The sound of leaves blowing against the wind fills my ears, and the smell of grass fills my nostrils. The feeling of dirt cushions my body, and the sight of a forest greets my eyes. The sunlight is pouring through the canopy above, leaving rays of sunlight pouring on the forest floor.

Without thinking, I place my palm on the floor, lifting the top half of my body up, so I can view my surroundings better.

The green feels almost relaxing, like a soothing calm after a raging storm.

Of course, one question would make its way to my brain. A simple one.

“Where am I?”

This was perfectly justified as a question, as just a few moments ago, I was… I was leaning against the frame of the front door…

I was..

I flinch and furrow my brows, staring at my hand.

I died.

I had perished from the world at such a young age. I failed her. And I failed myself.

There’s nothing I can do anymore. If I could go back, if only I could go back, I truly would. I swear it.

Those bastards…

The feeling that I’d never make them pay for what they did makes me split with anger. I strike the ground in anger.

Takeru…

Why..?

I lift my shirt, gazing at my abdomen, where I had been previously attacked, expecting there to be some sort of bleeding wound. However, to my surprise, there’s a large scar running from the left side of my lower abdomen to my waist.

I do recall the knife being pulled out quite sloppily, tearing further into my body.

I let the shirt fall and slowly get to my feet, brushing dirt from my hands. I glance around. I hear wildlife — distant chirps, rustling — but I can’t see anything. It’s like everything is hiding from me.

Okay. Focus.

Where am I?

I can see about five meters in every direction. Beyond that, it’s all shadows and tree trunks. I need a vantage point. A high branch, or even a slanted trunk. Something I can climb to get a better look.

Right now, the most logical theory is this: someone found me after I passed out from blood loss. Treated me. Dropped me off somewhere remote.

That’s it. That has to be it.

This isn’t a fantasy story. This is reality. I’m not the protagonist of anything. This is just some unknown forest — a bad coincidence.

…Right?

Alright. If I treat this like a survival situation, then my first goal is securing shelter. Exit might be days — even weeks — away. I need to conserve strength, stay calm, and not let my imagination get the best of me.

What do I have on me?

A ripped school blazer. A couple undershirts.

I could use the bottommost one for something else, especially since it’s already so hot I feel like I’m melting.

I take off the blazer and wrap it around my waist.

I remember something from a survival documentary. Tear cloth from a shirt, wrap it around a rock and a stick, and — makeshift tool Not ideal, but if I need to cut vines or branches…

Next: inventory. A smartphone. Two pieces of gum. Wallet with around 2000 yen.

If it comes to it, I’ll burn the… money? No. The clothes. Burn the clothes for warmth.

Judging by the angle of sunlight, it’s midday. That gives me enough time to build shelter before nightfall. After that, purify water, secure food. Step by step. Piece by piece.

I take a breath and head deeper into the forest, scanning the treetops for a path upward. A branch. A trunk. Anything climbable.

I may be in decent shape, but I’ve lived a modern life. I’m not used to scaling trees. Not ones this tall.

Still… I keep walking.

One step. Then another.

Because thinking too long means remembering.

And remembering… doesn’t help me now.

It’s been about an hour of searching, and I’ve finally found the perfect tree. Grabbing onto the branches, I begin making my way up, stopping sometimes to make sure my footing isn’t faulty.

Finally, I look out into the horizon, my eyes widening.

There are trees for miles. But that’s not what catches my eye.

There’s what I can only describe as an enormous statue. It stands on four legs, with a head too obscured to see, shaped more or less like a massive block. Its legs are absurdly long, its body rising high—almost above the clouds.

Its torso is immense.

My mind struggles to process the sheer size. Whoever built this statue had a lot of free time.

I stare at it for a long while, in awe.

Then something happens.

Something that, in all senses of the word, should not exist.

The statue moves.

There is a theory known as the square-cube law, which dictates that large creatures cannot exist in the world, as their bones and overall anatomy would not support the size of their bodies. The larger an animal gets, the harder it is for it to support its weight and to dissipate heat from its body.

However, it seems that this law has been thrown out the window.

Yes, this creature has moved.

It is beginning to move, albeit slowly.

There is a misconception I heard that large creatures would move slowly, as they typically do in movies, but that is not the case, as that simply would not apply in real life. I believe the reason why this creature is moving so slowly is that it is miles away.

Still.

Where the hell am I!?

I watch as the creature walks towards a large, what I assume to be a mountain. Megalaphobia, or the fear of large objects, is something many people possess, however, I do not. And yet, I feel my palms slipping off the hard bark of the tree.

My mind can’t comprehend this. Reality is unraveling.

Scattered blobs in the sky vanish as it walks—birds fleeing.

Just when I could not believe this could get any worse, A bellow, like a blue whale’s call played through a cathedral organ, is released through the air.

It then disappears behind the mountain, as if it were never there.

Seeing such a sight makes me almost fall to the ground, but I swiftly grab a branch tightly.

No, no, that’s just an illusion. The heat and combined thirst in my body is making me see illusions. Something like that should never exist.

Coming to my self-realized conclusion, I make my way down the tree. The feeling of wood lodged in my throat makes me realize I’m quite thirsty. To this point, I’ve ignored it, but I can no longer neglect it.

I need to find water.

A sudden sound of what sounds like someone sticking their hand in something grotesque escapes through the air.

It comes from behind a tree nearby.

Up to this point, the only sounds in the world were those of birds chirping and leaves blowing. So this sound has rocked me to my core.

The sound of crunching ensues.

I don’t want to look behind this tree.

But the curse of humans that has plagued us for eons scratches at my brain.

Curiosity.

My soul screams to not look behind this tree, but my cold, calculating brain does the opposite.

I look behind the tree.

And all color drains from my face.

Ribs splayed open. Blood soaking the grass. Bulbous gas bubbles rising from its flesh. Still decomposing, but the blood is fresh.

Why?

Well, there is a creature feeding on it, its face, or what I assume to be, digging inside the corpse's chest.

Something that defies all logic once again. Something that finally convinces me that I am not in my world.

A white blur hunched over the body, face buried in the chest cavity.

I can’t make out its full shape.

That was because every single neuron in my body screamed one thing and one thing only. A collective message comprised of everything in my body.

RUN.

And that is what I did.

I turn fast, my foot snapping a branch.

A roar.

A roar follows. A horrible sound—like chains of bone ringing against a rusted bell.

That is what provokes me to run even faster.

I will never, ever look back.

If I have seen something I shouldn’t have, please forgive me.

The sound of rapid footsteps behind me propel me to feel like screaming in terror. I don’t want to die. Not again, please.

The surroundings around me are reduced from beautiful trees to green blobs, my eyes not registering my surroundings, just the general area in front of me.

My breathing is frenzied, like if I take a single wrong breath, I’ll collapse and choke to death.

The only way to lose this thing is to make a sharp turn.

This is the only chance I have at survival.

I veer left, skidding, pushing off the ground to keep balance.

I continue running.

Desperately searching for anything that could help me, my mind kicks into overdrive.

Ah, this is adrenaline. This feeling of a dry mouth, my energy feeling limitless, and the world feeling numb. Everything feels slower.

It’s like opposite of euphoria. A desperate struggle against something that could kill me at a moment's notice.

That’s when something hard tackles me.

The world turns over, I have no longer any control over my body.

Something tears into my right arm, the feeling of pain shooting into my body.

I look up and get a good view.

Its body.

It’s about the size of a medium-sized lion, with bones scattered all over, like a coat of iron. Beneath the bone-like armor is all black, amorphous, and shifting. Like some kind of membrane.

It has no eyes, and right now…

It’s biting down on my arm, shaking its head frantically to tear it off. The feeling of intense pressure and burning is the only thing my brain can register at this moment. I can't move, as its body weight is on top of mine. It employs the same tactics as a lion, yet uses the same movement as a crocodile.

I cry out in pain.

If I stall any longer, this thing’s going to rip my arm off! No, it’s going to crush it first!

For what seems like an utter stroke of luck, a large rock the size of my hand is located to my left. Wasting no time, I grab it, not taking into account my nails cracking due to the sheer speed I grab the object.

“Khh!”

I slam the stone into the side of its head with as much power as I can.

It moves and releases my arm, to my surprise. But the bigger surprise is…

The stone chips.

However, despite the velocity I struck it with, it seems that it did not do lasting damage.

It tries to bite again. I dodge, then hit it once more.

This time, it barely reacts. Then clamps onto my shoulder.

Blood spills onto me and the grass.

“Ngh!”

I slam the creature again with the stone, but once again, it only chips.

Again.

No use.

Again.

No use.

Again, again, again.

I want to survive.

I want to live.

Again, again, again, again!!

I’ve hit the creature so many times, the surface of the rock has become like a knife.

If that’s the case, I can wedge it between the bones.

I twist right, stabbing the stone into its underside.

It shrieks, collapsing to its side.

Wasting no time, I stand up, backing away.

Then, it stands up and perks its head up, looking around.

A few seconds have passed, and it still remains searching around, like a lighthouse.

Why has it not pounced on me again? I’m not too far from it, so it could simply pin me down once again.

That’s when I realize.

It’s blind.

Of course, the lack of eyes would obviously indicate the lack of eyesight in this creature's body. If it’s blind, I can use it to my advantage, and maybe survive this.

I step back, making sure there are no obstacles that could potentially cause noise.

Of course, I don't know if this creature relies on sound to detect its surroundings, given the lack of ears, but it’s working for now.

The creature frantically turns around, letting out low growls. It sounds like a deep rattle.

Now that I get a better look at its general body, it seems more like the skeletal system of a Komodo dragon with a canine gait.

Again, I cannot believe that this creature is a real thing, but Im forced to.

Tall spines line its back, ending in a whip-like tail made of jointed segments.

It suddenly spins, the tail almost striking me.

I bend over, continuing my quiet escape.

In any normal situation, one would immediately run the other way after reaching a certain distance, but I feel if I were to do the same, I would be cut down immediately.

The next few minutes consisted of me moving slowly and calculating every move, despite the adrenaline wearing off my body.

My shoulder feels as if it were on fire, and my right arm feels flatter than usual, with immense pressure pushing down on it, as if it were crushed by a mechanical vice.

My head spins.

Damn it, the blood loss is getting to me.

I need to stop the blood. I have the fabric on my clothes, however, the sound of tearing fabric might potentially attract it.

The creature makes its way towards me, its head reared low, probably attempting to feel around its body.

Only a meter away now.

The sound of growling starts making my heart beat faster. If it can smell my blood…

I’m dead.

A branch that has fallen from a nearby tree is next to me. If I can…

I swiftly bend over and throw it at a bush behind it, the sound of rustling coming shortly after.

The creature wastes no time, rearing its appendage, and faster than my eye can see, stabs at the bush.

Taking the opportunity, I leap onto a nearby tree that looks different from the rest, one that I have never seen in my lifetime. Its surface is bumpy, and the color is a deep green.

Yet right now, I can't focus on that.

I place my legs around the trunk. Using my previously discarded blazer, I wrap it around the tree, leaping up and leveraging my weight. I continue to hop up the tree, using my still undamaged arm only.

The sound of clawing into the tree erupts from beneath me, making me scramble frantically, my gasping breaths coming out in short, wild bursts. It’s trying to bite down on my leg, leaping up and down, to seize that opportunity.

Finally, I make it to the top, wedging my feet on the side of a branch sticking upward, the top half of my body leaning on the other side of the Y-shaped split.

It’s an uncomfortable position, but it’s a far better alternative than being ripped to bits.

There's no time to rest. I need to find a way to get down. If this thing still followed at least basic rules of nature, it would go away after realizing I would not head back down.

That’s the case with bears. And most large cats. Trees are the safe haven for prey—a place of peace and solace, a contrast to the desperate, frantic chase.

I take a breath, clutching at my shoulder. I can finally rest for a moment.

Sweat drips down my body, clinging my shirt to my chest.

Biting into my blazer’s left sleeve, I jerk my head to the side and tear it apart.

Shit, I made a sound!

Well, it doesn’t matter anyway, I’m in a position far from it, so there's no chance it could do anything.

I wrap it around my shoulder, hopefully stopping the bleeding.

Quickly, I try to rip off another part. But the cloth isn’t fully separated, and I’m forced to use my left arm to finish the job, stabilizing it with my mouth.

My right arm is functionally useless at this point in time. It is mangled, barely hanging onto the rest of my forearm.

I’d be lying if I said tears didn’t run down my face from the pain. But they do.

The desperate tying is interrupted by a sudden scraping sound.

“KHKHKHKH…”

A harsh, grating noise. The sound of bone clawing against bark.

My eyes shoot down.

It’s using its tail to cut the tree.

It heard me.