In a forest somewhere a naked young man is walking with a dejected face. He is carrying a stick larger than himself in one hand and searching for any signs of ambush. This is none other than Ruth who got himself stranded in this forest one hour ago.
After running into the forest, he heard many faint sounds like chirpings or hissings but hadn’t encountered any animal directly, except for that one time when he was ambushed. Even that time he hadn’t seen its shape or where it came from, So he completely have no clue what is it that is lurking in his surroundings. Only after entering the forest, he comprehended the hugeness of those trees. Those thick trees combined with mist reduced his visibility to just a few steps ahead. And they are so tall that they completely blocked any sunlight coming from above resulting in a dark atmosphere even during the day.
“At least having a torch light would be great.” Ruth mumbled as he circled another large tree. Not being able to see around doesn’t mean he doesn’t sense anything. He stopped walking suddenly and listened intently. Soft footsteps, almost soundless if not for the small rustling of leaves. This is third time, thought Ruth, as he readied his stick. Not like it will be any useful though, if those gigantic paw marks he saw earlier were to be believed.
After waiting for a minute or so he started walking again. This part of forest contains only those huge trees and lots of mist between them. With environment so dark and damp there are no other plants or animals on the forest floor. Or if even there are he cannot see any. Probably most of the creatures are living on the branches of these trees as he can hear sounds whenever he goes near one. They normally remain silent and only respond when he intrudes into their domain by going too near to a tree. He is more worried about whatever that ambushed him once and probably still stalking him.
As he kept walking he saw a yellow leaf larger than his arm span lying on the ground. It is large enough to cover his body, just like the one that was snatched from him during previous ambush. It probably just separated from the tree. When Ruth first saw the leaf in the earlier ambush, he was happy thinking that he got something to cover his body. But before he did anything something snatched it from his hands. And all he saw was a black shadow. After that he became more vigilant of surroundings. This is the reason why he picked up the stick he found and kept it with him all times.
This time he is not going to get fooled. Thinking so, he tightly clutched his stick and slowly inched towards the leaf. He then took leaf in his free hand without lowering his guard. Ruth hoped that during earlier ambush the beast was coincidentally looking for the same leaf. He has no confidence fighting something he cannot even clearly see and it would be better if it doesn’t come again.
Unfortunately without making a single sound a black shadow pounced onto Ruth or more correctly that large leaf he is holding. Though this time it is obstructed by a stick. Finally he caught sight of his stalker. It is a huge black crow with red eyes and a large beak. If it stands on the ground its head will reach up to his stomach. After failing to steal the leaf it disappeared into mist as fast as it came. He waited for some time and then covered his lower body with that leaf.
Ruth proceeded with his walking, warily but with a bit more confidence after the second encounter with that large crow. Even though it is exceptionally large in size for a crow, he is not going to be afraid of a mere crow. Now a bit more decent in appearance, he ventured further into the midst of mist filled forest. He knows that in this type of forest there is high chance of getting lost and walking in circles. But he doesn’t know how to calculate his direction using stars not to mention that this is day and sky is not even visible due to those trees. Even if it is visible, it probably is not the sky he grown watching.
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As he kept walking trees are getting less huge and mist getting thinner, increasing visibility. But Ruth is not in a mood to observe this changes as he is getting very thirsty. He already lost count of time and is mechanically following the direction of sun. At some point that giant crow stopped hiding and is stalking him openly. As his pace is getting slower, he suddenly felt someone is watching him from above. But he don’t have energy to investigate, so he kept searching for water ignoring everything else.
In that silent situation he heard a gurgling sound, though it is very small his ear caught the sound of water splashing. He immediately ran in that direction and found a small pool of water. A small green creature of roughly humanoid shape and half his length was drinking water there. Ruth ignored the green creature wearing some animal skin which can only be called goblin and went towards the pool. That goblin already took a wooden club in its hands and is looking at him warily. As Ruth drank water with a goblin observing him closely from side, he thought Thank God, there is water in this world.
After quenching his thirst Ruth looked at the Goblin which is ready to attack him. It is hesitating and so is Ruth. He doesn’t want to fight now with his tired body. He slowly backed off hoping it will calm down and let him go without a fight. And he realized it was a bad move in the next moment. The only reason goblin hadn’t attacked him was because it was intimidated by his size which is almost double to its own size. Now as enemy is backing off it means he is afraid of goblin and if there is one thing goblins love it is to attack someone who is afraid of them.
It attacked the next moment swinging its wooden club at Ruth’s knee. Ruth backed off at the last moment avoiding the swing. He attacked the goblin in the same way using his stick. But the goblin didn’t managed to avoid it due to the large range of the stick. As the goblin tumbled down Ruth pounced on top of it and twisted its arm forcing it to face ground. He then pinned it down using a shoulder lock making it drop its club during the process. He sighed in relief as goblin is rendered immobile.
He then looked at the surroundings thinking what to do next. Though he took down the goblin because he practiced that move many times and it came instinctively, he don’t have any idea how to finish this fight. Drowning it in the pond will probably do the task but it will pollute his only water source. Though Ruth has stronger body and better technique due to knowledge from martial arts course he took in his college, he had no real experience in combat.
That lack of experience proved dangerous, as the goblin forcefully stood up breaking its own arm in the process. It then opened its mouth and ferociously bit Ruth’s neck which is completely unguarded. Ruth didn’t even consider that the goblin can attack with something other than its hands and legs or that it will sacrifice an arm to escape from his lock. He thought that fight is over after he pinned down the goblin. And when he registered what happened goblin’s teeth are already inserted into his neck. In panic Ruth grabbed the neck of goblin and squeezed it with his full strength. The goblin insisted for few seconds before loosening its grip on Ruth’s neck and eventually dying due to suffocation. After killing goblin Ruth lied down next to its corpse as exhaustion rolled over him after his first life and death fight. He kept gasping on the ground as he decided to finish his enemy before relaxing, as he now know Fight is over when your enemy is dead.
At the moment Ruth lost consciousness the giant crow which is hiding during the fight came out and started eating goblin. It only ate goblin’s heart leaving other parts. It then took the leaf covering Ruth’s lower body and flew away. Ruth awoke after sometime feeling cold wind. He immediately found that his only piece of clothing is stolen again and he has pretty good idea who did it.
“YOU CROW BASTARD. I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU.” That day forest resounded with angry shouts of a young man.