The Valley

This endless-looking valley I found myself in after having escaped from the frozen hell from whence I came seems to be empty as silence reigns and not even a bird chirps.

I start to cautiously walk into the valley, which has hills and mountains spread out in the distance, though small in nature. So far, I have yet to spot a single living thing other than the sparse brush that grows here. No trees either yet.

But I believe I should find something if I keep making my way forward. For I seriously doubt there is a single safe place in this entire realm that does not have terrifying death monsters or nature itself trying to kill me.

Eventually, though, after a few hours of inching my way forward and yet not a sign of well anything so far, I decided to throw caution to the wind as I am tired of the slow pace and need to quickly find both a place to sleep and a tree to make a weapon.

I can't do either if I am spending all my time being cautious. I can't truly die right now, anyways. So might as well not worry about it that much.

With the changed mindset, I set forth, jogging at a decent pace, making my way forward, occasionally switching directions as I go through the valley.

Yet as night draws near, I still have yet to find anything. No monsters, no trees, heck, not even a cave to stay in for the night. What is up with this valley?

It is like a ghost valley, except not even the ghosts stay here. I don't know whether to be excited or worried about these prospects. I hope I can be excited, as I don't even have a weapon to defend myself, except this random rock I picked up.

With the night breeze kicking in, making me shiver, though nowhere near as bad as the frozen hell I escaped from, I still felt that I need to try and start a fire. Nothing is here anyways, so I doubt I will attract any beasts.

I did make that mistake out in the forest once and was immediately swarmed, though I managed to escape as they started fighting one another.

Either way, fires are usually a bad idea. But I figured might as well try, and if I do attract something, then at least I know it is here. The unknown is scarier than the known.

At least, that is what others say. I have seen the known, and they are pretty scary, especially when they are eating you.

With that in mind, I start a little pile of brush and weeds that I find growing scattered around, and then using two rocks; I eventually get a fire going. At first, I really struggle with this, but once you get the hang of it, it is quite simple to do.

And surprisingly, nothing happens, and I actually make it through the night without incident, and no one is more surprised than I am. In fact, once I awoke, I started to pat down my body and look around for blood stains to make sure nothing happened.

My weariness is starting to dissipate, with hope and excitement emerging forth from the deep void within my heart. My mind reeling at the idea of having maybe finding some kind of safe zone or place I no longer need to worry about my life in.

I couldn't help the smile that naturally made its way onto my face after my line of thoughts head in that direction.

"Ah, so peaceful." I mutter softly.

Then a day passes. I repeat the same actions as before. Wander around, make a fire, go to sleep.

Then another day passes. Same routine, nothing changes.

And then another day. And another day.

Soon an entire week passes.

And then I reawaken to find out that I had died. At first, it was nothing but confusion as to how or why. But then, when thinking back, I realized. It was due to dehydration. In fact, I had drunk nor eaten anything since I had arrived in this valley.

Yet why did I not realize I was thirsty or hungry the entire time? In fact, why did it seem like I was just doing nothing while I was here? No progress in anything was made.

I realize I would have died sooner if it wasn't for my enhanced body, as they can't go long without water. But to think my mind was so far gone as to not realize I was killing myself by not drinking anything or eating anything.

In fact, thinking back, I now feel the panging pain that wracked my body while I was slowly dehydrating and starving, yet for some reason, my brain ignored it all. It is all coming back to me now.

It is as if I was under the influence of something. Something deadly and dark.

I need to be quick! Before I get back under the influence, I need to find the sonuvabitch that killed me or caused my death.

Whatever it was, has to be close by.

In a hurry, I shoot up from the ground and take off in a sprint, running wild in the area, looking for whatever it was that could have done this to me.

In fact, this is one of the most scared and nervous encounters I have had to date, as this is a creepy monster or whatever did this to me. I don't even know if it is something that I can fight or get rid of. What if it is the valley itself?

Can I even leave?

No, it has to be some kind of monster, I refuse to believe that it can't be beaten, or else I will be trapped here, dying over and over again with no hope of ever completing my goal.

And I need to find it before I am under the influence of whatever it is that made me slowly allow myself to die by doing nothing.

Desperately running around trying to find something, anything that is suspicious or alive, that could contribute to being the thing that caused all of that to happen to me.

And then I found it. Or at least I think I did. It is the only thing that stands out, yet I don't know why I missed it before.