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“What the hell..?”
You murmured as you squinted your eyes, trying to get them adjusted to the sun’s bright rays, but failing. You slowly sat up, noting a slight buzzing painful sensation to the back of your head. What the hell happened? You couldn’t remember anything, as if someone had wiped your memory by pressing a reset button…well this wasn’t ideal. Actually it was quite the inconvenience.
You tried desperately to remember anything, anything at all. Your family, your home, hell, anything! But all your attempts ended up being futile, they only served to make things a whole lot worse as you realised you didn’t even remember your name…great. So basically, you didn’t know who you are, you didn’t know where you were from, or even how you got there…wherever “there” was. What a wonderful way to start your day.
You took some deep breaths to ground yourself before you could have a panic attack, which luckily worked. You then decided to finally see where you were, and you tried to open your eyes once more, this time successfully. You kept your head low so as to gradually get your eyes adjusted to the light and saw…grass? You were in…a field. A beautiful lush field.
You stared at the grass surprised as you had no idea what you were doing just sleeping on the ground in a random field. Not that not remembering anything was less strange or even troubling, but whatever. You then slowly raised your head, blinking a couple times as the sun rays almost blinded you again. Using one arm to provide shade for your sore eyes, you looked around. The view ahead of you was as beautiful as it was unexpected.
“...Where the hell am I…?” You muttered as you tuned out the pain in the back of your head. You were indeed in a field, not too far from a huge oak tree, which had a big beehive on its side. There were unnaturally big fuzzy bees happily buzzing about in search of flowers, completely unbothered by the world around them. Around you, a bunch of farm animals were happily grazing the rich field without a care in the world, not an owner in sight.
In fact, aside from the animals, you realised you were completely and utterly alone, and yet that wasn’t the most concerning matter at hand. You were far too concerned with figuring out where you were, or how you got there, or who you were. I mean…people don’t just randomly lose their memories and wake up in fields! But this is getting redundant so let’s move on. Caught up in your confusion, you stood up, brushing the dust and mud off your clothes. You must’ve been out cold for a while it seemed.
As you got lost in your thoughts, a bee flew right into you, likely distracted and not expecting there to be an obstacle. “Aww, I’m so sorry, little guy! I didn’t mean to get in your way” You said with a smile as you moved out of the way. The bee gave you a curious look before buzzing back to its beehive, disappearing into it. You watched as it left, but snapped out of it as you decided it wasn’t the time to get distracted.
You were in an unfamiliar place, completely alone and vulnerable to literally anything. Your priority was to find shelter. You couldn’t sleep on the grass after all, your back was already starting to ache. Yep, you must have been out cold for quite a while for your body to be aching like this. The lack of traces of human life so far only confused you further as to why you were there, but you figured a good walk would at least help your aching legs.
You stretched your limbs and your back as you started scanning your surroundings in search for any signs of human civilization. You tried looking for anything at all, but nothing. To your dismay, there was nothing. Nothing but nature at its wildest state. Not a single trace of a human even having been there before. So then what were YOU doing here? Uff, so many questions, yet not a single answer…you decided to focus on either finding shelter or making one yourself…somehow.
As you looked around some more, you spotted a stream of water that flowed into a nearby birch forest. Well that was a start…You decided to follow the water into the forest, captivated by the idea of at least going on a little adventure for the time being. Besides, where there’s water there’s food for sure. You had to stay positive after all! Sure, the idea of being stranded in an unknown place with no memories at all about yourself or even how you got there was concerning to say the least; but you might as well make the best out of the situation, right? After all, what could ever go wrong?
As you followed the small river, you were accompanied by the sounds of nature. The birds chirped happily as the sound of the trees leaves rustling and the river water rushing helped you feel at ease. You were finally starting to relax, finding comfort in the harmonies nature offered. However, your peace was abruptly interrupted by a faint distant growl, followed by someone's shrieks. Wait, someONE. You felt relieved and happy at the sound of someone's voice, maybe they could help you!
You were too caught up by the idea of finding an actual person that you didn’t even consider the fact they may not be as kind as you were hoping. After all, you didn’t want to believe someone could have ill intentions. Not in your situation at least. As the sounds got louder and louder, you didn’t even hesitate to hop into view, and the sight was…quite the surprise to you. Just ahead of you stood…a skeleton.
A living, talking skeleton, being harassed by a wolf. The wolf suddenly pounced on the skeleton, which protected itself with a bow. Like, the damn weapon. That’s when you noticed the quiver strapped to the skeletons back. Maybe it was a hunter? Wait, what the hell were you even thinking?? It’s a skeleton! It doesn’t have a stomach! Or like…any other organs really! But maybe it wasn’t hunting for food…
Actually hold on a second, how was a damn skeleton even standing up?? Didn’t people need cartilage and muscles for that?? Oh lords, even more questions…regardless, you were very iffy at that point. You were not expecting the voice to have come from a skeleton after all, especially not one armed with a bow and arrows! You were starting to consider leaving, but something wouldn’t let you.
As you watched the two struggle at a deadly game of tug of war with the bow, the skeleton suddenly looked up at you, staring at you quietly with wide eyes. It stared at you for a second, its gaze both terrified and calculating as it still struggled against the beast. In that moment it hit you. The realisation that the mysterious skeleton was just as scared of you as you were of it- or them. “It” sounds a bit rude…Maybe it was just you attributing human traits and emotions to a husk, but that didn’t matter. Not in that moment at least.
In that moment you realised you had to make a choice, and fast. You could either help this…strange creature, or leave them to probably die. You didn’t know what to do for a moment, you were still very much shocked after all. Plus, what if this skeleton tried hurting you after you helped them? They were still armed after all, and you had nothing to defend yourself with! And yet…your heart was too big for your own good.
Once you made up your mind, you didn’t hesitate at all. You grabbed a stick off the ground and wildly waved it in the air. “Here boy!! Look here!” The wolf's ears perked up immediately as its head snapped back to look at you, letting go of the skeleton’s bow. The plan seemed to work as the wolf’s eyes were now following the stick, finding it to be the most interesting thing in the world. You smiled as your arm winded back, and you threw the stick as far as you could. “Go fetch!”
Before you could even finish those two words, the wolf had already zoomed past the line of trees, running and jumping wildly over obstacles. You looked back at the skeleton, who just stood there, looking confused out of their mind…or…skull. Hey, any time is a good time to crack jokes, ok? Speaking of their skull, you took notice of a small crack in their skull. It was in their left eye socket. It barely reached where the skeleton's eyebrow would be.
As you took the time to study the undead creature in front of you, said creature didn’t waste a second to do the same to you. You failed to notice how their grip on the bow had tightened but before either of you could make any move, the sounds of the wolf running back scared the skeleton off. The undead creature took off running into the dense forest, and in that moment you realised how easily the creature could blend into the birch trees.
For some reason you found that to be very…creepy. What if there were more of those skeletons just…lurking around? Armed, nonetheless! With long range weapons too! If anything, this was the perfect hunting ground for them! As you grew paranoid, you felt something brush against your right hand, snapping you out of your thoughts. Looking down, you found the wolf, trying to give you back the stick you had thrown. The wolf looked up at you with now big bright eyes, there was no trace of the feral beast from earlier.
You smiled as you took it, carefully petting the wild animal, surprised that it was suddenly docile enough even for pets. That made you wonder however…if this wolf was so aggressive toward skeletons, if you kept it around you’d be safe, right? That skeleton looked terrified of the wolf after all. Surely if there were other skeletons around, they’d stay away from the wolf. Suddenly, all your nerves were gone as you relaxed once more, carrying on with your adventure with your new friend. Little did you know that skeleton from earlier hadn’t left.
They stared at you, feeling a mix of confusion and curiosity, along with a hint of…something else. Something they haven't felt in many, many years. Confused and frightened by the now foreign feeling, the skeleton glanced down at their weapon. They looked at their bow, pondering it for a moment too long before deciding to follow you from afar. Just like a wolf stalking its prey, they quietly followed, carefully sticking to the shade.
They stalked tirelessly, not a single sound being let out. Not even that of their bones rattling. They watched as you strolled through the forest, blissfully unaware of its dangers. All you paid attention to was throwing the stick around for the wolf to fetch. The creature halted as you finally stopped walking and sat on a rock at the edge of a river. Seems you finally found the river from before once more. You swung your legs in the air as you watched the wolf jump into the water, happily hopping and splashing about.
You leaned back as you enjoyed the small break, giggling at the wolf’s silly behaviour. As the animal happily jumped and ran about in the stream of water, it splashed some water at you. Caught off guard, you jumped as you let out a surprised yelp before laughing. You then jumped into the river as well, the water reaching just below your knees. You tried chasing the wolf as it playfully ran off before looking back at you as you tried splashing water at it.
Both you and the oh so wild and feral beast were enjoying yourselves, both ignorant of the danger lurking just out of sight. The skeleton took a deep breath as they held up their bow, slowly reaching for an arrow from their quiver. They took their time to aim, however…They hesitated to shoot for the first time in their life- or uhm…after-life? The skeleton sighed quietly as they lowered their weapon, trying to recompose themselves, growing frustrated.
“Come on numbskull, it’s just a stupid human…you’ve done this a million times already. Stop being a wuss.” The skeleton mumbled to themselves as they raised their bow once more. However, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get themselves to shoot. No, not at you. You had just saved their life after all…what human would ever do that for a skeleton? None! Only a stupid, foolish human would! They’d spare you a horrible death by the hands of the other mobs. They tried to reason with themselves…but still couldn’t do it.
They groaned quietly as they lowered their weapon once more, feeling useless. Feeling defeated. Defeated by a human who didn’t even know they won. Their head hung low as they leaned against the tree trunk next to themselves, watching as you so carelessly played with the wolf. You were so relaxed, so distracted and happy that you had no idea they could have killed you so easily. For some reason that just made the mob feel even worse.
The defeated skeleton watched quietly as you and your new friend started walking once more, heading for the exit of the forest before leaving, going in the opposite direction. The skeleton looked up at the tree leaves as they noticed the subtle change in lighting. The sun would set soon, and you clearly had no idea what that meant. Hell, you had just helped a damn skeleton! You! A human! The skeleton stopped in their tracks as they thought about it for a moment.
That wolf would be no help at night. You had not tamed it, not that you could have. You didn’t have the bones for it. Then again…you could have used their bones…and yet you spared them. The skeleton groaned in frustration as they realised how dearly your one act of kindness would cost you, and as much as it wasn’t their problem…they felt responsible. At least responsible enough to return the favour. They didn’t know why, hell they didn’t want to help you, but he owed you.
Right then, that foreign feeling from earlier came back. Whatever it was, it felt unnatural to the mob, like it went against their nature. And yet…it filled them with…purpose. The skeleton finally made up their mind, turning back around and going in the direction you went, their pace quicker than earlier. They stopped at the edge of the forest as they saw you and the wolf not too far. You had reached a field with a large ravine in the middle. You were kneeling on the soft grass, peeking into the ravine curiously.
Yep, definitely a stupid human. An idiot, even. The skeleton thought to themselves, not amused. But that’s enough of the skeleton's thoughts. Back to you.
You looked down into the deep ravine, taking notice of the glimmering ores scattered around the ravines’ rocky walls. The only thing between you and the beautiful shining rocks was the height. You felt a light shiver go down your spine as you looked down at the bottom. That was definitely tall enough to kill you on impact if you were to fall, and the stalagmites down below sure as hell didn’t look like they’d soften the fall. It definitely wasn’t worth risking your life. Not even for those pretty rocks.
You sighed in defeat as you leaned back, sitting on the soft grass as your wolf friend let out a curious sound, rubbing its head into your side. You smiled as you pet the friendly wild animal. Just then you looked up at the sky and noticed the sun was starting to set. Great…soon you’d be engulfed in darkness, all alone. Just you and…a wolf…and…oh. Oh shit. A shelter!! You jumped up on your feet, realising how foolishly you had spent the whole day frolicking and playing with a wild animal instead of finding cover for the night.
You took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down as you reasoned with yourself. Everything was ok! You were ok! It was just…a bit of darkness! Besides, the moonlight would still help you see. It wasn’t the end of the world! It was just…inconvenient. Surely there was nothing to worry about. You took a deep breath as you looked down at the wolf that was still following you around. You looked at the animal and at the sunlight quickly fading over the horizon, the stars and the moon now faintly illuminating the world around you.
As you looked at the fading sunlight, a silhouette caught your attention. A strange structure, far from you, was now visible as it blocked what was left of the sunlight. You squirted your eyes as you made out the shape of…a house! Civilization! You let out a relieved sigh at the sight as your shoulders relaxed. See? Everything was fine! You had just found shelter! Even though it was pretty far from you…and there was a huge ravine blocking your way, but it’s ok! You could just…go and ask the house owners very nicely if you could stay for the night!
As you looked into the wolf’s curious eyes, it tilted its head. “Look buddy, a house! Let’s go, I don’t want to spend the night outside.” You said as you pet the animal, starting to think that maybe the night wasn’t destined to be that bad after all. That was until you saw the wolf's ears perk up as it cautiously sniffed the air. You watched in worry and confusion as you saw the wolf’s ears lower on the sides of its head. It growled angrily as it turned around. It was back to that feral state you found it in…oh no. That meant…
You looked in the direction the wolf was running into, anxiety starting to build up as you saw them…there they were. A group of six skeletons, some of which were already aiming their bows…at you. As the wolf charged at them, the skeletons scattered, but the wolf only focused on one of them. All the other monsters focused on you once more…shit. In that moment you bolted off without hesitation, your body full of adrenaline. You ran on the edge of the ravine as some arrows flew past you.
You ran as fast as your legs would allow you until in front of you, not too far, you saw three people. -Wait, people!! Maybe they were the people that lived in that house! You decided to test your luck as you ran toward them, flailing your arms to get their attention and shouted: “Hey!! Please help! There’s skeletons trying to shoot me and- WHAT THE FUCK!” You screamed in horror as they turned around. They were…green. They were fucking green with black eyes and they smelled like rotting corpses and oh my lords they were zombies!
By then you were too close and you were running too fast to stop or change direction. Besides, those skeletons were still chasing you down, shooting at you. You did the only thing you could think of and threw yourself into a dodge roll as one of the zombies swung its arm at you, trying to catch you. You scrambled back to your feet as fast as you could as one zombie almost grabbed you. As you went back to running you heard one of the zombies let out a pained growl as you saw an arrow fly past you, but you didn’t dare turn around.
As you ran, almost reaching the end of the ravine, you were filled with determination to get to that house. You pushed yourself as far as your legs would allow you. Even when an arrow was shot at your right shoulder from behind, you didn’t stop running. You let out a pained cry, but you. Didn’t. Stop. You jumped over the edge of the ravine once it was small enough, successfully landing on the other side. Now safety was so much closer. As you kept running you saw the house grow bigger and bigger. Your eyes widened slightly, lighting up with hope.
You watched as more skeletons and zombies crawled out of the ground, peeked out of the forest…they were coming from everywhere. Just- what the hell was going on?? Why were undead creatures appearing all of a sudden and why did they want to kill you? And why at night? None of this made sense! This must’ve been a bad dream, surely! Just a nightmare…but then, why did that arrow hurt? Why could you still feel your blood trickling down your back and soaking your clothes?
With each step you took, with each slight movement of your shoulder, the arrow shot waves of pain through your body. Although, you didn’t doubt your adrenaline was numbing out most of the pain, but still. How could this be just a dream if it felt so real…? As you thought to yourself, you got so close to the house. It was right there. Only a little more running and- You ran into something…hard.
The thing seemed almost unphased, only stumbling back a bit, while you took most of the hit. You fell back on the grass with a soft thump, the arrow hitting the ground so hard it snapped. The arrow embedded itself deeper into your shoulder as you let out a pained gasp. Your vision flashed white for a moment as your mind was unable to register anything for a moment. Anything except for a soft hissing sound. It sounded almost like a snake.
Confused, you finally looked up as you saw a green creature. A damn green creature, just as tall as you, with four feet and no arms…with an angry frown…hissing. You stared in horror as it started flashing white, little sparks coming out of its body. It then hit you. This thing was exploding! Your eyes widened as you rushed back to your feet and ignored the pain, trying to get away from the thing…but you were too late.
It exploded just a few meters away from you, sending you flying into the ground once more, but this time you didn’t have the strength to get back up. Your head spun as your vision blurred. Your entire body was in so much pain, yet felt numb at the same time. You forced your eyes open as you saw where the creature exploded, only to see a crater in the ground. Over the cloud of smoke the creature left behind, you could barely make out the outline of the house…you were so close…
You watched hopelessly, defeated. Suddenly all your strength and determination was drained, gone. Safety was now so close…yet so far. You couldn't even get your body to respond as you begged it to get up, crawl…anything. In fact, you barely felt the cold hand on your shoulder that was turning you around on the soft yet cold grass and dirt. As your tired eyes looked up at whoever had turned you around, you saw a skeleton.
Not just any skeleton, it had a small crack on its skull…well shit. If you had a chance before, it was definitely gone now. Was this really how you were going to die? This close to safety? By the hand of the skeleton you saved just a few hours prior too? It felt like life was making fun of you. Mocking you for even thinking you could make it.
It was so unfair…yet you couldn’t do anything. You had barely woken up in an unknown place without any memories. You saved a skeleton. You had made a friend until it left you in your darkest moments…and now this. The same skeleton you saved was about to end your life. This felt like a cruel joke, and your misery was the punchline. You felt angry at the thought that all your efforts were for nothing, but once again, you couldn’t do anything about it. What a waste.
You just looked up at the undead creature as your eyelids grew heavier with each passing second, ready to accept your fate. The mobs cold bright white pupils stared into your tired eyes. You could’ve sworn the mob looked almost uncertain, but you brushed it off. Why bother? You were going to die anyway. All your anger was replaced by tiredness. Maybe a little sleep wouldn’t hurt, right…? The skeleton stared down at you as your eyes closed one last time, and you let the cold hands of sleep carry you away so effortlessly.
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And then you woke up.
“...what the fuck…?” You murmured as you…woke up. But…but you died. You could've sworn you died, and yet…you woke up…Was this a joke?? Cause it wasn’t funny! As you opened your eyes once more, you were met with…three weird looking bald men with big noses. You thought you were hallucinating for a moment, but after closing your eyes and reopening them a few times, they were still there.
…what…the fuck. This was surely a dream, right? You tried moving your hand to pinch your arm, until a sharp pain to your shoulder stopped you, shoving all the air out of your lungs. You then remembered the arrow that was shot at you the previous night. Those damn skeletons had terrifyingly good aim, huh? You tried reaching for the arrow with your good hand…but it was gone.
It couldn’t have been a dream…you remember the exact moment it hit you. In fact, the pain was still there, the blood was still there, but the arrow was gone. Someone must’ve removed it while you were out cold…but who? Wait, could that one skeleton have helped you? But…why even? Weren't they trying to kill you? No…no it couldn’t have been that skeleton. It must’ve thought you died, for sure…but then, how did no other monsters try to kill you?
How come no monster actually checked if you were dead or not? Uuughh, it felt like each minute that went by you had a new question, but still no answers! You felt defeated by the lack of answers, just opting to see what the strange people were murmuring about. They had been whispering and mumbling to each other since you woke up. Actually they were probably doing it even before that. Regardless, you listened.
“Do you think she's ok?” “She looks messed up.” “Maybe she's deaf.” “Or maybe she doesn't understand us.” You looked up at them, still a bit cautious as you carefully stood up, the three men taking a step back as well. “First off…I think I'm ok. Second, that's rude. And third, no I am not deaf. And yes I do understand you.” You said calmly as you brushed the dirt and debris from the explosion off of your clothes.
Damn, your clothes were a mess. You grimaced at the sight, but brushed it off for the time being. Speaking of which…You looked at the three men, examining their clothes for a moment. One was definitely a farmer, the straw hat gave it away. The second one wore a leather apron over a brown tunic, and the third wore a green tunic. You couldn’t really tell what these two were, but you decided to ask later on. You didn’t want to seem rude.
One of the men, the one with the green tunic, was about to speak up when a different guy beat him to it. “That's good to know, dear. Please, come with me.” You looked past the three men as they moved out of the way. As you looked at the man that just spoke, he looked way calmer than the other men, almost as if this was a normal occurrence to him. He had gentle eyes and a calm smile.
He was wearing a brown tunic with a white cloth hung over one of his shoulders, held in place by a rope around his waist. He also had a strange red and white hat…actually he kinda looked like a librarian of some kind. You stood there for a moment as he started walking off, likely expecting you to follow him, which you quickly did, feeling the other three men's eyes follow you.
Unbeknownst to you, or the men, the same skeleton from the previous night was watching from afar. Observing from the treeline of the forest as you were taken in by the villagers. The undead creature let out a quiet satisfied hum as they started walking off. As they walked past the other undead survivors of the night, they ignored their glares and murmurs. “Now we're even.” The skeleton thought to themselves, finally not feeling any more obligations toward some common mortal.