《constellations entertainment》 a new era for humanity "RAENERISSS" shout out a voice trying to overcome the loud noise of talks and music in the background behind a young man with short blonde hair. "here you are, i couldn''t find you anywhere" he continued while his voice gets softer and closer. "so you recovered, i thought you would miss the fireworks." responded Raeneris without taking his eyes away from the table where he was analyzing every bottle of alcohol and pour the little remains into a single plastic cup. "miss the fireworks? Never, never, never. they organized the party here just for the view of the city." "yeah, the first time i was astonished, but now it seems normal, it''s crazy how quickly someone can be amazed by something and then see it like it is nothing special." meanwhile he pour another bit of alcohol into the cup looking at the city beneath the hill, the majority of it went onto the wood table. "uuuhh, did you become a philosopher in my thirty minutes power nap?" he responded with a little laugh. "fuck off Silmo. do you want to know what give you real power?" Raeneris said looking into his eyes with his dark brown eyes. "this lethal mix of every alcohol." shout out while rising proudly the cup. "you... don''t want to see the new millennium." "a special drink for a special..." he remains silent looking into the cup. "ok, i dunno, i just wanted to try, maybe it''ll be good.". "ok champ." Silmo said while looking behind. "they don''t have finished the preparetions?" asked watching a large group of drunk people working with large box filled with fireworks. those boxes were placed to form a large cicle with a hole in the, not so right, middle. it takes almost the half of the space of that enormous unkept garden that slowly goes down revealing an amazing landscape filled with mountains and a tons of roads connecting the city with villages or with others cities. "no, they''re still connecting the wires together. oh, so what is the surprise you told me before?" "HERE IT COMES, THE WORLDSHAKERS" shout out someone. two people came out, cheered by others like stars, from the old and barely standing mansion trasporting an immense metal box without the top but what Raeneris saw confused him. it contains a dozen, or little more, thick, really thick, fireworks. "THAT is the most illegal and most powerful firework in the entire world. don''t ask me how they manage to buy so many of them, but they just did it." said Silmo watching the two man trasporting the Worldshakers and placing it into the, not so right, middle. "do you remember the factory that explode a few weeks ago?" continued Silmo. "i don''t watch the tv and i don''t give a shit" interrupted Raeneris. "well" he continued as soon as Raeneris finished to talk. "one of them, ONLY one, made a hole into the groud, and then the entire factory ceased to exist basically, because it was full of illegal stuff like that." "so, point one, let me see a photo, second, do you are excited to watch that thing, if something goes wrong, which it''s probably especially watching how they''re preparing it, we explode." said genuinely scared of it. Silmo made a little laugh in the meantime he took his phone. "i''m also-" he watched the phone as if something terrible happened. "FIVE MINUTES TO THE NEW ERAAA" scream with all of his power to overcome the loud music. "WE KNOW DUMBASS, GET HERE AND HELP US INSTEAD" respond a tall and skinny guys who were checking the wires between every box "i don''t think i will." whispered to Raeneris. "come, let''s find a safe and calm spot to admire the view. I don''t feel safe here either." Raeneris watch Silmo walk and start to checking out every possible spot, he follow without hesitation, drinking from the cup. at the end, they steal two plastic chairs and place them in a fairly good spot, where they can watch their fireworks show but also the city and the valley beneath them, which already were celebrating. that spot wasn''t calm but it was too much to ask and there were way too many people to find a spot without someone near. "it was good your innovative drink?" asked Silmo while tie his black smooth hair up. "it was... strange, i hate it at first but then leaves pleasant flavour." responded looking at the final preparation. "let me ask you this." Silmo leans forward to watch better Raeneris. "did you have fun here?" asked seriously. Raeneris surprise look him in disbelief. "yeah, yeah. i drink and had a lot of fun, but at the end of the day i just wanted that the other were here with us, but everyone organized differently." "Dewon and Vyllim went with those assholes instead of us. the other i could understand, being with their family or on trip. but they went with the same group they said to hate." said furiously.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. "they solved it with that and they knew them, literally, for a life. i, instead, only for five year." respond calmly. "even though" continued Raeneris watching the others getting excited because they finally finished the preparations. "i had a lot more fun with you in this year than with them in those five." "i know i know, i''m too funny for most of the people." Said immediately as he didn''t even listen to Raeneris. there was a silent moment between them filled with the chat of others around them, getting more loud after someone turn of the music. the moment everyone were waiting was getting close. 30 seconds to midnight. "so why didn''t you celebrate with your parents?" asked Silmo breaking that loud silence. "because i will live every moment of the new millennium with them and, honestly, i don''t understand this celebration, tomorrow will be the same day as today, nothing will change." said emotionless Raeneris. "TEN SECONDS" shout out a lot of people together, saving Silmo from that uncomfortable situation. he joined immediately the countdown with the same enthusiasm as the others, Raeneris joined them a bit later but with the same enthusiasm that was increasing the more the countdown was getting close to the zero. in those seconds, the entire valley went silent, just some firecracker broke that special moment. in an instant the night turned into day, illuminated by an incalculable amount of wonderful fireworks, the black sky was a canvas filled with different colors. the loud scream of the people spread out from the garden, filling that empty green hill, reaching the city. Silmo and Raeneris were watching their fireworks that were getting closer to the center, there most of them started to walk away, they knew how danger were the Worldshaker. the wire set on fire was getting slowly closer, Raeneris was undecided if walks away too or stay still there; instead, Silmo had only eyes for them, he wanted to know if really those thing can shake the earth from the sky. the wire light the last box before of the grand finale but the wire went out before enter the metal box. a large chat of disappointment arise but as a tall and skinny guys started to go to light again the wire Raeneris heard a child''s but strange voice in his head. "dear humans," even the guys stopped and started to look around confused. "i''m here to announce to all of you will partecipate into a new show to entertain the constellations, because your wars in the north and your life is boring as fuck." Raeneris was confused and terrorized when he watched Silmo and the others being confused as him. "so, from this day i, the Director, will trasform this boring world into an big game. BUT, not all of you should become a participant. Therefore here the first elimination game and it''s called . GOOD LUCK FUTURE PARTICIPANT." meanwhile whoever he is was talking, some firework were lighted and, simply, vanished into the pitch black of the sky, from where now were falling giant colored eggs, destroying roads, parts of the city, isolated houses and one of them fall near the mansion. everyone were confused and scared, someone try to call their parents or the police, someone start to run and others didn''t know what to do. Raeneris and Silmo simply they looked at each other in disbelief, suddenly, a sound catch their attention, the egg fell a few dozens meters away started to hatch and a huge silhouette of a creature similar to that of a wolf was revelead in the dark. "Raeneris we need to run... pretty fast" Silmo said and took the hand of Raeneris and force him to stood up. "where, there are monster anywhere" Respond Raeneris pointing the city under siege by monsters that are destroying and killing everything. the giant silhouette begin to run toward the old mansion and everybody freaks out, meanwhile two more egg fell near them. the monster reach the mansion way too fast and it was, indeed, a giant wolf, he started to eat and kill every human near him, someone manage to run away, someone was too drunk to do something and someone try to enter and hide in the house. Silmo and Raeneris look at the creature powerless, as they wait their turn. the tall and skinny guy with a small group of 4 other guys take the Worldshaker and with a lighter they were ready to fight that thing. the creature created a river of blood and corpse as it advanced toward the mansion, the five guys scared as hell begin to surround it. "Silmo, i have an idea, i think no more egg fell behind the wolf, when they attack it we run as fast as possible in that direction." said Raeneris while the guys light the Worldshaker. "what if they didn''t succeed" spoke fast Silmo. "we die i think." the most muscular guy in the group was attacked and killed by the fangs of the wolf, the one at the right of the wolf and straight to Silmo and Raeneris, run to the right, but the others three light their improvised weapons, one of them missed and the firework went into the sky, the other one miss the wolf and went straight forward, but the last one aimed right, wait at the last moment and then lauch it to the wolf and run toward the angle of the house for repair. Silmo and Raeneris lied down and then the explosion paint the green into red, the wolf fell down lifeless with huge hole in his torso. "NO-". "wait" Silmo took his friend''s arm. "something is coming, the ground is still shaking." he whispered. the group of three now are celebrating but the tallest one start to run and a five meters or more appeared with a dead body crushed in his hand, immediately killing the other two, it seems to enjoy that, then he begin to follow the tall guys destroying a part of the mansion in the process and a scream were heard, the troll stops and start to destroying the mansion, more and more blood drops to the ground. "now, to the right" whispered Raeneris as he started to run followed right after by Silmo. Pride the screams of pain, the noises of buildings being destroyed and falling started to get fainter and fainter adn they were being replaced by the heavier and heavier breathe of Silmo and Raeneris, who never stopped to run, but now, the fatigue was too much to bear for Raeneris, maybe sometimes he could have done some cardio instead of only lifting weights; and started to slow down to a fast pacing refusing to completely stop. Silmo, who was behind him, slowed down to match his pacing, he was not tired as him, all of those hours at the basketball court really helped him. both of them stay in silence as they went on forward into the dark plain, the sky ripped apart was really slowly mend itself together, leaving no natural light to illuminate the world. Raeneris start to have difficulties to look in that darkness so, took out his phone to light ahead them, but thought that wasn''t a bright idea, maybe those monsters could have seen them. he looked first at the black sky, a total black of nothing, then he looked behind, the mansion was completely destroyed, some lights were also destroyed, some remain still to light that disaster, with the mansion destroyed covered in blood and the dead body of the giant wolf, which it seemed to Raeneris that was smaller, but perhaps was the distance; the only thing he saw moving was the troll who was going in their opposite direction, and that was a relief for him. then he looked left to see the city, half of it was blocked by the terrain of the hill, the other half he can saw clearly was a warzone, half of the tower were missing, distant sound of monster can be heared, but also he could heard gun shots, maybe the police or some military base near were resolving the situation. "Raeneris, we cannot stop here, we need to hide somewhere" said Silmo when Raeneris stopped to look at the city and the valley. "where? there is no where to hide, we are a easy target, moreover i have to check out a thing" respond him while he called his dad phone. "there''s a forest if we go toward Flemin, there we can hide in caves and up to the trees" said him, but Raeneris was more focus on the phone. each ring only strengthened his doubt, after a minute no one answer the phone. thought. . he put his phone back to his pocket and turn to Silmo. "i''m glad you''re fine. mom and dad?" Silmo was talking on the phone, apparently he was not getting good news judging by his serious face and his staring off into space. "what the fuck" some tears began to fall from his eyes. "well, at least she doesn''t have to live in this hell" he said, wiping his tears and try to regain his normal and jokey behaviour. suddently his forced smile trasform into pure happiness. "Dad is fine?" his eyes meet those of Raeneris, the opposite, one happy and hopeful for his family and the other one who need to accept the harsh reality. "HI DAD" he cannot bear that eye contact and so he turn around facing the endless plain "yeah yeah, i''m fine, we were in danger but now we''re safe... ... me and Raeneris, we are the only survivors i think... we are pretty far from the party, i still see it... we don''t know, i thought about hide in the forest between Livik and Flemin." Raeneris wasn''t happy with him, he understand the relief knowing his family was, partially, safe but they were in a difficult position, standing there without anywhere to hide. but for now he was being vigilant for possible monsters or other survivors. "wait, wait, Dad can you repeat" said Silmo as he put the phone on speaker and turn to his friend. "yeah... uhm... now the military has come" the voice of Silmo''s dad was a little higher than the noise of hundreds chats, some scared, some hopeful, some angry, noise of people crying and sometimes can be heared gunshots. "they kill some monsters, the police now made a improvised safe place where they are escorting us... thank god the mayor used a part of military to help the police for the new year. we were lucky-" a deafening noise suddently appear and overwhelm the voice and the chats. Raeneris understood that was an helicopter and turn towards the city, he waited to see a helicopter, from the speaker the overwhelming noise was getting softer and softer, little by little the voice of the chats can be heared again. from the part of the city blocked by the hill appears a helicopter, judging by the distance, it was from the top right from where they are, the helicopter lowered and some people could be seen come down. as he was looking and understand the general situation of the city, another helicopter appear and then another one both of them stopped where the first one was and let some soldiers descend.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. thought Raeneris. "DAD, we see the helicopters, you are at the exact opposite of where we are." said Silmo raising his tone. "don''t yell like that asshole" said immediately Raeneris panicking. "some monsters can hear us." continue. "shut up, where alone, the troll is gone." responded pissed off Silmo. "what if that thing have a supernatural hearing? those things are killing machine, you saw it." "Raeneris, please calm down, i understand your fear, but now you two should try to come where we are." said Silmo''s Dad. "NO FUCKING WAY" said Raeneris at two centimeters from the microphone. "we don''t know how many monsters are in the city and i won''t risk my life for that." "he''s right dad where no safe there is a huge troll that went towards the city afterall " said Silmo after some second of silence where only chats from unknown people near Silmo''s dad. "ok but after the military will deal with the monsters in the city the only ones that remains will be in the countryside" a female voice speak from the speaker of the phone, apparently she was not happy about their decision. "ok Sarah, what if we try towards you and in the process we encounter a monster, what can we do? punch him in the balls." responded even more pissed off Raeneris. "you fucking retarded, you could scream for help and try to run. what if you encounter it where you are? there you really need punching him in the balls." the sorrounding noise where were overwhelmed by Sarah''s voice. "I DON''T KNOW WH--" Raeneris lost his control but Silmo muted him immediately by putting an hand in front of his mouth. "don''t yell." said as calm as possible Silmo try to calm Raeneris. the two of them noticed how everything has become more quiet, they turned to the phone and saw that the call was ended. Silmo, out of fear of the endless possibilities that could happened to them, try as fast as he can to call them back, but the call didn''t even started. "there is no signal" said him looking at the phone powerless. "probably some monster destroyed the one of the Linking Towers" responded Raeneris try to regain his composure and his cold logic. "fuck, what should we do now?" asked Silmo looking at his friend as a little baby look at his mother. "go to the forest and wait there until all of those creature are killed." the hill was silent again, Silmo was looking at Raeneris''s feet but he was lost in his thoughts, the air was getting cold and Raeneris''s hoodie wasn''t enough to warm him. he thought. "we should go towards the city Raen." Silmo interrupted the Raeneris''s flow of thoughts. "my sister is right, if we encounter another one of those in the forest we are as good as dead. in the city there''s people we can join a group and, well, don''t fight alone." "you will be dead as soon as you go down this hill, there are countless monsters down there." "and there are also here" Silmo spoke right after Raeneris finished. "and... you didn''t even know how many of them are here. so don''t say countless, incalculable or words like that, maybe they are fewer of them than we think. we need to stay optimistic." continued him with a smile that try to reassured more himself than Raeneris. "optimistic you say?" he could bear that stupid perspective but not that word. "being optimistic is the worst thing you can be and think, never being optimistic, always think at the worst outcome." "yeah but not think at the worst outcome when you go alone in a fucking forest. you''re hypocrite a Raen." he said, lifting the hood of his jacket, even he started to feel cold. "you just did the same thing, Silmo, you think you can go there and find thousands of people ready to open their arms and welcome you? they are scared and their are locked in their home." Raeneris begin to lose his calm again. "Look" Raeneris pointed the city with his finger. "down there people will not think logically, they will protect themself and their family, you will be alone even there." "there is the military, they are there and there are someone who made a group and will welcome me, not everyone is evil and think only for himself." "because you don''t know how the world goes, probably you will be kidnapped by some " "how, in that situation" Silmo emulated Raeneris''s previous move. "someone think about affairs and choose to kidnap me instead of try to save themself?" thought Raeneris. suddenly his mother''s words came back to him "Raen always be calm because stupid decision are made " he tried to breath and try to calm down. "so you prefer to freeze out here than follow my idea?" Silmo continued. "it''s only for this night, i can endure it. down there what will you find? maybe " "even a garbage ban will be enough for me, i''d like to stink than freeze to death." there was a small silence between them filled with the cold wind. Silmo was looking at the grass between them meanwhile Raeneris was looking at him. "you always do this, if someone don''t do as you like or..." Silmo was struggling to say those words. "they have an idea better than yours, you tantrum until you win. when they were for where to eat or where to go i didn''t mind, but now is different. i will not follow you.". he heard those words before, Silmo''s ones are the nicest ones. "I''m your friend and i didn''t mind the dirty talk they made behind you, because i saw more of you, so please, i''m begging you, follow me." he knew his friends probably talks behind him but hearing this is something Raeneris wasn''t ready to endure. as he was thinking about this he tried so hard to not cry in front of him, he cannot appear weak. "i think..." Raeneris was struggling to speak, "that you''re going to die, i will go towards the forest. i hope you survive down there." the last thing he heard was the footsteps that were getting further and further away. survive is all that matters he knew it would end like this but the regret of not trying to avenge her was unbearable. he tried so hard to save themselves, they manage to escape from those monsters fell from the sky, every jostle he gave to let them pass through the crowd, every person fallen because of him, probably dead by now, like most of the others, now were meaningless. they ran away from those things but every time they encounter a new monster who followed them until they spot others people and so they change their focus, or unluckly when they tried to hide their hiding place were discovered by new people that were being chased or they hidden spot were too dangerous to stay for long. yet they manage to survive all of those situations, most of the time it was pure luck but those few times it was thanks to quickly and effectively choices made by both of them. at the end though, luck weren''t on their side anymore, they planned to hide in a small condominium or small houses at the outskirts but when they took that sharp turn they found a large creature similar to a ankylosaurus, except for the head, an enourmous head with a large mouth filled with hundreads of sharp teeth and a long purple tounge, and the club was large as the head but filled with thick and sharp spikes. that creature was feasting with the corpes and charge them as soon as he spot them. they cannot outrun him their only hope was to lose him by suddenly change direction and pass throught dark streets. they cannot turn back otherwise they would have gone towards the main zone full of those, so they went on straight with the monster run behind them making the earth tremble and the street lamps flicker. they didn''t even get halfway there that his wife''s hand slipped away from his hand. his reaction was too slow when he turned his head to see what was going on he saw her in a bath of blood, or to say it better half of her, the monster ate her from the head to the pelvis, leaving the legs drop lifeless to the ground. that scene broke him but unlike in the films or books he didn''t stop, he just scream out of desperate but his will to survive and see the next days was way too strong and in no time he was back running. from that point his memories are confused and fragmented, he remember to have took a sharp turn on the left and met a dead end road leading to a small square sorroundend by small condominiums, at the center of the square there were a group of people, some armed with knife, some longer than others, and run to them to seek help. the monster didn''t care about the sharp edge because he went through a building that collapse behind him causing the man and the others survivors to be imprisoned there with the monster. a dead sentence. the creature stopped for a moment to understand the situation meanwhile the man reached the others, quickly a short but sturdy man in his fifty gave him a knife, not very long but it seems very sharp. he can''t recall the exact words the man said to him but they would kill the it, meanwhile the younger ones and the womens hid in one of those condominium, or maybe they escaped by going through it. now he sits here, against a street lamp illuminating him from above, from his belly blood was flowing to the ground it didn''t seems to be a fatal wound but the continuous movements made him loss a lot of blood. in front of him at the center of the square there was the monster sorrounded by two guys, the rest of the group were around them dead. the creature had not been injured, his skin was so tough that their weapons couldn''t even scratched it, the only vulnerable part were his neck and his belly, both of them were dangerous to reach, in fact many died because they try to reach and cut those parts. he knew from the beginnig it was a hopeless battle, he should have run away as his instinct told him when he had the chance, how normal human could have killed these unearthly animal. his mind start regain some lucidity in exchange he felt has someone was taking his life away. a part of him was in peace, at least he could rejoin his wife and his unborn child, the other part of his, who at last won, refuse to die. the only thing he manage to thought was to bleeding to death and the only chance he had was to cut off his absurdly long tongue and to do so he had to let the monster catch him, if it didn''t work his death would have been terrible and painful but he will die anyway and in the end he will see the same thing, an endless darkness. he slowly stand up with one hand covering his wound and the other holding tight his knife, the scene before him hasn''t change, the two man were standing still in fear not knowing what to do, the beast was using his tounge to grab the dead corpes around him and ate them, he did not perceive the other two as a danger but as preys to eat later.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. he realized that the monster was getting bigger as he swallowed humans. it last meal was the short sturdy man with the left part of his rib cage compressed, it was probably a slow death, then it looked in front of him attracted by the heavy breath of the half dead man walking slowly. the creature opened again his mouth and it projected the tongue to the man at high speed closing the distance in a blink of eye, but him was ready, as soon it open the mouth he raised his arm and the purple tongue wrapped tight around his belly causing him constant severe pain and nearly lose the grip on the knife. with all of his willpower he grabbed the knife with two hands and pierce the tongue, before the monster started to drag him in his mouth, and with all of his strenght he sliced it but a part remain attacched to the rest of the tongue, a river of blood was coming out, meanwhile the monster retracted the tongue leaving the wounded man fall onto the ground. the beast started to walk backward and hit a building destroying it, the two men run away as fast as they could as if they were finally free from invisible chains, it started to go against the buildings and after a litlle it fell down with a heavy noise and making the earth tremble one last time. the half dead man didn''t see all of this he was looking at the starless sky, at least he avenge her and now he was going to met her again even if he didn''t want it but now he had no strenght anymore and before he could realize he closed his eyes. *** his peaceful sleep was interrupted by a slight pain coming from his wound but he was too tired to open his eyes and to do something about it, in a way that pain was pleasant, it was constant and was slowly start to fade away. as the pain was disappearing he noticed another thing he could hear the sound of a fire, the same sound when he turned on the stove to cook, but again too tired to do something. "who''s there?" he thought to said but the words didn''t come out in the way he would and it sound more like a grumble without a sense. "stay with us, don''t close your eyes" he could hear a not so familiar voice. "Carlin is the knife ready?" asked the man near him but he couldn''t hear the response because he was falling asleep again. the last thing he heard, this time clearly, was a voice, he couldn''t understand if it was a female one or a male one maybe was his voice, that said : [your attachment to life has not gone unnoticed] *** his peaceful sleep was interrupted once again this time though it was an excruciating pain coming from his wound, he could smell the flesh burning, instinctively he opened his eyes and saw a man upside down with a thick brown beard that was pressing hard his jaw up against a piece of wood his his mouth, that is why he couldn''t scream properly neither his tongue could move. then he look down and saw a man with a knife heated up pressed against a part of his wound he lifted it and move to the next part, before pressing it he looked at him. "be strong it will be over in a moment" and then pressed it, the pain was unbearable, he would prefer to have died, he was looking at the man with those ice colored eyes, he was sure he was enjoying it. after an eternity the man lifted the knife again and this time placed it in a pot letting it cool down. the other one finally let go his jaw and removed the wood piece from his mouth, now he could have talked but was exhausted. "told you it would be over in a moment" said the man as he was getting up and disappearing from his view. "fuck off" were the only words that came out of his mouth on their own. he hear a little laugh and then the man reappeared again this time keeping a yellowish pillow, in that moment he realized that he was lying on the cold floor, he gently lift his head and put the pillow, in that moment it was the best pillow ever made. "thank you" even if he hated being so useless and need to rely on others but he couldn''t move a finger. "it was nothing, you save our life and we saved yours" response him as he was sitting on an old chair. "i would have left you there, you were a desperate case." said the bald man with the thick beard. the man lying down move his head to look at them, they were in a small kitchen with only the necessary furnitures which made it feel more spacious, against a wall there was a table with a couple bottles , one of whisky half-finished and the other one empty of rum, next of them there was some dirty paper towels. the man who gave him the pillow was sitting almost right above him meanwhile the other one was next to him filling three glasses of water. the only window was closed with and old shutter letting them use the light and not being spotted by some monster. "here, drink" the blad man gives him the glass of water and help him raise the head enough to drink it. the wound still hurt but no pain could stop him from drinking that delicious water. his hand was tough with huge calluses, surely he didn''t know how to use them gently, even his arms were muscular he could tell by seeing the sleeves of his black hoodie being tight. after he finished the man let go his head and it fell, like he was dead, onto the pillow. "now you should rest and recover" said the other one putting the empty glasses on the table and with a long step he went above him and left the room followed by the bald man. he closed his eyes ready to fall in pleasant deep sleep, but it took a while because of this he could hear both of them talk. "now we are stuck here with a dead man, we should have go searching the others" he couldn''t understand who was saying those words. "trust me he will recover in a short time besides even we need to rest." "he will slow us and the others migh..." the world was getting quieter until he fall in a long and deep sleep. a group in the middle of the night the starless sky provided no natural light and Silmo was walking down the hill with only the light of his phone screen and the cold wind pushing him down the hill, he risked falling sometimes, but for him it was a blessing, with it he could go much faster down hill, he couldn''t wait to reach the city and a warm place to rest and sleep. he was getting tired to walk with a fast pace barely seeing the ground, he was sweating a lot even though his face and right hand were freezing, but they were not his priority now, the outskirt of Livik were still pretty far. still he could hear and seeing building fell and heard a loud noise that, mixed together with the numerous roar of some beast, it forms a cacophony which accompanies him in his walk. the more he went down the less he could see the zone where the safe place should be and more he realized how much he is far from that point. the cities in the Freolin State were massive, they were the center of life, everyone lived in a city and for most of the people the nature and wildlife in general become so distant that doesn''t feel a place on earth. Millions of people lived in those cities and the countryside were left for farmers or people who had enough of comfortable life in the city. with this amount of people living there the city of Livik was one of the largest in the south of the state, it grew so quickly that it was such a mess that the government banned the use of cars and personal vehicles inside it, forcing the citizens to use public transportation. Silmo once loved this city, full of people, store of everything and with everything, beautiful places to visit. Now he hated it, it was a massive obstacle to go through, full of dead corpes and monsters ready to give him the most painful way to meet God. his belief started to crack he turned the phone screen towards his face. he has changed his mind many times but he couldn''t understood what was the right choice and so he was going forth. a small laugh came out of him but immediately covers his mouth, turn off the phone and listen around him. it was all quiet, except for the cacophony of the city. relieved he continued his journey towards it with more attention to not make a sound. as he walk he was having his in head the same thoughts as before, it started when he separated from his friend, with the same arguments but differents words and the same outcome. meanwhile he was in the middle of the argument he heard a group of voices behind a big rock in front of him, hidden from the darkness he peeked from it and saw a group of four guys, couldn''t tell if they were the same age as him or older, checking with the phone''s light two car''s tires on the same side. the car was at the center of an uphill dirt road. He could tell by the guys who constantly moved the lights around them. "at least it took us quite far from the city" the speaker was a girl with black curly hair tied in a ponytail wearing a large jacket. " I, took us quite far, if it wasn''t for me we would have crushed before exit the outskirts. right David?" this time it was a short guy with a deep voice and a black mullet, his star earring shone in his left ear when the flash of a taller guy with buzz cut illuminated him. "listen we''re still too close to the city, we have to move. now" his voice was tough, it sounded more like a order, though Silmo understood that he was scared to death. then there was another guy in the darkness standing close to them who was constantly checking the surrounding area, even looking in the sky sometimes, but it was all useless he couldn''t seeing nothing, he looked at Silmo several times and still didn''t realize he was there. "calm down, i have to say good bye to this beauty" said the earring guy passing his hand from rear light to the headlight. "oh fuck off this useless piece of junk" "he''s right babe we need to move and quite fast, where still pretty far from your parents" the girl was far calmer than the buzz cut guy. "right, right." he gave one last pat to the car and turn his back to the city. "and it''s not a piece of junk, it''s the best car ever producted." David sighed heavily. "i''m going first and light the way." the others started to walk behind him without using their phone at all but a suddent light illuminated their feet. the girl freaked out and as she freaked the other three panicked as well, but each one were silent as a dead. "sorry guys" said Silmo while leaving his spot and getting close to them. David move the light towards him and the others turn on theirs, in a blink of an eye Silmo found four lights on him. "goddam fucker, what the fuck were you doing there" said pissed off the short guy. "STAY THERE" David voice rumbled through the hill and made Silmo freeze instantly. "shhh, don''t yell like that, you idiot" the girl spoke quietly but loud enough to be hear by Silmo. "there may be others hidden." spoke with the same tone as the girl and was illuminating the area around SIlmo.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. "i just want to ask you some questions. i''m all alone and there are no monsters here." Silmo tried to create a calmer situation. David and the fourth one were still checking the sorroundings with the flashes. "i''m headed to the city and i just want to know how the situation is there." "you''re crazy, why you want to go there?" said the girl astonished. "Are you running away from monsters too? " the mullet guy was worried, it was quite visible in his tone of voice. "first yes. i was at this party when a giant wolf arrived, some guys manage to kill it" his voice was shaking from fear, now, as he was speaking, he realized how close he had been to the hand of death. They didn''t seem to care about him, they were more focused on the last thing he said. "but then a troll came, destroyed everything and slaughtered the others but we managed to run away." "how did you all managed to kill one of those things?" David was both excited and surprised. "where did the troll go?" said the mullet guy more worried than before. "they used Worldshaker, those illegal fireworks, y''all know it? the giant wolf literally exploded. the troll took the main dirty road to the city. that was the last thing i saw." now Silmo was confident enough to raise his light to illuminate them and finally see to who he was talking and not to some shadows. "yeah i knew it, do you know if there are others of it?" the guy with the buzz cut was a little bit taller than him, he had this intense stare with those blue eyes, it seems to him that he was reading his thoughts, he had slim eyebrows, a large and wide noise and a small mouth. Silmo tried to recall if he saw how many of them were inside that metal box. "i don''t know, they were inside a large metal box, there could be some inside yet, they used four of it." "if the troll didn''t destroy it too" replied the girl. for Silmo she was disappointing, he expected her to be beautiful and instead was just average, she had little makeup on, most of it on her big blue eyes, her nose was small and wider at the nostrils, her lips were colored in bright red. "it''s too dangerous, what if the troll is still there?" the mullet guy replied facing the others. he was shorter than he thought, he had thick black eyebrows covering his small brown eyes, Silmo almost laugh when he saw his small nose, it was so cute he thought could only belong to girls, and had a large mouth. "but we could gain a weapon" said the tallest, for some centimetres, in the group, his breath was heavy of alcool. just now Silmo noticed he was slightly moving to find the right balance and don''t fall to the ground. his mouth was hidden behind a long and thick dark brown beard, his medium long brown hair fell over his face and his green eyes, some of them were blocked by the light blue edge of the glasses frame, Silmo couldn''t not notice his perfect straight nose. the shorter one sighs heavily. "and die in the attempt. Mark your drank too much and you''re not lucid. just follow us in silence" he was slightly pissed off. Mark seems to hid himself more behind his beard and hair. "we could just go there take it and leave." replied David, then he looked to Silmo. "where is this metal box?" "it is the center of a spiral of boxes and next to it there is a destroyed mansion." "we could do it, but where is the place?" asked the girl. "the mansion has a name if you give me a minute i''ll search it and you can find it on Gmaps." said while searching the message Raeneris sent to him. "Gmaps doesn''t work, I used it first to see where my parents house was and it located it in the Northern Ocean." replied with a flat tone the mullet guy. "ah" the words came out of his mouth on their own. "ok so," Silmo turned around and point his finger at little bit over forty five degrees from the dirty road. "as the crow flies roughly there, It took me about forty minutes to get here." there was a few seconds of silence filled with the cacophony from the city, it seems to Silmo that it got quieter. he turned towards them again, Mark was still trying to find the right balance to not fell, the girl and David had a very serious faces and were pondering every possibilities, meanwhile the mullet guy''s brown eyes were moving from the point where the road disappear in the darkness and the point indicated by Silmo. "it''s too far away from my parent''s house. we''ll lengthen the journey for nothing. and it''s way too dangerous." "lengthen? it is almost in our way, we could make a quick deviation and took them. as he said, it''s only forty minutes from here." David tone was strangely calm and quiet. the was about to replie but his girlfriend spoke first. "honey, he''s not completely wrong, we need them to just have a something for emergency." her hand slipped slowly on his left shoulder. "my parent''s house it''s roughly eight hours from here, if we had the car we, maybe, could have done it. unluckly, we can only use our legs and we need to walk uphill for eight hours, but, we need to rest from time to time and so with that a WHOLE day will pass." the mullet guy went slowly towards David taking off the girl''s soft hand. "so David, it''s not a quick deviation, as you called it. i don''t want to stay out here any longer than necessary and be an easily prey for some monsters. and neither you want it, am i right?" the tone was so deep it penetrate through Silmo''s bones. "nice speech really" the drunk man finally found the right balance. "but if we had them we could use to kill those thing as this guy told us. also i''m drunk and tired so i want sleep and now i''m pratically useless." he spoke really fast meanwhile he lost his balance and started to go backwards for a couples of meters. "we can rest in the forest, it is always better than here." respondend the girl calmly. the others accepted with nods, aware of the fact that they were all tired. "so with that we can go to the mansion, the forest is pretty near, so now this is a quick deviation." responded David with a little funny tone. "seriously. i don''t understand why you want them so much. please enlight me." "if there a beast in the forest, or we encounter it here, in the middle of nothing" David opened his arms. "we can do something with them, it''s just to be safe, nothing more." his tone was soft as he was pity someone. "we can go around with the darkness, we could listen if a gigantic monster is close to us. i don''t think those monsters move quietly" the girl receive a nod of agreement from the mullet guy. "what if they could see in the darkness" David''s response was instantaneous. "we die." the replie from the short guy was also instantaneous. "sorry guys, I don''t know the situation in the forest, but as far as I know I didn''tsaw or heard monsters out here. so I think you all can go there without too much trouble" Silmo''s voice got the attention of everyone. "and i''m with him" pointing the mullet guy. "it''s an unnecessary risk go there." "see he''s someone with a brain" he responded with a little laugh. "fine, i still think it''s a dumb idea not to take them. but i''m alone in this." "i''m with you, for me we should take them." Mark placed his hand on her shoulder. "you don''t count Mark." "perfect. so it''s decided" the mullet guy turn to Silmo. "thanks for informations, i hope you survive in that hell" said while giving a small pat on his left shoulder. "ah, if you want to hide somewhere, there are plenty empty houses, or apartment, in the outskirt. many of them went to the Two Millennia Concert. always if they haven''t been destroyed" the girl came out from the left side of his boyfriend. "ah right, when we left our quarter the monsters hadn''t arrived yet, but this is the only thing i can tell you." "it''s still a precious information. i hope you reach your parents without problem. good luck." said Silmo as he was turning towards the city. "you too" responded them in unison. "ah one more thing" Silmo''s voice made them looking back. "in the forest you might find a guy, his name is Raeneris... ahemm... you can bring him with you? he''s alone." "if we find him we surely will." said David in the darkness. "thanks" responded with a silent laugh. survive is all that matters pt2 he slowly woke up from his deep sleep, a weak light illuminated the room just enough to avoid being in complete darkness. He was in the same spot he was when he was brutally treat before, he turned his head to the window, barely visible, to see if the sun was rised, instead it was night. it took a while to feel a crushing pressure all over his body, it prevented him to breath properly it doesn''t matter how deep they were, his lungs were never filled. Under that it was so hot that he sweated a lot. the window start to get overwhelmed by darkness and disappeared, he was now starring into an endless void and felt like he was falling but there was no wind against his back and his hair weren''t moving. after an imprecise amount of time he was not only falling but he was being dragged at the center of a whirlpool, every senses became confused and disoriented, he couldn''t think at all and was just endure that without a chance to do anything. his breathing rate was increasing, he could hear his heart beating, for how loud it was he could have gone deaf. suddenly the darkness started to vanished, he stopped falling and understood that none of that really happened, or maybe yes, he was still hearing his heart''s beat echo in his head, the window was slighly moving and sometimes he felt like he was falling again. he wanted to sat down on the floor, to do it he had to remove that immense pressure over his torso, so with his right arm he tried to and couldn''t do it, but what he touched was wool and he understood immediately it was a thick, judging by the weight, wool blanket, he tried with both arms and with an immense effort he managed to remove it. finally he sat down here, is belly hurt a lot but he didn''t care, his dizziness seems to have gone away. he never felt that weak in his entire life. the white wool blanket was made out of numerous braids intertwined together forming sinuous patterns, they were beatiful and confusing to him he was starring at them but in reality he was focusing on his short breath, even without the blancket he was struggling to breath properly. as he was starring at the sinuous pattern they began to move and intertwired themselves and formed an outline of a face which kept getting more and more detailed. "Monica" whispered while tears started to drop on it. he could see her brown eyes, which became golden when sun''s rays hits them, her straight black hair, which she kept always untied when they went out and tied them up with the most colored and cringy hair bands, he always make fun of her for that. her thousands of earring, each one contained an important moment of her life. her little and adorable nose, and the last thing her little lips that she was so insicure about and he always reassured her. he replayed every memories he had of her, the bad and the good ones, from the moment they met to the positive pregnancy test. all of those precious memories were swallowed with her by that monster. everything he did, the people he doomed to die to save himself and her, the things he believed and loved were meaningless. he always liked his indipendency, his freedom and days without her, but this is a nightmare he will never see her again and no matter how many days will passed she will remain dead. no one could ever replace her and he has to learn to live alone with a bleeding wound for the rest of his life. "i avenged you" whispered with his broken voice. deep down he knows that avenge someone who''s dead means nothing except being in peace with himself, for what little it could count. the torso was exposed to the cold environment, the sweat dries onto him making him colder and every inch of his body started to shaking. the cold was penetrating into his bones. blink after blink the image of Monica vanished and the blanket returned to have the same sinuous patterns as before. he needed something to cover himself, even a hot shower wouldn''t be bad. the man tried to get up but another sharp pain in his belly made him crunch in pain, after a few seconds the pain vanished and he could finally move again with cautious movements. he cannot escaped from the pain, no matter how he moved it always hurted, so he needed to find the way to get up with minimal pain: first he got down on all fours, then with the help of an hand placed on the wall and the push of a leg he start to slowly get up, the pain was constant, he can endured it, sometimes though it was excruciating and made him lose some progress. all of this mixed with his overall weakness and tiredness made this simple move nearly impossible, in the end he managed to get up and leaned on the wall to rest and wait for the pain to vanished. his vision blurred for a couple of second, he felt like losing the control of his legs and went down but it was just a sensation. he was looking down, he was still wearing his jeans with huge dried blood stains and his socks were soaked in dried blood too. he could also see a long and wide reddish scar, it went from the left side of his body, right under the rib cage, all way to the right side in an almost perfect straight line, it could saw the mark of where the knife were placed. the weak light illuminated him from the left side, he turned his head and saw a corridor and a door open with a light on. he went through the door at his left, following the source of the light, it was a small corridor that connected the main entrance of the apartment to a door at the end of it, between there was several doors, some closed, some opened, the light comes from the door just ahead of him on the left. he went to the door and slowly went inside always placing a hand to the wall. it was the barest living room he had ever seen, there was just a old and full of stains sofa, a little table in front of it with on top a bottle of water, some snacks and a smartphone, behind the sofa close to the wall a tall but narrow bookshelf used to keep a lot of bottle of alcool, there were only two windows, one taller than the other, the taller one had the shutters closed meanwhile the other had a black blanket on it, close to the door there was a long radiator. sitting on the sofa there was the same man who burned him, he was lost in his thoughts and was looking at the piece of paper in his hands. he wear a white sweater covered most in dried blood stains, tight enough to outline his skinny arms and his overall long but small torso, he wear skinny jeans and red shoes. he was looking down so the only thing he saw was his thick and unkempt black hair with dried blood on it. "oi" said with a hoarse voice to gain his attention. the man did a little jump out of fear he could see his ice-colored eyes scanning him before calming down. "shit man, next time do some noise." response as he was checking with his hand if the heart still beat. "so, you''re fine. i am glad." said while watching him, clearly he doesn''t know what to say in that situation. "thank you..." his short breath let him say only a few word. "i probably would... have died out there." "it was the bare minimum, you killed that monster with that spectacular move and save us." his voice was solemn as like he was narrating the deeds of a hero, then he stood up took the bottle of water and walk toward him. as he was walking towards the ice-eyes man noticed that he was touching the scar. "i couldn''t do nothing better, you were on the verge of death, i know it hurted a lot. but I had to be quick" he handed him the water. the half-dead man was looking only at the water, nothing else was more important than that, neither the word of that man, suddently he felt the need to drink a lot of it as he was discovered the world for the first time. without a word he took it and drank all of it. "refreshing" said with a much more clearer voice. "i prepared some clothes for you in the kitchen, I''ll go get them for you" took the empty bottle and went to the kitchen. as he was almost passing through the door the half-dead man replied. "where is the bathroom, i need a shower" his word were shaking because of the cold. the ice-eyes man stopped and looked back at him, he was silent for a moment like he was poundering what words to use. "better not in this moment, try to wash yourself on the sink, it''s the last door on the right" and then disappeared behind the door. the half-dead man walk slowly towards it. he was probably near the square where he passed out, the other one said he was in the verge of death so we are not that far, maybe it''s still not safe. he open the door and even the bathroom seems empty. it has just the toilet next to the wall in front of him, at his left there was the bidet and then the sink with a mirror, on the other side there was just the shower, inside it two hair conditioners, and a stack of towels on a wooden chair, right in front of him there was a window with shutters closed. he turned on the light, closed the door, went to check himself in the mirror and almost passed out again. he was unrecognizable, he was pale, with two large dark circles under his greenish eyes, his dirty black hair fell in his face in clear contrast with the pale skin and his large lips were slowly turning purple. he seems more skinny, even though the last days he ate like a pig and much more older than his real age. walking away a little bit he could see his torso, he had a very thick body hair on his chest and on his belly except for where the scar is. he could also saw some veins he never saw in his arm. overall he seems a man who returned from the dead, he was astonished but it didn''t last long, the cold was penetrating deeper and he was shaking so hard all his muscles were tired. without much of thoughts he open the sink and let the hot water flow, he placed a towel below him and began to wash himself, first the body and then the hair. trying to be as quiet as possible. the hot water warmed him up, now he had to cover as quickly as he can, there was no hairdryer so he had to cover his wet hair with a towel. he left the bathroom and went towards the living room always with a hand on the wall. as soon as he enter in it he saw the little table with a couple of sandwich, some bananas, a bar of white chocolate and a bottle of water, a shirt and a brown wool sweater were on the sofa and next to them sits the ice-eyes man covered with the heavy wool blanket he was covered before. "come, i prepared the breakfast, i bet you''re hungry." said him as soon as he see him. "they are filled with meat and some vegetables." "thank you man" he replied while going towards the sofa and then wear the clothes. you already had breakfast don''t you?" seeing him not touching a single thing on that table. "you got me" a little laugh made the situation more like a normal day. "i woke up almost three hours ago." the half-dead man sit down, not without a excruciating pain, making himself as comfortable as possible. "what time is it" said just before devouring one of the two sandwichs. "twenty past nine, roughly." he had a glad expression on his face. "by the way my name''s Vander, and, before you ask we are in a building of the square." he finished the sandwich washed down by a large glass of water."Unfortunately that wasn''t what I wanted to ask you" a little smile was formed on the pale skin of the man. "i remember that there was another guy, where is he?". Vander was about to answer but the pale man was faster. "mine is Mirio" and the started to eat the other sandwich.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. "Carlin is sleeping, he was awake until six in the morning, instead i, after we heal and covered you, fell asleep quite fast." another laugh came out of him, Mirio was wondering if he had any idea about the situation they were in. "i asked you to not use the shower" Vander continued this time with a serious tone. "because Carlin told me we were close to dying again." Mirio looked at him astonished. " when he was awake he heard strange noises in the square, he checked from the shutters and saw another monster, probably attracted by the loud noise of the dead one or by the smell of it. because it was a mix between a wolf, or a dog, and a human." Mirio looked at him more astonished than before. "what do you mean?" he asked spitting some piece of food out of his mouth. "just what i said" he said with a disgusted face. "it has longer fangs, the arms and legs were a mix of them but recalled more the human limbs than a wolf. it came here sniffed around, he didn''t even touched the corpse of the monster, and then left." "well, we were lucky." replied Mirio being careful not to spit anything. "we should change our own... smell apart to stay as quiet as possible." the short breath was still a problem especially now that he was eating. "i think that the smell isn''t a problem otherwise he would discovered us." after some thoughts Mirio nodded at him. "well i will try not to die." he turned at Vander with a smile and he smile at him back. as he was turned again towards the table he glimpsed the piece of paper Vander had on his armrest. "Vander, I saw you staring at... that piece of paper earlier. what''s written on it?" "huh, i just write what the strange voice said before the disaster." he passed the paper to Mirio. it was a list: partecipate to a show, constellations, game?, survive for a week, voice''s name = Director. Mirio didn''t remember well what said that voice, where he was at the time was so loud he couldn''t even hear his own thoughts, then the monsters appeared and the thought of what happened next made him on the verge of crying. the memories passed in a instant, Monica eaten by the monster, the legs lifelessly fell on the ground. he would have cried so hard but he couldn''t, not in front of another person, he must stay strong. he closed his eyes and push away those memories. "you''re thinking very hard" Vander''s laughing made him laugh too, even louder than him, but the tears came out anyway. "you''re so funny" Mirio tried to hide the pain tears behind a tears of laugh. "i believed even you heard that voice " Mirio was still recovering from the laugh and tears, so Vander continued. "what i''ve been thinking is not why they did this to us, because that is a dead end, but the implications of, all of this. what are those constellations, superior beings? so God is one of them?, above them? or we were wrong? see, too many outcomes and, yet another dead end." he was truly interested in this topic, a little too much for Mirio. "another thing that drives me crazy is the week timer. like a knife killed a monsters and the military had weapons way more powerful. so are they infinite? otherwise we quickly killed them all. if they are not infinite they have another purpose besides kill us?" too many questions and no answers, Mirio''s head started to hurt again. as Vander was about to speak again Mirio stopped him. "what are the purpose of those questions? you met a dead end twice, and... you will meet always a dead end. some things cannot have an answer" "if we understand this show, the voice called this a show, we can exploit it or gain some advantage." Vander replied. "so i should have danced... or singed when that monster... run at me to please the Gods? instead of cut it tongue" Mirio was getting angry but couldn''t understand why. "what i say is that if this is a show, as we intented, they could pardon us or gave us something useful if we gave something interesting to watch." maybe was the calm tone of Vander that was making him pissed out. "we''ll not be pardoned. if they like us we will just... continue this show and... who knows what awaits us." Mirio stopped Vander with a gesture as he was about to speak, his lungs were exploding and he needed time to breath. after a few seconds and a deep breath Mirio continued. "this questions are useless... we have no informations we... should focusing on staying alive... after this week we''ll see." Mirio tried to stay as calm as possible, but he was about to explode and hoped that Vander just changed topic. in those brief moment of silence Mirio and Vander heared a helicopter flying then gunshots for a while. "couldn''t we try to get... the attention of that?" asked Mirio. "i thought about it, they are cleaning the city so i hope they''ll notice me, i''ll go, wait for me." said Vander while standing up and walked towards the main door. "watch out for monsters." Vander was about to passing through the door and enter the corridor when the gunshots stopped and even the helicopter. they couldn''t even process what happened that a loud noise made all window tremble, then an explosion scared them. in that silence only an acute roar of a beast could be heared. Vander and Mirio looked at each other with a mixed expression of fear and surprise, which slowly transformed into terror when they both realized what could have happened. a quiet forest pt 1 Raeneris Raeneris was slowly woke up from his dreamless sleep, he was slowly becoming aware, he was still tired from the long walk he had done to reach the forest. thousands of little pressures were moving on his legs, they were relaxing and some of them tickled him. somehow he managed to think to scratch them but his mind went black again. the little pressures went from the legs to the belly and, some of them, even to the chest. the more there were, the faster he regained consciousness and at some point when he was still with his eyes closed and his mind between dream and reality he had an illumination. he remember having a fast walking pace towards the forest, he was scared, alone and cold, his mind was replaying the last discussion with Silmo. <> thought about all of his journey but he never thought about turning back, he was sure his idea was the best, or at least he was trying to convince himself of it. he doesn''t remember how far and how deep in the forest he went but he was sure of one thing, for sleep he chose a hole on the ground and slept. <> he thought. he would have said it but the only thing came out of his mouth were confused mix of screams and letters. as he thought it his body moves, but he was not fully awake yet, instead to exit from the hole he slammed near it and then, after some trying unsuccessfully to get rid off the insects he managed to get out from it. he quickly stood up and clean himself, although all the insects fell off the sensation of thousands of little pressures never disappeared, making him continue to clean himself for a longer time. he stopped panicking and slowly he was getting calmer. "what a fucking idea. how disgusting." he said to no one. the air was still pretty cold, the forest was a dark place full of same long trees that disappeared in the dark. he was still feeling cold but he wasn''t freezing to death as before, the little hole protected him from the cold and created a small enviroment warmed by his heat. he looked around, everything remainded still as he left it, for how much he could see, it was still dark and trees made the scenario more creepy. <> with a refreshed mind his thoughts were processed at the speed of light. frenetically he started to look around but the only thing he could saw where the trees at few meters away from him, then the darkness hid everything. he reached out to grab the phone from his pants but he couldn''t find it. <> the mere thought of having to go back in there made him shiver but he had no choice. after some time contemplating various methods to recover his phone, he surrendered and, disgusted, put the hand inside it and started to touch the ground, hoping to touch it. first he touched some insects, some run away and some stuck to his fingers. a little disgusted and not very manly scream came out of his mouth every time he touches an insects. "why the fuck the films make the forest a nice place to sleep and stay" his complaing were lost through the forest. <> with a heavy sigh he went into it and with fast touches he managed to find it and exit as fast as he entered. "fuck it, next time i''ll sleep outside." he cleaned his phone from the dirt. "it''s still dark, for how long i''ve slept, thirty minutes?" said while turning on the screen and the light blinded him. his eyes were so well adapted to the dark that the sudden screen''s light blinded him for a good amout of time. he tried many times to saw the hour and yet his eyes hurted every time. after a while his eyes adapted enough to let him saw the screen for a couple of seconds, enough to read: 8.53 am, monday, 1 jan.
"why is everything so dark then" said as he was looking around. "maybe the leaves?" turning his gaze upwards to the sky. the trees were full of branches and leaves, which cover most of the sky leaving only a line continuous line between leaves of a tree and the leaves of another tree and so on. this line should let some light pass through, reaching the ground. only if there was some light, the sky was pure black for the most part, he was standing at the perfect edge where the total black of the sky ends and the normal light blue color of the sky began and extended beyond the leaves toward the center of the forest <> think while moving his look from the sky to the deeper zone of the forest under the normal sky, but the only thing visible was darkness, it was all dark around him. <> he looked at the screen again. "40%." "i''m fucked." he stared at the screen for a couple of second, lost in his thought, then he had to look away because his eyes hurted again. he realized he was standing in front of the hole all this time, if the animal returned he would be dead. so, for a moment, he illuminated the ground and the sorroundings with the flashlight. everything he saw was an infinite amounts of trees, except for a wide tree standing next to a hill formed in part of medium rocks, dirt and grass. he walked forward for a dozens or more meters and sit down with the back leaned to the tree trunk. now he realized how quiet is the forest, sometimes he could hear some birds''s chirping, but except for this and the rustling of leaves no other sound could be heared. leaned to the tree he made sure to be very aware of the surronding, without light the only sense he could trust was his hearing. <> his look switched continuously from the sky to the deep forest at his right and vice versa. <> he started to recall memories of a few hours ago and he remember a detail he had forgotten until that moment, that strange voice before the disaster. <> he returned to reality and looked ahead of him. <> a sudden chirping scared him a little bit, interrupting his thoughts''s flow, and then the silence returned. <> his thought''s flow stopped and he just contemplated the endless darkness ahead of him. <> his eyes opened up as if he had received enlightenment. <>. the scene of destroyed and falling buildings began to flow in his head, his missed call and the photos of the luxury restaurant his mother showed him didn''t reassured him. it was in one of those skyscrapers, it was another one of mom''s expensive desires, she talked about it to him so many times that he was almost sure he had been there. he knows that probably they died crushed from the rubble, many times he pushed away those images out of his head and they always came back. the first times made him cry and panic, the very first time he hoped appeared normal in front of Silmo, those thoughts quickly vanished away as there were more important things to think about it back then. after he walked away from Silmo he remained alone with his thoughts, he was still scared and on alert for monsters, but the more he walked and the more he tried to convince himself that there wasn''t anything and he was safe, the more the felt safe and more times those images appeared, they were so vivid that he could see them dead hidden in the darkness around him.
all of this prevented him to go back and rejoin Silmo, or maybe it was just his pride, or maybe because he was less and less scared the more he walked in that hill. He just wanted someone else with him but the only thing that kept him company was his mantra.
"i''m on my own, i am the priority." he needed to push away the images of his dead parents, he couldn''t do anything about it and it didn''t matter if he thought about them that wouldn''t resolve anything, so he decided that the better solution was to push them away. yet from the darkness he could see them and more times they appeared and the more insensitive he became about it. tired and freezing he finally arrived at the forest, for a moment he regretted his choice, it was thicker and more creepy than he expected but it was the only right choice to survive, and so he entered. he walked around trying to find a place where sleep, his feet were hurting and he was always on alert for strange sounds that could be easily heard in that quiet forest. the thought of being alone was at once frightening and reassuring, who would escape from the comfortable city to come to the forest, so all of the monsters are in the city, but in a situation of danger he would have no one to help him but himself. after a long walk he found a hole in the ground, tired and cold he decided without hesitation to enter it. before falling asleep his mind once again reminded him of Silmo going to the city, toward his grave, he should have not let him go, it was his fault, he left his friend die than try to convince him to go with him. he cursed himself, he was such a selfish piece of shit, he didn''t drop a tear for his parents, and let a good friend die like that. <> those were the last words he could think of before falling into a dreamless sleep. a quiet forest pt2 "enough, I should look for food." said while rubbing his hands together and standing up. the cold began to penetrate into his bones again, this time it''s much more bearable, the hunger, on the other hand, wasn''t. he walked towards the hole, with the phone''s flashlight he illuminated inside it and analyze it carefully. <> he turned it off and looked at his left, where the forest deepened. <> he began to walk at his left trying to not stumble in the dark. <> he looked around to see the lowest branch from which you could hang, he found it by walking more, he broke it after hangin on and swinging it. it was a really nice branch, full of leaves and thick at the root and slim at the end. he bent it until it broke the thin part, clean it from the leaves and with a stone he tried to sharp it to create an improvised lance. it was difficult to see when he made it, sometimes he stopped and looked at it with the screen''s light, sometimes he missed it, but, after quite some time, he created a really bad lance, it hadn''t a sharp head, it had two or three heads, all crooked but pretty effectives, from Raeneris judgment. <> thought satisfied with his work. he looked up in search of fruits but they disappeared in the darkness. <> he walked with the help of the lance, which was long from the feet to the middle of the belly, toward the edge of the forest, hoping to find smaller trees to climb and reach some fruits, if there are any. he walked for a long time, he even doubted he headed in the right direction, he risked to fall many times because of the irregural ground or for rocks he didn''t see. as he walked his attention was focused on hearing strange and dangerous sounds, the silence that was there made him uncomfortable, as something was going to happen to him, suddently he broke some small branches, the sound, insignificant normally, was loud enough to scare him and it flowed through the forest. Raeneris froze on the spot expecting sounds of steps coming towards him, he waited, the noise of broken branches was gone and the quiet reign once again, drops of sweat began to fall from his forehead but nothing, he couldn''t heard nothing. slowly he reassured himself, apparently the noise wasn''t that loud, he was about to take another step forward and continue his walk as if nothing had happened, when a sudden noise coming from the branches above him paralized him again, he looked up with a inhumane speed and couldn''t see anything but he heard another sound, coming from the same direction. <> the time was passing, he felt as a giant hand was opening around his head, all of a sudden he heard a laugh of pleasure from an inhuman being, If he didn''t do something right away he will be dead. so he turned off his brain, pointed his phone''s screen up and turned it on. the darkness around him was like a normal night with only a bunch of star to illuminate the sky, pretty dark but nearly visible for a couple of meters, on the other hand he forgot to lower the screen''s light. it was a little star on earth illuminating the trees from the bottom, everything gained color, the dark brown of the trees was merging with the darkness the dimmer the light was, the dark sky was covered by a beautiful dark green of the leaves with some dark yellow tips from some berries hanging on the branches. Raenerys stared at image failing to see anything, there was no monster, no animal, nothing, yet that sound had to come from something. <> he was about to move the head again when his eyes caught a glimpse of a movement through the leaves, he focused on it and saw a howl that move his head and now was starring back at him, his big and black eyes were intimidating, it was keeping a centipede in his beak. <> he thought, almost saying it out loud. a heavy sigh came out of his mouth, trying to forget what had happened, he turned off the phone''s screen and squeezed the improvised lance with his right hand, undecided if throw it to the howl or not. "fuck off" whispered as he took another step, another branches break under his foot, the sound flowed once again through the forest and he cursed himself. Once again he froze on the spot focused on listening but nothing, the quiet in that forest made him really uncomfortable and paranoid of everything. he continued to walk slowly paying attention to not made too much noise and after an eternity he, finally, arrived where the forest end and the plain of the hill begin. the plain was a little brighter than the forest, he could see the beauty of nothing for meters and meters, the city was hidden by small hills hidden in turn by darkness, he knows they were there because he had to walk over them to get to the forest, he remember how hard it has been. <> thought as he was looking at the ahead of him. then with his lance he made some incisions on the trees near him, he looked at his right and his left, they were the same as far as he could see. <> he thought without any logical reason, both choices were the same, so he just thought to take a gambling and began to walk in a straight direction, always paying attention to not make too much noise. 9:57 it was almost an hour walking and still he hadn''t found any trees smaller than the others, he proceded with extremely attention because the ground was full of roots sticking out and he was navigating without light, he would save every bit of battery in that phone. except for the howl before there were no animals that could be heard of, on the other hand it was full of insects, some of them flied directly in the face or near the ears of Raenerys making him jump out of fear. he was hungry and the cold breeze coming from the plain of the hills made him slighly tremble for warmth, he was still paying attention to the sorrounding sound, all he could hear were his footsteps and buzzing insects.Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. at some point his attention was caught by at familiar continous sound, yet he couldn''t understand why it sound so familiar, it was distant and weak, he stopped trying not to make any kind of noise, he even stop breathing. it wasn''t continuous but irregular, sometimes it stopped for short moment and sometimes it stopped for longer moment, the noise was always different, sometimes it was louder other times were weaker, but he was certain of one thing, it didn''t came out from any type of animal, or at least those who he saw on tv shows. he was still pondering if remain there and listen to find out what is it, even getting close, or just turned back and heading back to the hole both have they risk, when sounds of breaking dried leaves and small branches were heard. it comes from his left and it was getting close to him, the familiar noise it would stop and start again. the decision Raeneris made was fast, he hid behind the widest tree he could see as quietly as possible, he realize that the noise was coming closer not towards him but near him, then the world around him gained colours, it was weaker first and then stronger the closer the noise got. he realized that that was the sound of footsteps and his mind connected that the familiar sounds from before were conversations. < > he thought excitedly, he was about to call them when he stopped there. <> as he was doubting the footsteps were getting closer, he could see the light illuminate everything around him. suddently Silmo''s words came back to his mind "who''s gonna think about you rather than save themselves?". <> as he was thinking the light began to fade and the sound of footsteps were really close to him. "turn off the flashlight we''ve arrived" whispered a deep voice. "I''ll turn it off at the limit I don''t want to stumble" responded another voice. two male''s voices, yet the sounds of footsteps didn''t match the number of it. Raeneris peeked out from behind the tree and saw a slightly taller than him figure following two small people, maybe boys thought Raeneris, and at the head of the group there was a person holding the flashlight of the phone. he couldn''t understand if they had some type of weapon or what they look like, they were just shadow that moves and tree after tree they were slowly disappearing, everything was turning dark again. <> he left his spot and carefully get to the path they were walking on. <> he arrived at the same path they were walking, from there he could see the group exit from the forest and the guy turned the flashlight off. <> yet Silmo''s words echoed in his head making him doubt. suddently, as he was watching the group disappearing beyond the dark silhouette of trees his mind went silent, he couldn''t think of anything, he could see himself in third person and he could also see giant jaws of a wolf emerged from the darkness behind him and opened up aiming to eat his entire torso. suddently his vision switched again and now he could barely see the tallest one, they were heading at his right, from were he was coming from, he heard someone of them speak, but at the same time his mind didn''t process what he said. he began to break out in a cold sweat, he tightened the improvised lance even more and without any thought he dropped it on the ground, the noise made the group stopped. "sorry guys" as soon as he said those words he the flashlight was pointed at his direction. his mind started to work again and the sensation of those jaws around his torso disappeared. "who''re you?" asked one of the voice before. the group came back and Raeneris had to block the light with his hand to avoid being blinded. "are you crazy? you want to blind me, turn it off " he didn''t like not having a view of them. "Are you with other people?" asked the same voice. Raeneris noticed two more lights peering through the trees. he was about to answer when a female voice spoke shyly. "your name is Raeneris?" confused he tried to see past the light, but all he could see were four silhouette barely noticeable. "did you guys were at the party in the abandoned mansion?" asked, after a little while, astonished Raeneris. "Silmo told us about you" responded the female voice ignoring what he said. "he told us he''s alone" she spoke to his friends. "Silmo? so you guys are from the city? are you all his friends?" "we met him when we were escaping from it and he was heading there" the deep voice made his bones tremble. "are you for real alone?" asked one of the group. "yeah and turn that fucking flashlight off" the man pointed the light on the ground and the other light were turned off. now he could see straight to them but they still remained dark silhouette, this time more noticeable. "thank you" said Raeneris pissed off, his eyes didn''t take long to adapt again to the darkness. "so guys, why are you heading back to the city?" "did you take us for fools? we run away from it." responded the deep voice probably annoyed. "and so why you all are leaving the forest?" responded Raeneris more annoyed by the tone of his response. "it is easier to walk out of the forest than in it, we have to get to his parents'' house, which is on a hill forgotten by God." Raeneris realised that it was the tallest of the group who spoke. he guessed that he pointed someone but in that dark he couldn''t distinguish it. <> while Raeneris was thinking, someone in the group whispered something to the others, but he paid no attention to it. "guys i don''t like talk here, why don''t we just talk as we walk? if I can come with you, being here sucks" asked kindly Raeneris with a little smile on his face. "no" the replied was harsh and the deep tone made it more like it was a comand. "sorry, we don''t have enough supplies to support one more person." "why no? do you really want to leave him here alone?" Raeneris could see the tall silhouette move and face one of the short ones, took some distant to him and then he could see an hand being illuminated by the light. it was less imposing than he expected, but hairy as a gorilla. "I won''t stay for long. look, a week at the most." Raeneris hastened to reply. "didn''t you say they had a vegetable garden and chickens?" the female voice asked confused. the deep voice whispered something to his group, in that quiet forest Raeneris with a bit of concentration could have hear what he said, but he was too focused to think how he could join them. "we are a group, not only you can decide, I say we vote" the female solemn replied. "David, it''s up to you." after that phrase there was a small silence full of tension, Raeneris began to hate that situation, especially that guy with the deep tone, he was a real asshole. "come on bro, it''s either one or the other." the deep voice spread through the forest full of impatience. without waiting a second longer he continued. "he''s with me, I already know his answer. so, it''s a draw, now what should we do, genius?" the last part was said with a tone full of sarcasm and provocation. " What is he, disabled? that you decide for him?" a mighty stifled laugh came out of the highest silhouette. Raeneris could only imagine how much annoyed he could be in that moment. "as long as it really is a week." David responded as if the weight of the world had collapsed on him. "you already know uh?" this time the female one was full of mockery. finally Raeneris was free of that stupid scene, he would have wanted to tell him that he would have left him alone in a forest in the dark, but he decided to swallow it all. after all, he couldn''t already antagonise one of the group that welcomed him. "thank you guys, i promise it will be less than a week, so there will be no problems." said with a kind tone while he took the improvised lance from the ground and walk towards them. blame and nostalgia SILMO with a deep breath Silmo woke up and smelled all the stench from the dumpster where he had fallen asleep. his long and pitch black hair were dirty and some of them covered his left eye, his arms held his legs close to his body while the phone had fallen out of his pockets and was lying on the base of the dumpster. he moved his dirty hair from his face and stretched his legs and arms, as far as he could stretch them. the dumpster wasn''t long enough for him, so he slept with his back and head resting on the sides of it. he slowly opened the dumpster lid, expecting the morning light to shine inside, instead the only light to come in was from the nearby streetlight almost hidden by the house to which the dumpster was almost attached. he could saw the dirt road, from where he came, disappearing in the darkness. the sky was still a pitch black void without stars and moon. <> he grabbed the phone to check out the time but the phone didn''t open, he tried several time to click the power button, yet it still remained off. <> he left the stinky dumpster and headed toward the streetlight where the dirt road become a paved one. he looked out from the corner of the house and saw a disaster that he didn''t noticed when he came there, also because the closer he got to city, the more he walked in the grass moving away slightly from the dirt road. all the decorations attached to the houses illuminated food splattered on the ground, a stall with food on it destroyed and smashed to pieces, many houses with their front door wide open and many with even their garage open. he noticed that far ahead the streetslights and decorations were off. the house from which he was peering had both, the garage and the front door, wide open, and the garage had even the light still on and the door, that connects it to the rest of the house opened. at the sight of the food his stomach grumbled, suddently his own stinky smell hit him, he felt his whole face was dirty, the shit would look better than him. <> thoght as he was entering the garage. it was pretty empty, just enough space for a small car to fit in, the use of the private vehicles were permitted in the outskirts, two buckets of paint and Is a cardboard box full of old items. it was full of dust and cracks in the walls. he entered in the hous and right in front of him a chest of drawers with all of it opened, inside it there was every type of stuff, lightbulbs, some types of wires, needle and a lot of threads, and at the last drawer there was a nice wide brush, some screwdrivers and a hammer. at his left there was the front door and he could see a part of the clean kitchen stove, meanwhile at his right there was the living room and another corridor that disappears to its right. <> a little laugh came out just for the mere thought of it. he took the hammer with him and went towards the kitchen. it was a mess even there, many hanging cabinet with the doors open and inside it remain little to none food supplies, but those that remained were extremely precious. he took a pack unopen of biscuits and started to eat some of it, then he took an open bag of bread and placed both of them on the table nearby. as he was searching for others supplies he noticed how much mould was on the ceiling, even though he forget it soon when he saw a half bar of dark chocolate to which he breaks off a piece. after that he didn''t find anything, so he went towards the fridge and the situation was even worse, the only thing inside it was a bunch of four banana. to the right of the refrigerator there was an entrance without a door that led to the lunchroom. there he saw a almost finished bottle of water, he finished it and filled it with tap water. as he was filling the bottle he saw some drawers near the sink, he opened the first one and his eyes lit up. there was a long kitchen knife, well sharped and well pointy, far better than a hammer against monsters. <> thought looking at the food on the table. he went to check the small living room, the mould was also here, a long sofa attached to the wall barely fits in, on top of it there was a large painting of a mountain landscape, in front of it, attached to the other wall, there was a large tv on a small table. immediately at his left, where the room begin, there was a large sideboard with display cabinet, through the glass he could see some photos, especially many of a newborn, and some of them were family photos. Silmo couldn''t look at the family photos for too long, so decide to went to the next corridor, right in front of the living room''s entrance that lead to three rooms. those photos were hurtful to look, a lovely family he''ll struggle to see them again, if he really manages to see them, but one thing was the most hurtful for him, the death of his mother, more specifically his unconcern. when his sister told him about it the world fell on him just for an instant, then the next second it was like nothing happened, and that was fine to him there were a lot of things going around his head and he was in a dangerous situation. the thing he hate and was really hurtful to the heart was that he didn''t think about her anymore after that moment, only now after saw those photos he remembered his death mother. "I''m a filthy piece of shit, i was too focused on me, on how to get to my sister and father, that i forgot about her. She broke her back to give us a comfortable life, she sacrificed his dream to give us a safe life and i tried to help her, not to make her worry. a son shouldn''t be a burden for a mother." tears flowed like a waterfall down his cheeks, he was sitting on the ground with his back leaned on the white wall. as tears still flowed down his face, his sister''s words came back to him. "she fell as the crowd was dragging us and... and a building fell... over her"Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. "poor Anna, she must be terrified. i can''t trust her words, in that chaos she probably didn''t remember correctly what happened. my mother could be still alive. poor dad, he must be heartbroken. i must go to them and help them. this is what a good son must do." he wiped his tears with the back of his hand, as if it could chase away suffering, stood up and went throught the door at his right. > he thought as he was looking at the room. it was pretty full this time, there was a table on the wall at his left with some paper and pen on it, at his right there was a single bed in the angle, next to him there was an empty bedside table, attached to the wall in front of him there was a library a library with school books, some notebooks and many books ranging from children''s books to great classics. to it right there was a cabinet of the same size with opened doors, some clothes were on the ground, some of them were still hanging, most of it where t-shirt too light for winter and a old black jacket with some names on it written with a white permanent marker. At the sight of the jacket Silmo felt a growing nostalgia, but ignored it, he could not be distracted. covered in part by a T-shirt was an old school backpag, older than Silmo, but still intact. he took it and placed it on the bed, then he went to the master room in front of the boy''s room. it was empty and full at the same time, at his right there was a large closet which went from wall to wall, with all of his door opened and inside it was a real mess. at his left there was a wide bed with two bedside table, the left one with a charger''s wire placed on top of it and plugged into an outlet, Silmo immediately went to charge the phone, the right one was full of make-up stuff and a little lamp. as he sat on the bed waiting for the phone to charge, he ran a hand over his hair to throw it back, and felt it greasy, full of the dirt from the dumpster. a shiver of disgust ran down his spine, suddenly a stench enveloped him, making him gasp for breath, he plugged his nose and instinctively closed his eyes, as he closed them he also felt the skin of his face under a thick layer of dirt. "disgusting, I absolutely must wash myself" said as he was walking towards the last door. the bathroom was tiny, in front of him there was a sink and a mirror, thanks to it he could clearly see his hair reflecting the light of the room, they were attached to each other thanks to the dirt, they were swollen and still perfectly smooth, in fact more than before, even from there he could see the skin under the hair. his green eyes betray his tiredness and beneath them was a faint hint of dark circles, his lips were chapped but at that moment he was thinking about what he would do when he grew a beard. he couldn''t bare to see and feel his dirty hair anymore, it was driving him mad, so he went directly to the sink and opened the tap, ignoring the shower at his right, with a bathrobe hanging and a hair dryer next to it, and the toilet at his left, with in front of it a pile of towels on a stool and a closed window to the right of the toilet. he began to wash firstly his face then his hair with an hair conditioner. after some time finally he felt himself almost clean, the only thing remained were his clothes, but from what he saw from the closets, they have taken away all the clothes for the winter. <> thought as he was drying the hair with a towel. he was about to turn on the hair dryer when he remember of all open doors, so quickly he closed them all and even the bathroom''s one, and turned on the hair dryer. he didn''t care how he dried them, he had to hurry, that was the only important thing. yet in his head there was the image of the old jacket, when he saw it he felt a strong nostalgia. after that, hoping that no one heard him, he tied them up in a pony tail with the elastic band on his wrist. he went back to the phone and turned it on, while he was waiting he went to the boy''s closet and take a closer look on the jacket. it was indeed an old one and it was from a teenager, maybe he was twelve years old or so, it was small for Silmo. on it there were dozens of names but what catches his eyes was a name "Ameli¨¦" encircled by a heart, it reminded him his very first crushes, the first and short engagements, he was luckier with girls back then than he is now. every name on it carry with them a memory, and the jacket is evidence of a boy''s carefreeness, a carefreeness destroyed in a few hours and impossible to gain it back. he was not that old, he had recently touched twenty, he had never been nostalgic but that jacket reminded him his life, like he was about to die. "this boy" he looked on the library and saw some books of the second year of high school. "will never experience what I experienced, he had to leave while I was able to live and chose how to live. he hasn''t had this privilege, i hope he is safe. many of them died or are dying right now, or even suffering a lot." his mind recalled the images of the five guys who had killed the wolf, four of them died and as many died when the troll arrived. even his mother might be dead. "I don''t even know what I''m supposed to think. all this suffering, all these lives killed without reason, all those infinite wasted potentials. someone who has had a shitty past is slaughtered in the same way as someone who has had a good life. the rich are slaughtered like the poor. why. why all of this is happening." an heavy sigh came out of his mouth. "even if i know why, all this can''t be avoided i guess. on the other hand what could i do to stop it." now he realized the reason for that nostalgia, not for the poor boy, but for the loss of something that will never return, peace. the peace of being able to do what he wants without fear of being eaten, the peace of being able to go anywhere without fear and without hiding. the peace of being able to choose what to eat and to have fun as and when he wants. he gave one last look to the jacket and saw a big dick made with the marker just below the name encircled by a heart. that made him forget of all those sad thoughts and made him burst out laughing. he went back to the master room, changed his t-shirt with one on the ground and checked his phone. "it is 9.45 a.m.?!" said almost shouting. he didn''t need to check the sky from the window, his eyes were glued to the phone and saw that his battery was almost 40 per cent. "too mcuh things to think of. the sky been this dark is unnatural and maybe the monsters are the cause." he remembered a strange voice in his head before the disaster saying something, yet he couldn''t rememeber what he said so he chased away those thoughts. "okay, let''s think about something else. with the fast-charge in fifteen minutes or so my phone will be near fully charged. it need to last throught the journey, although I will certainly find a hiding place with a socket, maybe there is no light there, like here in front, but I will see on the spot. i need to use Gmaps to navigate in it better, even without geolocation is this useful, so better use street iilluminated by streetlights." he stood up and went to the kitchen with the old backpack. <> thought as he put the food and the hammer in his backpack. <> his gaze was lost in the void. <> thought after a long moment of reflection. With this new overwhelming energy and with trembling legs, Silmo put his backpack on his shoulders, the knife held so tightly that his right hand was already sore, and was ready to embark on the journey.