The forest was calm and serene. Golden light filtered through the branches and the wind rustled through the trees, making the forest seem ethereal.
'Where....am I?'
Caelum slowly awoke, disturbing the birds on the trees. His head hurt, his body ached, and he had no idea where he was.
"Shit!"
Suddenly, a piercing pain enveloped his head as he tried to recall the past endeavours that had led up to him waking up in the middle of nowhere feeling like a hungover pig.
As the pain subsided, Caelum finally felt like he could start trying to remember what had happened to him.
Sitting on a log, Caelum's eyes turned cloudy as he tried to remember
His most recent memory was that of an average day, waking up, brushing his teeth, and going down to meet his parents. His dad was a rugged man with black hair and a gentle face that wildly contradicted his brawny stature. He was kind and helpful, and occasionally funny. His mother was also a unique woman. She was beautiful and petite, yet despite these qualities, she was very strict and harsh. His father and his mother were total opposites!! After that, he cycled his way to school. His school life wasnt really that difficult. While he didnt have friends, he wasnt bullied either. Everyone in his school just kept to themselves.
Digging deeper into his memories, he finally remembered his age. He was...17?
After school, he came back home and settled on the couch, the home he and his parents lived in wasn't big, but it wasn't small either. It had 2 floors. The first floor was where the living room, the kitchen and the dining room were all situated. The second floor had 4 rooms, his room, his parents room, and two guest rooms. The house was quite cozy and antique, being in the family for 3 generations according to his father. Of course, he didnt really know if this was true. He was adopted so the whole idea of a big family tree overwhelmed him. The floor was made out of wood and all the furniture was quite antique. In fact, it looked more like an old fashioned cottage than an actual modern day home. From the outside as well, it looked old and ancient, with it being built by bricks and having the old style of architecture.
Satisfied with remembering that much, he continued to dive deeper into his own memories.
Caelum was an orphan. As early as he could remember, he had always been one. The memory of the orphanage was quite blurry, but he could still feel the suffocating atmosphere in the place. He also remembered that he had 3 siblings, but they were adopted before him. Was it.... 2 sisters and a brother? Or the other way around.
Now that he had a pretty good grasp on his primary memories, he tried to remember what had happened for him to wake up in the middle of an unknown forest.However, all he could remember was his most recent memory, and the memories from before. He could not remember anything after he came back from school. Not even what he had from dinner. It was like someone had surgically removed his memories.
'If not eerie and weird, this whole thing could be considered interesting. Like the plot of a horror novel'
The forest had quite the humid weather, so he had assumed that it most likely had been the eastern forest, which lay east to the city of Listvynen. According to what he had learned at school, the forest wasn't that dangerous. However, for a normal human to survive in, it was impossible
Letting out an amused and drained sigh, he leaned back, forgetting that he was sitting on a log, and fell into the pond behind it.
With some difficulty, he managed to climb out of the nefarious pond.
After lingering for a while, he decided to look at his reflection, to see if anything had changed.
'Nope, I'm still the same old Caelum'
He still had his purple eyes and tousled black hair. However, if someone looked at him now, they would have thought that he was a different person. His eyes were gaunt and sunken. And his face was extremely pale. Additionally, his body seemed malnourished and dirty. He looked like a beggar of the streets.
Sighing once again, he rose up and looked around.
Surrounding Caelum from every sideways a vast and seemingly impenetrable jungle. He could already feel the pain he was going to face.
He sighed once more.
The eastern forest was quite big. However, he believed he could find a way to reach the boundaries and escape into the Outer settlements and farmlands of Listvynen. All he needed to do was endure and evade tons on tons of beasts and monsters.
He sighed once more, and stepped into the the dense jungle