Cold.
That was the first thing that I felt.
It wasn't pain just simple cold seeping into the skin. It pressed against my back, my arms, and my neck.
My body lay upon something uneven and damp. I could feel dirt, leaves and stones under me.
Why am I on the ground?
The thought surface my consciousness
drifting up from a foggy void.
Light fell on me and stabbed my eyelids.
Too bright.
I tried to open my eyes but my eyelids didn't follow the order.
A groan came out of my mouth softly and then I tried to turn my head, it moved but the movement did not feel right.
It was slow, and delayed, like my body moved on it's own before I even formed a thought.
"Move" I murmered.
My fingers twiched.
Even that small motion of my fingers felt enormous.
I put all my strength to open my eyes and after a little struggle my eyes snapped open.
At first my vision was nothing but blured out shapes and colors. Green. Brown shadows layered over each other.
My heart beat then violently kicked in before reason.
Get up.
I inhaled in sharp breath and jerked myself up.
Air entered my lungs and cooled it down a little.
My chest rose fast and heart beat loudly.
My head moved left and right and my eyes wide scanning everything that felt unfamiliar.
Trees.
Too many trees.
Thick trunks rose up like pillars disappearing into a ceiling of tangeled branches far above.
Leaves overlapped with each other so densely that the sky was barely visible, broken only by thin threads of sunlight penetrating through them.
Forest.....
Why am I in a forest.
I couldn't bring anything to my mind of why I was lying in the middle of a forest.
I stayed and listened.
There were no footsteps. No voices. Just the distant hum of insects and wisper of leaves shifting in the wind.
"Where really am i" Those words slipped out of my mouth.
The sound of my voice surprise me.
There wasn't anything wrong, but it didn't feel right either.
My throat tightened. Slowly and carefully, i looked down at myself.
My hands sat on my knees. They were small and slim. Different from how I remember them.
I lifted my hand and moved my finger, it followed the instructions and moved....
This isn't my body. The realisation hit like a splash of icy cold water.
My breathing flattered and panicked.
"No... That's just not possible".
I touched my face. My jawline felt unfamiliar, my nose too. My hairs shorted than how I remembered them.
Panic crept in slowly.
What happened, did I change?
Or
Did I die?
The thought of dying felt cold and heavy.
I didn't want to believe that I died but the thought refused to left my body.
It I really died than what is this.
I tried to search inside my head. Desperately I tried to grasp something. A name or place or maybe a name. Anything.
But noting answered.
Inside of my head was completely empty.
It wasn't blurry nor was it damaged.
It's just empty.
"I don't remember how."
"I don't really remember anything at all"
Hands clenched into my fists.
Breathing became faster. I took support of a nearby tree.
"Calm down" I muttered to myself.
Panicking won't help.
I forced myself to breath slower.
Think. If this isn't my body than whose body is it. What happened to the owner of this body?
I again tried to search for memories... This time the body's memories. It's childhood, family, or a name.
But again the result was still the same.
There was nothing at all.
That scared me more than the forest.
The light shifted around me as I sat there.
I glancee up and realized the sun was already low, it's rays tilting through the canopy at an angle.
It's getting late.
Staying in the forest was a bad idea, that much I knew.
"I need to find somewhere safer. Staying here could be dangerous"
I pushed myself on my feet .
The moment I stood up, dizziness washed over me, but I steadied myself against a tree. The bark felt rough beneath mt palm but I felt real.
At least I am not injured.
Where should I go? There are no paths. No landmarks. No marks. Just an endless wave of trees everywhere.
After a moment and thinking for a long time I chose the only direction that made sense was the direction of the sun. And started walking.
Time blurred.
I walked until my legs ached, until my breath grew heavy. But the forest never changed. The same trees and the same shadows kept repeating again and again.
How big is this forest?
By that time the sun had already disappeared completely, swallowed by the horizon. Darkness crept in, it was thick and oppressive. The moon rose, pale and distant.
The distance felt even longer due to the branches that didn't let the moonlight reach the forest floor.
It made the forest completely dark. As if I was locked in a dark room. The navigation became harder and harder.
I had to stretch my hands out to not crash into a tree.
Just then.
Light.
I froze for a moment.
Far ahead, between the trees, a faint orange glow flickered.
It's fire.
Hope surged through my chest so fast that it almost hurt.
Someone's there.
I moved towards it fast, not worrying about tripping on something.
I moved toward it fast, but as I drew close I instinctively slowed down.
My footsteps softened. My breath became more careful.
I slipoed behind a thick tree and peeked around it.
A man sat beside a fire.
He was cooking something, it smelled really good. His movements were calm and unhurried. A dagger hung at his waist.
The man ate peacefully, as if the forest pised him no danger at all.
He is armed. Stay quite.
I took a step back and
Crack
"Oh shoot"
The sound of a twig snapping echoed sharply through the trees.
No, no, no I screamed in my mind.
The man moved instantly.
"Who is there"?
My throat licked.
"Come out" The man said coldly.
The dagger came out.
"Wait" I blurted out.
"I am coming out".
I stepped into the firelight with my hands raised.
The man scanned carefully.
" Who are you, kid? "
"What are you doing deep into the forest".
" I.... I'm lost" I said quickly without wasting any time. "I swear, I am not lying"
The man stared for a few seconds.
Then lowered his dagger.
Relief washed over me.
Right then, the aroma of the food reached my nose and my stomach growled lowdwly.
The man blinked and then laughed.
"Hungry?"
We sat together by the fire.
Warm food. Warm light. It felt unreal.
"What's your name? " Man asked.
"I.... I don't know" I replied
"I.... Can't remember anything"
The man frowned.
"Did you hit your head?"
"Maybe"
"What are you doing here" This time I asked the question.
"I roamed the forest for hours. There is nothing out here".
The man smiled faintly as he spoke.
" You might have heard of me. Or atleast, the you with memories".
He met the boy's eyes.
"I'm a Neutralizer"
"A Neutralizer?"
"Currently I'm after somebody who stoke something really important"
"Why"
The man said "enough talk. I'll take you to the town"
"Maybe you'll find somebody there who knows you"
The man then picked a stick with fire on it. Then extinguished the fire.
We walked for hours
It was getting harder to walk and cold was getting to much to keep up with.
Hours later, a scream tore through the forest.
It did not sound like an animal.
The man followed the direction of the scream and I followed him.
A bodyay on the ground, bolld leaking from his eyes, nose and ears.
"He is the one" The man said.
"What happened here. What could have done this to him" I asked him.
My gaze then drifted.
A glowing bracelet lay near the body.
"It's glowing" I spoke.
The man frowned. "No, it not"
Another bracelet lay around there. The man picked it up.
"What do you mean, it's clearly glowing"
I slipped the bracelet onto my wrist and then it shrunk down to the size of my wrist.
"Look..... "
Just then the jewel on the bracelet flickered.
I turned around.
The man behind me stood frozen, his eyes white.
A dark shadow spilled from the bracelet in the man's hand.
The shadow formed a hand and touched the man's forehead with it's finger.
"What's going on. Say somet... "
And before I could even complete what I was saying the man's head exploded and the blood flew everywhere.