Shin's eyes squinted against the sunlight breaking through the trees above. It was too bright, forcing him to blink a few times before he could sit up. His body felt heavy and sore, but not in a normal way. It was like his whole being had been pulled apart and shoved back together.
He looked down and froze. His clothes were spotless. The same scrubs and white coat he had worn at the hospital, only clean, as if they had never touched blood or dirt.
"What… happened to me…" he muttered, his voice hoarse.
Fragments of memory pushed against his mind. The sharp pain of being stabbed. The husband's furious eyes. The taste of blood in his mouth. Then darkness.
Shin groaned and grabbed his head as a wave of pain shot through his skull. "Ghh… damn it…"
The harder he tried to focus, the worse the pain became, until his vision blurred and he gave up. He leaned against a tree, forcing his breath steady.
"I'll… deal with that later. First, I need to figure out where the hell I am."
---
The forest stretched on and on. Trees as far as he could see, their branches blocking most of the sky. No roads, no buildings, no signs of people. Just the sound of leaves rustling and birds calling in the distance.
Shin kept walking, though he didn't know where he was going. His legs felt heavy, and every step dragged more than the last.
"How long has it been?" he muttered. "An hour? Two? No… it's gotta be longer than that…"
His throat burned with thirst, and the sweat sticking to his scrubs only made it worse. He tried to think of how far he'd walked, but he had no idea.
"Am I even going the right way?" he asked out loud, his voice shaking a little. "What if I've just been walking in circles?"
He laughed weakly at himself, but the sound didn't help. The forest swallowed the laugh, leaving him with the same quiet he'd been stuck in since waking up.
At one point, he stopped and leaned against a tree. His whole body trembled from the effort of walking so long. He slid down until he was sitting on the roots.
"Maybe this is it," he whispered, staring at the ground. "Maybe this is where I die for real."
The thought made his chest tighten. He buried his face in his hands, forcing himself to breathe.
"No," he said, shaking his head. "I didn't survive all that just to lay down and quit here." He pushed himself back to his feet, wobbling a little, and started walking again.
After what felt like forever, his voice cracked out in frustration. "Is anyone out there?!" he shouted.
The forest answered with silence. Then, suddenly, birds burst out of the trees ahead, scattering in every direction. Their wings slapped the air, and then they were gone, leaving the woods even quieter than before.
Shin stared after them, heart sinking. "Figures…" he muttered.
He dragged his feet a little more before finally, with a heavy sigh, Shin let himself fall back onto the grass. The blades tickled his neck as he lay there staring up through the gaps in the branches. His chest rose and fell fast, from exhaustion.
"Guess… this is as far as I go today," he muttered. "I should probably think of how to prepare a shelter for the night" he murmured to himself as he stayed like that, arms spread out, listening to the faint rustle of leaves above him. The ground was cool, and even though his body ached, it felt almost comforting.
Suddenly, he heard a loud cry for help. Shin immediately sat up. "Wait… was that… a voice?"
He stood there for a second, listening. The sound came again, faint but clear, from somewhere ahead. Without wasting time, he ran toward it. Branches smacked against his shoulders as he pushed through the trees, his shoes sliding on roots and dirt. His lungs burned, but he didn't stop.
Finally, the forest opened up, and he stumbled out into the evening sunlight.
Down the slope below, someone was lying on the ground.
Shin froze, squinting to make sure he wasn't imagining things. It was definitely a person. He quickly hurried down the hill, half sliding and almost falling on his butt before catching himself.
Upon getting closer, he froze.
It was a girl, she looked human at first, but as he moved closer, he realized her ears were furred, pointed, like a fox's, and a bushy tail lay limp beside her. Her chest rose and fell faintly, her breaths shallow.
Shin's eyes widened. "Is this… a person? A human?" he rubbed his eyes with both hands, then looked again. She was still there. Ears. Tail. A girl who was somehow human and not human at the same time.
The thought raced in his head, absurd yet undeniable. But whether she was human or not didn't matter. She was alive, and she was hurt. He knelt quickly to check her condition, but before he could, the rustle of leaves snapped his head up.
From the edge of the forest, a massive wolf walked out. Its fur was dark, its yellow eyes staring straight at him. Saliva dripped from its fangs as it growled low, the sound vibrating through Shin's chest.
His whole body stiffened as the wolf lowered itself, ready to pounce.
Shin's heart started racing. His legs trembled. He didn't have a weapon, no training, nothing. But, he forced himself to stand in front of the girl anyway.
"D-damn it… you better back off!" he shouted, raising his arms and trying to make himself look bigger. He stomped forward once, yelling as loud as he could. "Go on, get out of here!"
For a moment, the wolf stopped. It blinked, tilted its head, then suddenly growled louder. Shin thought he was done for until the beast slowly backed away.
Step by step, it lowered its head and retreated, disappearing into the trees again.
Shin stood there frozen, breathing hard. He couldn't believe it.
"…It actually worked?" he muttered.
Relief hit him, but his legs were shaking so bad he almost fell over. His heart was pounding like it wanted to burst out of his chest, and sweat dripped down his face and neck. If that wolf hadn't backed off, he would've been dead.
He spun back around and immediately hurried to the girls side, dropping to his knees in the dirt. Her arm had a few deep scratches, blood running down slowly, but at least it didn't look like she'd been ripped open. Still, if he left her like this, she could get an infection, or worse.
"Damn it," he whispered. He glanced around, desperate for anything he could use.
Suddenly there was a voice. It wasn't spoken, it wasn't even heard. It just sort of appeared inside his head, like the world itself had decided to say something to him.
[Ability Unlocked: Verdant Insight]
"Huh, was that a…..voice?" Shin thought to himself when suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his head.
The words burned into his mind, and suddenly he just knew things he shouldn't. Plants. Roots. Leaves. What they did. What they were good for. It was like someone had dumped a whole library of information into his brain all at once.
He blinked, looking around wildly until his eyes landed on a bunch of broad leaves growing near the bottom of a tree. And somehow, without ever studying them, he knew they aided pain relief and helped in stopping bleeding.
He didn't have time to think about how crazy it was. He rushed over, ripped a handful out, and crushed them up in his palm. The smell was sharp, almost minty.
He quickly slid back beside the girl and held the mashed leaves to her mouth. "Come on… just a little, okay? Chew it."
Her eyelids twitched. For a second, he thought she was gone, but then her lips parted and she weakly bit down on the leaves. Slowly, she chewed and swallowed. This put a huge smile of relief on his face.
"Better find some kind of shelter quick" He thought to himself as he watched the sun slowly go down
Shin picked her up carefully, trying not to hurt her arm more than it already was. She was lighter than he expected, but the walk still felt heavy. The forest was getting darker fast, and he didn't want to stay out in the open.
After a while, he spotted a small cave tucked between some rocks. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. He stepped inside, checked that nothing was living in it, then carried her in.
He set her down gently on the ground and slid her bag under her head to make a pillow. For a moment, he just sat there staring at her, exhausted.
"Hopefully it works," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck "But…..what was that voice from earlier?" He thought to himself as he stared at the stars above.
With a long sigh, he leaned back against the wall of the cave. His eyes felt heavy, but he forced himself to stay awake, just in case.