The Woodlands

As I looked around I noticed just how out of place I was in here. Khu, my hometown, was a marvel of architecture. Of course, that only really showed in the inner districts where the rich people lived in, not in the outer slums of the city itself. The slums were practically double the size of the inner districts, and they housed most of the free citizens of Khu. Crime was a normal occurrence down there, and the Clergy refused to help due to the lack of trust in the people of the slums.

This lack of trust was well founded however, as we most certainly would've stolen, broken and eaten everything that was available at any temple. We knew this, and yet we rebelled time and time again. To the point that it was no longer a surprise when full squadrons of "Peacekeepers" were sent to patrol every street and every alleyway.

It was a cruel existence to say the least. The streets were littered with waste, mud and the bodies of those that couldn't afford to eat. It was grim and the smell of blood drenched every single one of the people in there. Including me.

So there I was, pretty sure I had been killed not so far from the outer gates. In fact, I was not even sure if I was anywhere near Khu right now since I couldn't see the enormous spires of marble that sprung from the earth that the city was founded on. At least not anymore.

The only thing that remained in front of me was the giant forest populated by the biggest damn trees I had ever seen. Each and every single one of them must've been at the very least 70-80 meters in height just by the looks of it. A few even surpassed so high past the canopy they looked about 100 meters. They were majestic, yet there was a sense of oddity in them, just like everything around me.

For the sake of convenience I gave this area a name of my own: The Woodlands. And I ventured forth into it. While I walked, I looked down to my waist. Even though I didn't have the artifact I had stolen with me, I did still have an old shortsword still sheathed in my belt. I found it odd since why would anyone leave a weapon in a corpse like that?

I quickly realized that my doubts wouldn't bear fruit to anything worth the headache so I decided to simply keep moving. The light of the sun broke through the canopy, giving me big patches of shade and the occasional ray of sunlight hitting me in the back of the head. It was a nice place to take a walk all in all. With majestic sights and that peaceful silence.

'...Wait a second...Forests shouldn't be this silent...'

As I realized that I shouldn't in fact enjoy the silence around me, my sensitive ears and nose captured something. I didn't know why but, ever since I woke up back at the pile of corpses, my senses were feeling far more potent than they did previously. Maybe it was the near-death experience or maybe it was the fact that I had seemingly been thrown away from home for the first time in my entire life. It left an odd void in my mind, a question I could not answer.

In any case, what I caught in my senses were the faint smell of mud and the cracking sound of dry leave. Around 25 meters to my right. How could I discern with such precision these faint details? I could not know at the time, but what I could know, is that they meant danger.

In one swift movement of my dominant right hand, I unsheathed my shortsword and pointed it towards the source of the sound. What I saw then stunted me for half a second. The biggest wolf I had seen yet had just leaped out of the ground and charged at me from behind. Of course my shortsword wouldn't do anything if that thing tried to bite me, so I moved as fast as I could to try and dodge out of the way.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed, as the dire wolf landed in front of me.

I realized then that not only my senses, but my body had become faster than it usually was. This sudden surge of energy left me a little dumbfounded, but I quickly regained my composure as the wolf tried to bite me again, this time following the attack with two swipes of his front claws. I managed to weave my way out of getting shredded into pieces and retaliated with a slash towards its face with my blade.

The cut on its snout was shallow, but it was enough pain to stagger it for a moment. Without hesitation, I followed through with a quick stab towards its neck. The poor beast had just about enough time to whimper before my blade was plunged deep through its throat. It tried to move again, but I took a step back right after so it couldn't attack me with its last strength.

"...Sorry....You shouldn't have attacked me like that..."

I said to the whimpering wolf as it finally fell to the ground, limp. Taking a few steps forward and kneeling down, I gripped the handle of the shortsword and pulled it from the flesh of the beast. I was no stranger to killing, as grim as that sounded. At the very least I knew how to use this weapon, and as I grew older, I had to defend myself from certain situations that I wished I wouldn't have had to go through.

In any case, I decided to simply cut open the beast and leave its corpse on the ground for the carrion eaters of the area to take care of it instead of me. Wolf eat wasn't precisely the best delicacy for someone, and I was not yet hungry. Plus, I had no way of carrying it with me without attracting other predators. Finally, I cleaned my blade on the hide of the wolf and sheathed it again before starting my march once again.

As I walked, I could notice the shadows of the forest growing bigger, and the rays of sun getting dimmer and dimmer. This meant night was coming, and I would need shelter. While walking around I started to collect small sticks and dry leaves.

But another sound startled me.

"Oh right...Wolves hunt in packs..."

Truly, I was having the worst of lucks this day.