped back down to the ground.
Sheathing his sword, the stranger leaned over Nina.
“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching his hand out to her.
Overwhelmed with emotion, she began to cry.