The little wolf awoke all airs on ends. It was still at night the moons still high up in the sky. Something was wrong, he felt the way he felt as a child when every shadow looked like a monster creeping up on him. But this felt way stronger way more real. The body slowly rose up and watchfully looked around. There from the next hill he saw a shadow slowly creeping through the high grasses into his direction. From the movements it made it looked like a huge cat like creature.
Rana felt extremely scared, he tried to sneak away, but the creature had noticed him moving and stood still for a moment. Then the shadow pounced towards him with high speed. Rana started to run as if the devil was behind him. As he ran, he could hear the beast growl behind him. This made him run even faster, after a while he did not know where he was any more, but he just ran on feeling his pursuer still behind him catching up every time he wanted to stop to take a breath.
As he ran own he did not stay unnoticed, the chase had been extremely noisy the whole plain seemed to have been shaken awake, from above on would have been able to see countless animals running away in fear from the noise. As such, Rana did not come across a single soul during his flight he could use as a diversion. His mind was spinning on high speed trying to find a way to escape. But there seemed nowhere to hide, his opponent must also have a good sense of smell, a confrontation also did not seem to be an option since the thing was way bigger than him. He actually felt toyed with, wasn’t he just still a small wolf, how could this beast not have cought up with him yet?
After running on for who knows how long, he finally heard something that gave him hope, he could hear the sound of water rushing slightly from afar. He immediately dashed into that direction, the sound of the water got stronger and stronger, until nothing but the water flowing loudly could be heard, and yes there in front of him, he could see the reflected shine of the moons. The breath taking majestic sight of the river almost caught him of guard, but he did not have the luxury to enjoy the view. He bolted straight for the waters and jumped in.
Rana was immediately immersed in the turbulent waters without any control, he had to fight with all his power to be able to take on breath before being pressed back under water. Rana almost instantly lost his sense of directions, as the ice-cold temperature slowly crept into his bones it became hard and harder for him to fight against the waters. Losing his strength more and more at some point he took a breath of water, this was the end of his struggle as he was not able to catch any air any more, his mind slowly drifted of as his body was swept away by the streams.
He cougthed up, again and again, he felt like his lungs had a whole ocean in them. Finally, he felt some air back in them, his thoughts slowly assemble themselves as his mind became clear again. The cold seemed to have left his body, expelled by what seemed to be the red energy rotating on its own through his body. As he come back in control of his body, the energy stopped from rotating unable to be controlled. This frustrated him, he slowly got his weak body to stand up. And he looked around, he was laying on a stony river bank, the stream seemed to be larger and calm at this place.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Under the overcast sky, away on the other side of the river was a dark forest, looking at it the little wolf got the creeps. The trees stood high, and ancestral, all of them looked like a mix of deciduous trees. The reason why this forest crept him out was because it was completely silent, the only thing that could be heard was the rustling of the leaves as the wind flowed trough them.
As he was hungry not having ate yet, he looked around, there did not seem to be anything edible. He went to the river and to have a bit to drink at least, when he saw a medium-sized carp swim along, he hit the water with is paw and the carp flew out of the water and landed on the beach. He ate the whole thing in seconds it was actually quite tasty, but it did not satisfy him. Rana went back to river to catch more, but every time he lashed out he missed the fish passing by. The first catch must have been beginners luck. After countless tries, he was able to catch a salmon which tasted even better than the carp.
Rana felt like he could not stay, the only way out seemingly the forest, he walked towards it. As soon as he was under the trees, he was shred in darkness, he walked on slowly and warily, feeling observed by every shadow. He walked on for an hour and still did not sense any trace of an animal, as he looked back the way he had come it seemed like the path he had taken had disappeared. Rana felt scared to death, and started to hurry on. He ended in complete darkness all speaks of light blocked out by a thick foliage. Since he couldn’t see, he had to rely on his other sense to find his way. He bumped into trees left and right and slowly got used to not seeing. He lost track of time, he felt tired, hungry, thirsty, beaten up but did not dare to fall asleep or rest, with all his might he tried to stay awake while walking on. Slowly his sense of hearing had become more and more focused, he felt like he could see all around with his hearing, this was extremely strange to him and this new sensing of the environment got more and more focused. He had probably been walking for a few nights and days in complete darkness now.
As he went on his ear sight range, started to improve. He could see that the surrounding trees were slowly moving with almost inaudible creaking sounds, they were leading him in one direction and closing all other ways of. Seeing this scared he was scarred to death, and he started to shout out for help in his mind towards the heavens and gods. As he shouted for help and cursed the heavens and gods in his minds the surrounding trees started to shake in strange noises. Their foliage split apart slightly, a few rays of moon light passed through and blinded his eyes that had got used to the darkness. As he slowly got used to the light, the trees slowly opened a new, seeming as if they invited him to follow this new path.
Tired he slowly followed that path, after walking for a few hours he came to a clearing. In it‘s middle stood a huge oak. It seemed old as the world towering at least as high as one of the skyscrapers in the human world. As Rana approached it, he felt a strong familiarity with it, and heard a deep voice transmitted to him. “Ohhh a blessed one indeed, but no breathing creature should venture into the Dark Forest as it is ruled by the sentient trees. Lucky in his unluck, this young one blessed by one of my descendent is, as I heard his desperate cry. Young one come here and rest.” Rana saw how the huge roots started to tremble opening a small opening. As he entered he found a small space, barely big enough to fit him. At one side there was small basin filled with some liquid that smelt sweetly. Thirsty he immediately drank from it. As he drank it, his thirst and hunger disappeared, also a sliver of green energy flowed into his body mending it. Feeling safe and feed he fell onto his side and into a deep slumber.