Damien woke up from a nightmare. He had 'seen' his family and Adina die in the bomb attack that had taken them from his life. This nightmare haunted him ever since he left his old home.
3 years had gone by when he had made the Setsuna Forest his new home. He decided to distract himself by gathering some food to eat. He was running low on food supplies anyway.
He picked up his rucksack with his handmade wooden spears and slung it over his shoulders in case he ran into any predators. He then took his woven basket and set off to find some edible wild berries. Thanks to his training as a soldier in the army, he knew which berries to keep well away from.
Strange things happen in this forest, and it happened today as well. After an hour or so, Damien found some blackberries and started to pick them. Since leaving his hut, he had already speared 3 sparrows and some fish by the stream not far from his hut. He refilled his bottles with fresh stream water and he had also found some apples and other sweet berries.
All of a sudden, a melody began to play. It sounded to him like a piano and reminded him of Adina and her melodies. He felt a tear slip down his cheek and he brushed it away with the back of his hand. He couldn't let himself get upset, not now since he knew what was coming next.
After what seemed like a few hours, the melody stopped. Then came a howl. A wolf. Shoot. He thought. He knew he couldn't outrun one, and he couldn't climb the trees here since last night it was raining and the trees were still a bit wet so they would be slippery. Only one possible solution came to his mind. It's worth a try, he thought. He found the hole he fell into a few days back, grabbed a loose vine and tied one end to a tree and let the other end hang into the hole. He climbed in, hoping the wolf wouldn't find him.
What he hadn't expected was that the hole was soon crawling with spiders. Poisonous ones too. He scrambled out, only to come face to furry face with the wolf he heard. Just great. He ran for his life and the wolf chased him just as he had suspected it to do. He found a pond and slipped in, making as little noise as he possibly could so that one, the wolf wouldn't hear where he went, and two, the wolf would lose his scent.
After a while when he could no longer hold his breath, he swam up to the surface, gasping for air but drenched from head to toe. He had dropped his gathering and his hunt a while back. He had no interest in going back to get them. Instead, he speared a few more fish and sparrows, then decided to call it a day.
YOU ARE READING
The woodland piano.
AcciónA soldier lives his life in the Setsuna Forest after the recent war had his family killed and his home town burned to the ground. His new 'home' isn't as normal as he had once thought it was. For there were times when he would hear melodies and the...
