The Dark Forest
Trees up so high they hide away the gray and dusty sky. Leaves as purple as a demon's skin and as poisonous as their bodies. Spiders the size of alligators string their webs from the top of the trees and within their rotting stumps. Disease-ridden frogs jump around from tree to tree, as knee-deep murky water fills the ground in between the trees and muddy land - while the stink of the thick fog roams rent-free around D1's nose... Which only grew thicker and thicker the more he moved his legs forward in the murky water, entering further and further within the dense swamp - filled with creatures and dangers of the unknown...
That is The Dark Forest. A place where even the smallest of lights extinguish in due time.
Such was the area D1 was walking oh-so nonchalantly in.
The more he walked in, the more his awareness of himself began expanding... He had no food, no water, and no equipment to properly traverse the terrain...
He was walking by the fading memory of when he and the rest of the Apostles crossed this region, following Xander Mar - the druidic prince who lead them away from any possible danger that might've been ahead. Thanks to the druid, it was perhaps the most peaceful, yet foul region they ever had to cross... But now, things were different.
D1 never really had to think or worry about anything, even while walking in this kind of region. Xander had an uncanny familiarity with every area that was strongly attached to earth and nature. To anything that was made by the goddess of Aqualia, to be more specific. He is the type to prefer a humble desert tent rather than a village inhabited by humans - simply due to his unusual connection to nature.
But this time, D1 wasn't led by anyone anymore. No guide, no map, no otherworldly revelation to escort him through the unknown... He was led by instinct and muscle memory and his 5 senses... With no particular plan in mind.
As he walked, while treating the foul smell and the low-visibility view of The Dark Forest due to the dense fog, he caught a glimpse of his weapon as he looked down to mind his footing as he struggled to move his feet in the mud.
He noticed that his only buddy - the Broken Moon, had no sheath to be covered with. If not covered with something, Moon would begin to fill with rust and grow dull - as it once did, years ago.
D1 was never a prodigy when it came to blades.
He learned after experiencing what they are. He would be surprised that blades would grow dull in time. How would this knight, that he took Moon from, did it all the time? He thought all those years ago. How did he carry something he had to maintain almost daily, clean it after every use to preserve its sharpness and make sure he doesn't hit something with it too many times to break it? Such a hassle, it seemed. But D1 had to fight. He had to survive and earn money. So he learned with his Moon, after great amounts of trial and error; he learned how to treat his sword, and made it a part of his routine after major efforts.
D1's memory started to freshen as he looked at his blade. He cut a part of his robe and wrapped it around his broken blade in an attempt to shield it from this rotting environment as he sighed in annoyance. It isn't enough to preserve it for long, especially with the sword being broken - but it has to last for now. It was the only thing he could do for that sword for the time being.
"Fucking piece of shit place... Would it have killed the shitling king to invest a bit in this area? No one lives here, not a fucking soul... And the 12 pricks killed the demon lord, so demonic attacks would be very unlikely..." D1 uttered to himself in bitterness as he marched through the dark forest, the wetness of the contaminated water fill his leather shoes and soak his robes as he walks - leaving a foul sensation with every step he takes.
"Practically a free land here... But these fucking nobles at the Royal capital have it so far up their asses, they wouldn't move a fucking finger if Julian isn't directly staring at them, forcing them to adlib to keep their graces. Nah, these nobles'd rather keep to themselves in their golden showers rather than to even do as much as look at the low-class villager, rotting without a home at the heels of their great capital." He spoke to himself slightly quieter as his heartbeat was starting to get more frequent and powerful - as the odd noises surrounding him grew more frequent as well, making him gradually more observant -he was, before long, constantly pinging his immediate vicinity. This might've been an area he could've dealt with before, but ever since being handled by the Apostles, his ego took a dive alongside his body as he was dropped into the abyss. He knew basic swordsmanship and knew [FORCE] manipulation at an average level...
For... As long as he can remember...
Was he really ever strong? The question popped into his mind as he noticed himself getting anxious over every noise around him... Sure, he could handle a D to C rank monsters with ease at his prime, but how did he handle S class monsters or requests before? Has the standard for monsters and quests changed during his time with Julian?
Was it always inside his head? The knowledge that he was the 2nd strongest in the world...
Was it always a figment of his imagination, a shard remaining from his crumbling pride, and nothing more? Was the only reason he was accepted into Julian's party due to Julian's pity?
D1: "... Fuck Julian. Who gives a shit... About a slut-chaser..." A memory pounded into his head, Julian's final words to D1 about his father before kicking him in the face. He held his head tightly as he stopped in his tracks... Not because it hurt... But because his heartbeat rose severely... That constant ringing noise from when he was tortured at the hands of the demons, the feeling of helplessness as the Apostles snickered at D1's attempts at fighting back... He fell to his knees, dipping more of his body inside the murky water while gripping his head tightly as he clenched his teeth, almost cracking them in the process... Feeling the rage willow up from the pit of his abdomen - all the way to his chest and face.
As D1 was occupied with his thoughts and unwanted flashes from his fight, he heard a branch snap behind him. He instinctively got up, his body was on high alert and his breathing rhythm was halved... He emerged from the realm of memories and strife, looking around to see the lurking foe.
This is The Dark Forest, he recalled. If he's too distracted he can die in one hit. And D1 just decided that he was too angry to give up now.
Too spiteful.
He decided to start moving quickly further into the forest. To get to the other side, he'd have to walk for a week.
Not good.
Forget defending himself and navigation, where would he find water? Or food, in this rotting place? If he was just walking casually, he might have managed to pull something off using his [FORCE] energy, but he had to constantly move, constantly be on alert, and preserve his strength.
In addition to his existing problems, another one befell into his lap - light. Or, to be more specific, The lack of it.
The more he got into the Dark Forest's territory, the darker it got - as the leaves turned more and more dense - blocking out the gray sky. And that feeling, to top it all off... He was being stalked. Every several steps he took, a tree branch behind him broke in the distance, growing closer and closer with every few meters he advanced.
He vaguely recalled Xander mentioning something about it as they walked through The Dark Forest before, as a group of 13. He didn't recall it all that well, since he never paid much attention to Xander. What use would that be? All he had to do was let him lead... And they'd be out of there in no time. What a waste... He may not remember it all that well, but he knew it meant trouble. Grave ones; especially for the underprepared D1 himself.
He started splashing around the murky water as he sprinted, wasting more and more of his stamina as he ran away.
He could hear the monster - breaking more and more tree branches more frequently as the chase went on. But no grunts, no roars, no screeches... It was silent, and swift.
It has to be a leaping spider, but something is amiss; a leaping spider will not attack a human unless provoked. It was something else... It was an active hunter... This was definitely what Xander spoke of... If only D1 could remember more.
D1 found a tree slightly uprooted - giving him enough room to leap into and hide beneath. He then jumped and hid there below the old tree, almost entirely submerged in the murky water, only able to poke his head out to breathe the foul air.
He looked around as frogs and tiny insects and spiders crawled around directly above him as he got there.
He ignored the bugs, as some of them crawled on him and looked around in the almost pitch darkness...
His visibility was hindered. As he was submerged and held his body still within the water, surrounded by the tree's roots and the bugs... He noticed even they fell silent as the presence of that thing drew near. The crickets didn't let a sound out as well...
And then...
Water splashing...
Leaves rustling, despite the wind being blocked off inside the dense forest...
And the tree he was hidden beneath started creaking more and more loudly.
Something was looking for him in the darkness... And it knew he was there, close by.
D1 kept his mouth shut, hoping the beast passes by without standing watch - as he had no way to fight it.
SPLASH!
SPLASH!
SPLASHHH!!!
There giant splashes landed, sprinkling giant splashes of dirty water on his face as he squatted still beneath the tree, hiding within the roots. It was dark, but all around him, he could make out three lion-sized leaping spiders... What an unusual, uncharacteristic for them. To hunt for a human. And in groups, no less... Unprovoked. Something was weird. They don't feed on humans, as far as he remembered...
They circled around the tree for a bit, scanning the environment - as D1 felt his skin get itchy at the places frogs leaped on him...
He was poisoned.
He doesn't have long... He has to reach a safe spot soon before the symptoms worsen and his body weakens. He can maintain himself for a bit with the use of [FORCE], but he had so little of it left - that the time it would buy him would be meaningless. He'd rather save the [FORCE] he has left to attack.
D1 never fought these spiders before, but he was familiar with monster hunting. And his sense of reason told him he cannot win and had to hide... And so he did... Gradually growing weaker and weaker, his breath becoming heavier and heavier as his skin grew reddish in hue and itching to the point he wanted to peel it off... How many hours has he been beneath the tree inside the cold, dirty, bug-infested water? 3? 4? It seemed like a lot more, and that it wasn't going to end...
BUT! His wait is starting to pay off...
As his consciousness was growing weaker and weaker, struggling to keep his eyes open - the three spiders suddenly turned and leaped away... They returned to their usual behavior, roared, screeched, and leaped away.
Relieved, he crawled without a mumble out of the veins.
Dirty, tired, cold, itchy, hungry, thirsty, and with a pounding headache.
If it weren't for those fucking spiders, he would've made it a lot farther.
If it weren't for these fucking flashes, he wouldn't have to run so much and get into that place, he thought.
If it weren't for that fucking demon waking him up in The Dark Forest with a broken blade and barely a 1/100 of his original physical prowess, he would've slain them all by now.
If it weren't... For that FUCKING hero and his friends... He wouldn't even be in this situation, to begin with.
The world was the only place he could direct his frustration... Before he could no longer afford to spend energy on that.
He had to keep moving before losing consciousness.
Weak and deprived, he kept walking aimlessly once more...
... Not considering that despite everything that happened to him so far, he might have been too lucky to survive.
BOOM!
The ground shook as something of terrible weight landed right behind him, splashing a wave of water onto his body.
He slowly turned... And looked up.
Before him appeared a giant spider... But this one was special. It had dark-blue eyes... He had just recalled what Xander spoke of...
________
Xander: "As long as I'm around, it won't attack us... The Stalker Spider. A C-Rank monster that can control the D-Rank leaping spiders into attacking and luring the victim to where it can ambush them, after draining their stamina..."
_________
You see, that is where D1 knew...
...He fucked up.
The Stalker swung one of his legs at D1, D1 could barely see the movement, but he managed to rip out Broken Moon and defend in the last minute with using every bit of [FORCE] he could muster...
Nevertheless... The damage was grave.
Crack.
Pop.
Snap.
Was it the ribs...?
His hands or arms..?
... All combined?
He was flung 10 meters to the side, having a tree stop his short travel - as he pounded his head along his entire body against it, coughing blood as he fell.
D1: "Fuck... Fu*coughs*..." He puked blood as he fell to his knees, looking at his own bloody reflection on the murky water's surface as he held himself up with his hands placed deep in the water as he held Broken Moon. The spider was walking towards him. Slowly. As if giving him time to recover, as if purposely letting the fight drag on... It was just a game to that thing.
D1 had a thought crossed in his head, as he lifted his head with great effort - looking at the spider as it approached him.
He is not going to revive if he dies here...
.... He also felt like he didn't want to be played with a second time in his second chance at life.
D1: "Fine..." He uttered as he clenched his teeth at the spider...
With red skin and a burning fever, alongside cracking noises that are followed by pain that amplified with every small movement he made - topped off with a heart burning with spite and desperation, he ripped another piece of his ruined robes and wrapped Broken Moon's handle to his hand that started to grow numb...
He got into a fighting stance, but not that of greatswords which he used his entire time nurturing as he traveled with Julian.
As mentioned, D1 was a simplistic character. If something didn't fit, he would change it to fit... And Broken Moon was no longer fit to be used as a greatsword... No... He got into the knife-fighting stance he had used before finding Moon, all those years ago - as he cried, silently, with a tense expression and a hungry gaze.... :
D1: "Let's fucking rock... You oversized sock-dweller."