Chapter 2 "A Monster in the Forest"

“Ugh! Ugh!”

Yuri let out a raspy cough as she struggled to pry open her heavy eyelids. Her mind was foggy and disoriented as she tried to piece together her surroundings.

‘Where am I?’

She vaguely remembered plummeting off a cliff moments ago and assumed she must be at the mountain's base.

However, the pitch-black darkness enveloping her made it impossible to discern anything in her immediate vicinity.

The rain had stopped. And yet, she felt the chills all over her body because she had been soaked in water for a long time.

Gasping for breath, she was bewildered about how she had survived.

‘The cliff was so high. Why did I not die?’

She raised her hand, wincing at the scratches and bruises from the rough terrain. Despite the pain, she seemed to be relatively unscathed.

Struggling to her feet, she grunted as she pushed aside a fallen tree that had trapped her. “Ugh! Come on! Ahh!”

She finally lifted her ankle from the fallen tree, but standing still was difficult due to her injuries.

“Ouch… Hmm…”

Her ankle throbbed with each step, and the rain-soaked ground made it even harder to maintain her balance. But she refused to give up.

She was the only one who had fallen down the cliff, and she knew that if she waited here, her friends, who had lost track of her, would eventually rescue her.

As she contemplated her options, she heard rustling sounds from the surrounding area. 

Shsssk. Shssks.

It wasn’t the sound of leaves being trampled on nor the sound of the wind sweeping through the leaves. Instead, she saw a dark shadow roaming in the forest.

Yuri's intuition kicked in as she asked herself, "Could it be a wild animal?" After all, she found herself lost in the depths of the forest, where the likelihood of encountering one was high.

Catching her breath, Yuri clutched onto a nearby tree branch for support. The wild animal did not come closer to where she was, but it was terrifying to be watched by something she couldn’t name.

Tak.

Tak.

Tak.

Unfortunately, the raindrops poured again.

‘If I stay here all night, I will surely die. I need to find a cave or a place where I won't get soaked.’

If only Yuri knew that she would survive, she regretted letting go. It was a very impulsive decision as regrets started to creep in. Even so, if the time had turned back, Yuri felt she might not have acted differently.

After a while, when the rustling sounds disappeared, Yuri carefully moved. She found space to take shelter from the rain. The hollow space created by strangely curved tree roots was enough to hide her tiny body.

‘Even if I waited for rescue, it would be difficult because of the rain.’

Yuri spent her night inside the hollow space. When she opened her eyes, the rain stopped, and it was already morning.

She scrutinized her surroundings first, then hardly came out. The muscles on her body ached, but soon, she forgot it all when she saw the beauty before her eyes.

The dark shadows of the voluminous trees and puzzled bushes had become the structure of the forest. The trees stood proud and tall as protectors of the exigent grounds, as the impregnated bushes that had consumed the hard regions of the forest concealed the land from beneath the vibrant portals of the open sky.

The forest has an appearance of green romances, alluring her mind deeper into the enchanted land.

As the sun rose quickly, it bloomed into the sky with a warm, mellow glow. The dusky sky was a brilliantly bright baby blue and perched picturesquely on the branches of the trees in the forest below.

As the morning developed, the sounds of young birds began to fill the air with a delicious spritz. They chirped, tweeted, and warbled incessantly.

“It’s beautiful…” she murmured. Subconsciously, Yuri smiled.

Perhaps she didn’t know. But this was the first time she smiled sincerely after a long time.

Despite having her feet torn by sharp plants, she moved further, looking at the tall trees, which possessed a sweet serenity that kept all safe in the forest from delinquent harm and stark human demoralization.

But after walking for a while, Yuri stopped. It was because she saw a figure inside another root of the tree.

‘Is that… a human?’

She gulped down her dry throat.

The figure inside the hollow space has a head, hands, and feet. However, there’s something different in him, as if he is a male individual of the other race.

The color of his hair hanging down one side of his shoulder was pale. She could call it silver hair, but if she looked closely, she could see a blue tinge. It was a color that people couldn’t have without dyeing it.

“H-Hello?” she called.

The man moved his body. He looked slender at first, but when she saw her long legs, he seemed pretty big. His vast muscles were visible through the thin clothes he was wearing.

“Are you… fine?” Yuri asked.

He, who was lying on his back inside the space, sat up. He glared at her fiercely.

And when Yuri saw the color of his eyes, she held her breath.

It was a mix of blue, purple, and yellow.

Grrrrr.

As he growled, Yuri was more convinced she was not dealing with a human. He’s more than what he looks like. 

Yuri stepped back from an unknown creature that looked like a human at first glance. Yet, when she saw his injury, she lowered her guard.

His thighs, calves, and then ankles, exposed through his torn pants, were wounded with cuts from the teeth and claws.

“I won’t hurt you.”

Yuri said to him, even though she wasn’t sure if this guy would understand her language.

Calming her madly beating chest, Yuri began to move closer. Yet, the man only pushed her away.

“Grrr!”

“Ack!”

Yuri fell and felt dizzy. Was it because the rain turned heavier? She’s feeling cold.

As she trembled, the man narrowed his eyes toward Yuri’s body.

She was hugging herself.

‘It’s freezing. My head is throbbing so hard!’

She tried to ignore the pain, but Yuri’s determination didn’t last. She dropped to the ground like a branch stick and fell unconscious.

The man stopped growling and stared at Yuri for a long time.

Gradually, he stood up and carried Yuri in his arms.