Survival in a Strange World

Chapter 1: The Village

Pain cascaded through him. His body, his soul, being pulled in a thousand directions. A million questions raced his mind. Thumping in his head like someone pounding on a door. Where was he? Who was he? How did he get here? Where was here? Everything was spinning, but still at the same time. Everything was calm and also frantic in the endless void of darkness.

And then... and then...

A flash of light and the world materialised around him. He sniffed, taking in the new smells. Grass, flowers, water, all mixing together to form the perfect scent of nature. He looked around to find himself surrounded by small hills and valleys covered with lush green grass and a rainbow of flowers. Behind him in the gully a river ran past, the water rushing on its journey to the ocean. The sun shone bright and fluffy white clouds moved slowly overhead. In the distance, a wall of trees looked down on him, tall with thick trunks and thicker leaves, forming a dense canopy and giving birth to shade, shadows and darkness, the home of death itself.

It was strange, all so familiar. But how had he got here and who was he? Where was his bed? His home? The memory was so blurry. The fireplace, the table. He shook his head, deciding to focus on his instincts. Hopefully that would give him the greatest chance of survival. Turning, he headed down to the river, stopping to pull up clumps of grass from the bank. He had no food, no tools and most importantly no shelter. Those were top priority so anything he could find to fulfil one of these goals was worthwhile. But there were no resources around and he couldn't waste time. The intense heat of the sun was already bearing down on him, so he picked a direction and set off. 

He walked in a daze, his legs automatically carrying him through the hazy midday heat. After a while and a lot of upheaving grass tufts, he had half a dozen seeds to his name. He sighed, shoving them into the pockets of his purple trousers and wiping his hands on his sky blue shirt. Deciding his efforts were futile, he climbed from the gulley, clawing at the dirt on a particularly steep incline to create a makeshift path.

Once his path was finished, he walked up, shoving the excess dirt into his other pocket. You never know when that could come in handy. To his surprise he was greeted by a mass of white, walking on stubby legs. The sheep looked him up and down, baa'd at him and nodded. Was it greeting him? Or simply asking to be left alone? Deciding to ignore it, he continued following the river through the meadow. The sun up above moved slowly on its journey across the sky and beads of sweat began rolling down his face. Was he hot or nervous, probably a bit of both.

He continued through the prairie, pulling up more tufts of grass and picking up the occasional flower as he walked; watching sheep and cows graze in the grassland and keeping an eye on the edge of the dark forest. He stopped suddenly while watching the trees. What was that? It looked like a pair of glowing eyes, watching him. But in the blink of an eye, they were gone. He started and flushed with panic, eyes darting around frantically trying to catch those eyes again. But to no avail. Was he seeing things, his mind playing tricks on him? The sun was slowly descending now and fear began to swell inside him like rising water. He had completely lost track of time and direction from where he started. Damn, now he was lost and still had nothing he could call useful supplies.

He broke into a run, following the edge of the woods as they slowly became hidden behind a great mass of stone reaching up into the clouds. There was no way he was climbing that, he would die of hunger before he reached the top. So he continued running, following the river bank that curved toward the mountain and away from the grassland. It didn't matter, he had left the small herds of animals behind a while ago. His mind elsewhere while he ran, the fuzzy image of the fireplace and table wriggling back into his mind. His feet were starting to hurt and his palms were getting sweaty, he would need shelter and fast. Otherwise he'd never survive the night.