"Just five more minutes" James mumbled while trying to keep his eyes closed after feeling a slight tugging on his shirt. Whoever it was only started pulling harder, as if trying to drag him out of bed.

"Okay okay, I'm waking up already, no need to be so violent" he mumbled as he tried to clear the grogginess from his head.

Wait a second! James suddenly thought I live alone, so who would possibly try to wake me up? Unsure, but visibly panicking, he abruptly threw his eyes open, only to freeze a moment later. Barely half a meter from his face three shining violet eyes greeted him, staring at him with unbridled curiosity.

"AAAAHH" James cried out loudly, causing the six-legged, three-eyed beaver-fox hybrid to jump, before it scurried off into the forest.

"Ok, what the hell was that?" he asked himself out loud, still reeling from the shock of waking up to such a strange creature. "Why is there a goddamned monster in my room?" Trying to shake his head clear of this weird encounter while half believing it was just part of his imagination, James finally realized he wasn't at home, nor was he lying in his bed. He was sprawled on the ground, to be percise on a patch of purple and orange grass, that was soft enough for him to not feel any dicomfort. All around him was a beautiful forest, full of leafless trees made out of what looked like green veined marble. The air smelled like fresh flowers, even though none could be seen and the birds merry chirping could be heard from time to time.

"Either I'm going crazy or this is all a very realistic dream" he concluded. Pinching himself hard and feeling the pain he crossed the second option off his mental list of probable scenarios.

"What do you do when you find yourself in a fantasy forest... would this even count as a forest, I mean the trees might not even be trees, but just some random statues or something, or is this just unusual looking bark?" James asked as he slowly walked to one of the trees and gave it a solid knock. "Definitely some kind of marble."

"Well, priorities first. Let's see. What's the last thing I remember? Finding that temple in pieces... looking around... a red glow... loud noises... On that note I probably shouldn't be talking, who knows what else lurks around the woods, that might see noisy humans as a delicacy." he decided.

James recalled being given the assignment to study an antique temple by his theology professor. The old man recommended him an old ruin, devoted to the Greek god of sky and thunder Zeus, that was located on a mountain cliff. He remembered hiking for hours before he finally arrived, only to see a huge part of it missing, probably having broken off and fallen down. Instead of thinking about the possible danger, he tried to look down the cliff expecting to see the remaining parts of the temple, but instead he spotted a red light, before hearing what sounded like an explosion.

"Oh God, I remember!" James shouted, having forgotten to stay quiet "There was a huge rockfall and then the rest of the cliff collapsed, me included! Wait, does that mean I died? Is this the afterlife?"

Trying as hard as he could, he pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind, so he could focus on his immediate situation. James decided that his first major goal would be to find civilization. If other people even exist on this planet. he mused. Ignoring that particular thought he took a closer look at his surroundings, realizing that he could make out an enormous mountain in the distance. People usually don't settle near mountains, right? Choosing to believe he was right, James started walking away from the mountain, in hopes of finding someone, whom he could ask about his situation.

Hours later and only having passed some three legged blue birds with four wings and similar creatures, James was still not out of the forest. By now he was already looking for something to drink or eat, and as the only plants he found so far were either a few variations of grass, that came in every color imaginable, or ones made out of marble, like the trees, he was starting to wonder if he could maybe hunt some small animal.

Picking up one of the fallen branches, that had a somewhat sharp looking tip, James tried swinging it around, making the realization, that the branch was lighter than he thought it would be, considering it was made out of solid marble. Testing it by swinging it around, he quickly understood, that he had no idea how he was supposed to hold it or even move his arms or legs. Before he realized it, James accidentally hit one of the trees, the branch in his hand snapping into smaller pieces, of which one grazed his left thigh, effortless cutting through his pants and leaving a shallow cut behind.

"GOD DAMN IT!" he shouted "Why is this thing so sharp? And why did it break that easily?"

James ripped a small piece of cloth from his shirt and started bandaging the still bleeding wound. A short break later, after it stopped bleeding, he started to test if all of the branches were as sharp as the one he used. Ten or so tests later, he concluded that even though the branches were quite brittle, they could be used as a weapon, although they will break after a single strike. Happy to not be completely helpless in case things go wrong, he went to pick up two pieces that were roughly half a meter long and felt the nicest to hold, before continuing his journey through the forest.

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Two and a half hours later, James could be seen crouching in a particularly high patch of blue grass, with a sharp looking branch in his hand, slowly approaching an unsuspecting green squirrel. The squirrel was currently busy digging out a root, so it didn't realize the danger that was behind it until it was too late. James suddenly lunged at the poor beast and struck the marble branch into its back, green blood gushing out of the squirrel, quickly forming a puddle bigger than logic would suggest being possible. Not noticing anything off about this fact James was feeling ecstatic at the prospect of finally managing to find some food.

While he was in the process of pushing his weapon further, to guarantee the kill, the blood pool abruptly formed a sphere around the beast and transformed into thick vines, that pushed the hands holding the branch off to the side. Seconds later the vines reformed back into green blood, that seeped into the ground, only leaving a collapsed tunnel behind where the squirrel used to be.

"FUCK!" James cursed "Of fucking course the squirrel is a goddamned bloodmage-dryad thing! What else could it possibly be? A regular animal? Hah!"

Slowly calming down by thinking of that fact that he at least wasn't injured this time, James picked up a new branch and continued walking, hoping to find something, anything to eat, as he was starving already and it was starting to get late. The sun was gradually starting to set and he really didn't want to be out in the forest at night, as he already heard a few howls and roars, that hinted at bigger predators.

This was not his first attempt to hunt dinner, in fact James already failed a grad total of seven times, the squirrel included. On his first ambush he tried to hunt one of the three legged birds, that was eating some berries. As for why he didn't eat the berries, they were made out of marble, like most of this forest's plants. Everything was going well, until the bird noticed him approaching and shot a few small wind blades at him, before flying away. In shock from the three new bloody cuts and the horrible pain that followed and because the bird just used what seemed like magic, James took a whole hour to calm down from that experience and its ramifications.

Mere minutes after the blood shaping squirrel, while stalking another potential dinner, James abruptly stopped, happy tears in his eyes. After what felt like days of constant thirst, he finally found a relatively normal looking, but for some reason completely silent, river.

Immediately rushing to its shore he bent down, cupped his hands and drank a few mouthful, too thirsty to think about any possible danger. Finally feeling better after having drunk enough, James decided to take a bath and clean his clothes, as they were dirty, torn and fully soaked in his blood. After looking around a bit more carefully while trying to spot anything dangerous in or near the water, he noticed some big birds flying around. The birds, if they could even be described as such, looked like big, fluffy, birdshaped clouds, with no visible talons or beaks. After watching them for a while, he figured they were probably harmless, so he began undressing, only to suddenly freeze with terror.

A humongous shark with way too many fins jumped about ten meters into the air and bit into one of the cloud birds, dragging it back into the water never to be seen again.

That was close! I nearly went into the water! James thought, his heart beating like crazy. And since when do sharks live in rivers?

Another hour and two failed hunts later he found his next potential target, a rabbit sized boar with tusks made out of stone. The beast was sleeping on the ground, covered by a patch of white grass, but with its tail still clearly visibly. Carefully approaching with yet another branch in hand was James, who was basically starving by now, after not having eaten anything since he arrived.

A few minutes of careful stealth later, he was only a single meter away from his hopefully soon-to-be dinner. Once again he launched himself at his prey, successfully managing to stab the sharp marble stick a good bit into the beast's neck, before it shattered. Immediately the boar started thrashing around violently, but James already placed his body in a way, that it couldn't move too much. Sensing its imminent doom, the beast's tusks started glowing while growing longer and sharper. James luckily held the tusks far away from his body, already having predicted them being the most likely danger. It took two whole minutes until the boar started getting weaker and weaker before it finally stopped moving, the light in its eyes fading.

"HELL YEAH! I did it!" James shouted happily, as he threw his arms into the air, ignoring the pain this action caused in his euphoria "Finally something to eat! Now I just need to find a way to cook it."

Dead tired after holding the boar for so long, he tried to stand up, only to experience a splitting headache, that came so quick and unexpected, that it nearly knocked him unconscious. Struggling to understand what was happening, James could suddenly see several blue boxes floating in front of his eyes.