Chapter 1: Chapter 1: Awakening

It happened on the first Saturday of the new year, a sight unlike any other.  The sky was illuminated with a brilliant white light, tinged with blue.  A wave seemed to emanate from the moon, rippling outwards with a force impossible to ignore.  Expanding and sweeping away satellites in its wake, frying their electronic systems. Auroras danced and multiplied, painting the sky with vibrant colors.  The wave of energy breached through the Earth’s protective atmosphere, springing forth towards the surface. 

The people witnessing were immersed in the beauty and frozen into a state of awe, unable to comprehend the scale and ferocity of the phenomenon.  That was when a tingling sensation entered into everyone’s body.  Children began crying out for their parents, and those parents reached out for their kids.  Their skin glowed bright and with a flash of light and the sound of a pop, vanished out of sight.

[…??? years later…]

A chilling voice called out to me.  My vision was blurry and accompanied by drowsiness.

“Wake up,” commanded the voice.

I gasped for air. 

“Your exquisite soul is alive once again…  Everyone from your era in history has vanished, but there is a way to save their souls.  First, you have more pressing matters.  Your presence is known.  There is a group heading this way and should arrive within the minute...” the voice paused.

“Survive, and continue to survive, until the day we meet,” the voice echoed, fading away.

I snapped back to my senses and found myself lying on my back in a dense forest, with the sun shining through the trees above and birds singing away. A moment ago, I was in my office working on pushing the next architecture changes we needed for our new education software. 

What was happening?  How am I outside? 

A sharp twang from a bowstring echoed through the air, followed by the swift whoosh of an arrow as it flew towards me. With a thud, it landed just inches from my leg, the impact sending a ripple of vibrations through the ground.  Surprised, I rolled to my side to get up and found myself quickly surrounded by a man brandishing a long sword reflecting the forest on its surface and an asshole holding a bow with an arrow knocked aiming directly at me.

“Who are you people?” my words barely escaped my throat. 

There was no response.

The swordsman raised his blade high above his head, the steel glinting from the twinkle of sunlight flashing through the trees.  With a fierce cry, he brought it down in a swift and powerful arc towards me.  My eyes wide, why was this happening?  I did not want to die like some vermin that had to be laid to waste.  I gritted my teeth and swung my body to roll sideways towards the arrow.

The sound of the blade slicing through the air was deafening as it connected and slammed into the ground, blasting away dirt high into the air.  Without thinking, I grabbed the arrow planted in the ground and lunged my whole body towards the swordsman.  I could not hesitate, my thoughts ignoring the danger, my arm swung and stabbed, with red engulfing my vision.  Before I realized what was happening, there was already blood spraying from his neck. 

Still slumped onto this dying man, the sound of piercing arrows began raining down.  Using the dying man’s body as a shield I felt the impact of each arrow pierce through the swordsman’s body with the tips reaching towards my face.  Quickly shoving the man off myself, I decided to make a run for it.  Luckily there were many trees in this area, as I could hear the echo of arrows smashing into and exploding the bark in the trees surrounding me. 

A path began to appear ahead, but the clearing of trees was too wide and would only help that archer behind me.  This reminded me of when we played war games in the woods, we would always catch the newbies walking out in the open.  I had to go further into the forest. My new jeans and t-shirt were continuously getting caught and ripped in the heavy brush, with bugs gnawing at my elbows and legs.  Inside my tennis shoes, dirt and splinters were grinding and stabbing at my feet. 

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It felt like half an hour running through the thick brush when a steep rise of dirt, reaching several meters high appeared in front.  The dirt was soft and seemed to crumble but it was still able to hold my weight as I climbed up digging in with each hand and foot.   Reaching the top shelf of dirt and spreading my fingers wide to climb, the soil became softer and breaking apart nearly crashing me back downwards, as I continuously swam up the dirt finally reaching the roots of a tree that hardened the earth up on a perch.

This is where I must make a stand. 

Hearing a violent shake of the brush below, the archer popped out flying up high, far surpassing human capabilities.  What is happening!?  I was mesmerized by the graceful landing onto the decaying dirt as the archer simultaneously pulled back on his bow, the string hummed with tension as it dug deeper into the flesh of his fingers.

Suddenly, a loud rustle from above in the trees came shooting down, as a large dark creature pounced towards the archer.  His eyes wide, he rotated the bow upwards and released the arrow hitting the creature, but its momentum kept on moving forward, tackling into the archer and knocking them down the dirt cliff. 

I did not hesitate to run in the opposite direction, as the sweat was dripping down my face, dirt caked all over my body and breathing rapidly running down the hill.  My foot caught a branch and sent me tumbling down a few meters.  Hurriedly getting back up and hopping off the pain in my ankle as a flat clearing laid ahead.  

Looking back to see what is happening, the sounds of screeching, yelling, and flesh being ripped apart echoed through the air.  Without warning, my footing was lost, my knee jerked in the air, and I realized there was nothing below my feet.  It was too late, my body swung forward, the wind eating at my face, the freefall feeling in my bones made my heart rise as my body slammed into the water below.

The world around me grew quiet, calm, and dark, as if time had frozen. 

Ding!

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[Survival Rank has leveled up]

Survival Rank: 1

Conversion Points: 2 

Would you like to receive your reward?

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