Chapter 2:

Wtf's happening?

The Last Dawn (TLD)


 The night fell and an apparently common forest gradually changed. The birds, once singing, were replaced by cicadas, grasshoppers and other insects. The mist, once driven away by the sun, gradually returned and embraced the abundant vegetation, forming a veil that, illuminated by the 3 large moons in the sky, dyed the forest with a mysterious silver tone.


 In the midst of this gloomy forest, there lay a small clearing, apparently unnatural, with a diameter of 2 meters. This small circular anomaly not only stood out for looking like a small circular prison, because of the voluminous vegetation around it, but also for the displaced figure that lay unconscious in its center.


 This figure was Alex, who at that moment was lying on his side and slightly curled up. His head was in an uncomfortable position due to the lack of support and dry blood could be seen in his hair.


 An insect that flew through the region, similar to a firefly, landed on his pointed nose. What differentiated it from the standard was the exotic silver color of its light. After the insect landed on the nose of the moribund body lying down, as a trigger, the body stretched out, when Alex's eyes opened abruptly with some shock and his mouth breathed in as much air as he could in a powerful. *Gasp*


 *Cough, Cough, Cough* After the powerful air inhalation, coughs were heard when Alex writhed in a fetal position due to an inexplicable burning in his lung. This burning made his clear eyes fill with tears as his body twisted in agony.


 After a few breaths, with his lung now stopping burning, Alex found himself thrown on a dirt floor. Turning his belly up, Alex could see 3 silver lights, blurred behind a veil of mist that stretched everywhere.


 With his mind empty Alex finally asks himself: "Am I… alive?!" Feeling the cold breeze of the forest, Alex gives up on the stupid question and sits down, observing his surroundings.


 "I surely died… I… guess?" , "Did those bastards throw me in a park for fear of a lawsuit or something? Shit, it doesn't make sense."


 Looking at his surroundings, Alex becomes apprehensive, after all, the closest he had been to a dense forest was watching Bear Grylls on his TV. "What do I do now." Alex murmurs as he runs his finger up his nose to adjust his glasses, only to realize that there are no glasses to be adjusted.


 "My eyes, I can see perfectly without glasses." He thinks surprised, then he brings his hand to the top of his head. "It doesn't hurt and it seems to have no injury, but my hair is stiff, probably from the dry blood that I felt dripping from my head." He states.


 "Ok, there is something very strange here, I don't know where I am, but it looks like a very dense forest, the mist prevents me from seeing very far away, maybe the three lights that I see in the sky are some building or tower of this.. park? I think..." Alex concludes as he gets up.


 "It's better for me to go towards those lights in the sky… I'll get the camera footage and sue all these motherfuckers who threw me here." He states as he enters the forest.


~~~


 After a short time walking through the vegetation towards the lights, grumbling curses and insults, Alex walked slowly while paying attention not to trip over the roots and vegetation, but something caught his attention when he passed by a large tree that had a very different color: Its trunk was navy blue, as thick as the small circle that Alex had woken up in, the tree canopy couldn't be seen, hidden by the silver mist. "What a gigantic tree, and what an exotic color, how have I never heard of this species before." Alex exclaimed as he approached and touched his hand on its trunk.


 "Ahh... I think I'm still a little dazed, I thought about taking a picture of the tree but I didn't think about checking the time or my location on the GPS, haha." He thought amusingly as he reached into his pocket for his cell phone.


Left pocket: empty, right: empty, back: empty… "Fuck!! It's obvious that those bastards robbed me too!" He said out loud venting his frustration.


 Shrinking back to the thick tree, looking at the ground, he comments: "At least my crocs were in sport mode and didn't come off my feet from the impact or when they brought me here." He joked ironically.


 With his energy restored by his joke, Alex completes as he gets up: "Now I just need to cross this dense and strangely sinister forest, get to the 3 buildings in the distance, explain why I'm dirty with dirt and blood that, even though it's mine, I have no injury to prove it, go to the police station to file a report, find some way to go home without money, cle… ok, this day sucks." Alex thinks, losing all the energy he had acquired before.


 When in the midst of sighs and lamentations, a whistling noise is heard in the distance that, for some reason, makes Alex's back shiver at once.


 As if by instinct, Alex forgets his previous drama and hides behind a large bush that could hide him from the direction where he heard the sinister whistle.


 Alex, who tried to control his strong breathing so as not to make too much noise, was betrayed by his sincere heart that beat at full speed.


 Between a gap in the bush, he watched attentively the direction of the whistle, which was opposite to the lights in the sky, that is, from where he had just left. Several drops of sweat formed on his forehead, despite the cold temperature of the forest, as he stared intently, almost without blinking, afraid of missing something.


 A creature began to be slightly discernible on the horizon. Large horns.. quadruped shape.. Alex sighed when he realized it looked like just a deer. His tension that was gradually relaxing when he gave a smile preparing to say some self-deprecating line about his inexplicable fear, when his face froze.


 What before seemed a slightly discernible figure of a deer, slightly covered by the mist, became more sinister.


 Its upper part stretched out and showed its long front limbs that were almost twice as long as its hind limbs and what looked like arms came out of what was supposed to be its deer head, while 2 red dots that were supposed to be its eyes could be seen shining in a malignant way.


 This hideous and frightening creature that emitted a sharp and disturbing whistle stood still while moving its head from side to side as if looking for something.


 Alex watched that grotesque creature that seemed to have come straight from hell with terror while holding his breath.


 A second noise could be heard in the distance, making the monstrous creature's head look in the direction of the noise which, thank God, was in the opposite direction of Alex's and, with a hoarse and dry roar, it ran quickly and rhythmically towards the noise.


 Taking advantage of the creature's departure Alex turned and now, not worrying much about tripping over roots or getting hurt by thorns from some plants along the way, he ran frantically.


~~~


 20 minutes later, Alex was already exhausted, now standing in an area without vegetation, he looked incredulous as the cold breeze came into contact with his sweat-soaked face.


 In front of him, a large lake could be seen and, being in a small depression, the mist between the treetops that blocked Alex's view and hid the 3 silver lights, now formed a sheet under the lake, making it look like a sea of clouds, while leaving the night sky more visible.


 3 large silver moons could be seen just above the treetops that were furthest away on the other side of the lake.


 "This is really a problematic sight… 3 moons, giant trees with exotic colors, demonic beasts… I really didn't want to think about this, but I can't avoid it. Either I'm in hell, or, just like in some works of fiction, I was revived and transmigrated to another world." Alex reasoned.


 "However, no hot goddess offered me wishes for my pathetic previous death, I don't have memories of this world that can help me and much less do I have any cheat that can protect me in this situation." Alex thought ridiculously. 


 "I guess I can only continue in this direction so as not to go around in circles, but I must be quick, I don't know how the night works or the rotation of these giant moons, I will go around this lake by the low vegetation, with as much distance as possible from the water, I don't know what bizarre creature would hide there." He decides.

~~~


 "Ahh… Finally." After more than an hour walking straight after circling the lake, Alex sighs at the border between a lush and misty forest and a low plantation that stretched to the horizon.

 Without the mist, with the abundant illumination of the 3 silver moons, it was even possible to see a dirt road that ran through the low plantation.


 Soaked in sweat and still euphoric from the frightening encounter with the infernal beast, Alex thanks inwardly for finally finding something that seems minimally recognizable when he hears in the distance the unforgettable whistle he heard earlier.


 "No, no, no, not fucking way." Even though the noise was further away, Alex definitely doesn't want to stay even one more second near this sinister forest, so he runs to the dirt road and continues on the path that takes him as far away as possible from this forest.


 "After all this, I think I still have some luck." He thinks, taking hurried steps down the road. In the midst of a silver night, a man in dirty and slightly battered clothes walked on a dirt road surrounded by some kind of low plantation as far as the eye could see.


 Over time, the forest he had escaped earlier could no longer be seen anywhere on the horizon and in front of him he could see in the distance a small human settlement. "Thank God…" Alex commented heading towards what seemed like the end of his hell.