Chapter 1 - "A Boy in the Woods. "
Alpha Date Year(002): 315,848
Day: 251/365
Who knows what lies beyond the void? Some say that the void is simply an end; for others, it's a beginning. Some even say that it lives endlessly and even stares at us when we face ourselves, but for all who have known it, no one has passed beyond it.
We are then introduced to a large and imposing forest surrounding an even larger mountain. Within this forest lies an imposing aura emanating danger from all angles. One would think that only beasts and wild animals could live here and survive, yet, somehow, we can see a young boy around ten years of age finishing up pitching his tent and now standing attentively in front of an old man around the age of forty. "Listen well, J…I will now leave you here." The man spoke directly to the young kid, who wore a curious and tense expression. "You must now decide what to do to survive, as I've taught you all that you need to live here in the forest…if you wish to go up the mountain to stay with me, then you must PAY." He then pointed to a small round orb in his hand that almost seemed to glow. "You must hunt a dark rabbit, which lives in these woods, and bring me the orb from it to sleep for one night in the cave before or during sundown. IF YOU CAN'T DO THIS, THEN YOU WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED INTO THE CAVE…YOU UNDERSTAND." His tone was authoritative and cold like always, and the young child simply nodded his head and said, "Yes, Uncle."
After the J said this, the old man then turned his back on the boy and went up the path leading to the cave on the mountain, disappearing from the boy's line of sight. He then looked up to the sky, took a deep and heavy breath, and sighed. He then began to write inside a small book that he always kept in his side pocket, and within this mini journal, we are introduced to his thoughts. "Hello, my name is J. Today is my 10th birthday…at least that's what my Uncle says. Usually, we celebrate my birthday with a large pot of stew and some food that is called a 'sandwich.' But for the last week, instead of learning new words or doing math in the cave…he was teaching me what he calls 'survival skills.' It was things like setting up shelter, finding food, preparing food, and other skills that he said were essential. He said that I needed to learn these things because 'I needed to start pulling my weight.' I don't know what that means since I've always tried to help, and instead, he decided to send me out here."
J once again began to look around his area in the woods, looking both curious and worried at the same time. "Uncle helped to set up the location, so I should start looking around to see if there are any rabbits around." He then took some of his belongings, including his coat, his bag full of rations, and his knife. His mind wandered to all the moments of his Uncle telling him not to leave his knife if he wanted to survive. "Uncle said that there aren't just rabbits in these woods, but other kinds of beasts…and even monsters. 'Everything in the woods was dangerous, even the rabbits.' That's what Uncle would say every day when we went out of the cave to explore." The boy's nerves began to shake as he proceeded further into the woods, but not wanting anything to hear him, he closed his mouth and started breathing slowly but steadily. "I need to find the rabbit…I don't want to stay here…I need to catch the rabbit." These were his only thoughts now, finding the rabbit and going back to his home.
As he proceeded through the bushes and trees within the woods, which seemed to get denser and darker, he then saw a rustling coming from the bushes and immediately put his head down and out of sight, so that he wouldn't be noticed by the creature, thinking that it might be a hunter. The boy's nerves made him clutch his small knife tightly as the creature abruptly jumped out of the bushes and into a small clearing, which the boy was about to use to avoid the trees and bushes that were blocking him before. The boy then quickly looked again to identify the creature from the bushes, only to find a large rabbit with satin black fur. "THERE IT IS!" J thought after seeing the rabbit that was now sniffing around curiously. "I MUST GET IT NOW OR IT WILL RUN AWAY." He then tried to quickly come up with a plan and decided to simply button up his coat, ready his knife, and wait for when the rabbit's head was turned. Just as the rabbit was seemingly about to leave, prepping their hind legs to begin running through the woods, it turned its head to look at the trees swaying in the wind, and J then jumped toward the rabbit, stomach first, to surprise and capture it. "If I can stop it from moving by weighing it down, then I can capture the rabbit.", J thought as he fell to the ground, thinking that the plan would work since the rabbit wouldn't expect to see this coming.
Just as he thought that the plan would've worked, as the rabbit seemed just about to be crushed under him, the rabbit then turned his head back so quickly that even J noticed. J hit the floor and braced his face against the ground, trying his best to hold the rabbit that he thought he had caught. But he soon felt that there was nothing alive under him, simply some rocks that hurt him after landing on them, and after looking to his left, he saw the black-furred rabbit looking at him directly in the eyes before turning its back and running off, as if the black rabbit was mocking his attempt. J then stood up and lunged forward to the rabbit to try and follow it. He saw the rabbit roll through the bushes and bounce through the trees so quickly that he honestly thought that a rabbit couldn't be that quick. As J ran through the wilderness, the black rabbit ran faster and faster, so fast that eventually, all J could do was catch his breath as he saw the rabbit run swiftly through the forest and out of sight. "How- I was right on top of it and just disappeared?!"
But before he could think any further, the pain set in, and he was now clutching his stomach on the ground after rolling over, and he was now facing the sky. "....This isn't fair...I don't know how to hunt these creatures. How am I supposed to catch something that disappears when you chase it?" He then pondered whether or not he could catch this rabbit and with what method. "I didn't even see how he hunted the rabbits… all he did was disappear into the forest, and in ten minutes, he would have three of them in perfect condition. But all he taught me was how to prepare and cook the rabbits. What can I do?" He then stood up, resolving himself to try again and again until he caught the rabbit. "I need to figure this out. My rations won't last long, and Uncle is a man of his word…he won't save me this time." He then began to move in the direction of the rabbit that he was chasing, seeing if he could track its footprints before it got dark.
After a few hours, it was dusk, but after following the tracks for two hours, he wasn't able to find the rabbit as he thought he could when Uncle taught him. It was now too dark, and he needed to find his way back to camp, so he followed his footprints and some marks he left on trees towards his camp and checked on his supplies. "Instead of finding the rabbit, I wasted my time. How could it vanish… I couldn't find any other rabbits either!" J was taking deep breaths, trying to calm himself down, remembering what his Uncle always told him. "Being angry wastes time and energy", so he decided to calm himself down and eat his portion of rations. He was planning to capture the rabbit and avoid using them because they tasted very dry and bland, and wished to have a rabbit stew all to himself without sharing it with anyone else. "Uncle and I share meals every day, especially after lessons are over and he's finished teaching me new words or how to do math, and tells me a story every so often." He then realized how dark it became around him after he set the fire, which illuminated the ground around him but did not stretch forever, with his only company being the sound of the forest moving around him. "I'm scared…Before I had Uncle, now I'm alone…I don't like it, I need to catch that rabbit soon." After finishing his small ration of dried meat and a potato, he then went to his tent to sleep for the night. He wanted to wake up early so that he could get a head start in the morning, as it was his first night sleeping by himself after so long, where he'd only be alone for a few hours before Uncle would return to the cave, but now he already is missing the safety of his only home. "I will hunt that rabbit and get back to the cave."
After six days had passed, J was now eating the last of his rations at night after trying every single day to hunt the black rabbits in the woods. "WHY CAN'T I CATCH A SINGLE RABBIT? I'M ALREADY OUT OF RATIONS AFTER EATING THROUGH THEM ALL! WHAT AM I GONNA DO?" J was now screaming at the top of his lungs after being so unbelievably frustrated for almost a week. "Every time I try to hunt these rabbits, they run away. No matter how much I sneak up on them, they see me coming. And now I'm much too tired to hunt them…I tried jumping from the bushes on day two and stabbing them with my knife on day three. I even caught one in my arms after it was digging into my arms, but it stretched out of my grasp before I could grab my knife to stab it. That happened on the fourth day. And now they are all running away before I can chase after them." His frustration made him grip his head and grit his teeth, as he was now beginning to think that no matter what he did, he was never going to catch a single rabbit. "All I have now is this last potato, my tent, my gear, and the clothes on my back." He then stared at the potato in his hands, wondering what he had been doing wrong, and began thinking that he should have tried to save his food for longer. "WHAT CAN I DO!" He said to himself in a muffled tone, but just as he was about to take a bite of his potato, he was then left staring at the dark ground and the fire that lit up the ground made his tent glow, the often stared at this sight after dark because the tent always caught the full intense light of the fire coming from the same fire pit he had used for almost two weeks and this usually made him feel calm, yet now what caught his eye was that the thick blanket placed beneath the tent to prevent the tent from being placed directly on the ground, making it feel more comfortable, but now it made him think, and he pulled out his knife and some rope. He had used the knife the most throughout his time in these woods, from digging out holes to marking trees, sharpening sticks, and many more activities, and the rope was used to pitch the tent and hang his clothes and other belongings in a tree.
J then remembered something his Uncle told him when he was teaching him about how to survive in the woods. His Uncle had told him on the last day, "A survivor must always be aware of his surroundings, and use whatever he can to increase his chances of survival, this means that you must use everything at your disposal, and if you don't then you waste more time, waste even more energy, and end up dead." He then pondered on something in particular that he said, "USE EVERYTHING. But I have been doing exactly what he taught me; the only thing that he didn't teach me was to catch a rabbit." He then thought again and was now more painfully aware of where he was standing, as if a wave of nervousness washed over him. "Wait…maybe 'USE EVERYTHING' isn't the same as 'DO THE SAME THING.'" He learned everything around him from his Uncle within the cave when he went outside the cave for baths or simply when he wanted to go outside to walk around.
J then remembered the times when his Uncle would teach him things and he would remember these things, but in his free time, he would imagine the forest around him and wonder exactly what was in the forest, and thought of things that might be there based on the little information he was given, but he was always given an explanation by his Uncle in the end. But now, he needs to think of a way to catch a rabbit without seeing his Uncle do it. He then had an idea, "Every day we had to take down and put up our tents, and hang up our gear so that animals wouldn't get to them…hanging up the gear I understand, but why take down the tents over and over again, went there aren't any predators around the safe area that Uncle told me about, only rabbits. And since he left, I haven't taken down the tent since….wait!" He then looked once again at the tarp and the ropes that tied the tent, and the knots used on the tent and sack of gear. "Use everything…USE EVERYTHING." He then took down the tent as quickly as he could while still being somewhat tired, took out the tarp that was laid on the now muddy and dirty ground, and laid it out by the campsite. He then took out his knife and all the rope he had out of the sack he hung up.
J was now inspired and didn't even bother to eat what was left of his rations that night, for now, he finally realized what his Uncle truly meant. "I was so focused on how he did things that I didn't know how to change anything…he made everything look so easy…but I'm not him. He used everything that he needed to use because he is stronger than I, but because I'm still very weak compared to him, when he said I needed to 'USE EVERYTHING,' he meant it." He then proceeded to flip over the tarp on its dirty side and began to drill holes into each corner of the tarp. "The reason he kept showing me over and over again how to put up the sack and make a tent wasn't just to show how I could do those things, but also how to tie those knots, and how much tension I need to put on them. He needed to know these knots because they helped him make a tent and tie something up, but for me… I needed to learn these knots to survive in these woods…including while hunting!" Inspired by this thought, he continued working on his project throughout the night, confident that he finally understood his Uncle properly and was now on the right track to complete his goal. "By tomorrow… I'll catch a black rabbit!" After fishing up the holes in the tarp and checking their strength, he then began to ripe off the leave in the bushes by the handful and also tied together all the rope he needed to finish creating exactly what he needed to catch the rabbit the next day, and despite the late night and the long hours, he worked tirelessly…with a wide smile on his face.