Chapter 2 of A Dragon's Awakening

Specks of daylight peeked through the canopy, and a thin sheen of morning dew covers the local flora of this damned forest. I’ve already scratched myself on endless times on those damned toothy plants and I’m beginning to get used to all of the menacing trees, that would probably slice me open if I touched them. A thick mist that blocks most of my vision coats the forest floor as I wander aimlessly.  I have yet to find some place to use as shelter.

I've been walking since I awoke; I have no sense of time other than my knowledge of it being a little after daybreak. I just noticed that the sun is a dark shade of red and seems more intense than it normally should be. I make my way towards that weird rising sun in the East in hopes of finding other people.

I laughed at myself and thought that I couldn't possibly be any worse off. What seemed to be a few minutes of endless walking through this damned forest of nightmares later I heard a low but cautious growl from in front of me. The entirety of all of the forest around me grows quiet except for the growl that steadily grows louder as the monster approaches me. A large, muscular jet black wolf with eyes the color of rubies slowly approached me, hunkered close to the ground, baring its fangs, ready to pounce.

"Welp, looks like I spoke to soon........or...thought."

I took of my dark, mud-covered shirt and twisted it into a single coil resembling a thick rope. I took a defensive stance as I readied for its attack. I name the wolf "Blackey" in my head for further reference.

"I'm ready anytime you wanna dance ya damned wolf."

Blackey leaps at me, going for my legs to take me down. I lower my shirt to catch him in his open, blood stained mouth with my coiled shirt, and immediately force my shirt to the back of his mouth to gain control of his head and neck.

I twist my shirt downward to the left, flipping him onto his back. I jump on top of him pinning Blackey to the ground with my full weight on top of him, and proceed to bury my thumbs into his eye sockets, gouging them out.

He thrashed wildly in an attempt to escape, but it was hopeless for him as I ripped out his teeth, and used his own razor sharp fangs to slit his own throat. I rose from the mangled corpse like a wolf from its freshly slaughtered prey.

"My name is Orick, conqueror of the wolf Blackey!" I shouted to the heavens in victory.

As blood continued to pool from his body, I collected all of his teeth and his claws.

"Ya never know when these might come in handy."

As I was gathering my spoils, a sudden realization popped into my head of how it was so easy to kill him.

"How.........how...how did I know what to do, I must've done something like this before."

"Screw it, this isn't the time to dwell on it, I need to press on."

However, I kept in the back of my mind that I'm probably a secret badass. When I look at my shirt and see it in tatters, so I decide to leave it hanging on one of the nearby death trees.

"Well........damn....now I don't have a shirt."

The sun just recently reached its peak, signifying the middle of the day. The temperate was steadily rising, causing me to sweat profusely. Most of the beasts that I see are taking refuge in the shade of those death trees, which have incredibly dense canopies and foliage surrounding them. The hunters are taking the advantage of their relaxing prey.  I hear the sounds of mass slaughter rippling through the forest as the predators initiate their attack.

“I’m gonna stay far away from over there!”

"If I have to spend any more time in this forest I'm gonna have to make some kind of pointy stick for "defense" in case of the things attacking me."

So that's exactly what I did using a reddish stone and a tree limb of...umm...some kind of tree. I sharpened the stick into a fine point to the point of where I could effortlessly cut my finger by gently running the tip across it.

"I bestow upon you the name of WolfSlayer," I say

I start to continue on my journey. I can still hear the screaming of the animals slowly dying at the hands……wait….no…claws and or paws of their predators.

"F**k this forest" I whisper under my breath, "How in the hell is this forest so big, I've been walking for at least a solid 14 hours nonstop."

I sigh heavily, "S**t...I just realized how tired I am".

I see one of the “normal” trees that don’t look as deadly. Its leaves are incredibly fluffy looking and thick. I take a couple off of their branches and pile them into my hand.

“these are so soft!”

I begin to gather many more leaves from this tree. The (what I think is) bottom third of the tree is stripped bare by the time I’m done. I spread them out underneath one of the nonish deadly trees into a large mat that I can lay on for a good nap.

"Considering everything that happened today... it could've definitely been worse." I utter as I drift off to the land of dreams, and hope to the gods I don’t get my throat ripped out in the night.

I awoke to hear the rustling of nearby foliage. It sounds like it's coming from at least 12 meters in the brush behind me. I grab WolfSlayer and prepare to defend myself.

Suddenly a bright red hare bursts through the brush towards me, barring its fangs. It latches onto my right forearm, and bites down sharply. Pain shoots up my arm telling me of the blood it was sucking from me. In a moment of panic, I grab its body, and begin to twist and pull. I can hear its bones snapping as I brutally rip its head from the rest of its body.  Blood pours forth from its body as it lays on the ground as a headless pile of the flesh.

"What...the f**k was that, how f**ked up is this world that these cute little things go around killing people!"

I see some herbish looking plants underneath one of the “normal-looking” trees. I bind the bite inflicted on me by the hare with a wrap of them as I hope to the gods above they aren't poisonous. It wasn’t bleeding as much as I thought it would be.

"I.......hate.......this........forest."

"Ya know, I think it would be a lot more helpful if I remembered something other than just my name, but f**k it, am I right?"

I breathe out slowly letting out a long sigh.

"Who am I talking too, myself, the gods, some creepy person that's been stalking me this entire time, I don't know and I probably won’t until I find other people, but that's the reason why I haven't given up yet, its so I can figure out what the hell is going on."

As soon as I figure out why I'm here, I can find my purpose...the reason I'm here. I continue to walk until the sun begins to set behind me, scorching the entirety of my back as it beats down on me, when I suddenly happen upon the corpse of a fallen adventurer. I approach it slowly while I observe my surroundings for threats. I couldn’t detect any predators that are guarding their prey. I walk closer to the corpse stepping over its left arm that appears to have been ripped off brutally by some kind of claws. The only thing that’s left of it is its torso and left are, but even those are still clawed to hell. Its head looks as if it was ground into a thick paste; it was that gruesome.

"It appears as if the scavengers got to him first." I state as I see that his lower body has been picked clean.

"Well there's no sense in wasting a good corpse."

Needless to say I immediately stripped the body of all of its possessions, gathering from it two daggers, a long-sleeved black shirt, a small satchel with a small amount of medical supplies contained inside along with 5 copper colored pieces of metal, and reddish looking rotten fruit. I discovered when I took of the shirt that was laying over his body that there were bite and claw mark in the middle of his upper chest. It appeared as if his heart has been eaten out.

I once again take a look inside the satchel.

"I think this used to be an apple." I say as I pull the rotten and shriveled up fruit out.

I proceeded to throw the apple as far as I can in to the woods; it splatters against a nearby tree in the most satisfying way possible. I looked for one of the same trees as before to hopefully gather more of its leaves for bedding. Not too far off I see another one.

“ Why are these so rare in this forest of nightmares”

I made a small bedding out of the leaves I collected and still marveled at how soft they were. I put some in my satchel on account of that they may be worth something. I lay down on the bedding I made as it steadily begins to rain a torrential downpour.

“ Its gonna be a cold night”

I try to fall asleep as I vigorously shiver under the freezing rain.

I manage to shut my eyes with great effort, and drift off, once again, to the land of dreams.

(end of CHAPTER 2)