Chapter 3: Chapter – 1

Slowly opening his eyes the boy only saw the tree tops above him, the world was spinning and his body hurt. ‘How did I get here?’ He tried to remember why he was in a forest, but his head started to hurt. He stayed down trying to calm his breathing, which turned out to be more difficult than first assumed. 

It took 10 minutes before he could form his first coherent thought.

‘I survived!’ He was exhilarated, he had accepted his death, but being given life again made him tear up and cry tears of joy. As he calmed down he realized how nothing about his current situation made sense.

There were no sirens from the police or EMT’s, everything was very serene, he didn’t lose his hearing as he could hear birds around him. ‘Where am I?’ The place where the crash took place wasn’t anywhere near a forest. 

‘Where is Lisa?!’ he started to panic as he remembered his sister, he tensed up wanting to stand up but his muscle refused to move. Through the rest of his remaining strength, he was able to flip over on his stomach. As he tried to lift himself up a tiny hand came into his view. Shocked, he looked over his shoulder trying to find out who it belonged to. But nobody was there.

He examined the hand, he tried to lift his forefinger and as expected the little hand's forefinger moved. ‘I lost way too much blood. I need to find help’. Using his other hand the boy tried to prop up his upper body, his efforts toppled him forward hitting his face on a stone.

‘At least it’s not a dream.’

The boy took a few deep breaths trying to stay conscious after trying to move with no success.

“Lisa, Some-”

Before being able to call out for help, he was shocked by the sound of his own voice. ‘Why is it so high?’ The panic he managed to suppress before took over.

"Help! Someone! Anyone! Help!” 

Not having enough energy to move, the boy did the only things he could: cry out for help and pray the right person would hear. The pleas died down quickly, because as terrified as he was, coupled with his shallow breathing, he passed out after a few cries for help.

Noah woke up not knowing how much time had passed, since the tree blocked the sun from shining through. ‘I must have gone back into that dream.’ there could not be any other explanation. ‘But why? Do I have to see something else? Is this the afterlife? Why was I a kid again? Why is the afterlife a forest?’ His bad habit of overthinking prevented him this time from panicking, trying to find out what was going on.

‘I have to move!’

Every conclusion ended in this thought. So Noah tried to lift himself up again, this time it was easier, after resting for how long it was he rested. On his feet the world started to spin again, but he managed to keep his balance. Noah knew no survival tricks so he didn’t waste time and picked the direction he was facing and moved forward.

He felt every step through his entire body, him not having any shoes were the least of his problems. After finally getting to the first tree, he used it to support his weight. By walking this way from tree to tree he could save energy. 

He didn’t know how long he was walking when he realized how hungry and thirsty he was.

‘Fuck I don’t know what I can eat or how to find anything in the forest. Why am I here?’

He didn’t have any memories of being in a forest, especially not as a kid, they lived in the city and didn’t have the money to go camping. Limping forward while holding onto the tree for dear life, his mind started to wander again. If this was the afterlife, why would it be a forest? He didn’t know any religion in which after one dies they would end up in a forest.Thinking of what a forest could symbolize many things came to his mind, nature, being lost, exploration. 

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There were tv shows that had characters travers  a dense forest before, finding what they were looking for. He suddenly stopped, in tv shows, forests were usually a setting for something else. A Hunt. ‘Am I being hunted?’ His heart started to race again, imagining such a terrifying scenario. Scanning the tree his eyes darted from side to side, imagining what could hunt him made him start to tremble.

Finally to calm himself, he bit his cheek hard enough to draw blood. 

‘If something hunts me, so be it, I can't die again.’ trying to think rationally about something completely irrational made him compose himself  and he started to walk again. Every time he thought of something he voiced it, making his situation a little less frightening.

“Maybe I’ll meet Slenderman. Wait, considering I’m a child again it even seems likely. Maybe some elves, shit have I been isekai’d. This should be where I meet my harem.”

With time he was able to walk lighter, but the hunger and thirst were like a timer on how long he would be able to move. With time he stopped talking, focusing only on walking. He had no idea how long he was walking there was no way to tell time, maybe he could tell by how hungry he would get over time, but he was hungry ever since waking up.

‘If after walking all this time I find a cliff I’ll just jump.’ Wondering what would happen if a dead soul were to commit suicide in this purgatory he pushed on forward. 

Hugging every tree and brush he could find as support left cut all over him.‘I’ll die of thirst before any infection can even slow me down’. He kept on limping forward, never taking a break, knowing if he were to take one, the chances of him starting to walk again were slim. After what felt like hours his eyes began to feel heavy.

‘Maybe I can’t die, this might be some punishment, walking hungry, thirsty and tired till the end of time, never finding an exit.’

Noah shook his head, in an effort to shake off his intrusive thoughts. But once this idea found a corner in his mind to nest in, it would start to lay roots and spread to the rest of his body. 

His steps became slower and more arduous, his desire to find an exit started to die down. He wasn’t going to give up, he just needed a rest. A few minutes to gather some strength before continuing. Taxed as he was, he was able to swindle himself.

Noah finally came to a stand still. The moment he did fatigue washed over him, he wanted to close his eyes only for a moment. Just as he was about to close his eyes forever he saw a movement in the corner of his eye.

His eyes open trying to focus on the shadow, after making out what the shadow was, every bit of fatigue vanished in an instant.

He recalled his theories as to why he was brought to a forest, however none of the theories came to mind except for one. The Hunt.

50 meters away from Noah stood a being with the head of a bison and the body of a human. In its right hand it held an axe and in its left a bag, he would easily tower over Noah even before becoming a child. The monster's glowing yellow eyes looking at him left no questions to whether he had been spotted. Noah turned around, an energy coming out of nowhere filling him. He ran like he never ran before bumping into every brush and tree he used as support on his way here.

‘Why do I have to die like this? Hunted down like prey by a trolloc?’

As he ran he heard the grass moving behind him, but he didn’t turn around, seeing how much ground that thing had gained on him would snuff the last bit of hope he had to survive this encounter.

Noah's foot got hooked on a root and he smashed with all of his momentum against a tree, opening his forehead and leaving a trail of blood as he slid down its trunk.

Knowing there was no escape Noah wanted to see whatever that thing was. Looking over his shoulder he saw the Werebison standing over him, curiosity in its eyes. It reached down to grab Noah, but before the monster’s fingers could get a hold of him he passed out.

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