My head throbbed with numb pain. I raised a hand to my head as I slowly opened my eyes. The dappled light shone into my eyes, and my hand wandered from my forehead to cover them. I groaned, hearing a familiar tone in the sound that escaped me.

  "What happened?" I whispered, brushing a strand of dirty golden hair out of my sight as I sat up. I swept a few leaves from my mattered jacket and struggled to stand for a moment as a gradual pain in my shin made itself noticeable. When I moved, the pain in my head flared up. When I stood, I lost my balance and caught myself on a tree, blanketed in rough, dark bark, thinly layered in colour drained moss.

  "Where am I?" I mumbled, looking around. I saw a backpack next to a flattened patch in the grass, its contents spread out as if it had been flung. I took a deep breath and lumbered to it, gently placing them into the large backpack. There were a lot of books, including Atlases books on plants, and two that caught my attention:

  Navigating by sunlight was a thin book with a bright red leather cover. I looked over another to see The great history of Kleft.

  "Where the Beneath did I get these books?" I grumble, pushing them into the bag without paying attention to the other few books. I swung the backpack onto my shoulders and grasped the other tree beside me for stability.

  "I have got to get over this dizziness," I tell myself and sigh. I pick a direction to walk in, looking to the sky to find the sun on my right. Then I wondered what time it was. Regardless, I was going to use it to get my bearings. I travelled what was either going to be north or south, depending on the sun's choice of path. I found my way through the different trees, brushing past oak and birch trees and others I couldn't recognize. I clambered up the side of a hill, slipping on the undergrowth and getting stuck in various brambles and vines. The green plants surrounding me gave me a sense of serenity as I found my way through them. On the way to and up the hill, I spotted a small flock of pheasants. The birds hurried off in a frightened attempt to fly. I chuckled at the clumsy birds as they rushed into the trees. My gaze followed them, then went beyond the grand green canopy towards the sky.

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  I stared into the vast bright blue. As I did, I felt a strange longing to take off into the blue as if I had wings. That urge got stronger as I reached the top of the hill I had been climbing. I walked up to a ledge and stared at the trees below. I sat down, my legs dangling off the edge. I stared into the canopies, imagining the life teaming within them. The sun beamed in through the trees. The birds sang cheerfully, and I flopped onto my back. There was an unusual numb pain below my shoulder blades as I landed. Where those... lumps? Maybe just a nasty bruise.

  I lay there for a few minutes and soon noticed the shadow's new position. The sun was rising, meaning I had been heading south. If I had gone north, I would've ended up on a mountain. The mountain had something mysterious peeking out from the spruce trees. It looked like stone from where I stood. I craned my neck to try and get a better look but felt something odd, a sinking feeling in my chest that left a bad taste in my mouth. Bitterness...

  I wanted to avoid that area and looked at my backpack on the ground.

  Just then, my stomach groaned, complaining. I grumbled and knelt down to open the bag farther to see the heaviest item. A hatchet. It was small compared to the axes I'd seen in my childhood. I smiled and picked up the hatchet, twirling it to have the blade face downward instead of upward. I hung the bag from a high tree branch and crept into the forest.

  "Quiet, or they'll be scared off." I thought, my mind racing as I approached an unsuspecting bird. I raised the hatchet extremely slowly and took shelter by a large bramble bush. My eyes were locked onto the bird while I waited for the pheasant to get into a better position. Then I launched the hatchet, spinning right into the bird's back. It didn't even give it a chance to scream.

  I smiled proudly, retrieved my axe and picked up the bleeding dead bird. I headed back to the bag a few meters away. I left the bird with the pack and went right into the valley. When I reached another decent spot, I crouched down, approaching a flock instead of a lone bird. I stalked a pheasant from the group and threw the axe too soon, giving the bird a chance to fly away and shriek. The whole flock started shrieking as well and clumsily flew off. Angry, I turned to the nearest tree and punched the wood with a frustrated yell. There was an unsettling growl in my voice. The bark splintered, and my fist's vague imprint was left in the wood. I screamed and stumbled backwards because my hand was shaking but not bleeding. That same bitter taste hit my taste buds but soon faded. A faint purple wisp of mist floated in front of my eyes.