//------------------------------// // The Forest // Story: Foggy Memories of a Human // by cccvvvttt //------------------------------// The Forest Somewhere in the Everfree forest, someone was lying on the ground. It wasn't quite like anything that this world has seen yet up to this point. The creature was lying on its back, appearing asleep with its eyes shut tightly. On its head was long, messy hair; it looked like it hadn't been brushed that day. His face was covered in black dots around the nose and forehead, superficial blackheads they were. He wore a red collar neck shirt, with the buttons undone, and had one simple baggy jeans and black shoes. Whoever this was laid there for a while, barely moving, his chest only slightly moving up and down, indicating that there was life to this creature, yet the small red pool of liquid near its head, indicating a head injury of sorts, says that they may not entirely be alright. Yet, it rests in silence, without disturbance, until the creature's hand starts twitching slightly. With that, their eyes shoot open, and the creature suddenly sits up with a gasp. "Ack..." The creature grunted, placing a hand behind its head, the source of their stinging pain. He looks up for a moment and views the area around him. There were trees all around him, so tall that they covered the sky slightly, creating a relatively dark environment, at least in his current location. "...Where... Am I...?" The creature spoke to himself, trying to remember how he got there. Though he tried as he did, all his brain could form was a perpetual blank. He couldn't remember what he did in life as he attempted to remember other things, such as his name and where he came from. Every time he tried, he'd get a few flashes of memories, but they were all a blur to him, none of which he could make out. He remembered the faces of others he'd had to have known. Despite all of that, he couldn't remember. "... Who am I...?" He muttered to himself, removing his hand from his head finally. He briefly looked down at his fingertips, covered with slight blood. "Is this... Blood?" He thought to himself. At least he was able to remember some things, though he couldn't help but ponder if the injury that seemed to be present on the back of his head had anything to do with his current lack of memory. He looked where his head was lying, seeing the small blood pool his injury had left. However, something appeared to be off. It wasn't just with the blood either, and it was with the ground, too. Removing his gaze from the earth, he turns it to the surrounding area. The trees, the grass, even bits of the sky that could be seen through the trees, they all looked... Different. "What... Is this...?" He murmured to himself with quiet confusion. Despite having no memories from his past, he did remember how the world was supposed to look, and it wasn't this. Everything around him looked so... Colorful. It was like someone had splashed bright paint over everything, which made even this forest seem lighter than it was. He looked down at his hands again, realizing that they were different as well, managing to blend in with the color scheme that this place seemed to have. His eyes must have been playing tricks on him; either that or the head injury was causing him to see the world differently than he should have. Whatever the case was, there was something he realized. Standing around wondering what was going on wouldn't make his memory suddenly come back; not only that but being in a dark forest somewhere he didn't recognize with god only knows what in it didn't sound all that appealing to him. "... Maybe I can find someone to help me... Hopefully." He said, giving the woods around him one last look. they really did creep him out, but eventually, he managed to force himself in a specific direction, though still having the feeling that someone, no, something, was watching him As he continued through the forest, he couldn't help but rub his eyes in a desperate attempt to undo whatever happened that caused his eyes to see things so differently from how they were supposed to look. Before he lost most of his memories, try as he might. However, the new, more colorful way he saw the world persisted. "Ugh..." He sighed a little, once again rubbing that spot on the back of his head, which at the very least seemed to have stopped bleeding. That was a plus, if only even a minor one. He continues through the forest, thinking to himself as he did. Mostly, he was trying to remember anything from his past, though nothing personal came to mind. The only things he seemed to be able to remember were essential. Like how to talk, walk, and especially how the world was supposed to look. Among other minor things, like what kinds of food there were, what TV was, and all of that. Yet that's all that would come to him. "This sucks..." He muttered to himself as he continued. The forest didn't change in lighting, remaining shadowed by many trees. He would much rather be in the comforts of the lovely warm sun than stuck where he was. However, something soon made him stop, that being a faint blue glow of something. He went to investigate further, quickly finding the source. Blue flowers filled a small, somewhat more open area, and they were responsible for the unnatural blue glow that could be seen earlier. Though it was initially a nice change of sight for this creature, something stopped him from going toward the small flower field. They were... off. Something about the way they glowed, how they were so different from the rest of the decrypted woods, were all signals in his mind that he should avoid them and keep going. So, that's what he did. As he turned away from the flowers, however, he noticed something ahead of him, something he would have seen so much earlier if he hadn't been distracted by the glowing flowers. Bright green eyes glowed in the darkness before him, forcing the creature to stop in his tracks entirely. These eyes stared at him, giving him a far worse feeling than those flowers ever could. Those eyes pierced through his very being, making the creature shudder and feel frozen where he stood. These were not the eyes of something friendly or comforting. These were the eyes of a predator, ready to pounce on its prey. In this situation, being him. A low growl came from the darkness as whatever it was stomped closer, allowing its foot to come in sight. It was a paw belonging to a vast creature, judging by its size alone, with sharp claws at the ends of its toes. However, that wasn't what threw off the creature entirely. What did was that the skin appeared to be made out of wood. Whatever was in the shadows revealed itself more. The entire thing was made of various logs and sticks. It looked like some wolf, yet this was far larger than any wolf this creature had ever seen or remembered seeing, being at least 10 feet taller than the animal, who, at this point, was starting to back up. "Crap..." He mummers to himself, the wolf-like creature getting closer, saliva dripping from its hungry fangs. His mind was drawing a blank on what to do. What could he do? Run? No, the thing was most likely faster than he was. Fight? Yeah, right, he may not remember much about himself, but because this creature was ten times bigger than he was, that was a sight he wouldn't win. As it slowly approached the creature, he could smell the stench of wretched breath, which seemed to do the trick in finally unfreezing him as he covered his nose. Shortly after, the wolf-like creature was getting ready to pounce. That finally snapped the creature out of his frozen state. As the wolf got into position to go in for the kill, the creature bolted off the path and into the deep woods before the wolf could do so. However, the creature was right. As heavy thudding footsteps pursued him, they were catching up fast. He ran as fast as he could through all the bushes and trees, trying to escape the monster chasing him down. It was going to kill him, he soon realized. He couldn't outrun it, the wolf being right behind him at this point. Try as he did to avoid it, primarily by running through smaller areas the wolf couldn't fit; it only slowed it down slightly. "Woah!" The creature yelped suddenly as he came across a slope, one he could not see coming due to the bushes and leaves that covered his vision as he ran. As such, he tumbled down the slope, bouncing a little each time his body made contact with the ground until he eventually reached the bottom. The world around him finally came still, even for a moment. The wolf chasing him didn't seem to notice either, as it slipped. Luckily for the creature, it was a little off from him when it did. Otherwise, he would have been crushed by the giant wooden creature as it made its descent. Once it finally did, it hit the ground with a large thud, causing it to shake slightly. The wooden creature fell apart instantly, becoming a simple giant woodpile. It seemed that it had finally been stopped. Once the creature realized this, a mountain of relief washed over him, and he let out a slight sigh as the terrifying ordeal, for the moment, seemed to be over. "Thank god..." He muttered, getting up to his feet, the task harder than it sounded, as his legs wouldn't stop shaking. Despite his relief, there was a feeling inside him that it wasn't quite over yet. Standing up, he looked at the timber pile, debating whether to touch it. To make sure it was dead. "... Why would I do that to myself...?" He mummers lightly, turning around and beginning to leave the mess that was left. That was until he heard a noise. An odd noise he wasn't sure what it was exactly, but it was coming behind him. He stops in his tracks and debates, turning around. He had a feeling he already knew what he'd see. Despite that, he still slowly turns around to look. The wood pile was starting to come back together. "The hell...?" The creature muttered that he'd never seen anything like this before or thought he never had. The wood pieces slowly coming back together was unnatural to him, but it made sense as this place mostly was to him. Pieces of wood floated and snapped back together, slowly but surely reforming the wolf's shape that chased him not too long ago. The head was the last to reform fully, the green eyes glowing ever so brighter, staring directly at the creature with murderous intent that could be felt from it. "Oh no..." The creature's expression was now fearful as he slowly stepped back, trying to force his body to turn around and start running again, but something inside made him move slowly. It wasn't until the wolf growled at him that his body finally did what he wanted, turning around and bolting in the other direction. He didn't dare turn around, yet he could hear the wolf steadily chasing from behind. The loud thuds of the footsteps. He wondered how the wolf hadn't caught up to him, wondered if he was just being toyed with. Maybe some predatory animals did do that with their prey. Nevertheless, he had to keep going to live to see another day. He ran and panted. His body ached with all his running, begging him to stop. Yet he couldn't. He ran off the path again and into some trees and shrubs, hoping that those could be enough to cover him from the sight of the creature. It only somewhat worked. However, he could still hear it pursuing him from behind, but the wolf was starting to lose distance. Good, maybe that meant he could get away. He kept this up until he ran across something that made him stop in his tracks. "Woah!" He shouted as he stopped, looking at what was before him. A large ravine was ahead. Cutting him off from getting to the other side. He looked down. It was so deep that if he were to fall there, he would never move again. He didn't want that. The distance between him and the other side of the large hole was too far to jump. He looked left and right to see if he could find where it ended. Maybe he could run there to get to the other side. He tried as he did but couldn't see where it ended. However, his eyes did find something that would help him cross. A tree that seemed to have broken down, leading across to the other side of the ravine, lay there and was the only thing connecting the two sides from what the creature could see. It seemed possible to cross; the question was, is it a good idea? Answer? Not really; he didn't know how stable the tree was; if he put his weight onto it and tried to cross, he could fall to his death for all he knew. Though it didn't look like he had many other choices, the heavy stomps of the wolf chasing him could still be heard behind him. "Oh, you've got to be kidding!" He let out a frustrated groan before running to the tree. Moments later, the wolf reached the spot he was just at. Not good. The creature hurried to the tree as fast as he could muster, quickly hopping onto the only Bridgeway he had. The tree wasn't that thick either, a little less so than most of the other trees in the forest, so he didn't have a lot of room besides a mostly straight line. It was odd how the tree differed from the others, but considering some trees at the ravine's edge were conveniently like this one, it wasn't worth overthinking. Not with a creature that wants to rip you apart approaching. The creature's slight advantage was knowing the wolf wouldn't be able to cross. It was far too big, after all. "Thank god..." The creature thought to himself, though those thoughts were quickly interrupted by the tree suddenly shaking slightly. "Ah! What the hell?!" He turns his head around, only to see the wolf hitting its paw against the tree trunk, making it shake, causing the creature to shake. He almost fell off the side of the branch but managed to maintain some balance, enough so as not to fall anyways. "Just had to think something!" He said to himself, moving quicker, trying his best to move, but the wolf kept shaking, making the creature constantly lose his balance, slowing him down. The wolf didn't care if it had to get its meal after splatting on the ground, which would make it go down the ravine. However, that seemed better than chasing him all day, as he kept getting ahead. "Shit shit shit shit!" The creature muttered as he kept trying to move but was constantly stopped by the wolf's effort to send him to an early grave. However, as he moved across the tree, he saw something on the other side. The constant shaking made it harder to make things out, and it looked like some small horse. However, it was unlike any horse he'd seen because this one was purple. Other than that, there wasn't much else he could make out of it. His thoughts returned to the situation he was in quickly when he heard a loud noise like something moving. It was the tree, and it was starting to get loose, starting to fall. "Oh no..." The creature muttered to himself before the wolf finally pressed down its paw hard enough for the tree to fully unlodge itself. "Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" The creature screamed out as he started to fall along with the tree. His mind returned to his memories, how he still didn't remember anything about himself or other people, how he would die prematurely due to that monstrous wolf constantly chasing him. He could not take that fact, and everything felt slow to him. He was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it unless something could save him, but what? He didn't know, and not even after five seconds of falling, he finally passed out. Just before he did, though, it felt like his body finally stopped falling, even for a brief second without hitting the ground, and a warm, comforting energy enveloped him as his eyes finally closed.