The Lost Heir

Prologue

 He was in the forest, alone like always. He’d been there since forever trying to find a way out but no matter in which direction he’d go, whether he was going in straight lines or not, he’d always find himself walking in circles. He didn’t remember why he was there anymore- he hadn’t always been in that forest which seemed endless.

 The forest was vast and dark. There was no day and night, and even if there was he wouldn’t have been able to tell. The trees were really tall and close to each other, he had never once seen even a glimpse of the sky ever since he’d been sent there. His vision was very clear though, just like it would be for a normal human in day time.

 It was hard to tell if time was even flowing in that place. His features hadn’t changed even once ever since he’d been there. He still had the same dirty blonde hair, dry pale skin as before. He was very tall as he’d always been. He still had the same little muscles he’d always had and the chubbiness on his face never seemed to go away no matter how much he worked out. His looks didn’t matter to him anymore though, when he’d finally realised that he was stuck to be alone forever.

 There was not a single living being there, there were absolutely no animals, no insects or anything that moved at all. the only sound he’d heard in that forest was his own breathing and his raspy and deep voice. Nothing else could be heard, he’d never once even felt the wind let alone hear it. He’d only hear the rustling of leaves if he was to one who’d rustle, which was once in a while. The trees were too tall and too steep for him to climb them too often and all the branches and leaves were situated at the top of the trees.

 He’d pray all the time that he could leave this place. He’d even cry for someone or just anything to come and save him. He couldn’t die where he was- he’d get fatal wounds and more but he wouldn’t die, he’d just heal on his own and be left with no trace that he even got hurt. Hunger was also another thing that wouldn’t happen to him and there wasn’t really anything he could eat if he ever was hungry. He didn’t need to even work for anything there. One could even say that he was living a life without any worries.

 He was too lonely, however. He had no meaning and there was nothing that meant anything to him there. He’d talk to himself all the time and have meaningless conversations with his own conscience. There’d even be a time when he’d started to think that his consciousness had a mind of its own and was a whole other entity. He was slowly being driven to insanity for his solitude.

 Few things that actually made him realise that he was real were the millions of scratch marks he’d made on the trees and the thousands of extremely deep holes he’d dug in the ground. He would still find them all where he left them. He’d even made an entire underground basement made of rocks he’d carved himself.

 The basement was huge. It had a lot of different compartments and was even bigger than the wealthiest king’s castle. He’d sometimes boast to the trees about how he can build such a beautiful, spacious place just for him. He knew he had it worse than the trees, they had families and friends all around them while he had none. But it was his way of trying to at least feel a little bit about himself. He’d take pride in it but never thought of building more.

 He’d heard the sound of footsteps for the first time while taking a nap, one of the few things that was granted to him. It was strange; he wasn’t the one making these sounds. He’d not heard the sound of human footsteps in a long while but somehow he knew that these didn’t belong to humans. They were way too heavy and loud for him to be able to hear and feel them this deep in the ground- he didn’t need oxygen to breathe, he’d breathe simply out of instinct and habit.

 He followed the sounds of the footsteps for a while until he finally decided to see what they belonged to. He went down one of the passages that would lead him closest to the creatures. He carefully removed the trap door he’d made out of the bark of the trees and peeked, being as quiet as he possibly could. He didn’t want to risk being seen until he was sure these beings wouldn’t add up to his torment. And he couldn’t have been worse at judging as he’d ever been since his whole existence. And he fled from them, went back down to his basement. Even then he tried to be as quiet as he could as he ran as far as his basement would lead him from the creatures. He knew these woods better than anyone else and he was certain he could escape them for a long time.