Guys, my name is Lee, and what I am about to tell you does not belong to my present life. This story comes from a time almost four hundred years ago, from a life I lived before this one. Back then, my name was Jack.
In that previous life, I lived in a small, forgotten village in what is now part of the United States. It was a quiet place, surrounded by endless forests where the trees stood tall and thick, blocking the sky itself. The people there lived simple lives, far from cities and far from hope. I was born into poverty, and misfortune followed me from the very beginning.
I never knew my parents. My entire childhood was spent under the care of my grandfather. He was an old man with tired eyes and rough hands, but his heart was kind. He raised me as best as he could, teaching me not only how to survive, but how to think. At night, when the world grew silent, he used to tell me stories—stories about my parents.
He said they were good people. Hard-working. Loving. One day, while traveling to another place for work, they met with a terrible accident. They never came back. That single event changed my fate forever. Not long after telling me this truth, my grandfather also passed away, leaving me completely alone in the world.
By the time I turned eighteen, I had no family, no protection, and no future waiting for me.
Poverty became my shadow. There were days when I survived on nothing but water. Sometimes I ate once a day, sometimes not at all. To stay alive, I worked in the forest. Every morning, I carried my axe into the jungle, cutting wood and selling it in the nearby town. It was dangerous work, but hunger gave me courage where fear failed.
One day, exhaustion and greed pushed me to make a terrible decision.
I thought, If I go deeper into the forest, I can find thicker and more valuable wood. Everyone knew that the deeper parts of the jungle were forbidden. People spoke of wild animals, strange disappearances, and cursed lands. No one went there willingly. But when a man has nothing to lose, even death stops feeling frightening.
That day, I walked farther than ever before.
The forest changed as I moved deeper. The air became heavy. The sounds of birds disappeared. Even the wind felt afraid to move. I chopped wood for hours until my arms burned and my legs trembled. Finally, I could no longer stand. That was when I noticed something strange—a cave, hidden behind thick bushes and shadows.
I stepped inside to rest.
The cave was cold and damp. The smell of earth and age filled my lungs. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, my hand brushed against something solid. It was a book—ancient, dirty, and torn, as if it had been abandoned for centuries. I wiped the dust off and opened it carefully.
The book was written in Spanish.
To my surprise, I could read it easily. My grandfather had taught me both English and Spanish when I was young. He believed knowledge was the strongest weapon a poor man could possess.
As I read, my heart began to beat faster.
The book spoke of powers—powers borrowed from wild animals. It described rituals, sacrifices, and tests meant only for those willing to walk the path of fear. At first, I laughed. It sounded like madness, like a story meant to scare children. But the deeper I read, the more real it felt.
According to the book, to obtain these powers, I had to perform a ritual for 21 consecutive days.
Every night, exactly at 12 o'clock, I had to come to the forest and enter the cave. I had to meditate and chant specific words for one full hour. After completing the ritual, I had to bring one kilogram of chicken meat, place it inside the forest, and leave immediately—without ever looking back.
One warning was written again and again:
If you look back, you will lose everything.
Fear wrapped itself around my soul, but desperation whispered louder. I had nothing. No family. No future. If this book was a lie, I would lose nothing. But if it was true… everything could change.
There was only one problem.
I was poor.
Buying meat every day was impossible for me. So I swallowed my pride and went to my friend Jimmy. He lived in the same village but was far better off than me. I told him I needed money. He hesitated, then gave it to me, warning me to return it soon.
That very night, I began.
At exactly midnight, I entered the forest. Darkness surrounded me like a living thing. Strange noises echoed from every direction—howls, whispers, movements I could not see. My heart pounded so hard it hurt. Still, I reached the cave and began chanting the words written in the book.
After the ritual, I placed the meat on the ground and turned to leave.
That was when I felt it.
Something was behind me.
I could feel its breath on my neck. Every instinct screamed at me to turn around. My legs shook, my vision blurred, but I remembered the warning. I did not look back. I walked faster, then ran, my heart racing until I reached home.
Night after night, I repeated the ritual.
By the seventeenth day, the tests became worse. Some nights I heard footsteps following me. Other nights, I heard whispers calling my name. One night, I heard a child crying, begging me to help him. The sound broke my heart. I almost turned around—but then I realized the truth.
It was an illusion.
A trap.
If I looked back, everything would be lost. I walked away, tears streaming down my face.
Finally, the twenty-first night arrived.
As I walked toward the cave, the forest exploded with movement. A wild wolf leapt from the shadows and attacked me. Its teeth tore into my flesh. Pain consumed my body. Blood soaked my clothes. I fought with everything I had and somehow escaped, but I was badly wounded.
I could barely stand.
Still, I knew one thing.
I had to reach the cave.
Dragging my broken body, I entered the cave and completed the ritual. I waited for something—light, power, a sign from beyond. But nothing happened. Silence filled the cave.
Disappointment crushed me.
I believed I had wasted everything—my strength, my time, my soul. I returned home and collapsed into sleep.
When I woke up the next morning, everything had changed.
My body burned with energy. Heat flowed through my veins like fire. I could hear voices from ten kilometers away. Fear no longer lived inside me. Confidence filled my chest. Strength pulsed through my muscles.
I finally understood.
The wolf was not my enemy.
It was my final test.
And I had passed.