“Where am I?” A voice sounded from underneath the canopy of the forest. A girl, lying down on the grass looking up towards the sky with confusion in her eyes, wondering why she is lying down in an unknown location.

“What, why am I in a forest?” Sitting upright she surveys her surroundings trying to recollect any memories but to no avail, her mind comes up empty trying to answer her own question. Instead of pondering further on the questions she knows have no correct answers she instead begins asking herself question.

“Okay, calm yourself. You are alone in a forest, with no knowledge of location or whereabouts. No items like a weapon or food, just the dress I’m currently wearing.” She says to herself looking down at her white dress with confusion.

“So, by looks I know that I am a female, by the looks of it a human,” but suddenly her eyes widen in shock by the realization of something important.

“Who am I?” She asks herself, trying once again to find any memories of who she is. A wave of anxiety comes over her as she tries to remember a memory she doesn’t have.

“But what is my name? Who are my parents? Everything in time has a name, from the smallest plant to the biggest mountain, everything has a true name. But why can’t I seem to remember mine?” Her voice cracks by the sudden realization that her identity is not just missing, it’s more like it never existed in the first place.

Her anxiety worsens and she forces herself to take large breaths of air to clear her head and stabilize herself, she acknowledges that she has a bigger priority of finding civilization and survive than ponder existential questions.

Acknowledging that she won’t get any wiser by just standing around she surveys her surroundings once more with more focus now that she has to get to a more knowledgeable situation where her questions may be answered. Looking once again at her attire she notices a weird symbol on her left arm, staring at it she tries to once again remember anything, but as usual comes up empty-handed. Focusing on the strange tattoo she can’t seem to connect to any symbol she knows, it looks like dots and lines in random directions forming an intricate design she can’t put her head around.

“Well, perhaps someone takes notice of it and knows the meaning behind, for now let’s find fresh water and some food.” She says while lifting her left arm up in a victorious pose. Walking for several minutes she finally finds a river and some berry bushes located to the right of the river inside a small glade covered by a large canopy of leaves and branches. Taking in the sight of several birds sitting in the tree gently singing towards each other she loses concentration, but the grumbling of her stomach brings her back from the daze.

"No time to think about singing. Eat first, relax later." Shaking her head to re-focus on the task she walks over to the bush and begins picking the berries and stuffing them in her mouth. They have a sweet taste with a light bitter after-taste, she stays at the bush for a few minutes foraging. When she feel that she isn't hungry anymore she then walks towards the river to drink and have a better look at herself.

Staring at her reflection she sees her ashen-white hair flowing down to the middle of her back, she looks at her small nose and pink lips. Touching her cheek she notices that her pale skin has some red colour to give her skin some colour, but her most remarkable feature are her eye colour, or rather eye colours. Her left eye is a bright golden while her right eye is a clear silver.

Finishing looking over her facial features she crouches and lowers her hands into the cold river and takes several swigs of water. Feeling refreshed and energetic she stands up and looks around for any signs of civilization. Not seeing any direct landmarks or buildings she heads back towards the berry bushes to stock up on food before heading alongside the river to maybe find a fisherman or a small village.

Arriving at the berry bushes she begins foraging when all of a sudden her ears picks up strange sounds coming from her left, shifting her head towards the unknown sound she sneaks closer towards the mysterious sound, hoping it is a small animal to feast on. But suddenly an immense surge of pain flashes through her body as a pair of tusks ram in her right shoulder and arm, pushing her backwards several metres with her body crashing against the ground, her whole body aching from the sudden attack. Looking towards the perpetrator she sees a boar the height of around one-hundred seventy metres, herself being around one and a half metres tall. She stares into its black eyes and a sense of fear rushes trough her body and a surge of adrenaline pumps her body into a full sprint away from the boar, who is seeing it’s food fleeing goes into a full run towards the two-legged enemy.

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Running for several minutes she looks back and the boar is on her heels preparing to make a final rush towards her hitting her left leg and the forest echoes with the sound of a shrieking voice trembling in pain as the boar’s tusks ram through her thigh, puncturing it. Panicking she kicks aimlessly with her good leg she lands a lucky hit on the boar’s snout pushing it away from her. Looking down at her body she notices that the punctured wound begins pumping out blood at a frighteningly quick pace and her adrenaline pumps the blissful chemical drug through her body as she looks around and finds a metre long branch among the bushes. crawling towards it she quickly turns her head towards the boar just as it recovers from the blow to its head it looks towards the girl it slams one of its front legs on the ground and rushes towards her, ready to finish her off.

Seeing the boar rushing towards her she clutches the branch tight in her hands, a serious determined expression in her eyes even through the blinding pain in her body. The boar sensing the determination of its prey it continues the charge but it senses something weird about the prey. Feeling that it is stronger than it the boar push back its concerns and rams it tusks towards her abdomen. Her plan came to fruition, cause just as the boar was about to impale her but instead of impaling her, she drops downs on the ground and as the boar overextends, she pushes the branch from its jaw up through its head out on the other side, killing it instantly. Its body slumps down right on her and she screams out in pain as the wound on her leg.

“Shit, shit, shit!!! I have to close the wounds before I bleed out!” Her panicked thoughts are interrupted as the intense pain overstimulates her body and her mind blank out as she falls unconscious.

[-------]

Somewhere else in the forest a group of wolves are rummaging for food, their young cubs hungry after several days of failed hunts. The alpha suddenly jerks his head upwards and sniff the air for an unusual smell. His thick dark-grey fur swaying in the wind and his deep amber eyes stares in the direction of the girl and the dead boar.

“This smell. It has been ages since this scent existed here. Let’s check it out.” The alpha announces and howls loudly to commence their usual formation with the strongest wolves around the mothers and the cubs in the centre.

After several minutes of tracking the wolf pack enter the glade and notices a young girl laying underneath a large boar, unconscious and barely breathing. The alpha walks over towards the corpse and the girl and sniffs her arm, where the tattoo is located.

“This must be it! It has the same scent as The Huntress. We have to save her!” The alpha exclaims and orders the wolves to help remove the boar from the girl. One of the female wolves looks at the girls’ wounds and asks the alpha if she can treat her wounds. The alpha becomes silent for a moment but still nods his head and the she-wolf suddenly begins to glow in a deep green aura. If a passer-by had walked past this, they had seen the she-wolf suddenly transform into a beautiful woman in her early thirties, with ashen-white hair and emerald-green eyes, a small pointed nose and a pair of thin rosy lips.

“Alpha, are you sure this girl has the same scent as The Huntress, you know that this form can only be taken once a year, is it worth it?” The she-wolf asks with uncertainty, this form is mostly used for scavenging in cities and if the girl is a no-one this will affect the pack.

“Vala, I’m certain, she has the same essence as The Huntress, if we want any answers of The Huntress whereabouts, she is perhaps the best option.” The alpha proclaims, assuring the she-wolf.

“Alright Freki, if this girl is the key to huntress whereabouts, we have to save her.” Vala says, accepting the alphas proclamation.

Walking towards the girl Vala notices her torn dress and the several cuts, bruises two puncture wounds, one on her shoulder and one on her arm. Lifting her up she gently walk towards a more open part of the glade and Vala lays her down on the soft grass as she gently strokes the wounded parts.

A bright light emerges from Vala’s hands and the bruises and cuts are slowly healed over several moments, when Vala checks if all the injuries are healed, she glances towards the tattoo on the girl’s left arm, focusing on it she tries to connect the dots and lines to a bigger picture but nothing in her memory recalls any information.

”Hey Freki, do you recognize these markings on her arm?” Vala asks the alpha, uncertain of its connection to the girl.

“Hmmm, I can’t recognize it but if we ask her, we might know.” Freki answers, also unsure of its meaning.

Seeing that the girl is okay and just resting now Vala transform herself back into her wolf-form.